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View: O My Boatman

When Sri Chinmoy invokes the archetypal myths of quest and pilgrimage in this and other poems, it is not simply the deeper memories of our race that he is calling forth, but an urge that is basic to all men and that urge is to pursue a vision of truth and beauty. In certain poems, Sri Chinmoy suggests that this journey unites the spheres of becoming and being-that ultimate satisfaction stems from the journey itself and not from any definite arrival. He postulates an endless journeying, a constant self-transcendence:

THERE WAS A TIME

There was a time when I stumbled and stumbled,
But now I only climb and climb beyond
And far beyond my Goal's endless Beyond,
And yet my Captain commands: "Go on, go on! "[21]

Here the seeker ascends past all his preconceptions, all his imaginings. The results he has already gained become as landmarks for his ceaseless journey, however, there is no final attainment of a fixed goal-nothing is static, nothing ever completely finished. The stirring command of the Captain to proceed even further rings out at the end of the poem, echoing in the depths of our own being. No words follow it. It is at once imperative and thrilling.