Part II

Question: When you paint, you often say that you are following a streak of light. When you compose songs, do you also see something and follow it?2

Sri Chinmoy: Yes, when my composing is spontaneous, I see flames inside my heart. When my composing is spontaneous, I like it. Some people do not like it. They think that the more I can take exercise on the harmonium, the better. When I use the harmonium, most of the time I see the flames not inside me, but in front of me. But when I sing spontaneously, at that time I see the flames clearly inside my heart. A few fleeting seconds before I begin, or as soon as I begin, I see at least one flame. Sometimes I see two, three or four flames. As soon as I stop singing and the song is over, I do not see any more flames for that particular song; all the flames are extinguished. Then, when I sing a new song, at that time again I see new mounting flames.

When I set the tune on the harmonium, sometimes I do get inspiration. But sometimes there is no inspiration; it is a struggle because the machine destroys my spontaneity. I hear a tune but, poor me, I cannot get that tune on the harmonium. Then, when I try to get a better tune, instead of getting a better one, sometimes I ruin the original one. Again, sometimes by rejecting a particular melody, I do get a better one.


SCA 1206. This question was asked by T on 25 November 1976.

From:Sri Chinmoy,Sri Chinmoy answers, part 36, Agni Press, 2004
Sourced from https://srichinmoylibrary.com/sca_36