Peace-Lovers
Foreword - The short verses in this collection describe the struggle between humanity's war-suffering and its peace-seeking. Sri Chinmoy labels the major enemy in this contest the human "ignorance-mind", while our ultimate protection is in our "heart of oneness."
It is in this inner battlefield that, according to the poet, "peace-warriors" must ultimately wage their battle. When we confront the true enemy face to face, it is our own unillumined self. The final victory-world peace-depends upon our continuing efforts towards personal growth and self-transcendence.
Sri Chinmoy writes that it is only by achieving peace within ourselves that we can ever establish outer peace. By aspiring for peace and light in our inner life, we not only overcome our inner limitations, we also receive the strength to work for a more peaceful world. As a stone thrown into still water forms rings flowing outward from the center, so also our strivings radiate outward beyond ourselves, touching and changing our whole world. - Professor Russell Bradshaw.
Published in 1977, the two hundred and thirty poems within Peace-Lovers have been selected from a number of previously published works by Sri Chinmoy, and the cover illustration was drawn by the author.
A typical day on earth
Begins not with the hope
Of world-peace,
But with the fear
Of world-war.
Long have we struggled,
Much have we suffered,
Far have we travelled,
But the face of peace
Is still denied us.
I see all around me
The heavy load of poverty
And the slumber of inconscience.
How can I lose myself
In the waters of peace?
What the world has:
A giant mind of war.
What the world needs:
A tiny drop of oneness-peace.
Peace does not mean
The absence of war.
Peace means the presence
Of harmony, love,
Satisfaction and oneness.
World-peace
Can be achieved
When the power of love
Replaces
The love of power.
War wants to prove
That the human mind
Has no greatness
And that the human heart
Has no goodness.
Each positive thought
Has the atom-bomb-capacity
To destroy the negative in us.
Each negative throught
Has the atom-bomb-capacity
To destroy our whole world.
A man of war
Has the face of shameless pride
And the heart of deathless insecurity.
Peace-ignoring world leaders
Will fail one by one -
Each and every one of them.
When I was a philosopher,
I thought that my peace lived
Only inside my head.
When I was a politician,
I thought that my peace lived
Only inside my mouth.
The ancient school taught us
That peace
Is the world-saviour.
The modern school teaches us
That science
Is the world-saviour.
This world is full of
Peace-announcers.
This world does not have enough
Peace-finders.
A global man
Devotedly serves the world.
He is afraid of neither
The world's stark hostility
Nor the world's abysmal indifference.
Those who serve the world
Constantly
Do not have time
To criticise others,
While those who do not serve
Others selflessly
Have endless time
To critice the whole world.
The heart of every human being
Can leave behind a legacy
Of world-illumining compassion.
Yesterday I desired to achieve
So that I could become
Something or someone great
In the world.
Today my desire has been purified
And transformed
Into my aspiration
To serve the world.
Unless you correct yourself,
Your imperfect life
Not only will torture you
But also will lower the standard
Of the world.
You may not be wrong
When people badly criticise you.
Again, you may not be right
When people highly admire you.
Be not afraid
Of destructive actions by others.
But be afraid
Of your own reaction to them.
How to dissolve yesterday's anger?
Just inundate it with today's
Peace of mind.
If you want to transform your life
Radically,
Then immediately give up
Your false sense of guilt.
How can I have
Even a tiny peace-drop
When I am constantly
At war with myself?
If you really want peace,
Then end immediately
Your inner war
Which is undoubtedly caused
By your doubt-filled mind.
Depression is not the answer.
Suppression is not the answer.
Rejection is not the answer.
Illumination is the answer.
Transformation is the answer.
Discover and uncover.
Discover everything in the heart's world.
Uncover everything in the mind's world.
This is how you can
Totally master your life.
How can your life be satisfied
With small realities,
If your heart
Has big dreams?
When he meditated on light
Inside light he saw peace.
When he meditated on peace,
Inside peace he saw
The liberation of the world.
A man of peace
Has the strength of
A lion's heart
And the beauty of
A child's face.
If you want to discover
Your inner life,
You have to walk along
The path of the heart,
Where there is
Universal love, universal peace
And universal light and delight.
Defy the existence of fear.
You will have peace.
Deny the existence of doubt.
You will have more peace.
Embrace the existence of oneness.
You will have Infinity's Peace.
Fearless and indomitable you are
Not because you are physically strong,
Not because you are vitally strong,
Not because you are mentally strong,
But because you have firmly established
Your heart's oneness
With the entire world.
Do not try
To change the world.
You will fail.
Try to love the world.
Lo, the world is changed,
Changed forever.
Love-students
Eventually become
Peace-professors.
All the world-conquerors
Have vanished in the dust of time,
But the world-lovers
Will forever and forever
Be cherished and treasured
By Mother-Earth.
Not the power
To conquer others
But the power
To become one with others
Is the ultimate power.
In the inner world
Peace-bell has been ringing
In every nation-heart
From time immemorial.
We do not need
Heaven-born saints
But just earth-born seekers
Who believe in peace
And want to live in peace.
Your nation has peerless qualities.
My country needs them badly.
Let us share
Our God-given gifts.
When everybody is
Everybody's equal,
The peace-heart blossoms.
It is not a difficult task
To be the torch-bearer
Of a new creation.
Start right from this moment
By intensifying your aspiration-life.
You are aspiring.
That means you are lifting up
The consciousness
Of those who are around you.
Victory and defeat
Are interwoven.
Do not try to separate them,
But try to go beyond them
If your heart longs for
Abiding peace.
Again and again you must fly
The banner of peace-victory,
Even in hopelessly irreconcilable
Hours of hostility.
From time immemorial,
History has been dealing
With tyrants and liberators.
Before long,
It will have to deal
Seriously
With peacemakers.
There shall come a time
When this world of ours
Will be flooded with peace.
Who is going to bring about
This radical change?
It will be you,
You and your brothers and sisters.
You and your oneness-heart
Will spread peace
Throughout the length and breadth
Of the world.
~ Sri Chinmoy
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