Dear Sumangali,

I would like to respond seriously to your question.

Sri Chinmoy's comments on "Transcendental Poetry" are really
revealing. He says in the first paragraph of that essay that
"...well may we look for the leaven of transcendental poetry to
uplift the whole human mass."

I think this means that because poetry is so portable and
accessible, that it is the perfect vehicle for the Higher Light to
approach humanity and to transform it fundamentally. When we
memorize a poem we like, we repeat it many times a day. It becomes
like that little bit of leaven that Jesus spoke of. Just by
repeating a few sacred syllables for a couple minutes each day, we
can become better people.

Sri Chinmoy's poetry is simple, intuitive and effective. Sometimes
we may read a particular poem many times over and not understand it
mentally. But "something" in us does appreciate and understand it;
and that something is our soul. If we get joy from reading a
particular poem or story written by a spiritual Master, we should
keep reading and re-reading it even if we don't at first understand
it. The gifts that it has to give us don't have to go through the
filter of the mind to become part of us. The mind will understand
later. Just dive into the poem and enjoy it.

Many of Sri Chinmoy's poems remind me of the biblical psalms. They
have that same resonance. His poems are as convincing and as moving
as those ancient prayer-cries are. He writes from the depths of
human joy and pain and yet his poems shine with a natural divinity
that is so appealing.

I particularly like "The Message of Surrender," the penultimate poem
from "My Flute." It is rich and full of meaning.

I'm grateful to Aparajita for shedding light on that cryptic fifth
paragraph you mentioned. I didn't understand it either until he
connected it with what Sri Chinmoy mentioned in the third paragraph
- that people often turn to God only to remove their sufferings, and
not to know Him for His own sake.

Please refer to message #2718 (AM please make this a clickable link!
Thanx!*)

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Sri_Chinmoy_Inspiration/message/2718

for a poem about an elderly Japanese shopkeeper who showed Sri
Chinmoy tremendous kindness during a rainstorm. It comes from one of
Sri Chinmoy's personal notebooks, and I find the "imperfect"
grammar, line structure and word use quite affecting. Maybe it is a
good example of a transendental poem in its own right.

I'm not sure if I've been able to shed any light on transcendental
poetry in this response, Sumangali. But I'm grateful to find people
like you and Anita who share my love and admiration for Sri
Chinmoy's poetry.

Morris


[*Dear Morris, thank you for your interesting article. Next time
could you please include the link yourself? Just navigate to the
message you want to link to, copy its URL from your browser window,
and paste it into your message, beginning on a new line. Thank you.
-Assistant Moderator]


--- In Sri_Chinmoy_Inspiration@yahoogroups.com, anitabusic
<no_reply@y...> wrote:
>
>
> Dearest Sumangali,
>
> I am extremely glad to hear that you "have been looking for
writings
> about writing - especially poetry - to try to develop more
integrity
> and authenticity in your own writing." and that you are "striving
> (earnestly struggling?) to be increasingly more of a channel for
the
> Divine." Keep on!
>
> I just wanted to say that the selection you chose touched my heart
> deeply. Especially the part that went: "The gods are ever ready to
> help us, but when ... in our human weakness we refuse to undergo
> the troubles and tribulations that are necessary for our
> development, we may lose the chance of the descent of their grace."
>
> Thanks for posting this excerpt and for introducing this theme into
> the group. Many of us are poets, even if just for ourselves and
God.
> I personally like prayer-poems as I can relate to them better with
> my heart.
>
> poet in disguise,
>
> Anita
>
>
> --- In Sri_Chinmoy_Inspiration@yahoogroups.com, sumangali_m
> <no_reply@y...> wrote:
> >
> >
> > Dear Morris
> >
> > I wonder if you would be kind enough to help me interpret
> something I
> > have found in Sri Chinmoy's writings, and which I have been
> puzzling
> > over for much too long now. It seems like it should be so
simple,
> > but it is turning into a koan!
> >
> > I have been looking for writings about writing - especially
> poetry -
> > to try to develop more integrity and authenticity in my own
> writing.
> > I suppose I mean I am striving (earnestly struggling?) to be
> > increasingly more of a channel for the Divine.
> >
> > You know I hardly ever just reproduce reams of text like this,
but
> > this is so prolific and provocative of thought, I would almost be
> > inclined just to paste it in here with no comments of my own.
> > However, my primary reason for including it is to beg the
> indulgence
> > of your scholarly wisdom, your perceptivity, and your love of
> writing
> > (especially your deep reverence for Sri Chinmoy's writing) to
> > interpret the fifth paragraph (and any of the others if you are
> > inspired!). I hope you have the time, before it ends up as my
> > undoing. ;-)
> >
> > Sumangali
> > :oD
> >
> >
> >
> > "Poetry that springs from a devout heart leads kindred hearts to
> the
> > ever-sweet One and makes of them a Republic with Him for
> President.
> > No other divine faculty perhaps has a greater power of
> transcendence
> > over limits to the illimitable. In the bright days that are
> dawning
> > upon the earth well may we look for the leaven of transcendental
> > poetry to uplift the whole human mass.
> >
> > Instead of trying to replace one desire for a better one, it is
> > worthwhile to attempt a transcending desire, so that in a trance
> one
> > may intuit Him who hears one's heart's call and is ever ready to
> lend
> > one His helping Hand.
> >
> > When men worship God in the hope of getting their miseries
> removed,
> > they may meet with frustration and are apt to lose their faith in
> God.
> >
> > The gods are ever ready to help us, but when we demand of them
> > something quite absurd, and in our human weakness we refuse to
> > undergo the troubles and tribulations that are necessary for our
> > development, we may lose the chance of the descent of their grace.
> >
> > The poet has the divine faith, the inner intuition that the
> existence
> > of the One Supreme Divine has hardly anything to do with the
> commonly
> > sought spiritual experience side-by-side with common miseries.
> >
> > In order to write a poem, the poet must transport himself to the
> > sphere of the Muse and lose himself there. He has to be like a
> flame
> > that burns away everything but itself."
> >
> > - Sri Chinmoy
> >
> > (Written in Pondicherry, India, 1962, printed in:
> > "Philosopher-Thinkers: The Power-Towers Of The Mind And
> > Poet-Seers: The Fragrance-Hours Of The Heart In The West")