Boris Purushottama Grebenshikov dedicates radio show to Sri Chinmoy

Aerostat Radio Programme by Boris Purushottama Grebenshikov

Radio Russia 97.6fm, 10 February 2008

Hello, dear ones. Today I would like to tell you about an amazing man whom God brought me to meet two years ago. It was an Indian spiritual master, Sri Chinmoy.

In 1893, Ramakrishna’s disciple, philosopher-monk Swami Vivekananda was sent by his brother monks to the Chicago Parliament of All Religions to tell the world about the Indian outlook on life. Vivekananda’s speech at the Congress created a furore and was met by thunderous applause. After the Congress, he stayed in America for 4 years to teach the philosophy of non-violence to anyone willing to learn.

Vivekananda was the first teacher who brought Eastern philosophy to the West. Now it is difficult to imagine, but before the Twentieth Century Eastern philosophy and spiritual practices were considered either exotic rubbish or an enigmatic mystery by Europeans.

But in the Twentieth Century everything changed. Indian yogis, Sufi sages, Zen Buddhist monks—all found their audience.

Some of them wanted to share the truth from their pure heart; some of them followed a mystic mission or their Master’s command; some of them just wanted to improve their financial situation. And some of them came to the West due to a complex combination of all these reasons.

So, how to distinguish true Masters from the fake ones? Very easily. As it is told in the Holy Scripture, “You know the tree by the fruit it bears.”

Sri Chinmoy was born in 1931 in Bengal. When he was 11, his parents passed away and he became an orphan. Together with his sisters and brothers he was brought up in the Ashram of the world-renowned Indian philosopher Sri Aurobindo.

Since his early years, Chinmoy practised meditation of his own accord. He practised it for many hours a day, and at the age of 13 achieved realisation, or in other words, he saw the world as it truly is. As he put it himself, when man realises God, he realises that God and himself are not two different entities; God and himself are like a drop and the vast ocean.

In 1964 Chinmoy came to America, and soon began to teach meditation to aspiring seekers.

What is a realised being supposed to do in the world of entirely unrealised people like you and me? Imagine—you have realised how this universe works, you can see things hidden from others’ eyes, and you have miraculous capacities—what then?

Then you want to help others to travel to the very same light and joy you have found, to discover the very same divine qualities within themselves.

So how to do it? Chinmoy gave talks, wrote poems, painted, competed in athletics and—the most important thing for us today—practiced music.

He wrote music, he played music, he sang and, unlike ordinary composers and performers, was conscious of the powerful influence of music—of the difference between the music of the spirit and the music of an animal nature. Because he felt a true harmony with all his being, Sri Chinmoy could offer far more to the listener than an ordinary musician.

No wonder that among his disciples were such musicians as Mahavishnu John McLaughlin, Carlos Santana, Alice Coltrane, Roberta Flack and Narada Michael Walden. And even amongst his ordinary disciples—those who had no special musical talents—emerged prodigious musical capacities after time spent with the Master. By the way, most of the musical fragments on our program today are the recordings of disciples playing their Master’s music.

But Chinmoy not only spoke to others about music; as in everything else, he acted by personal example first of all. Since 1984 he gave concerts throughout the world—by the way they were free of charge! He performed in the world’s best concert halls: Carnegie Hall in New York, Royal Albert Hall, Nippon Budokan and Le Zénith in Paris. And such was his power that sometimes an enormous number of people attended his concerts—his concert in Montreal gathered an audience of 19,000; his concert in Prague over 15,000.

What was it that attracted so many people to these unusual concerts? Perhaps it was that Sri Chinmoy’s music is truly soulful music:

“Soulful music is the music that immediately elevates our consciousness to the Absolute, to the Highest. But ordinary music, vital music, brings our consciousness down. For a fleeting second or a few hours, we get a kind of pleasure; but then this pleasure takes us into a lower vital consciousness where we are tempted. From the temptation-world we enter into the frustration-world, and from the frustration-world we enter into the destruction-world. But soulful music takes us into the world of aspiration. From aspiration we enter into the world of realisation, where our inner existence is flooded with Light and Delight.

