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The symbol of the bird serves as an instructive starting point. The following three poems are typical of Sri Chinmoy's use of this word:
The blue bird says, Come, come.
Time is passing by.
I salute him who has tasted
The wine of pleasure.
Rest assured that in him, around him
Is nothing but the darkness of pleasure-night.[5]
0 bird of my heart,
Fly on, fly on.
Look not behind.
Whatever the world gives
Is meaningless, useless
And utterly false. [6]
0 blue bird of my mind-forest,
I close my eyes and draw your beauty
Inside the finite
Your vision cries for the Infinite.
Your aspiration builds a bridge
Between earth and Heaven.
At the end of my life's journey
I shall know who you truly are
And at that time
Your victory and my victory,
Our joint victory,
Will have no parallel .[7]
It is manifest that the poet recognises no fences between the separate realms of experience-physical, psychic and spiritual. The "blue bird" of the first poem, for example, is not located in any particular physical environment. The poet, rather, directs our attention to the message of the bird and we learn that he reads in the flight of the bird an invitation to leave behind the fleeting pleasures of the world and pursue a more lofty vision. The poet uses the two words "blue bird" to carry the full weight of the alternative to man's present desire-bound condition. He sets the blue of the bird against the darkness of "pleasure-night"; he sets our imagined picture of the bird's eternal flight across the sky above against the short-lived moments of enjoyment below. In this way he engages the heavenly associations of the symbol to add depth to his play of contrasts. We find ourselves intuitively placing our faith in the bird as being inherently more beautiful, more enchanting, than the world of darkness that. closes in on the one who elects a life of pleasure.

