Home page for Niriha Datta

Welcome to my Home Page. Please come in and make yourself at home. It could be said that I am a New Yorker since I have lived in New York city for more than twenty-five years. However, there is a part of me that will always be a Virginian since I grew up in Va. Beach in the state of Virginia.

Maybe it was growing up in Va. Beach where there was a foundation called the Association for Research and Enlightenment that planted in me a seed of interest in spirituality. Although generally my sisters and my main interest in the A.R.E. as it was called, was in its building. The building was round with a wonderfully smooth cement surface encircling it so it was a perfect place to roller skate. We had our own roller rink.

When we were not roller skating or riding our bikes, we were in the ocean swimming since it was only a couple of blocks away from our house. At approximately eleven years of age, I started a shell collection. Frequent were the times I would walk along the beach looking for shells and become mesmorized by the sea and sky stretching out in an apparently endless mass of blue. Thus began my pondering...

Or maybe it was my uncle who received a PhD in Sanskrit, the ancient language of India that sparked my interest in spirituality. After living in India for seven years, he returned to the United States and lived with our family for almost one year. Daily sessions of Hatha Yoga ensued interspersed with lessons on how to meditate.

Perhaps it was all of these things that guided me to my teacher, Sri Chinmoy. I am dedicating this site to him. Among other things, here you will find stories of my experiences with my Guru. I hope to depict in some small way the love, compassion, concern and instruction that I have received from him for the past three decades.