Meditation gets me my first job
This is one of the stories in our Story-Gems project, a collection of our experiences with our Guru, Sri Chinmoy. Project homepage »
Previously, Abarita had been living in the Swiss mountains, away from human contact.
So the day came when I finished taking the potatoes out of the frozen earth. I made a few trips down to the village and took the post car to the city and from there, the train to Zurich. In Zurich I was back in civilisation, and it was a very strange experience.
In the mountains, I had started every day at 5:00 in the evening to practice japa yoga together with breathing. I had very, very strong experiences from the exercise of chanting from five hundred to twelve hundred and back to five hundred and so on, making a curve. After about half a year, it became so strong that every thought that I had was very loud. When I was with people, I thought they could hear my thoughts because they were so loud. But of course, they couldn't hear. I had to get used to being with people again and being a social being.
I had stopped being interested in anything in the outer world because everything in my first year of meditation turned inward. I had really deep inner experiences. I was not interested in anything in the outer world. Now I was back within, and I was asking Guru to please show me what I should do. I would not go and work anywhere or do anything unless I was sure that it was what Guru wanted. Nothing happened. My meditation was fine, but there was no kind of indication what I should do.
Maybe after six or eight weeks, in my evening meditation, there was a very clear, nice, woman's voice that said, “Tomorrow you will find your job in the newspaper.” After my morning meditation, I hurried to a kiosk, bought the newspaper, ran back to my kitchen and opened it. There it was. It said Advertising and Sales manager for an art magazine.
So, I applied and they immediately accepted me. I now had a job and I was learning everything about magazines, printing books, publishing, because this was a big printing house. I had a nice office and a secretary and piles of complaints against previous managers in English and German and French. I had to create order for this whole business, which was in complete chaos.
I went there dressed up in my suit and tie. At lunchtime, when the others were eating, I would open a book and pretend I was reading. But I was actually trying to meditate.
God compassionately corrects
My outer life.
God proudly directs
My inner life.Sri Chinmoy 1
- 1. Seventy-Seven Thousand Service-Trees, part 5, Agni Press, 1998
I rely on my inner beings
This is one of the stories in our Story-Gems project, a collection of our experiences with our Guru, Sri Chinmoy. Project homepage »
As part of his videographer duties, Mridanga would set up automatic cameras in Sri Chinmoy's house, so he could film himself weightlifting when no-one else was around.
This story is about Guru's video cameras upstairs, particularly earlier on. The cameras got a little simpler later on, but particularly in the late 1980’s, it was quite a complex situation to turn them on in Guru's house.
setup to Sri Chinmoy
For example, Guru would have to turn on the power. I had rigged a switch so all the power would turn on to the cameras. Then he had to turn a dial and press a button. And then he had to crouch right down and twist a dial to turn the camera on. There were many things that could go wrong, many things. In all probability, during the 10 or 11 years that I'd set up cameras all around Guru's house, I only remember twice that there were problems, which is nothing.
I asked Guru once, “This is quite complicated. Is it ever a problem for you?” Because, you know, Guru was in trance often when he was turning the cameras on.
Guru said, “Oh, no, no, I rely on my inner beings. They just tell me what to do.”
I Always Win
Indeed, this is a challenging world.
But I always win.
How and why?
I win because God’s Compassion-Light
Inspires my inner life
And
Directs my outer life.Sri Chinmoy 1
- 1. Ten Thousand Flower-Flames, part 15, Agni Press, 1981
My first meditation in the Sri Chinmoy Centre
This is one of the stories in our Story-Gems project, a collection of our experiences with our Guru, Sri Chinmoy. Project homepage »
I was kind of a shy boy, young boy, in those days. It took me maybe a few weeks to get enough courage to go ahead and decide to go to the Sri Chinmoy Centre in Puerto Rico. I'll never forget when it happened. It was my birthday, and I was sitting at the dinner table with my family. I was living with my parents at the time. I was still in high school. I was sitting there having my meal, and from deep inside of me came this affirmation, out of the blue: “I am going to the Centre this week.”
So, I went. The first time I went to meditation, it was Wednesday evening. It was on the second floor in a small apartment, in a very humble area in Puerto Rico. There were between 20 and 30 people in this small meditation apartment.
