A Passenger on the Golden Boat

Growing up in Melbourne I never really considered that I would ever join a spiritual path or have a Guru, in fact the whole concept was quite unappealing to me.

In late 1987 while I was at university I recall seeing many posters plastered across the city promoting a free musical concert with a picture of a resplendent Indian man playing the flute. The posters were absolutely everywhere so it was difficult not to know that the concert was on.

Then one evening I was walking down the road with a few friends when one of my comrades pointed to the poster on the wall beside us and exclaimed, “Oh, Sri Chinmoy in Concert.” As soon as he said the words I felt this very intense ring inside from the depths of my heart and a little voice from within said to me, “that is how you say his name.”

I was quite stunned by the experience as I had never felt anything this deep and clear resounding from within me before. Nevertheless the experience did not remain and I ended up being out of town when the concert was on and had to wait for a later louder knock at my heart’s door.

As I continued through university I became increasingly dissatisfied with the life choices that were appearing before me. Then one afternoon in December I suddenly got the inspiration to drive to my university about 40 minutes away and we if my final exam results had been posted. Even though I logically knew that it would be too early, I went anyway.

As I had suspected the results were not there so I trudged over to the university café ordered a milkshake and grabbed a few flyers from the counter and found a seat by the window.

There was one brochure that really caught my eye. It was of an Indian man in a blissful state of trance, with a beautiful beaming smile and some very eloquent text describing his life and the activities of his students. I was completely transfixed.

Although I felt that this was the life I was looking for, I also felt completely unprepared for such a journey, as I new absolutely nothing about spirituality, meditation and the spiritual life.

In the end I made a promise to myself  that I would give myself a year to get my life in order,  before I would launch into this new life. So for the next 12 months I started meditating more regularly, devoured book after book on spirtuality and had  enough experiences to show me, that despite my initial doubts, my heart was right and I was in fact more than ready.

Coincidentally my brother had also come to the same conclusion, although we had never previously discussed the topic and we together happily became a passengers in Sri Chinmoy's Golden Boat. Several years later my mother joined us also, but that's anorther story.