Second Meeting With Leonard Bernstein

Greeting

On 11 September 1986 Sri Chinmoy once more visited Leonard Bernstein at the Dakota Building, where the Maestro lived in Manhattan. First they met privately in Mr. Bernstein's study and then came into the living room to hear a performance by the Sri Chinmoy choir. Following are excerpts from the meeting.

LEONARD BERNSTEIN: Aren't you ladies beautiful! Why don't the men have robes, too? They have to have ties and look like bank clerks, and the women look so ravishing in saris. Six years ago there were 40 of you, and now you are just a select few. (Jokingly) Did the others defect, or is it just that you are the choice ones?

SRI CHINMOY: They are the choicest. We have not fired anybody.

LEONARD BERNSTEIN: So nobody defected; nobody went over to the other side. Well, Master, where do you want me?

SRI CHINMOY: Please sit here.

LEONARD BERNSTEIN: Then I cannot see the conductor. Oh good, now this is fine. I have to feel your biceps now, Sri Chinmoy! You do one-arm weightlifting. I have received a whole book on your weightlifting.

SINGER: He has lifted 300 pounds with one arm.

LEONARD BERNSTEIN: 300 pounds! Through meditation and the love of God, of course!

SRI CHINMOY: Love of God and prayer!

LEONARD BERNSTEIN: Well, this is extraordinary! You have been rehearsing all night?

SINGER: This time we had a few days.

LEONARD BERNSTEIN: Oh good! The last time I remember you stayed up all night.

SINGER: It is amazing that you remember that.

Songs

LEONARD BERNSTEIN (looking at the song pamphlet): Are you going to sing all these songs?

SRI CHINMOY: Yes! It will not take much time.

LEONARD BERNSTEIN: No, I am not worried about the time. I am just worried about the endless energy. I don't know why. I smoke, drink and do everything bad. Am I allowed to have a drink?

SRI CHINMOY: Certainly!

LEONARD BERNSTEIN (to the singers): You have been waiting so patiently. I didn't know you were here. Nobody told me you were coming. Where did you wait-outside in the street?

DISCIPLES: In the park!

LEONARD BERNSTEIN: That is incredible. Okay, let's go! Shoot!

(Singers perform "The Leonard Bernstein Cantata," a 25 minute arrangement by Haridas Greif of Sri Chinmoy's original song which was performed for Leonard Bernstein at their first meeting.)

LEONARD BERNSTEIN: Unbelievable! How did you remember all that? I hope that this time it was recorded. The last time-do you remember-you finished and someone said, "Gee, it's a pity we didn't record that!"

HARIDAS: It is recorded. We have made a tape. (He gives Mr. Bernstein the tape. Then Sri Chinmoy presents Mr. Bernstein with a plaque.)

LEONARD BERNSTEIN: Goodness, O my God! I haven't got any more wall space to hang these. And who is that young fellow (pointing to his own picture in the plaque)?

SRI CHINMOY: The eternal child!

LEONARD BERNSTEIN: I hope so. If that ever goes away, then I will give up. I'll have to find a place for this. I am so grateful. I can't get over it. You talk about perfection. You cannot learn a song like that in a couple of days. Is it like weightlifting? Through meditation you can do everything- even remember 30 minutes of variations and notes!

SINGER: Let's hope it did not seem that long.

LEONARD BERNSTEIN: I have been rehearsing all day with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. They have the notes in front of them. When I tell them that something has to be this way, they see what it is and they write it in. But they have the notes. You have nothing in front of you except your spirits and your brains. I don't know, I have never seen such a phenomenon of memory. How does it work? Somebody explain it to me.

HARIDAS: I think you have the answer near you (pointing to Sri Chinmoy) .

LEONARD BERNSTEIN (to Sri Chinmoy): You!

SRI CHINMOY: I teach the life of prayer and meditation. When we pray and meditate, there is no such thing as impossibility. Just three days ago I told them, "You will not be allowed to read the music." So in three days they memorised everything.

LEONARD BERNSTEIN: But there is something else in what you just said, which is a certain divine authority.

SRI CHINMOY: On the strength of my oneness with them, I know they have the capacity. It is my oneness-authority. I will not ask someone in the street to do this. But these people pray with me and meditate with me; they are part and parcel of my aspiration-life. It is all a sweet little family. As the head of the family, I tell them that this is what will give me joy, and out of love they do it. They belong to me and I belong to them.

