‘New Hope’: Kamalakanta Nieves

After much soul-searching, I discovered that one of the things I like most about music is that it allows me to express inner beauty. More than this I do not know how to explain, but when I play music I feel the beauty of my heart.

Sri Chinmoy‘s music touches me to the core; I find the meaning of some of his songs express my feelings better than I ever could. They are surcharged with an inner cry, that cry which we call aspiration, which elevates our human consciousness to touch the Highest. They also have within themselves the fruit of this inner cry; the Light obtained at the end of the journey towards self-realisation.

When I play or listen to Sri Chinmoy’s music, I feel than I am either touching or being touched by this inner reality, this inner world of beauty, love, compassion, forgiveness and harmony.

I therefore consider myself extremely fortunate to be in touch with this precious world of spiritual music, with its nourishing, peaceful vibration. And it is my great fortune that I am able to share some of this through this Radio Sri Chinmoy site.

The following arrangement contains three melodies by Sri Chinmoy. Here are the translations (unofficial) for the songs, in order of appearance:

CHINTA AMAR
“My thoughts make me the greatest hero of the world.
In my heart is the smile of liberation
from the Mother of the Universe.
When I want to affirm my supremacy over all human beings,
In a twinkling I become worse than the worst.”

DUDINER TARE
“You have come into the world
Only to stay for a few days.
Go on smiling to your heart’s content.
Bathe in the sea of liberation
And go on singing our Lord’s Victory-song.”

SHATEK JUGER
“Abandoning my desire-life of millions of years,
I have placed myself today at Your Feet.
O my Lord of Compassion,
O my Lord of Love, do come.
O my heart-Boatman, do come.”

AMAI AMI GANTE GIYE
I commit constant mistakes while looking for myself, my true form.
One mistake after another; my entire life is full of mistakes.
Alas, I do not see the shore, the Golden Shore.
Yet I know when the hour strikes
My Mother will show me my true form.
Alas, why do I bind myself, then, with the chord of wild restlessness?

(Translations by Sri Chinmoy)

I have titled this arrangement “New Hope”, as I feel that soulful music gives me new hope, by putting me in touch with my inner world.

Here are a few selections of Sri Chinmoy’s writings on music:

THE SOULFUL MUSIC OF THE INNER LIFE
“The soulful music of the inner life
Builds the hope-temple
And destroys the disappointment-tree.”

* * *

MUSIC
Music is inspiration, soulful inspiration. It inspires the human in us. Music is manifestation, fruitful manifestation. It manifests the divine in us. Music is satisfaction, supreme satisfaction. It satisfies the Pilot Supreme in us.

The human musician plays in order to become great. The divine musician becomes good first and then plays divinely, while soulfully and unconditionally offering the results to his Beloved Supreme. The Supreme Musician does not play in order to become great, and He does not have to become good in order to play. For the Supreme Musician embodies at once the universal sound-music and the transcendental Silence-Music.

God the Supreme Music feeds the aspiration-heart of the seeker-musician. God the Supreme Musician illumines the dedication-life of the seeker-musician.

The soulful prayer and the music world of a seeker-musician are the same thing. His soulful music is his soulful prayer, and his fruitful meditation is another name for his fruitful music.

The music of the unaspiring musician and God’s Compassion-Flood are inseparable. The music of the aspiring and surrendered seeker-musician and God’s Satisfaction-Delight are always interchangeable.”
-Sri Chinmoy

* * *

Question: What does ‘soulful’ mean in relation to music?
Sri Chinmoy: ” When we listen to soulful music, or when we ourselves play soulful music, immediately our inner existence climbs up high, higher, highest. It climbs up and enters into something beyond. This Beyond is constantly trying to help us, guide us, mould us and shape us into our true transcendental image, our true divinity. When we hear soulful music, or when we play a soulful piece of music, we feel a kind of inner thrill in our entire existence, from the soles of our feet to the crown of our head. A river is flowing through us, a river of consciousness, and this consciousness is all the time illumined.

Next to deep prayer or meditation, music is of paramount importance. Meditation is like a direct route, or shortcut, to the goal. Music is a road that is absolutely clear: it may be a little longer, but it is quite clear of obstacles. If one can play soulful music or hear soulful music, the power of his own meditation increases. Music, soulful music, adds to our aspiration. Similarly, if a spiritual seeker wants to be a musician, even if he does not have a musical background, he will be able to be a good musician because prayer and meditation contain all capacities. You have never studied music but if you pray and meditate soulfully, then inside your prayer, inside your meditation, by the Grace of the Supreme, the power of music looms large. Then you can utilise this power in your own way.

Soulful music is the music that immediately elevates our consciousness to the Absolute, to the Highest. But ordinary music, vital music, brings our consciousness down. For a fleeting second or a few hours, we get a kind of pleasure; but then this pleasure takes us into a lower vital consciousness where we are tempted. From the temptation-world we enter into the frustration-world, and from the frustration-world we enter into the destruction-world. But soulful music takes us into the world of aspiration. From aspiration we enter into the world of realisation, where our inner existence is flooded with Light and Delight.

Soulful music is the music that wants to eventually transform our consciousness. It carries us into the Universal Consciousness and makes us feel that we are in tune with the highest, with the deepest, with the farthest.

It also makes us feel that God Himself is the Supreme Musician. When we play soulful music, we come to realise that we are not the musicia
n; we are just an instrument. We are like a piano, violin or guitar, and it is God who is constantly playing on us. If we really play soulful music, we will see that we are just an instrument, that somebody else is singing and playing in and through us, and that somebody is our Inner Pilot, the Supreme.”
-Sri Chinmoy

My gratitude to all of you who listen to this music, and to all the people involved in this site. And last, but not least, my gratitude to Sri Chinmoy, for his unequalled contribution to the worlds of music and spirituality.

Artist: Kamalakanta Nieves
Release year: 2006
Duration: 6:20
Acknowledgements: Sri Chinmoy
Format: Advanced Audio Coding
Image: Pranlobha Kalagian