Sri Chinmoy - Fountain of creativity

Sri Chinmoy has been described as a student of inner peace, a man of global action, and a tireless proponent of world harmony. To many, Sri Chinmoy's life embodied both the ancient Vedic ideals of spirituality and also the outer dynamism normally associated with the West. 

Sri Chinmoy grew up in a small Indian village (Shakpura, Chittagong) and as a child was brought up in a traditional Hindu family. From these humble beginnings Sri Chinmoy proved to be an innovative pioneer in the field of spirituality, art, music, poetry and weightlifting. His accomplishments are unprecedented: almost 1600 books, millions of mystical bird drawings and successfully lifting incredible weights. Despite these lofty achievements Sri Chinmoy always remained humble, sometimes quipping about himself “a jack of all trades, and a master of none”

However despite his humility, each aspect of Sri Chinmoy’s multi faceted endeavours is a unique accomplishment in itself. From his youth, like other members of his family, Sri Chinmoy had a love of writing poetry. Through this medium Sri Chinmoy has been able to offer a range of poems describing the varied experiences of a spiritual seeker. As well as producing poems touching the heights of spiritual experience, Sri Chinmoy also wrote a prodigious quantity of poems, over 100,000 in number. At the time of his passing in October 2007, he was halfway through his most ambitious project to date , “Seventy-Seven Thousand Service Trees” – a collection of compact Haiku style poems, which serve as inspirational aphorisms for the spiritual seeker. (View article of Sri Chinmoy speaking about his Poetry)

When asked what motivated him to create so many poems, paintings and songs Sri Chinmoy replied that he was following the inner commands of his “Inner Pilot” or “God”. Sri Chinmoy explained that he did not do things for name and fame but to inspire others to lead better lives:

I am trying, according to my humble capacity, to be of dedicated service to the world. I have been going to the United Nations to offer meditations since 1970. In addition, I have composed many songs and poems, plus I have done thousands and thousands of paintings. All this I am doing to inspire others. Similarly, others also do many, many things to inspire me. If I am inspiring people and people are inspiring me, then we become good human beings. When we are inspired, we try to do many, many good things for mankind. .. (From: Mystic Journey in the Weightlifting World)

A feature of Sri Chinmoy’s activities is that they embody great newness; like a true pioneer Sri Chinmoy was constantly looking for new ways of doing things. For example his 'Jharna Kala' art drawings are a unique style of painting which are spontaneous expressions of his inner meditation. Using sweeping strokes Sri Chinmoy quickly filled the page with bold strokes, uniquely combining a diverse blend of colours. The resulting artwork is a flow of creative energy stemming from the heart. Sri Chinmoy spoke of his art: “My art is my prayerful and soulful offering to help raise the consciousness of humanity”

Through his outer activities Sri Chinmoy has been able to demonstrate the inner potential of the human spirit. His most striking exposition of this spiritual capacity is his phenomenal weightlifting. But like other activities Sri Chinmoy attributed his success in this field to his connection with his inner pilot or God. (View: Sri Chinmoy Weighlifting)

Question: How are you able to be so prolific?
Sri Chinmoy: "It is all God's Grace. Everything that I have done or am going to do is entirely due to God's Grace. Each and every moment I most sincerely try to depend on God's Grace. As an individual, I do nothing and I know how to do nothing. But if His Grace descends, then He will do everything in and through me." (extract from Sri Chinmoy Library  - "Meetings with Luminaries")

This site Sri Chinmoy Songs is a testimony to Sri Chinmoy's prodigious composition of spiritual songs. The total of songs Sri Chinmoy has now composed is close to 17,000. View selected songs of Sri Chinmoy These songs have been sung all over the world and are another example of the creativity that can come about when we can establish a contact with our inner source.

Article by Tejvan Pettinger 25/03/06, modified 2/4/08

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