New website with daily artworks by Sri Chinmoy

There is a new website with daily posts presenting artworks by Sri Chinmoy for your inspiration. Enjoy! Here is the address: http://daily.srichinmoyart.com/

The miracle of 1987

Many of us remember the cold January New York evening, the structure was complete and Sri Chinmoy would not only have to raise the sixty-eight solid 100-pound plate weights, but also the supporting truss and bar, which themselves weighed an additional two hundred pounds. At 1.25 a.m., January 30, 1987, on his 3rd attempt, Sri Chinmoy lifted 7,063¾ pounds. Of the five attempts (1.03 a.m., 1.13 a.m., 1.25 a.m., 1.37 a.m. and 1.50 a.m.) three were completely successful – a combined weight of over 10 tons, held aloft by one human arm and an unfathomable will. Jim Smith, from the British Amateur Weightlifters Association, who had been following Sri Chinmoy’s progress since he began, put it simply: “Sri Chinmoy is causing us to throw all our current beliefs in physics out the window. Sri Chinmoy is wrecking what we’ve always regarded as normal laws. Sri Chinmoy is rewriting the physiology books all over again!” (This and many more infos on Sri Chinmoy’s life you can read on the new website Sri Chinmoy Reflections)

Sri Chinmoy: No end of the world

Spiritual teacher Sri Chinmoy (1931-2007) talks about God’s plans for His creation in the future. Filmed by Mridanga Spencer in the summer of 2007 in Queens, New York, two months before Sri Chinmoy’s passing on October 11, 2007.

On the Christchurch Earthquake

At 12:51pm on Feb. 22nd, 5 km below the unsuspecting city of Christchurch, the massive tectonic plates that form the cooling crust of the earth split and ruptured, sending the energy of fifty atomic bombs hurtling through the mantle of the earth, upward into the landscape and down into the swirling core of the planet. In less than half a minute, the massive release of energy devastated the Christchurch city centre, tore down buildings , destroyed the power grid and the water reservoirs, turned suburbs into swamps and forever changed countless lives. Amid the devastation though and the inevitable tragedies of perished lives and wrenching loss , we have seen once again the great resolve and steadfastness of the human spirit rise up in response, tales of courage and selflessness, the great love of people for people, the deep kinship of our race. “It’s absolutely bloody marvellous” said reporter John Campbell as he watched bystanders risking their own lives to pull an injured woman out of a collapsing building.

I have been remembering some of the things that Sri Chinmoy said following the tsunamis of recent years and the tragedies in Indonesia and Asia, how these had brought humanity together in a most remarkable way, our self-interests and tribal cultures swept aside in a spontaneous outpouring of empathy and oneness. We have seen this so much in recent days, volunteers pouring in to New Zealand from all over the world, search and rescue teams from Australia, the US, Britain and Europe, medical personnel, volunteers risking their lives climbing over the rubble in search of survivors, people opening up their homes all over the country to accommodate homeless strangers, blood donors, locals taking care of homeless animals, donations of food and money. And downstairs in the coffee shop this morning, people far away from the tragedy reading the morning papers and wiping away their tears.

And we are grateful, as our Guru Sri Chinmoy urged us to be, that not a single disciple was hurt in a city where 250 are missing, presumed lost under the mountains of debris, 105 others confirmed dead, many hundreds injured, a city – once the most beautiful jewel of our country – in ruins. How deeply moving and encouraging to see the beautiful human soul flying above the rubble, the goodness of the human heart – irrepressible and triumphant – bringing its consoling light and its unquenchable hope into every part of the tragedy. Seeing our human family once again living in the heart the way God wants us to always be. Remembering too that our path is not our enterprises, our meditation centres and assets – these are only some of the fruits of our labour – but our discipleship, our God quest, the inner bond with our teacher which sanctifies our life and raises it up, ennobles it; and our cardinal duty to nourish our soul, the remembering of our oneness with God. Our path is our devotion and our aspiration. Disasters with their awful compendium of sorrows and shattered lives remind us of the great existential truths, the impermanence of all worldly things, the frailty of material happiness, and expedite the inner awakening to finally bring the consolation of sanctuary in God.

Christchurch will bind us closer, our human family, offer us glimpses, amidst the rubble of a fallen city of the oneness-world that Guru always urged us to  help establish. It will teach us compassion, deepen and widen our hearts, inspire self-offering and remind us of what is really important in our lives.  Above the dust and chaos, the despair and grief of a stricken city, the fostering love and brilliance of the heart shines like an heraldic beacon, the Phoenix already arising as it always has from the ashes.

- Jogyata

A warm welcome in Nepal

In January 2011 a group of more than 400 students of Sri Chinmoy were warmly welcomed in Kathmandu, Nepal, where they gathered for inspiration and spiritual growth and also placed a statue of spiritual master and peace advocate Sri Chinmoy on a beautiful view point on Nagarkot, overlooking the Himalaya. Another peace initiative was a torch Run by the “International World Harmony Run” that was held in Bhaktapur as well as in the centre of Kathmandu.

