Question: What are your birds and what do they mean?

Sri Chinmoy: In this world everybody gets joy by doing something. A doctor gets joy by serving the Supreme inside people who are suffering from various kinds of diseases. In my case, I am getting joy because I am doing something to please my Highest, God the Supreme. My Beloved Supreme asked me to draw these birds, and by making Him happy I also become happy. If I do something on my own to make myself happy, I will never be happy. Even if what I do makes me happy at this moment, I know that my happiness will not last and the next moment I will feel miserable. But by doing what God asks me to do, I am always happy. By serving Him and pleasing Him in His own Way, I get constant joy.

In my family nobody was an artist. My father wrote a few poems and one of my sisters composed a little music. But the Supreme, out of His infinite Bounty, gave me the capacity to create an ocean in the poetry world, in the music world and in the art world. It is He who asked me to do these things, and it is He who has given me the capacity to serve Him in this way. All these soul-birds that I am drawing are His creation; He is creating these soul-birds in and through me, according to my receptivity.

From the human point of view, a million birds is more than enough. But anything that is good, we should continue. God has commanded me to continue drawing. I will go on, go on, go on until He tells me to stop. The first and foremost aim in my life is to give joy to my Creator, the Supreme. But also I am seeing that these innocent birds are giving joy to my students and my friends in many parts of the world, and that gives me a deep sense of satisfaction.