Now, Guru was not physically there, but when I went in, I was clutching one of those yoga books. It was like my security blanket. I remember we waited in a separate room while they were preparing the meditation room. I was asking one of the older disciples—his name is Ananta and he passed away some years ago—if he thought it was good. He said, “Oh, yes, it’s very good.” They were very sweet. There was a vibration, an atmosphere there that was extremely powerful but also very peaceful. My heart was pounding with excitement.
So, the time came, and they called us into the meditation room, a very small room. In those days they would turn off all the lights and there would just be candles, with the candles on Guru’s chair in the front where Guru would sit when he visited, and candles and different shrines around. So, we were inside this real temple, there was a very sacred, very mystical, very, very inspiring feeling.
of the Puerto Rican
Sri Chinmoy Centre
Sudha was the Centre leader. She was an extremely close disciple to Guru. She was at the time an older woman. She looked like Indira Gandhi—if you ever saw a picture of Indira Gandhi. Sudha had Indian features, although she was a Puerto Rican woman. And many years later, I heard Guru had said that she was his daughter in a previous life.
Sudha started the meditation. She sat on the floor next to Guru’s throne, facing us on the side very humbly, and she read one of Guru’s aphorisms. We chanted and then we all went into silent meditation. But because this was my first time, all I knew about how to meditate was to do some breathing exercises, some pranayama. So, I started doing that. Sudha mentioned that we should look at Guru’s Transcendental photograph because she saw that a few of us were new. So, I started looking at Guru’s photograph and breathing in his breath.
It only took a few minutes for me to calm down, and then such a tremendous force, just a tremendous light came down. I could feel it come down in the room and lift me up.
Actually I felt like it was shooting me up. I felt like a rocket going up into the sky, and I could see the earth like a ball, like you see in some of those photographs taken from outer space of Earth, the green ball. I could see it going away as I was going up. This tremendous force was pulling me from the top of my head, yanking me up.
While that was happening, there were absolutely no thoughts in my mind. I mean, the force was so overwhelming that it completely lacked any possibility of thought. I was just flying upward and completely under the spell of this tremendous power.
I just wanted to keep going. It was so wonderful, so blissful. It was just an incredible experience! But it came to a point where I felt like I had stopped. I was frozen way out there someplace. I kept wanting to go on. But now that I look back, it was like my own fears or my own ignorance or limitations were preventing me. It was like I couldn't go any higher. I was stuck. But up there.
Eventually, at some point, I could hear them chanting AUM. So, I sort of started floating back down into my body. When I finally came to and opened my eyes, I was a little disoriented. But I was absolutely certain, without any trace of doubt, that this was where I belonged.
Meditate, meditate, meditate
Soulfully, sleeplessly and self-givingly,
For meditation is nothing other than
Our supreme ignorance-shattering vision.Sri Chinmoy 1
- 1. Twenty-Seven Thousand Aspiration-Plants, part 239, Agni Press, 1997
With Guru on my birthday
This is one of the stories in our Story-Gems project, a collection of our experiences with our Guru, Sri Chinmoy. Project homepage »
I had some other experiences with Guru—twice for my birthday. Guru used to celebrate birthdays, mainly for the close disciples, the inner circle of people very close to him—usually not for people like me. I was not well known on the path.
The first time was during the New York City Marathon. Guru was friends with Fred Lebow, one of the founders of the New York City Marathon. We ran this marathon until the year 2000. Disciples used to meet in New York in November for this race. This is also the time of my birthday. I was born on the 6th of November.
There was a kind of celebration at this time and Guru was teaching some songs in the morning. I was seated in the benches beside another French disciple. Guru called the good singers to go down to start learning the songs. I am a good singer, but when Guru teaches songs, you have to write down the words, and sometimes it is difficult to catch the words and then to memorise them. I didn't want to go down. I hesitated to go down and stayed in my seat. But my friend beside me said, "No, no, it is your birthday today. You have to go down. You have to go down and at least participate."
