Sri Chinmoy

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Sri Chinmoy’s birthday August 27th 2016

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Sri Chinmoy was born 27th August, 1931 in Shakpura, Chittagong, India (now part of Bangladesh).

For disciples of Sri Chinmoy, August 27th is a special day, which we mark with a race, meditation and musical performances. This year, there were perhaps 1,000 people from all over the world who came to meet in Jamaica, Queens, New York.

August 27th is one of the few days a year where I feel I have no outer obligations or responsibilities. The phone and computer is switched off; it is simply a day for meditation and being at peace with the world.

I start off by meditating at 5am. Usually, getting up at 5am to meditate would be a difficult task, but the energy of a spiritual celebration seems to help reduce the need for sleep. (Plus jet lag from UK works in favour of getting up early.) …

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The Dance of Life by Sri Chinmoy

poetry, sri chinmoy /

When I joined Sri Chinmoy’s path (back in 1999), I read poetry series like the Dance of Life and didn’t always appreciate them. I preferred reading question and answers, and talks like ‘Everest Aspiration‘. Many years later, I dipped back into the poetry series Dance of Life and, at this point of time, the poems seemed to hold much greater understanding and resonance. Sri Chinmoy said he never wrote an autobiography, but in many of these early poems, I feel he wrote autobiographical incidents about his life. These autobiographical incidents were also visionary – in that many seemed to occur and develop after he wrote them in 1973.

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The Dance of Life by Sri Chinmoy Read More »

Peace Run meeting with Oxford Mindfulness

sri chinmoy /

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Last week, I helped organise the Sri Chinmoy Oneness-Home Peace Run on the day it was in Oxford. In the morning we visited the Oxford Mindfulness centre at the Warneford hospital in Headington, within the Oxford University Department of Psychiatry.

The Mindfulness centre have been offering courses in meditation and mindfulness to help people deal with stress, depression and other life issues. Four years ago, we met with the founder of the Centre – Mark Williams when the Peace Run last went through Oxford. …

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The Buddha’s silence wins

spirituality, sri chinmoy /

One day the Lord Buddha was meditating. An elderly man came in and started abusing the Buddha most ruthlessly. The Buddha remained absolutely silent.

Buddha Daibutsu, Kamakura
Buddha Daibutsu, Kamakura

How long could he continue his abuse? After a while he stopped and was about to leave the place. But the Buddha said, “Just wait, please. I have something to ask you. Tell me, when you offer gifts to a person, if he does not accept your gifts, what do you do?

“I just take them back.”

The Buddha said, “Well, you have been trying to offer me the gifts that you brought with you. Since I have not accepted your gifts, you are taking them back with you.”

The man felt sad and ashamed of his conduct. He begged forgiveness of the Buddha. The Buddha forgave him and eventually he became a close disciple of the Buddha.

 

– Story from AUM Magazine, January 1974. Originally written by Mano Ranjan Ghose. Translated from the original Bengali by his younger brother, Sri Chinmoy.

Comment

There is a saying kindness is its own reward. Hatred is its own punishment. Also, whatever you give out, comes back to you like a boomerang. In this story, the Buddha’s silence illumines the person filled with anger.

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Meditation – self effort and grace

1 Comment / sri chinmoy /

An interesting feature about meditation is that sometimes, when you make a lot of effort, it feels like nothing really happens.

Yet, at other times, you make no seeming effort, but you can have a very good meditation.

This is an experience I remember from Oslo in June 2001. I was late for a talk by Sri Chinmoy. My mind was anything but calm and tranquil. I was physically uncomfortable – squashed at the back – without anywhere to sit. Yet, despite everything working against a good meditation – I had a very powerful experience of peace. It was a sense of peace that was very tangible; something that belonged to everyone and you felt a sense of gratitude for being able to experience. …

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Ore tora ke kotai

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Ore tora ke kotai is a very haunting melody. I believe that Sri Ramakrishna used to sing this song when he wanted those disciples who were meant for him to come.

This is an excellent performance by Agnikana’s group, from Czech Sri Chinmoy Centres. They capture the haunting, soulful nature of the performance.

Sri Ramakrishna had many great disciples such as Swami Vivekananda, Swami Brahmananda and many more. An excellent book for spiritual seekers is “God Lived With Them” and “They Lived With God.” – which tells a short life story about some of Ramakrishna’s direct disciples. Whenever I read books about Sri Ramakrishna and his disciples, I feel such devotion.

There was a time when Sri Ramakrishna was impatient for his destined disciples to come and he would sing this song to Mother Kali.

I have heard (and I can’t remember where) that there was a supposed to be a third great liberated soul (like Vivekananda and Brahmananda) but this soul never made it – such is the ignorance of the world – if a liberated soul can’t make it to the spiritual life – it just shows the difficulties for others! But, when we hear music like this – it lifts us far from the mundane world and transports us somewhere else – at least temporarily.

 

 

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