“Soulful music is the music that wants to eventually transform our consciousness. It carries us into the Universal Consciousness and makes us feel that we are in tune with the highest, with the deepest, with the farthest.

“It also makes us feel that God Himself is the Supreme Musician. When we play soulful music, we come to realise that we are not the musician; we are just an instrument. We are like a piano, violin or guitar, and it is God who is constantly playing on us. If we really play soulful music, we will see that we are just an instrument, that somebody else is singing and playing in and through us, and that somebody is our Inner Pilot, the Supreme.”

Musical critics, who are generally quite cynical, wrote, “Improvisations by Sri Chinmoy are God-inspired music that breaks the bounds of academic traditions and uplifts the soul to Heaven.” Ravi Shankar said, “Sri Chinmoy’s music is God-given! He has a tremendous, a fantastic creative urge.” Acknowledged violin genius Yehudi Menuhin said, “The way you write music is extraordinary. This civilization must be very grateful to you, even if they don't know it.” And the great American composer and conductor, Leonard Bernstein, wrote to Chinmoy, “You are a miraculous model of the abundance in the creative life that we lesser mortals seek, and I can only hope that someday I may participate in that cosmic fountain of stillness and profound energy which you inhabit.”

When I first saw Sri Chinmoy and heard his music, I should have been surprised—I should have been, but I was not. Trust which I could not help feeling towards him simply made his music a new and uncharted experience, which I did not doubt in the least was true.

Guru’s concerts were indeed unlike any others. He sat on stage alone, surrounded by many different musical instruments. After playing on one instrument for a while, he put it aside, and then seemed to listen to his inner self, carefully, deciding what was needed now, and then without any hesitation, taking a new one.

Sometimes his improvisation could be peaceful and meditative; sometimes chaotic and turbulent. The way he played his favorite instrument, the esraj—it is a kind of Indian violin—at times reminded me of Hendrix’s playing: harmonious sounds would sometimes transform into screeching, purposely harsh disharmonies, but the final feeling was that of perfection and fulfillment.

Only much later did I realise what it was like—that it was as if Guru was perceiving something none of us could see or hear, and then playing to harmonise these forces, and heal ailments that were invisible to us.

There is tremendous amount of music in the world, but Guru’s music is special—it heals the soul. Chinmoy knew that the goal of a composer and musician is to touch the depths of our heart, and bring from there inspiration, peace and light into the hustle and bustle of life.

As he said himself, “Soulful music immediately awakens and inspires our hearts because it embodies the Absolute Supreme. Soulful music is the Light that wants to express itself in a divine way. Even as darkness wants to manifest its authority on earth, Light also wants to manifest its Reality and Divinity in a specific way. Light is the soul of everything. Light is the soul of music, Light is the soul of love and Light is the soul of all art. When Light divinely manifests itself in the form of music, it is the music of the soul.”

Sri Chinmoy was called an enlightened one and a saint. I do not entirely understand what these words mean, but I know that in his presence I could feel light in my heart. Maybe that is the meaning of a saint.

Often the word God is an abstract term for us created by men of the Church, something incomprehensible and unknown. But for Chinmoy God was not an abstract term; rather it was the only reality—God was the One whom he loved with all of his being. That love of God was the essence of his entire existence.

Aurobindo, whom Chinmoy always held in the highest regard, said, “Each action, each creative manifestation should become an expression of adoration of the Divine, an act of love and devotion, a sacrifice. There should be reverence, self-giving, self-renunciation. The whole life should become such service to the Beloved, and then all acts would be done out of love for the Divine, out of love for the world and its inhabitants whom you would see as the Divine revealing itself in many images and forms."

And the whole life of Sri Chinmoy was an example of exactly such a life and exactly such creativity.

Thank you.

Further information

• Aerostat: Boris Purushottama Grebenshikov’s weekly radio programme
• Radio Russia: website of the national radio station
• Boris Grebenshikov and Aquarium: official English website
• Interview with Boris Grebenshikov: an interview with the world famous singer and songwriter at SriChinmoy.tv
• The Boris Purushottama Grebenshikov Concert: a live concert at the Royal Albert Hall