PHOTOS BY KEDAR MISANI

 

New statue of Sri Chinmoy in Mazatlan, Mexico

A life-sized bronze statue of World Harmony Run founder Sri Chinmoy (1931-2007) depicted holding a World Harmony Run torch was inaugurated in a colourful ceremony on the evening of November 26, 2009 in Mazatlan, Mexico. The statue is on the edge of the Pacific Ocean ringed by palm trees located adjacent to a busy coastal plaza featuring other statues and lookouts over the ocean. Eventually its environs will be further landscaped with benches and additional information about the late spiritual leader’s contributions in various fields. Other statues by the same sculptor, British artist Kaivalya Torpy, are located in Norway, Bali and the Czech Republic. The statue unveiled in Mazatlan is the first in the Americas and the first ever of the spiritual leader holding a torch.

The Mayor was in attendance to unveil the statue and he was presented with the Harmony Run Torch Bearer Award during the ceremony. Students of Sri Chinmoy representing various countries attended the event. The Mazatlan Fire Department band and gymnastics team performed a stirring drum and trumpet performance and ascended heavenward with gravity defying human pyramid formations. The World Harmony Run torch was held aloft from atop one such human pyramids. Related activities continued the following day with visits by the World Harmony Run to three elementary schools culminating in the school children running the torch to the foot of the statue where they were greeted by the Secretary of the Mayor. A World Harmony Run ceremony including school children also visited a large Mazatlan shopping mall where Sri Chinmoy’s Jharna-Kala artwork was on exhibit inside the mall.  The local daily newspaper Noroeste featured an article about the statue dedication on November 28th and a second article about the World Harmony Run festivities on the sports page in the same day’s paper. - Text and Photos by Sharani Robins

Feeling as a 20 year old boy

For me, as the years advance sailing on life’s river seems to have become ever more smooth. I don’t think it has anything to do with me really. I just can’t escape the notion that we’ve passed through some dark times in recent years and that an inevitable new dawn is seeping through the veneer of everyday life. That’s just my take on it. Starting out as a spiritual seeker was quite a trying time. The changes I went through in that initial stage were often sudden and rapid. The people around me hardly had time to adjust, but I had become a different person practically overnight. Or had I? There is a famous Zen saying that says that before you study Zen mountains are mountains and oceans are oceans, while studying Zen you realize that mountains are not mountains and oceans are not oceans, but when you complete the study (attaining enlightenment) mountains are mountains again and oceans are oceans. – I find that very beautiful. We change, but at the same time we remain the same. My values, my view of the world and my role in it, that all changed when I accepted the spiritual life. But I’ve never felt that the real me, that core truth in me which I carry with me since my birth, has ever changed. Like Nayak writes in his post on the “Sri Chinmoy Inspiration Group” on Yahoo, I also still feel the same twenty year old boy when I look in the mirror. (Although for me the memory perhaps is fresher.)

Studying acting didn’t really make things much easier. The theatre is a world that also plays with consciousness, but it’s not necessarily the same game I was learning at the time. In a miniature version of that Zen koan I also had to realize that the world I lived in, in the end, was still my world. But there was definitely a period when my inner and outer lives clashed and I was caught in the midst of the collision. That lasted perhaps a few months. Then the two pictures overlapped again as I finally got things sorted out within.

Social acceptance has never really been a problem. Like  Tejvan from England I have mainly experienced sincere interest and respect. I did go through the short, frantic phase where you wonder why everyone else cannot see that beautiful light even when you’re repeatedly telling them about it, but fortunately I quickly mended my ways and learned to be quiet when I had to. Still people came with questions, but by then I had learned to differentiate between mere curiosity or politeness and sincere interest. When the latter was in play, speaking about my inner life became a revelation, a blessing and a joy. In the acting school some of my classmates were quite interested and we had a few spiritual conversations that I still remember with fondness. To the others I was perhaps a bit different, and there were times when the opposites were sharply emphasized, but underneath I always felt loved for who I was. Mountains became mountains again.

It’s fun being a little different sometimes. Not in a vainglorious way, but because it can create valuable moments. This past weekend I went on a training weekend with people from my running club and we spent two days together in a hotel. In between training, eating and sleeping (and for me, meditating) there was ample time to talk and play games. Although I still go by my old name there, they also know that I have a spiritual name. While playing a board game in the evening some athletes asked me about the name, what it meant and why I have it. I said the name represents my soul’s quality. As soon as I mentioned the word ‘soul’ a person sitting across the table from me grew wide-eyed and said ‘Oh, I feel a lot of questions coming. Can I ask you some other time?’ And I felt that little ant Nayak spoke about in his post, the stirrings of the soul. The moment passed again and although it was short it was somehow very precious. A little awakening occurred. I love these little miracles. They make all the temporary challenges worth facing. -Abhinabha