At our meditation centre, we are all students of Sri Chinmoy, an Indian meditation teacher. Sri Chinmoy was born into a spiritual family in Bengal, India in 1931. He entered an ashram or spiritual community at the age of 12 and began meditating many hours a day even as a young boy.

While Sri Chinmoy was alive, most of us were fortunate to spend time with him, either in New York where he made his home in 1964, or during one of his many trips to Australia. Through practical exercises and personal example, he taught us how to concentrate, meditate and contemplate. He used to tell us that meditation is not like instant coffee; it cannot be perfected overnight. It requires many years of practice to be able to quieten the mind and enter into a deep, meditative state.

However, we have all noticed that the benefits of meditation are felt right from our earliest attempts. As a result of meditating for many years, we have experienced a profound peace in our lives and a sense of inner joy that we had never felt before.

Sri Chinmoy showed us that meditation can be expressed in many different ways. He himself was a prolific poet, composer and artist, as well as a musician, weightlifter and athlete. Meditation permeated everything that he did and also gave him the inspiration to explore many different creative fields. His message was simple: “We are all truly unlimited if only we dare to try and have faith.”

For Sri Chinmoy, meditation was not something that could be confined to a small portion of the day. It overflowed into everything that he did and touched everyone whom he met. From his deep meditation, Sri Chinmoy acquired tremendous inner and outer peace. He shared this peace at his free Peace Concerts around the world and also through his writings and art. In our classes, we continue to share this experience. Sri Chinmoy’s hauntingly beautiful Flute Music for Meditation creates the perfect atmosphere for our talks and exercises. We also use daily meditation cards containing short aphorisms by Sri Chinmoy.

Another way in which Sri Chinmoy expressed the peace of meditation was through his songs  composing over 22,000 songs in his lifetime.  At our free meditation classes, we often teach seekers a few of these mantric songs as a way of invoking a calm and focused inner state.

Sri Chinmoy’s art provides yet another dimension. One of his favourite emblems was the soul-bird. He drew literally millions of these birds. He believed that each human soul is like a bird, winging across the sky, unaffected by earthly worries and concerns. A very popular exercise involves meditating on these glorious art forms.

In sum, Sri Chinmoy has left us a rich legacy to share with all those who would like to learn the essentials of meditation. He encouraged his Centres to offer free meditation classes in the traditional and time-honoured way of passing down the knowledge of the ancients — as a gift from one heart to another. It is in this spirit that we offer our classes.

His work and message still flourishes in the activities of his Centres around the world.

For more information about Sri Chinmoy, kindly visit:

www.srichinmoy.org
www.srichinmoylibrary.com
www.srichinmoy-reflections.com

“A real spiritual Teacher
Is a compassion-wave
From the ocean of silence.”
– Sri Chinmoy