This esraj album was recorded in 1978, two years after Sri Chinmoy started playing the esraj in 1976. The esraj soon became Sri Chinmoy’s favourite instrument – the esraj is renowned for its haunting, reverberating tone.
Sri Chinmoy plays the Esraj 4
Last modified March 16, 2015
In 1978 Sri Chinmoy visited Canada for the weekend. On April 5th 1978 Sri Chinmoy flew to Montreal. In the evening, he participated in the International Fair of Religions and Philosophies at the Windsor Hotel, where he meditated and played the esraj for some four hundred visitors. He also had a newspaper interview in Montreal Star, which appeared on the front page of the April 10th edition, with the headline: “Guru Graced from Above”.
Addressing the symposium, which was sponsored by La Societe des Conferences du Canada, Sri Chinmoy said:
“What have I offered to my Beloved Supreme? I have offered my Beloved Supreme my soulful cry. What have I received from Him in return? I have received from Him His blessingful Smile.
What have I given to man? I have given man my loving service, my selfless service, my devoted service. What have I received from man in return? I have received from man his suspicion-night.”
– Sri Chinmoy, Philosophy, religion and yoga, Agni Press, 1980
The following day, Sri Chinmoy gave a concert at CEGEP Francois Xavier Garneau, a college in Quebec.
Sri Chinmoy plays esraj on March 1978 in Columbia University.
He Partha Sarathi, bajao, bajao Panchajanya…
O Charioteer of Arjuna,
Blow, blow your conch, “Panchajanya“
Drive away this depression of the heart.
Make them fearless who are struck with fear.
String the bow and hit the target.
Singing the mantra of the Gita,
Sacrifice your life.
Make us forget the fear of death.
Death is not the end of life.
Through Eternity flows the eternal tide of life .
Let the dauntless-attachment lap of their human mothers
And take shelter in the Supernal Lap of the Universal Mother
And adorn it divinely and supremely.
O Charioteer of Arjuna,
Blow, blow your conch, “Panchajanya“
About the song He Partha Sarathi
“The song He Partha Sarathi (6) was written by Kazi Nazrul Islam, a famous Bengali composer. Partha Sarathi literally means charioteer of Arjuna, i.e Krishna, and the song reverberates with imagery taken from the Mahabarata, the famous Indian epic whose focal point is an all-consuming battle between light and ignorance. The opening lines invoke Krishna to blow his famous conch, Panchajanya. Conch shells were traditionally used at the start of Indian battles to summon men to arms, and the cacophony of conches would infuse the warriors with courage and strength for what would lie ahead.
However, the battle the poet refers to is the inner one – “Drive away this depression of the heart, make them fearless who are struck with fear”, so the English translation goes, as the song exhorts each of us in the battlefield of life to leave behind human bondage and take shelter in the Divine.”
– Nirbhasa
Artist: Sri Chinmoy
Name: Sri Chinmoy Plays the Esraj 4
Release year: 1978 (MC)
Duration: 0:58:03
Acknowledgements: Sri Chinmoy
Page Created: Ashish / Tejvan
Format: Advanced Audio Coding
Photos by Bhashwar, Sarama