Finally, I went down and joined the group of boys and girls. I was in the middle of the group. We started to write down the song that Guru was teaching us. At one point Guru stopped the practice and asked people to divide themselves, to move to each side. I stayed alone in the middle. He called me to go near him, and I knew that he wanted to meditate on me for my birthday. I don't know how he knew that it was my birthday. It is true that he has a link with everybody's soul. Usually he doesn't call people like me just for the birthday.
During the meditation, I saw some light around Guru's head like an aura, a blue aura. It was the first and only time I saw this blue light around Guru, only around his head. He gave me this experience.
Every time you meditate alone in front of Guru, you really feel his love. You cannot express this love. Nobody can love you like him. It's so strong!
The second time was also for my birthday in November, and I was there again for the New York City Marathon. There was a function in the evening, and because it was my birthday, I offered Guru a bouquet of flowers from Kanan's shop, along with a small card. In the card, I said a few words like, “I am all yours.”
During the intermission, a guard asked me to go to Guru. I was surprised. When I went up to Guru, he gave me back the small card that I had given him with the bouquet. The bouquet was on the small table beside him. He gave me back the card but he didn't release it. I kept holding the card too, as he was meditating on me. This was my best experience of feeling Guru's love— so deep, and so much compassion. In the small card, he added his own words, words like blessing, love, joy. He gave me back the small card but he had added his own words... It was a special gift.
My aspiration-heart
Is indeed a gift from God.
My dedication-life
Is indeed my gift to God.Sri Chinmoy 1
- 1. Twenty-Seven Thousand Aspiration-Plants, part 128, Agni Press, 1990
Sri Chinmoy performs on the world's largest organ
This is one of the stories in our Story-Gems project, a collection of our experiences with our Guru, Sri Chinmoy. Project homepage »
Guru always wanted to play at the Sydney Opera House. For Guru, there was something very magical about that building. Guru liked the building very, very much. Guru said whenever he hears the name Sydney, he thinks of the Opera House. We knew that Guru would love to play the organ, so we got permission somehow, I don't know how. It was a miracle that we got permission for Guru to play the organ.
There were about maybe one hundred disciples. It was not for the public. It was only for some disciples. Also, it was being recorded by the national radio. The gentleman who would show Guru the organ was a very famous organ player himself. It was arranged that he would also interview Guru for the radio program. Guru was very excited about playing this organ. It is the largest mechanical action organ in the world. It has ten thousand pipes.
There were many forces coming together. There was the building itself that Guru loved so much, then there was the organ, which was so special, and the occasion. Guru flew especially to Sydney from Melbourne just to play this organ.
Now, the organ itself with all the pipes is positioned high above the auditorium. So, if you are sitting in the audience, you're looking up almost to the sky to see the organ. The person who is playing the organ, to access, to get to the organ, has to climb up a series of staircases, spiral staircase and ladders to get up to where the organ is.
So, three of us climbed up the stairs. There was Guru, there was David Rumsey, the gentleman who would interview Guru and would show Guru the organ, and myself. As we climbed the stairs, it was like entering into another realm. There was a real sense of something momentous and a real adventure. Something special was about to happen.
When you get to the top of all these stairs, you then have to walk through the body of the organ to reach the place where you sit down and play on the keyboards. There is only one way to get there: You have to walk through all of these ten thousand pipes all around you.
So, then Guru sat at the organ and David Rumsey showed Guru all about the organ and where you can find the bells, where you can find the flutes, where you can find the different ways to make the organ produce all the different sounds. Then Guru was ready to play. Guru leaned over to me and whispered, “I need to be alone now to meditate.”
Guru needing to be alone meant that David Rumsey and I had to leave, but there was nowhere to go. You’re in this little alcove with the organ. You're 30 meters above. You cannot jump off.
David Rumsey knew the organ very well, so he went back through the organ and disappeared. I don't know where he went. So, I was by myself. I left where Guru was sitting at the organ and went back into the body of the organ. I knew that Guru was already meditating and I was making noise by walking, so I just stopped and sat down where I was.
I was far enough away from Guru that I would not disturb his meditation, but I also did not want to make any more noise. So, I just sat down and closed my eyes, and thought, “This is where I will wait while Guru plays.”
There was absolute silence, and then above me and to the right there was this explosion of sound. I was sitting in the middle of all of the ten thousand pipes, and for the next 36 minutes and 14 seconds, it was like sitting inside a volcano. I could feel every one of those pipes, how thrilled they were to be the instruments, the voices to manifest this unprecedented music into the Earth's atmosphere.
The really large pipes were vibrating and sending this really powerful force right through my physical body. Everything was vibrating and tingling with this, just outwardly, let alone the inner thrill that accompanied the moment.
It was a complete tidal wave of everything that Guru embodies—all of Guru's love, all of Guru's power, all of Guru's passion for everything that he does, everything of Guru’s—he was putting into that performance. The whole organ became like an army. It was like an army of pipes. Every one of these pipes was playing its role, absolutely with such commitment and dedication to achieving this sublime goal.
It was an experience of three-dimensional ecstasy. Well, actually, more like four or five or six or seven-dimensional. When it was finished, David Rumsey came and sat next to Guru. He interviewed Guru for the radio immediately after the performance was finished, and this is an immortal interview. In this interview, Guru said many immortal utterances about the organ.
I find spirituality in the organ, more than I find it in any other instrument. Here I see that the organ is not only the king of all the musical instruments but it is also the queen of all the instruments. It is extremely powerful and it has a very subtle, delicate touch at the same time. When you think of a king, you think of somebody who is very powerful, like a sovereign, and, when you think of a queen, there is softness and sweetness, a delicate touch. So the organ combines both God the Man and God the Woman.
Sri Chinmoy
excerpt from the interview
David Rumsey asked Guru if he was satisfied with his performance and Guru said, no, because he felt there was so much more he wanted to offer, which he could not offer. But at the same time, Guru said that there was nothing else that could have been offered, given the limitations of the instrument. So, this was the most Guru could have offered through a pipe organ on the planet Earth. Even then, it was still only a small fraction of what Guru was experiencing and what he wanted to offer. But it was still way, way, way beyond what any of us could actually receive. Many, many times for many years afterwards, Guru would always refer to this performance as his favourite of all of his pipe organ performances. The title is Heart-Power-Victory.
Then we had to walk back down all these hundreds of stairs, the spiral staircase, back down to the earth-plane. I was walking just in front of Guru, which means just below Guru on the stairs. Guru was in such a trance state that I really doubted that Guru would be able to walk himself down this spiral staircase, but he did. On the way down, Guru said that while he was playing, all the beings were coming to him from all the different inner realms and saying to Guru, begging him to play their music, from their realm. Then he would agree. He would go with beings to play with some beings from one realm, but then beings would come from another realm, and then Guru would have to go. He said the whole time he was constantly being pulled by all these different beings to all the different realms.
The next morning, Guru listened to about 10 minutes of the performance on the headphones and again Guru went into trance while he was listening. Guru could not believe that he had played that performance. While he was listening, Guru said, “There are 40 people playing.”
When he plays
When he plays on Heaven-organ
Not only the cosmic gods
But also the Lord Supreme
Admires his miracle music of
Unmeasured height
And
Unplumbed depth.
When he plays on earth-organ
No human soul sincerely dares
To appreciate the soul-breath
Of his life of
Music-flow
And
Music-glow.Sri Chinmoy 1
- 1. Three hundred sixty-five Father's Day prayers, Aum Press, Puerto Rico, 1974
Brought to Guru by another spiritual Master
This is one of the stories in our Story-Gems project, a collection of our experiences with our Guru, Sri Chinmoy. Project homepage »
I was at NYU and I began doing Sufi dancing. At one point, the students that were leading the Sufi dancing said, “Our teacher is coming to give a weekend seminar. Would you like to join? His name is Pir Vilayat Khan.”
I felt Pir Vilayat Khan was very sincere, very spiritual, although I did not have an experience with him the way I did with Guru. But at the end of the two-day seminar, Pir Vilayat Khan said, “If any of you want to meet a real spiritual master, Sri Chinmoy is offering his annual New Year's meditation at Hunter College,” and he gave the date and time.
That is how I found Guru again. Some of you may recall that Pir Vilayat Khan and Guru became good friends. You may have seen a picture of Guru and Pir Vilayat Khan meditating on each other at the United Nations. Pir Vilayat Khan was very, very devoted to Guru.
So, I became a disciple. I was still a student at New York University, living in an apartment in the East Village in Manhattan, in Greenwich Village. Well, I didn't become a disciple right away. I went to the meditation at Hunter College. At the end, Guru invited those who were interested in becoming disciples or learning more about his path to come up on stage. I knew by that time I was ready. I went up on stage with others and I was so proud of myself. I just went up and I was meditating.
The New Year’s Meditation was a powerful experience. I began attending the Saturday evening meditations for new seekers, which were then held in disciples’ apartments in Manhattan. At one of these sessions, those who wanted to become disciples were invited to have a short, private interview with Guru.
During my interview, I explained to Guru that, although I felt he was my spiritual teacher, I also felt much respect for Pir Vilayat Khan. With great patience, Guru told me, “You have to know who your spiritual Father is, and who your spiritual Uncle is.” Guru elaborated at length how there are many valid paths to the Goal, but how we must follow only the path meant for us. At the end of his answer, I felt a bit mischievous and, only because I knew that my all-loving Father would allow me, I piped in, “But can I still go Sufi dancing?”
“Fine, fine,” he said, realising that although I said I was 22, I still had the emotional make-up of a 14-year-old.
Once I knew that I could go Sufi dancing, I never had the desire to go, and I explored my new spiritual path with enthusiasm and intensity.
Why do I meditate?
I meditate precisely because
My meditation proudly carries me
To the shore I seek.Sri Chinmoy 1
- 1. Twenty-Seven Thousand Aspiration-Plants, part 192, #19119, Agni Press, 1993
Guru, Shamita is dying!
This is one of the stories in our Story-Gems project, a collection of our experiences with our Guru, Sri Chinmoy. Project homepage »
I got a call on the phone from a disciple, a doctor in Vienna. He was very Austrian, very matter of fact, and he just said to me, “I'm trying to get a message to Guru that Shamita is dying.” Well, that got my attention!
He explained that Shamita, a musician who plays the cello and is a very good ultra-runner, had run an ultra-race in Austria and had collapsed.
So, I knew that Guru would want as many details as possible. I remember writing them down. Pratush said that her organs were shutting down, which apparently is very, very serious. The doctors thought it was just a matter of time till she died.
Well, of course, I knew how serious that was, so I remember I ran out of the store, just dropped everything and ran out of the store. I remember jumping on my bicycle and pedaling like crazy to Guru's house.
I thought it strange because normally each morning I would come to Guru's house, I would go upstairs and I would show him the video of his lifting from that morning. But that particular morning, I had not been invited. So it was very normal for me to come to Guru's house. I remember knocking on the side door and being let in. I went upstairs to see Guru. He was resting on the porch, sleeping or semi-dozing, and was being massaged by a disciple.
I knew normally never to disturb Guru when he was like that. We think he is resting, but he said he always would be doing enormous number of things occultly, inwardly, and we should never disturb him when he's like that. Well, it was only a few seconds. I was kneeling there before Guru. Really, it was only a few seconds. and Guru just opened his eyes and totally unperturbed said, “Is there anything?”
Well, I gave the message. I gave the details. and Guru literally closed his eyes for just a few moments. Then he opened them and looked at me and said, “Oh, good, you're here, you can go and get the videos from upstairs and show me my lifting.”
It was so interesting how your mind sort of locks, because I knew Guru had done everything in those few seconds. I mean, you feel it, mentally I knew it, but it was actually too much for me to even comprehend that, oh, Guru now wants to see his lifting? I mean your heart always knows that Guru will deal with it. But it was very interesting because one part of my mind was “Well, Guru has dealt with it,” and the other part is “Well, how is that possible?” It was just so quick and instant, and then Guru is, “Okay. that's dealt with. Now we have to do this.”
Then, of course, we found out a few hours later that she had made a miraculous recovery very quickly from that moment onwards, against all medical expectation.
Each divine experience
Is a miracle.
Is there anything special in life
That is not a miracle?Sri Chinmoy 1
- 1. Seventy-Seven Thousand Service-Trees, part 14, #13624, Agni Press, 1999
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