There are also instances when the poet pointedly alerts the reader to the possible dangers or pitfalls of the spiritual life:
THE MIND-WALL
As long as you keep the mind-wall
Of doubt and disbelief
In your aspiration-life,
You will always be carrying with you
A heap of useless ashes.
(6170)
The crux of the poem is the vivid metaphor of doubt and disbelief as ashes. This metaphor heightens the impact of the poet’s argument and makes it particularly memorable. In our mind’s eye we see the wall which had once upon a time been our fortress begin to crumble into nothingness.
Alternatively, the poet may utilise this direct, penetrating speech to encourage the seeker and infuse him with a new will to persevere. These poems also precipitate an inner change in the reader:
DO NOT GIVE UP
Even if your aspiration-heart
Needs constant repair,
Do not give up.
You will, without fail,
Someday realise God.
Even if your dedication-life
Needs constant repair,
Do not give up.
You will, without fail,
Someday manifest God.
(4906)
The transfer of strength from poet to reader is almost tangible. There is a boundless assurance in these lines which will act as a solace for many readers, both now and in years to come. The poet’s immense poise and stability of faith are a magnet to wavering human thoughts and feelings. Attracted by the possibility of a personal experience of God countless souls will discover in the poems of Ten Thousand Flower-Flames a way to self-perfection that is not a collection of oft-heard truths but a coherent body of laws that comes fiery molten from the poet’s own realisation. It is the force of original vision that gives these poems their tremendous impact
When the poet expresses his vision in its ultimately abstract form it emerges as aphorism. In aphorism, utmost purity, restraint and decorum combine to fuse wisdom and eloquence. The few words that the poet selects are sanctified by their role as the carriers of his truth-message. It is an abbreviated, almost crystalline form of expression:
ASPIRATION LIVES
Aspiration lives
In the vast land
Of hero-promise.
(1874)
By casting aspiration as the central figure in an heroic context, the poet reveals its true stature. The poem turns on a radical simplicity in which there appear to be no “means,” for the poem itself is nothing but meaning. The exquisite appositeness of the poet’s words eliminate any verbality.
Among the range of Sri Chinmoy’s poems that concern themselves with aspiration, I believe the penultimate expression to be the following definitive aphorism:
THE ART OF AWAKENING
The art of awakening
Is the aspiring man’s
Eternal pilgrimage. (1936)
Man’s quest for self-knowledge is enshrined in this single, one-lined strophe. Using only ten words or nineteen syllables the poet’s visionary sweep has encompassed the eternity of mankind’s spiritual evolution. Each soul advances towards the same supreme goal, the highest art of self-awakening. As we contemplate this ascent of humanity, the poem appears to open out on all sides, endless vistas of meaning unfold before us and we are caught up into the firmament of being and becoming.
All these things inhere in the poet. His is the seer-vision that realises all the stages of the universal soul in their eternal perspective and fixes them forever in the many-motioned, phosphorescent forms of Ten Thousand Flower-Flames.