I’ll tell you a funny story. Guru had two monkeys, Jadhu and Madhu. There was a little monkey house off Guru’s porch at his house where the monkeys lived. My first job in the morning was to feed the monkeys. Each morning I would bring the food into the monkey’s house. They would come down and sit on my shoulder and they would sort of pick at the plate – it was a tin from Annam Brahma – and take what they liked. Guru would ask me if they ate.

One day, Guru told me to sing to the monkeys. I am a terrible singer. I don’t sing on key and I’ve been asked not to sing The Invocation because it puts everybody off. So I sang “Never Say No” to the monkeys. Guru would be sitting on the porch a lot of times, resting, looking out on the street. He had a couch there that he would rest on. 

After about a month of singing “Never Say No,” Guru said, “Change the song.” So I sang “I dearly love my India and I dearly love my America.” And that one went on; but one is hard to sing, I love it, but I do not think I sing it right, ever.

One time I was driving Guru to the court (Aspiration-Ground, the tennis court we use as our meditation garden), and it might have been my birthday but I cannot remember. Guru said, “Please sing a song.” To be honest with you, I said, “Guru, I don’t know any songs really, I don’t know any Bengali songs.” And I didn’t. I said to Guru, “The only song I really know Guru is ‘Happy Birthday’.”  So I start singing Happy birthday. “Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you….”

Really, I don’t know any rock songs, I don’t know any of Guru’s songs, except for The Invocation. Now I know seven songs, but in those days I didn’t know any songs. Guru started singing along with me, “Happy birthday to you….”

And then I said, “Well, Guru, I do know ‘America the Beautiful’ a little bit.” Guru and I both started singing “America the Beautiful,” but Guru knew it better than me, to tell you the truth.

The animal life and the human life
Are fast asleep inside you.
Do not awaken the animal life.
Only awaken the human life
So that it can be a good student
Of the divine life.

Sri Chinmoy 1

• 1. Ten Thousand Flower-Flames, part 40, #3985, Agni Press, 1982

I became a disciple in 1975. I heard that Carlos Santana was going to be playing a concert at this Unitarian church; I was very excited because I knew he meditated. I went over a couple of hours early and I was sitting in the front row, but nothing was happening.

So I asked the person at the church when the meditation was going to be. He said, “Don’t worry, it’s definitely happening. But first we have a few children who will do piano and violin recitations.” And for the next hour and a half, I was sitting in the front row watching the children play their music.

Anyway, they finally showed up and there was a tremendous meditation. It was not an electric concert; it was a meditation with acoustic music. I had a really powerful inner experience. I felt that I was floating. I was having a kind of out-of-body experience. I had never experienced anything of that kind, and I was extremely enchanted by the experience.

So at the end of it, he mentioned that they meditated on a special photograph that they had on stage at the time. It was the Transcendental photograph. I saw a book called The Inner Promise, which had a very, very beautiful picture of Guru on the back. I so wanted to buy that book, but I didn’t have enough money. So I bought a Transcendental photograph for four or five dollars. Then I took it back to my dorm room and started staring at it every morning. Early in the morning, I’d put it on my pillow and try to meditate, although I didn’t know much about meditation.
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So that photograph became my most prized possession. I kept it on an envelope taped to the wall. I had a few dreams about Guru, some very powerful dreams. I started to enquire about becoming a disciple, but I had never met any disciples or been to a Centre or anything. I found out that I needed to give my biography, so I applied to become a disciple by mail. I sent a letter to New York.

And so I waited. I was just waiting. Every day I was checking the mail. Several weeks went by and I had no idea what would be going on in New York. I finally received a tiny little card in a tiny envelope and I opened it up and it said “To my child. I accept you as a true disciple of mine.” There was a picture of Guru holding a flower. Someone had typed those words in pink typewriter ink, and Guru had signed it at the bottom.

I couldn’t believe it. I was very, very thrilled.

My Master-Lord, my Master-Lord, my Master-Lord!
Your choice was my soul.
Your Heart is my choice
To save my life from its bondage-voice.

Sri Chinmoy 1

• 1. My Supreme Songbook, 2001