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On December 10th, 1974 Sri Chinmoy completed his first one thousand paintings-astonishing both for their subtlety and beauty By February 26th, 1975 the number stood at ten thousand and by October 3rd that same year it had grown to one hundred thousand. The paintings ranged in size from smaller canvasses to canvasses that were several metres long. All of these paintings were created With the sole purpose of offering inspiration, delight and upliftment to the viewer. In art, as in poetry, Sri Chinmoy urges an appreciation based on the heart's feeling of oneness with the creative work. He writes:
If you enjoy art with your heart's love, then automatically you are getting inspiration from it. But if you enjoy it with your mind, then you are stuck there. You are only measuring the art, judging it. At that time, even if you enjoy it, still the art does not come as an inspiration. But if you enjoy it with your heart, you are identifying yourself with the work. Your heart receives the inspiration from the art because oneness is there.[27]
The term "suspension of disbelief," which has become a commonplace in Western literary criticism, points in a similar direction. By suspending our disbeliefs, doubts, even our intellectual curiosity-all of which bind us to ourselves-we open the way to a more complete identification with the art form before us. We merge in it, we become one with it and this oneness in itself is a most precious experience for it signifies an expansion of our ordinary selves that we may encompass another. At its pinnacle, we claim the work as our own creation, the child of our own imagination.
With poetic beauty, Sri Chinmoy reveals:
Art is not meant For man's understanding. It is meant For man's blending With the inner life's inner ecstasy.[28]
On November 1st, 1975, towards the close of a most remarkable year, Sri Chinmoy spontaneously wrote 843 poems in the space of twenty-four hours. These poems were published under the title Transcendence-Perfection. While highlighting many aspects of the spiritual life, they also included a number of illumining comments about the role of the poet:
