Our members
We come from all backgrounds and walks of life, brought together by our shared love of meditation, spirituality and world-service.
| Contents of this page: | 1. Our inner life:
How we joined the Sri Chinmoy Centre • Our experiences of meditation and spirituality • Stories with our teacher, Sri Chinmoy |
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2. What keeps us busy (besides meditation): |
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| 3. Writing and poetry by Sri Chinmoy's students |
More stories
Meditation experiences by Sri Chinmoy's students.
My 5 a.m. strategic meditations
Sanchita Fleming Ottawa, Canada
Experiences of meditation
Preetidutta Thorpe Auckland, New Zealand
Where the finite connects to the Infinite
Jogyata Dallas Auckland, New Zealand
Spirituality means speed
Patanga Cordeiro São Paulo, Brazil
Seeing the God inside my son
Utsahi St-Armand Ottawa, Canada
Meditation: Touching The Infinite
Jogyata Dallas Auckland, New Zealand
My wife's soul comes to visit
Jogyata Dallas Auckland, New Zealand
A Divine Phone Call
Jogyata Dallas Auckland, New Zealand
Getting through difficult times in your meditation
Banshidhar Medeiros San Juan, Puerto Rico
Self-transcendence in meditation
Kailash Beyer Zurich, Switzerland
The first time that I really understood that I had a soul
Jogyata Dallas Auckland, New Zealand
Reflections on meditation
Janaka Spence Edinburgh, United KingdomMore stories
Sri Chinmoy's students recall some of their treasured memories.
A demonstration of the Master’s occult powers
Arpan De Angelo New York, United States
The day I recieved my spiritual name
Banshidhar Medeiros San Juan, Puerto Rico
'Everyone is feeling nothing but love'
Suren Leosson Reykjavik, Iceland
My evolving relationship with my spiritual Teacher
Pradeep Hoogakker The Hague, Netherlands
The day my Guru accepted me as his disciple
Banshidhar Medeiros San Juan, Puerto Rico
Now you are in the boat
Kaushalya Casey Toronto, Canada
Sri Chinmoy meets an old friend
Pradhan Balter Chicago, United States
What drew me to Sri Chinmoy's path
Nikolaus Drekonja San Diego, United States
The day I made a useless and ridiculous weightlifting machine for Guru
Devashishu Torpy London, United Kingdom
My first Guru
Adarini Inkei Geneva, Switzerland
Meditation functions with Sri Chinmoy
Kokila Chamberlain Bristol, United Kingdom
I know where you are
Kamalakanta Nieves New York, United States
Having a Spiritual Teacher
Preetidutta Thorpe Auckland, New ZealandBooks by members of the Sri Chinmoy Centre
A Twenty-First Century seeker
by Pradhan Balter
222 Meditation Techniques
by Sri Chinmoy
Sport and Meditation
by Sri Chinmoy
Listen to Nature
by Sri Chinmoy
Miracle-Suns from the Heart
True stories from a spiritual Master, his students and dear friends
On Sri Chinmoy’s Sunlit Path
Stories by 98 disciples of Sri ChinmoyMusic
At Sri Chinmoy's request and encouragement, there are many musicians within the Centre who make arrangements of his meditative songs and perform them free of charge to the public. Here is a small selection of groups:
Some of our musical members

Samalya Schafer
Samalya became a student of Sri Chinmoy when he was 19. A talented athlete, he holds a current Marathon PB of 2.28h
- Stories »
- Audio »
- Gallery »

Agnikana Senkyrova
Agnikana has been surrounded by music since her childhood and leads a group that plays spiritual music in concerts all over Europe. She is also a fast runner over short and long distances.
- Audio »

