Part I — Salutation to Japan1

Japan is the land of beauty. This beauty is not something that man has created. It is something that God Himself is, and that God Himself has. What God Himself is, and what God Himself has, in one form is beauty. This beauty is revealing itself through the body, vital, mind, heart and soul of Japan.

When we think of Japan, when we pray for Japan, when we meditate on Japan, we see a very, very special quality of our Lord Supreme. This unique quality is His self-expression and revelation of His own Infinity in and through His finite, little self. God is infinite. He is vaster than the vastest. Far beyond our imagination is His vastness. But again, He can reveal Himself through the finite, smaller than the smallest. This unique quality and capacity of His can be found only in Japan. It is not nature's beauty in Japan — though that has its own value — but it is the inner beauty, inner softness, sweetness, tenderness, purity and humility of Japan that have pleased God the Creator most powerfully.Inner beauty is your birthright. This inner beauty God, our Beloved Supreme, cherishes. He is fond of your inner beauty and proud of your outer beauty. Your inner beauty is your heart's sleepless cry for God. Your outer beauty is your willingness and eagerness to serve God the creation.

In the East, the sun rises in Japan. The inner sun will also rise here sooner than the soonest to illumine the East, to illumine the West and to illumine the whole world.


JPN 1. This salutation to Japan was offered by Sri Chinmoy on 27 September 1987 in Kyoto.