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The poet's unbridled creative inspiration of 1973 also resulted in the publication of eight major spiritual plays and a number of musical compositions. In October, he commenced writing The Wings of Light, a second series of one thousand poems. Working round the clock, Sri Chinmoy completed this series within nine weeks. Although he had laid his soul bare in these diverse poems, we cannot help but be touched by the poignant lament of one of his songs from the same period:
In his book Poetry and Experience, Archibald Macleish quotes some aphorisms by Lu Chi, a 4th Century Chinese poet who expresses this lifelong struggle of the poet to give meaningful shape to his heart's wealth:
Both Sri Chinmoy and Lu Chi aver that the knowledge poetry imparts to the poet is that of self-discovery; the skill of poetry consists in trapping this self in the cage of the finite.
Compelled from within to continue with unabated speed and intensity, Sri Chinmoy greeted the dawn of the new year, 1974, with a third series of a thousand poems. This series, named The Golden Boat, reveals the true character of Sri Chinmoy's poetic spirit: it is his love of self-transcendence, the urge to outreach himself, that lies at the base of these "adventures" in creative expression. In self- transcendence one does not seek to compete with others but only to improve oneself. In the case of Sri Chinmoy, it meant transcending his own previous capacities in the field of poetry. Hence, by the time he came to write The Golden Boat, he was able to apply himself to the task not at the rate of fifty poems a day, or even 150 a day, but more. It is recorded that on February 2nd, 1974 Sri Chinmoy composed 208 poems in a twenty-four hour period. On April 28th of the same year he completed a total of 360 poems in the same time span. The April poems were published as a separate volume under the title The Goal is Won.
How many songs have I sung?
How many more have I still to sing
here on earth?
Within and without I have been
searching for myself through my songs.
With deep pangs my heart cries;
My self-form is not visible yet.
In the vast life-ocean, I am floating all alone.[11]
In his book Poetry and Experience, Archibald Macleish quotes some aphorisms by Lu Chi, a 4th Century Chinese poet who expresses this lifelong struggle of the poet to give meaningful shape to his heart's wealth:
We poets struggle with Non-being to force it to yield Being;
We knock upon silence for an answering music.
We enclose boundless space in a square foot of paper;
We pour out deluge from the inch space of the heart.[12]
Both Sri Chinmoy and Lu Chi aver that the knowledge poetry imparts to the poet is that of self-discovery; the skill of poetry consists in trapping this self in the cage of the finite.
Compelled from within to continue with unabated speed and intensity, Sri Chinmoy greeted the dawn of the new year, 1974, with a third series of a thousand poems. This series, named The Golden Boat, reveals the true character of Sri Chinmoy's poetic spirit: it is his love of self-transcendence, the urge to outreach himself, that lies at the base of these "adventures" in creative expression. In self- transcendence one does not seek to compete with others but only to improve oneself. In the case of Sri Chinmoy, it meant transcending his own previous capacities in the field of poetry. Hence, by the time he came to write The Golden Boat, he was able to apply himself to the task not at the rate of fifty poems a day, or even 150 a day, but more. It is recorded that on February 2nd, 1974 Sri Chinmoy composed 208 poems in a twenty-four hour period. On April 28th of the same year he completed a total of 360 poems in the same time span. The April poems were published as a separate volume under the title The Goal is Won.