LEONARD BERNSTEIN: The relationship is so deep and strong.

SRI CHINMOY: We have the same goal: perfection in life, perfection in action; perfection is satisfaction. Perfection and satisfaction cannot be separated. If there is perfection, then there is satisfaction. This is what your life is. These are the words.

LEONARD BERNSTEIN: This is what I try for. (Looking at the music score) I need glasses to see this. I love the fast tempo. Last time you did it much slower. It is a great idea and it has such energy.

HARIDAS: It is your energy that is portrayed.

(Singers perform the songs that Sri Chinmoy has written to Leonard Bernstein's words.)

LEONARD BERNSTEIN: How did you remember all that? It gets more and more imponderable. I do not understand it. I do, but I just cannot believe it. There are only two words I cannot bear anymore: one is 'Leonard' and the other one is 'Bernstein.' I would love to lose that identity completely!

The Formless

SRI CHINMOY: We go to the formless only through the form. We go to the Infinite via the finite. To go beyond the form, we are going through the form. There is Leonard Bernstein the man and Leonard Bernstein the divine composer and supreme conductor.

LEONARD BERNSTEIN: How can I go beyond the man when you keep reminding me of him with these two words?

SRI CHINMOY: An Indian mantra is like that. By repeating and repeating a mantra we grow into the very essence and quintessence of the mantra.

LEONARD BERNSTEIN: I have my mantra. It was given to me in the name of a cosmic god. It was very beautiful when I received my mantra. There were offerings of flowers, vegetables and dried things from the fields. I never get tired of my mantra but I get very tired of my name because it confines me; it restricts me to an individual person. The wonderful thing about a mantra is that it is not your name. You can forget your name and become what you are with this incredible leader.

SRI CHINMOY: Your name may confine you, but it illumines us in the world of music. It may confine you because it is your name. But, in our case, when your name enters into our minds or into our hearts, immediately it throws us into an ocean of musical light and delight.

LEONARD BERNSTEIN: I can understand that being somebody else's mantra, but for myself, it confines me. It can open gates, but not for me because it always makes me feel confined. I understand you; that is the main thing. But what I don't understand is them (pointing to the singers) . The memorisation of so many units of information-bits, as they say in information theory-millions and millions of bits of accents and notes and syllables and words and combinations. I don't understand it.

HARIDAS: But when you conduct a classical work by heart, you have to memorise so many more things.

LEONARD BERNSTEIN: But I could not sit in the orchestra and play one of the parts. I could have the overall picture. I could be a Rabbi, a teacher, and show them what they cannot see because they are confined to one part, just as each of you is confined to his or her part. So (turning to Haridas) I can understand your function. But all those people that I conduct have notes in front of them, as well as all the remarks and observations that I have made to them. To some it's a revelation and to some it's just information. But they have it all written in front of them. But you have it all here (pointing to his head ) or here (pointing to his heart) or wherever it is. And my admiration is just unbounded. I can't understand it. I kneel before that.

Our Admiration Is Boundless

SRI CHINMOY: Our admiration for you is also boundless. Just recently in Central Park, you gave so much joy to 500,000 people-not for a fleeting second but for hours. It is beyond the flight of our imagination how a single God-lover can inspire, illumine and give joy to 500,000 people. For us, this is something unheard of!

LEONARD BERNSTEIN: I think the secret is what you said about not a fleeting second. The secret of music is that it makes time stop. We are all prisoners of clock time: "I have to be at my job" or "I have to see my wife" or "I promised I would be there at eight o'clock and it's now that time." What music does is release you from that, so that you can be in the time of the music. And though it may last 35 minutes or 65 minutes, it's an eternity because within the dimensions of each composition there exists an eternal time, which is the time of that composition. Even if it's a little piece like the "Marriage of Figaro Overture," which is four minutes, while you are listening to that Overture, you are in cosmic time. It could be the equivalent of four years of experience-a lifetime! And if it's "Tristan and Isolde," which is four and a half hours plus intermissions, then that's another kind of lifetime that you live during the duration of the music. Some kinds of time cannot be counted. It's neither hours nor minutes nor seconds, but the time that is expressed by the genius who wrote the music: Mozart, Wagner, Stravinski or whoever it is. And it's a great privilege to live in that piece of time-to exist within that piece of music forever. It is a privilege like being with Sri Chinmoy. It is timeless, whatever the duration of the work is. While in this world, you don't have to make an appointment. You don't have to rush. You just listen for the next inevitable note or chord or pause. Those of us who are musical are privileged to have that experience. You are all so musical. How do you sing so well in tune? I don't understand that either.

