Category: Sri Chinmoy’s students

Recently Pradhan Balter, a student of Sri Chinmoy for over 30 years, published a book – At The Feet of My Master about his life and experiences with his Spiritual Teacher. His books offers an insightful and illumining account of his 30 years as a disciple of Sri Chinmoy.

You can visit his site: At The Feet of My Master, where it is possible to order.

We asked him a few questions about the process of writing.

Why did I write the book?

If you would allow me, I would prefer to re-word the question to “Why was the book written?” At the time of writing it, there was no intent…no purpose beyond offering something nice to Guru. In fact, the book evolved as a result of a series of experiences I had with Guru

As you know, “sitting at the feet of the Master”, historically speaking, is a position of great honor and opportunity. But I never felt that this was a reflection of me or my own inner capacity. There was nothing about me that “earned” this role. It was, frankly, a boon given to me. I was a piece of fruit that Guru chose. He could easily, and in fact, did choose many others for this role. I felt, therefore, that the role didn’t belong to me and it was my responsibility, or even mandate, to share the experience with others.

This “experience sharing” would typically only take place privately in front of a few friends or spiritual-family members and always in the form of story-telling.

The very first time I formally wrote a story down on paper, I did so only because I thought Guru would enjoy it. I knew that if he liked it, he’d have me read it, but if not, no harm. It was on a Christmas trip in Tenerife. I wrote about an experience which I called NOAMS: No outer attention misery syndrome. It was very frank. It’s easy for me to be frank about my own personal experiences, so here I wrote about how my life changed when Guru first asked me to work on him, how I became very attached to the role, and how I received a very lovely public “blessing-scolding” because of that, etc, etc. So, I was delighted when Guru told me at a group function, “I read your story. Please read it aloud. You have a copy?” I replied that didn’t but I could easily tell the story.

Continue reading “At The Feet of My Master”

Adhiratha Keefe has published a short account of how he became a seeker and then student of Sri Chinmoy in the early 1970s.

Adhiratha with Sri Chinmoy in early 1970s

• Adhiratha – actively seeking in New York

Adhiratha also shares some of his experiences as a student of Sri Chinmoy, including participating in the World Harmony Run and being involved in other initiatives for peace.

• Adhiratha Home page

A few years after arriving in the US in 1964,  Sri Chinmoy moved to the New York suburb of Jamaica, Queens. Throughout his frequent international travels, Sri Chinmoy made his home in a quiet street of this suburb of New York for over three decades. Over the years, many students of Sri Chinmoy, from the US and all corners of the world, moved to the area to set up enterprises and be closer to their spiritual teacher. This has helped the area to be one of the most multicultural and multi-ethnic areas in the US.

In a recent New York Times article, the area was described as a great melting pot  – ‘whose residents cite harmonious diversity as a defining element.‘

Three storefronts stand shoulder to shoulder: a modest grocery, whose sign declares Indian-Pakistani-American roots, selling Indian DVDs, two for $5, and asking 75 cents for a microwave-warmed vegetable samosa; Annam Brahma, a new Indian vegetarian restaurant with the motto “Food Is God,” one of several businesses with exteriors painted a light blue to signal devotion to Sri Chinmoy, the late Bangladeshi spiritual teacher who made his home in the area; and St. Gerasimos Greek Orthodox Church.

That stretch goes some way toward capturing a neighborhood whose residents cite harmonious diversity as a defining element… (NY Times article)

The 3100 Mile Race

For the past 14 consecutive years, in June, July and August, the neighbourhood also plays host to the world’s longest certified race the 3100 Mile Race. The race can last upto 52 days. One of the most remarkable things of the race is that it is run around a single block. Local Residents and local school children have become accustomed to this remarkable race which has been one of the features heralding the start of the summer.

Local residents explain how they have come to appreciate the presence of this unique race which occurs between 6am and 12pm every day for those 52  days of summer.

