Function Honouring Arlo Guthrie

On 13 July 2002 at Aspiration-Ground meditation garden, Sri Chinmoy honoured American folk musician Arlo Guthrie and his legendary musician-father, Woody Guthrie, who left this world in 1967. Woody Guthrie’s songs celebrated the poor, the unemployed and the homeless of the Great Depression. Arlo Guthrie’s most famous song, “Alice’s Restaurant”, became one of the great anti-war anthems of its time (1968).

Sri Chinmoy read out the English translation of his Bengali song in honour of Woody Guthrie:

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Woody Guthrie, Woody Guthrie, Woody Guthrie!

You are the soulful seeker of Infinity’s New Dawn

And Eternity’s New Day.

A flood of excruciation-tear-pangs within,

Self-giving and self-effacing pilgrim-mendicant without.

Aspiration-beauty loved you as its very own.

Tenebrous realities of human separation-lives

Your heart sleeplessly pined to illumine and unify.

```

After performing the Bengali song for Woody Guthrie, the singers performed Sri Chinmoy’s English song dedicated to Arlo Guthrie, with the following lyrics:

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Fire within, softness without;

Within silence, without sound.

Father’s Dream-Boat-sailor,

Father’s footsteps-trailer.

A climbing heart-crier,

A smiling life-diver.

Your victory-road is clear.

Nowhere, nowhere self-doubt, fear.

Simplicity’s vast freedom-light

Embraces your soul’s Himalayan height.

```

The singers then sang two songs in which Sri Chinmoy set Arlo Guthrie’s words to music, and ended with Woody Guthrie’s famous song “This Land Is Your Land” and Sri Chinmoy’s version to the same tune, “This Heart Is Your Heart.” 16

Sri Chinmoy honoured Arlo Guthrie and his wife, Jackie, with the “Lifting Up the World with a Oneness-Heart” Award. Sri Chinmoy also lifted their son, Abe, and two associates.

Arlo Guthrie: Thank you so much for today. I grew up not too far from here, and as I was on my way I thought, “How does somebody like me, who was a little kid here years ago, grow up to meet somebody who is as internationally known and loved as you?” It is just a wonderful pleasure to be here today, so close to where I was a child.

Here is a song I wrote one night during Shivaratri. We were sitting around by the dhuni fire. My Guru was talking, and she looked around and said, “Wake up, wake up, everybody!” She said, “Wake up dead!” I wrote a song with those words. 17

Arlo Guthrie sang his song “Wake Up Dead,” to enthusiastic applause from the gathering.

Sri Chinmoy: We are all sleeping! We have to wake up.

Arlo Guthrie was asked about his famous song, “Alice’s Restaurant.”

Arlo Guthrie: Thank you, thank you! Namaste. I do not know about it being the greatest anti-war song. It is probably the longest anti-war song. What inspired me? I was not actually inspired. I think it just happened to me, and all I did was write it down. I am not one of those artists who think a great thought and then craft it into a song. Things just happen to me, and I just write them. All of the things in “Alice’s Restaurant” were true. I did not have to make up anything. I hope that is an answer.

Sri Chinmoy: It is an excellent answer! Everything comes from within, spontaneously. Inspiration does not need any outer help. It comes spontaneously, directly from your soul. When it comes from within, directly from the soul, you do not need any outer help. It comes to the fore, and you just become an instrument. You do not wait for the inspiration-bird to come to you. Spontaneously inspiration comes from within, and you become the instrument of God.

Arlo Guthrie: Is that how you write your songs?

Sri Chinmoy: Everything comes from within. Inside we have the ocean, we are the ocean itself; outside we are tiny drops. But we are trying to bring to the fore the ocean of love, the ocean of peace, the ocean of harmony. This is what our aim is. All those who are seeking the highest truth and light are trying to bring forward from deep within what they have to offer to the world at large. This is what you have been doing all your life. This is what your father did.

13 July 2002, Aspiration-Ground, New York

16. Published in Sri Chinmoy’s book of the same name containing folk song melodies, some with Bengali words. Agni Press: New York, 1993.

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17. Arlo’s devotion to a Hindu-based path is reflected in the words, which include: “The death of what’s dead is the birth of what’s living... It’s the life that lies sleeping when you think you’re awake, Forever is real and the rest is just fake.”

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From:Sri Chinmoy,Depend on Grace, Agni Press, 2023
Sourced from https://srichinmoylibrary.com/dg