Question: Can The Inspiration We Get From...

Question: Can the inspiration we get from reading patriotic poems help our spiritual life?

Sri Chinmoy: Yes, they can help you spiritually provided the poems are not based on narrow nationalism. If the patriotic poems have a broader outlook—that my nation is going to serve the world, that my nation will offer light according to its capacity—they will definitely help in your spiritual life because spiritual life is dedicated service. But if the poetry embodies or conveys ideas that confine the reality of other nations—that my country is by far the best, that I am by far the best, that other nations must kiss the dust of my country's feet and that my nation will reign supreme—then those poems will be of no avail. They are not real patriotic poems. They are simply unconscious or conscious expressions of our ego and the ego of our country.