Members of the Sri Chinmoy Centre have a strong presence in the area with a number of business enterprises painted in a defining blue. Some of these local stores include:

• The Smile of the Beyond – a breakfast and luncheonette diner on Parsons Boulevard
• The Divine Robe – A specialist clothes shop
• Guru Stationary – Small independent stationary store
• Guru Health Foods – a busy independent health food store managed by serial Guinness World Record Breaker, Ashrita Furman.
• Annam Brahma – a popular vegetarian restaurant.
• Panorama Cafe of My Silence-Heart

Recently, several European centres met up in Salzburg for a weekend of games, sport, music and meditation in the beautiful surroundings of the Swiss Alps

Report by Standa Zublaty, Czech

Over the weekend of 22-23 May, members of the Sri Chinmoy Centre met up for three days of sport, music, meditation, games and above all – the beautiful nature of Austrian Alps near Salzburg. Evening programs included a few musical performances, meditations and comic quiz games. During the day various activities such as running, hiking and boat trips were organised – giving people the opportunity to enjoy the beauty of nature.

Continue reading “Weekend in The Alps”

This Joy Weekend was in a place called Sommieres – a medieval town, complete with castle, next to the Vidourle river. While walking around it’s narrow alley-ways it was not too difficult to imagine life many hundreds of years ago. Is all of France this beautiful or are our French brothers and sisters just good at finding wonderful locations? Even the weather was perfect…

After our huge meal (I lost count of how many courses there were) we had our function. Manjula had just returned from the Harmony Run, so we saw a slideshow of some pictures she had taken. Then we played all kinds of games until it got quite late.

In the morning we had our usual early meditation followed by 2-mile race (this time thankfully it was not up and down a huge hill!)

The afternoon function featured numerous French singing groups including Ashcharjya’s group and the newly-formed Bhashini’s group, and an amusing play featuring Bhashini speaking in French and Natashira and Helene? speaking in English. This was all topped-off by an amazing performance of magic from Oindrajalik who had doves appearing from all kinds of places and many other tricks that astonished us all.

Many thanks and gratitude to the French disciples for organising this Joy Weekend which was inspiring, aspiring, amusing, stomach-filling, dynamic and yet relaxing and well organised. It is amazing how much you can receive from one weekend.

By: Suswara Payne

The Sri Chinmoy Centre has more than its fair share of good writers, and there are many wonderful articles put there by members describing their own inner experiences and reflections on life. One special section of the website is Inspiration-Letters, a periodical ezine edited by New Yorker Mahiruha Klein featuring articles from our very best writers. Each edition of the magazine usually contains submissions on a particular topic, and past editions have been themed on such diverse topics as meditation, humour, great poets, and extreme sports!

The most recent edition came out only yesterday, and is themed on the rather interesting topic of …miracles! The entries are not restricted miracles of the dramatic variety (although there are a few in there!), many of the writers take great joy from finding miracles in art, music, exploration and the simple incidents of everyday living. Enjoy…

Sri Chinmoy once told a student of his “All I want from you is to be happy and to realise God”. Perhaps many of his students are a good distance away from the second goal, but they can certainly try to achieve the first! In Sri Chinmoy’s philosophy, staying cheerful and happy of paramount importance; when we are depressed or frustrated, it is very hard to make spiritual progress. That is why over the years Sri Chinmoy has come up with one imaginative idea after another to keep his students happy and in the heart.

One thing Sri Chinmoy encourages in this regard is for his students from different meditation centres in different countries to meet up together to meditate, but also to have fun and be happy. These so-called ‘Joy Days’ offer a chance for his students to escape the pressures and responsibilities of the heart and partake of the kind of innocent joy we used to have as children. As well as meditation there could be team games, plays, novelty competitions, treasure hunts, singing and a whole lot besides. Often Sri Chinmoy’s students have to travel great distances to be a part of these Joy Days, but the whole experience serves to burn away the heaviness of the mind’s broodings and leave one refreshed and reenergised.

Over the past weekend there were two such Joy Days: students from Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Austria and other countries – over 700 students in total – met up for two days in Heidelberg, Germany, whilst a smaller Joy Day involving almost 70 students from England, France, Scotland, Wales and Ireland took place over two days in the Burren region of the West of Ireland. Joy Days in the former Soviet Union countries, where over one-third of Sri Chinmoy’s students come from, can involve over 1,000 students.

Related Links:

• Read about recent Joy Day in the West of Ireland
• Sumangali Morhall describes a Joy Day in Wales