
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 |
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.


How I became interested in meditation
Abhejali Bernardova Zlín, Czech Republic
Getting through difficult times in your meditation
Banshidhar Medeiros San Juan, Puerto Rico
A Divine Phone Call
Jogyata Dallas Auckland, New Zealand
An airport meditation experience
Jogyata Dallas Auckland, New Zealand
My 5 a.m. strategic meditations
Sanchita Fleming Ottawa, Canada
Where the finite connects to the Infinite
Jogyata Dallas Auckland, New Zealand
Spirituality means speed
Patanga Cordeiro São Paulo, Brazil
Self-transcendence in meditation
Kailash Beyer Zurich, Switzerland
Meditation: Touching The Infinite
Jogyata Dallas Auckland, New Zealand
The most beautiful and fulfilling of all possible experiences
Jogyata Dallas Auckland, New Zealand
An intense, concentrated Fire
Toshala Elliott Auckland, New Zealand
Experiences of meditation
Preetidutta Thorpe Auckland, New ZealandMore stories
Sri Chinmoy's students recall some of their treasured memories.

Humorous moments with Sri Chinmoy
Toshala Elliott Auckland, New Zealand
My Life with Sri Chinmoy: a book
Tejvan Pettinger Oxford, United Kingdom
Listen to the inner voice
Vidura Groulx Montreal, Canada
A demonstration of the Master’s occult powers
Arpan De Angelo New York, United States
The day my Guru accepted me as his disciple
Banshidhar Medeiros San Juan, Puerto Rico
Sri Chinmoy meets an old friend
Pradhan Balter Chicago, United States
My first Guru
Adarini Inkei Geneva, Switzerland
Running for Peace
Jogyata Dallas Auckland, New Zealand
It does not matter which spoon you use
Brahmacharini Rebidoux St. John's, Canada
No prior experience needed
Samalya Schafer Berlin, Germany
How I learned from Sri Chinmoy
Pradhan Balter Chicago, United States
The day I saw my Guru's Third Eye
Vidura Groulx Montreal, Canada
Meeting Sri Chinmoy for the first time
Janaka Spence Edinburgh, United KingdomBooks by members of the Sri Chinmoy Centre
Music
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

Eshana Gadjanski
Eshana is an accomplished pianist. She is the leader of the female music group Blue Flower, whose members come from the former Yugoslavian republics, and which offer concerts of Sri Chinmoy's music all over Europe.
- Stories »
- 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 »

Toshala Elliott
A singer and accomplished piano accordionist, Toshala is also a member of the international women's group Shindhu.
- Stories »
- Audio »
More stories
Experiences of sport and self-transcendence.

Believe, take a step and proceed: a 6-day race experience
Susan Marshall ,
Is it unspiritual to care about winning?
Tejvan Pettinger Oxford, United Kingdom
Failures are the pillars of success
Anugata Bach New York, United States
The Ever-Transcending Goal
Preetidutta Thorpe Auckland, New Zealand
Running a Six-Day Race
Ratuja Zub Minsk, Belarus
How meditation helped me swim the English Channel
Abhejali Bernardova Zlín, Czech RepublicA few of our athletic members

Samunnati Lehonkova
Our best female marathon runner with a PB of 2:28, Samunnati competed in the 2016 Olympics for her native Ukraine

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

Vajra Henderson
Vajra has been a student of Sri Chinmoy for over 50 years; his medical and massage experience is invaluable in the many ultra-distance races that we organise.
- Stories »
- 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

Laufey Haraldsdottir
A talented musician, Laufey has organised Peace Runs in Iceland, Greenland and the Faroe Islands.

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.

Bayarkhuu Batbayar
Bayarkhuu has travelled the world as part of the international Peace Run team, taking part in runs in Scandinavia, Australia, Japan and Korea
- Gallery »
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...

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
My love of spiritual poetry
Manatita Hutchinson London, United Kingdom
A Mountain Meditation
Jogyata Dallas Auckland, New Zealand
The Swimming Relay
Toshala Elliott Auckland, New Zealand
Bhutan, A Country Less Travelled...
Ambarish Keenan Dublin, IrelandArt and Photography

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 »

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 »

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 »