A SONG TO THE MOTHER OF ALL WORLDS

October 1993

Sounds fill me with sound, the earth around,

O splendid holy sound the seas surround.

Light beckons me, bright celestial light.

O Love that I might with grave unalloyed delight

Touch once more those seer and radiant feet

And gaze on eyes where earth and heaven meet.

Mother, Mira, Ma, the golden years

We glimpsed shall come and mitigate our fears,

Rapture and song shall bear us along, yet we pray

That not only the strong will touch the awakening Ray,

But all who love truly, who seek and aspire may come

To Thee Lord: We offer our prayer through the power of Aum.

Narad

First published in Mother India - July 2000

A Song to the Mother of All Worlds is a meditation through sound and a prayer to invoke the descent of a new world and a reign of peace and inner progress on earth. I was inspired to write the poems after listening to Chanticleer's recording of 20th century music and drew upon my experiences with Mother and Sri Aurobindo in Pondicherry, South India, and their vision of a life divine.

In my early days in the Sri Aurobindo Ashram (1961-1962) I had a mixed choir of easterners and westerners who sang with a joy and dedication that was magnificent. One time I wrote Mother that we would like to sing for Her, perhaps below Her balcony. She sent a reply that it would be better in the Ashram by Sri Aurobindo's Samadhi and She gave a time. Not only did I not understand that Mother had made a great sacrifice to come down the steps to listen to our music but also, in my ignorance, I did not realize that this was a Darshan and very soon the inner courtyard was filled with disciples.

We began to sing and, never having rehearsed outdoors where the various voice parts could hear each other, the first song was badly off pitch. I quietly turned to Mother and silently said, "Mother we sing for you, please help us!" The rest of the concert went off perfectly.

We had a choir in Auroville - more than one in fact. And here, my soul's aspiration in song was often lifted far beyond any human expectation.

For it was not just written music we sang but for a number of years, with a small group, and later with a larger choir, we explored meditation in sound. Often only a vowel was utilized, or the word Aum, occasionally we sang poetry, but transcending all individual voices was a collective aspiration that welled from the inmost being of each member of the group, finding new musical expression through prayer and unity. It is to the members of these choirs with whom I had the privilege to sing that I devote this poem.

The music for the poem must be spontaneous. Each singer is asked to produce an individual sound that is subsumed in the greater harmony and with the being concentrated within, to call upon one's highest aspiration and offer the soul's purest response in song for the body of the earth.

The word Aum, Also spelled Om, contains within it all sounds, from man's first utterance, Ah or Oh, to the final MMM. It has been chanted for thousands of years and holds the power of transformation.

First published in Mother India - July 2000