Two special, unique souls

Five-time Mr. Universe Bill Pearl and his wife, fitness expert Judy Pearl, are better known to Sri Chinmoy’s disciples as Mahasamrat and Bhavatarini; these are the spiritual names that Guru gave them.

I live in Seattle, and they have visited our Seattle Centre numerous times. Mahasamrat is such an amazing person. His vibration is so powerful— Guru once said about him that he could walk into a hospital and help heal people just from his prana, or life-energy. He has such energy and such a deep love for Guru. You can just feel it when you're in his presence. And Bhavatarini is the same way—it’s like you can't take the two of them apart. They are absolutely one.

And even though they are getting older, they both still work out. They have a gym at their house, and people come to train with them. They start at 4:00 a.m. every day. They are living examples of the “never give up” philosophy.

And one of the things that always touches me about Mahasamrat is that he says when he gets up in the morning and goes out to the gym, he passes by a picture of Guru, at which point he kisses his hand and touches it to Guru's heart.

There's a story from India’s great epic, the Mahabharata, in which the warrior and hero Arjuna offers a thousand flowers to the Supreme every day, but he is overly proud of it, whereas his brother Bhima simply offers one flower and then goes about his day. But Bhima reaches a high state of consciousness just from offering that one flower. That story always reminds me of Mahasamrat touching Guru’s picture every morning—to me, that says everything. He's just so much in Guru’s consciousness without even trying.

Every year around November Guru would hold a weightlifting exhibition, and Mahasamrat was always the master of ceremonies. His encouragement of Guru in the weightlifting world was unparalleled—almost unbelievable. How much he encouraged Guru!

When Mahasamrat and Bhavatarini visited the Seattle Centre recently, we tried to honor them in the way Guru would have. So we celebrated Mahasamrat’s birthday, even though it was a month early. We had a cake. The boy disciples did some really cute skits acting out different stories that Guru had told about Mahasamrat. We had big pictures of him posing as a bodybuilder. In every way, we tried to bring to him how much we loved him and how much Guru loved him. And we all had a wonderful time.

Bhavatarini and Mahasamrat are a unit.  In her own right, she is also extremely knowledgeable about nutrition and fitness and very down to earth with a most compassionate nature.  We all feel that she is a true sister.

We have a statue of Guru in a park in Seattle, and whenever anyone comes to visit, we always go to the statue and try to have a little ceremony there with flowers and a garland for the statue and so on. In fact, Mahasamrat was present when we dedicated the statue, so he is quite familiar with it.

So of course we went to the statue with the two of them. When you see Mahasamrat standing next to the statue, you can see just how much he and Guru have the same vibration, and how much they look like brothers.

He and Bhavatarini live in a small town in Oregon, and all kinds of animals come to their house—deer, turtles, birds, and more. Bhavatarini, in particular, has a real connection with animals. She feeds them and they are never afraid of her.

And whenever you're with them, you feel those big hearts of theirs, which embrace not only people, but animals and nature and the whole world. They are both really special, unique souls, and I feel privileged to know them.

When two oneness-hearts talk
To each other,
We see the most beautiful dance
Of affection and sweetness.

Sri Chinmoy 1

• 1. Seventy-Seven Thousand Service-Trees, part 9, Agni Press, 1998