Compassion-Sun Leonard Bernstein Plays Through Sri Chinmoy Flames

Sri Chinmoy: May I pray and meditate with you for a few minutes?

Leonard Bernstein: That is wonderful; it is exactly what I would like.

Sri Chinmoy: A tiny drop of a musician has come to the ocean of the music-world. Please feel that the drop is most eagerly waiting to enter and merge into the ocean itself. You are the Himalayan musician and the supreme lover of music. I have read so much about you. I have heard so much about you. More than that, since I am a seeker I can also feel your heart. In the Almighty we are all one; we are sailing in the same boat. That is why I can easily identify myself with your heart and soul. You are not someone unknown to me; you are more than known.

Leonard Bernstein: How should I address you?

Sri Chinmoy: In any way you wish. You are the master-musician; I am the beginner.

Leonard Bernstein: I am so moved.

Sri Chinmoy: In the capacity of two seekers we are serving the Supreme; we are sailing in the same boat. I must not dare to say a word to you about music, which is the universal language. Now we are praying and meditating. It is through our prayer and meditation that we please our Beloved Supreme. You are the ocean of music, and inside your music-world the world of aspiration and dedication is constantly growing. (Sri Chinmoy and Leonard Bernstein meditate together.)

(Sri Chinmoy’s comment: He was so deeply moved; he could not speak for a couple of minutes. Afterwards he grabbed my hands.)

Leonard Bernstein: I have not done that in so long. I was taught transcendental meditation about four years ago. I did it as strictly as I could for seven weeks. But I could not continue it, so I lost it. Every once in a while I would come back to it. My mantra was always with me. But I have not done it for a very long time, and you brought that back.

Sri Chinmoy: We are one. We are sailing in the same boat. Our Beloved Father Supreme is manifesting Himself in and through us. You have offered to the world at large something unique, and the outer world knows who you are because of the magnificence of your unique contribution. The inner world, which is your heart’s cry and your implicit faith in your Beloved Supreme, offers you constant oneness with the will of the Supreme. For that the outer world does not yet know you. But the golden day will dawn when the Supreme Message which you embody in the inner world will come to the fore. At that time the world will see you as the supreme seeker who is also the supreme composer and conductor. God the Lover aspect, which you embody in boundless measure, has yet to come to the fore. In your writings and in your compositions the world gets an iota of what you truly are inwardly. But I know how much the message of the inner world, which you embody, will come to the fore. Along with your music, it will inundate the world of aspiration and dedication.

Leonard Bernstein: I don’t know how many years more I have to do that. That worries me, because I do have a lot to do. You are right. I have only begun, but I am sixty years old.

Sri Chinmoy: In the Heart of our Beloved Supreme, sixty years is nothing. It is a fleeting second. Again, in a fleeting second you can inundate your entire being with infinite peace, light and bliss. The promise that your soul has made to the Supreme you are bound to fulfil. Your soul will not be satisfied unless and until you have offered to the world at large everything that you are supposed to offer and everything that you are.

Leonard Bernstein: That is what I try to do. But there is so little time. Maybe I love people too much. I have so many friends and people I love.

From the book: Sri Chinmoy, Four Summit-Height-Melodies, Agni Press, 1995