Ghantika Hammerl
Ghantika and her whole family became students of Sri Chinmoy. Ghantika plays the saxophone in Bartika's Jazz Group, an all-female group that performs Sri Chinmoy‘s melodies in a combination of jazz, rock and pop styles.
- Audio »
More stories
Experiences of sport and self-transcendence.
Winning the Swiss Alpine Marathon
Vajin Armstrong Auckland, New Zealand
Listen to the inner voice
Vidura Groulx Montreal, Canada
Believe, take a step and proceed: a 6-day race experience
Susan Marshall ,
How Sri Chinmoy appreciated enthusiasm
Prachar Stegemann Canberra, Australia
Breaking the world record for the longest game of hopscotch
Pipasa Glass & Jamini Young Seattle, United StatesHow sports and fitness became part of our spiritual life
Banshidhar Medeiros San Juan, Puerto RicoA few of our athletic members

Vajin Armstrong
Vajin is one of New Zealand's top distance runners, winning the prestigious Kepler Challenge in 2011 and the Swiss Alpine Marathon in 2016

Abhejali Bernardova
Abhejali is a talented athlete! She first swum the English Channel in 2011 and completed the 'Oceans Seven' of famous open water swims in 2019. She most recently completed a 'Channel Triathlon' - swimming, biking and running all the way from Dover to Prague.

Ashrita Furman
Ashrita became a student of Sri Chinmoy in 1970. Using the practise of meditation, he embarked on a 40-year journey of setting Guinness world records, and now holds more world records than any other person.
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- Video »
Working in a spiritual enterprise
Many of Sri Chinmoy's students work in restaurants and stores dedicated to offering Sri Chinmoy's meditative consciousness to the public. Pranlobha Kalajian who works in the Silence-Heart-Nest restaurant in Seattle, describes what her working day is like.
Members who work in enterprises

Shankara Smith
Shankara, along with her sister Dipika, manages the Run and Become athletic stores in the UK, which were founded by her father Ongkar with Sri Chinmoy's inspiration. She also leads the international women's music group Temple-Song-Hearts, which performs concerts of Sri Chinmoy's music all over the world.
- Stories »
- Audio »
- Gallery »

Smarana Puntigam
As well as managing a gift store on Vienna's busiest street, Smarana has also completed ultrarunning's toughest challenge - the 3100 Mile Race - seven times.
- Stories »

Padmasini Guillet
Padmasini lives in the south of France, where she runs a delightful cafe called Tripti Kulai. She is also the official translator of Sri Chinmoy's writings and travels all over the world to give talks on meditation.
- Gallery »
Peace-runners

Nikolaus Drekonja
Nikolaus spends his time between the United States and Austria, where he has family in both countries. He loves to travel with our international Peace Run team as they visit schools and communities around the world.

Apaguha Vesely
Apaguha travels all over the world as part of the Peace Run international team. An immensely talented photographer, he likes to offer public slideshows from his travels, combining stories with pictures of nature and people.
- Gallery »

Suhasini Septiarini
Suhasini has helped to organise many memorable Peace Run ceremonies in Bali, as well as travelling to many countries with the international team.
Creativity
Sri Chinmoy encouraged us to use meditation to enhance our capacities in many fields - including writing, poetry, art and photography. Here is a selection of musings from our members...
A Mountain Meditation
Jogyata Dallas Auckland, New Zealand
My love of spiritual poetry
Manatita Hutchinson London, United Kingdom
Sri Chinmoy's biography, written by one of the most famous Bengali authors
Mahatapa Palit New York, United States
The Random Dog
Toshala Elliott Auckland, New Zealand
Bhutan, A Country Less Travelled...
Ambarish Keenan Dublin, Ireland
The Swimming Relay
Toshala Elliott Auckland, New ZealandArt and Photography

Papaha Gosline
Papaha owns a gallery and art studio that focuses on showing spiritual contemporary art and producing commercial design. Inspired by the Sri Chinmoy's example, he lives a very athletic lifestyle teaching tennis part time, along with enjoying many other sports activities in sunny San Diego.
- Gallery »

Ashish Zubaty
Ashish's specialities are cooking and photography. He also is an enthusiastic participant in the World Harmony Run, having joined the international team on runs through Australia, the USA and Ireland.
- Gallery »

Pranlobha Kalagian
Pranlobha is a very keen photographer, and has used that talent to great effect on her travels throughout the world with the Peace Run.
- Stories »
- Gallery »












