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One recurring form of address that denotes these same qualities of leadership and guidance is "Master." It is a word that embodies more of God's greatness and perfection, perhaps, than Boatman, Pilot or Captain. What God has is the greatness of per fect Perfection, hence, unsurpassing mastery. In one particularly notable poem, Sri Chinmoy fuses the concept of mastery with the idea of God as a Musician playing His music on the strings of the seeker's heart:

TUNE ME FOR LIFE

0 Master-Musician,
Tune me for life again.
The awakening of new music
    My heart wants to become.
My life is now mingled
In ecstasy's height.[22]

The poet longs to be re-born into a higher world, a world which is filled with the plenitude of God's music. In India, it is common for novice musicians to be apprenticed to a master of sitar, voice or some other instrument. Sri Chinmoy's address to his "Master" implicitly captures something of this teacher/student relationship. The element of cultural conditioning that informs his choice of image may be appreciated by comparing this poem with several extracts from Tagore's English "Gitanjali":

I know not how thou singest, my master! I ever listen in silent amazement.
The light of thy music illumines the world. The life-breath of thy music runs from sky to sky. The holy stream of thy music breaks through all stony obstacles and rushes on.
My heart longs to join in thy song, but vainly struggles for a voice. I would speak, but speech breaks not into song, and I cry out baffled. Ah, thou hast made my heart captive in the endless meshes of thy music, my master![23]
... 0 master poet, I have sat down at thy feet. Only let me make my life simple and straight, like a flute of reed for thee to fill with music.[24]