Page 160

As the Pilgrim passes while the Country permanent remains
So Men pass on; but the States remain permanent for ever.[8]

The essence of the mystic state is experience, the direct and intimate experience of God. in these truly great moments, reality emerges in its most lucid form and man arrives at a state of knowledge in which he recognises both God and himself As one. The poet expresses his longing for this state of union or self-loss in God:

LORD, TAKE ME

Lord, take my heart
To be Your Pleasure.

Lord, take my love
To be Your Treasure.

Lord, let my life
Be claimed entirely by You, Only by You.[9]

This turning away from oneself towards the Divine is an act of supreme self-offering—not of a subordinate to a superior, but of the portion to the whole, the smaller to the greater. In surrender as pure and whole-hearted as this, there is no sense of compulsion but only of sweetness and love.

Sri Chinmoy exploits the vast difference between "the love of power" and "the power of love" in the following poem through the striking image of his Lord's "Footprints":

I CAN ETERNALLY BECOME YOURS

My sweet Lord,
Your Footprints
On the tablet of my heart
Make me feel that
I can not only become great and good,
But I can become Yours,
    Only Yours. [10]