Page 86
In the four poems by Sri Chinmoy that I have selected for appraisal, the lyrical rhythm is deliberate and measured. It can be said to possess a gravity and a poise that provides an harmonious balance to the state of inner fulfilment and it constantly constantly leaves us with the impression that the poet's words are taking shape in the silence of that final encounter with God. In the last stanza of "The Absolute", for example, the quickening tempo of the rhythm is radiant with inexpressible ecstasy:
My spirit aware of all the heights,
I am mute in the core of the sun.
The enchantment of this inner musical architecture conveys us to the very limit of words, where they pass into inner song. Incantation creates enchantment[63] and enchantment, as Evelyn Underhill observes, is one of the mystic's most important resources in overcoming the gulf between his experiences and the experiences of the world:
His audience must be bewitched as well as addressed, caught up to something of his state, before they can be made to understand.[64]
in other poems of ecstasy, Sri Chinmoy moves still further along the extreme of the musical axis. These are the lyrics composed in Bengali as songs, espoused to a musical notation independent of the words, and thereafter transposed by the poet into English. One such song is the following, chosen from the volume Supreme, Teach Me How to Surrender. The transliteration of the Bengali characters highlights their verbal music of rhyme and assonance:
Anute renute sakal tanute
Biraje amar pran
Ami madhumoy
Abhoy ajjoi
Shudhu kari madhu pan
In atom and in pollen
And in human frames
My life abides.
All beauty am 1,
Immutable am 1.
I drink my ambrosia all alone.[65]