SINGER: It does not always happen.

LEONARD BERNSTEIN: You mean he has to correct you a lot? I never could sing in tune even when I had a decent voice-before it got ruined by cigarettes and screaming at orchestras. I hear the notes exactly, but what comes out of my mouth are ugly toads, and they get uglier all the time. When I sing something for an orchestra to show them how I mean it to sound, they say, "What?" I say, "Well, you know what I mean." I know that it's the wrong notes and the wrong key, but they always know what I mean. But if I had to be one of you and sing in this chorus, I couldn't do it. I would love to be able to do that.

HARIDAS: I invite you.

LEONARD BERNSTEIN: You would regret that invitation, I assure you; you would rue the day that you ever asked me because I would ruin your chorus. I can't sing two phrases in tune. (He sings "Leonard Bernstein.") Is that right?

HARIDAS: It is perfect!

LEONARD BERNSTEIN: No, it's not perfect! I have often thought that I would exchange all the gifts that I have been blessed with from Heaven if I could only have the ability to sing.

SRI CHINMOY: Then what would happen to those who have got such inspiration, joy and satisfaction in life from you? If you want to change your field, what will happen to them?

LEONARD BERNSTEIN: If I could sing, if I could get out on the stage of the Metropolitan Opera House and make people thrill to the ringing conviction of my resounding baritone, I would give everything up. Singing is what it is all about. That's all I try to do with the orchestra. That's what I try to teach and try to do on the piano. That's why I admire so much what you are doing. King David sang his psalms before the Lord on the steps of the temple with his musicians accompanying him. One hundred and fifty-odd psalms-no small repertoire, but it is nothing compared to Sri Chinmoy's! That is my ideal in life-to be able to sing like David and praise God. Maybe I did it in a former life. Maybe I used to be a second-rate baritone in an opera company.

SRI CHINMOY: Perhaps you did everything, so now you are fed up with it. Now you are giving a new experience to the world. I would like to offer you this.

LEONARD BERNSTEIN: Oh, not something else! You gave me this, you gave me that, you gave me so much!

SRI CHINMOY: This is something for your birthday. Better late than never!

LEONARD BERNSTEIN (looking at the cake with his picture etched in icing): Who is that silly looking man?

SRI CHINMOY (to the choir): Please sing the Happy Birthday song.

(Choir sings "Happy Birthday" and at the end Leonard Bernstein conducts them.)

LEONARD BERNSTEIN: Thank you very much. You are godly people (clasps Sri Chinmoy's hands) . It is a privilege to be with you. Have yourselves a piece of cake. I mean it. Is there somebody with a cake knife? You deserve at least a piece of cake. You are probably all very hungry. It is way past your dinner time.

SRI CIHINMOY: Would you kindly come to our tennis court to play tennis?

LEONARD BERNSTEIN: Sunday I am going to Europe and I will be gone for a month or more. When I come back, I think it will be post-tennis time. It will be late October. Then until March I am a composer. I am very busy. That is the hardest work I do-much harder than all this public stuff. I am very private, and I am usually in Connecticut, most of the time alone, just seeking these notes. It is hard work, but at least I can control my own schedule. I am off the clock. That's like being in a piece of music. If I want to work all night, I can, and I can sleep in the day, or the other way around. I can play tennis or meditate or walk in the woods. I love that. It is very lonely. It is a completely different kind of life from the one I have now, which is with many people and photographers and newspaper people from Paris and Hong Kong. They are around all the time.

Did you people get a piece of cake?

SINGER: On the way out, we will be able to take some cake.

LEONARD BERNSTEIN: But I would like to see you eating it now. I would like to see you happy and well fed. (He embraces Sri Chinmoy.) I don't know what to say. I am just overwhelmed by the perfection. Perfection is your key word.

SRI CHINMOY: We are all dreamers of perfection, but perfection is still a far cry.

(Leonard Bernstein speaks with Haridas briefly in French, then chats with the singers as they leave.)