Sharani

photo by Sharani – Butterfly at Roger Williams Park Zoo

A poignant moment during the New York observance of the 2nd anniversary of Sri Chinmoy’s Mahasamadhi (passing from the Earth plane) came in the form of a butterfly.

A group of the late spiritual leader’s students were standing in formation facing the samadhi shrine and a butterfly came up from behind them and lingered over their heads before finally flying towards the shrine.

This was actually the second time a butterfly appeared and hovered nearby at this location – the first being during his interment in October 2007.

These butterfly moments seemed to carry an aura of significance on their wings. That it happened twice made me stop and wonder what is the symbolic significance of a butterfly in various cultures?  When I pursued my curiosity about the meaning associated with a butterfly, what I discovered gave me goosebumps.

Butterflies are symbolic in many cultures with transformation, death, rebirth, resurrection, the soul and everlasting life.

These butterflies served as symbolic messengers to remind all present that while the body dies, the soul is eternal and everlasting. Don’t forget this inviolable truth spoke God in the form of a butterfly. I am awed and humbled to receive this profound message in the form of a butterfly blessing.

In Animal Kingdom, a book of Sri Chinmoy’s commentary on various creatures, he writes the following about butterflies:

Butterfly: Prosperity

Butterfly, my butterfly,
You are the harbinger
Of man’s prosperity-life.
Your sweet arrival
Devours immediately
Man’s ceaseless strife.

Excerpt from Animal Kingdom by Sri Chinmoy.

As a delighted observer of the natural world around me, I focused in on a different kind of insect during a week’s memorial observances in 2007 directly after Sri Chinmoy’s passing. Read about a praying mantis which also appeared carrying a mystique of symbolic significance.

Here, too, is a slideshow of some photos I took at the Roger Williams Park Zoo Butterfly Pavilion in Providence, Rhode Island last May.

Today, October 9, 2009, the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to President Barack Obama. He is the third sitting President in American history to receive the award, followed by Teddy Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson. President Jimmy Carter also won the prize but not while he was in office serving as President.

The Norwegian Nobel Committee stated,

“Obama has as President created a new climate in international politics. Multilateral diplomacy has regained a central position, with emphasis on the role that the United Nations and other international institutions can play.”

Additionally, they explained,

“Only very rarely has a person to the same extent as Obama captured the world’s attention and given its people hope for a better future.”

Read the Complete Announcement of the 2009 Nobel Peace Laureate.

World leaders have warmly congratulated President Obama, applauding the Nobel Committee for their unanimous choice even though President Obama has been in office for less than a year.

Here is a sampling of reaction from the world community:

Former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev

“I congratulate you on being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. I am convinced that it is the right decision, which significantly reinforces our family of Nobel laureates,” Gorbachev said in a letter to Obama published on the Gorbachev Foundation website.

“Your efforts have helped to bring about a significant change in the international climate. I feel close affinity to your vision of the global world and of relations among nations. Implementing it will require strong will, statesmanship and mastery of communication. It will also require support from Americans and from men and women of good will throughout the world,” Gorbachev said.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu

“What wonderful recognition of someone who has already made such an impact on our planet with regards to the Muslim world, nuclear disarmament, climate change and, to some extent, the Middle East. He has reached out to the Arab world, including Iran, and North Korea.

“In a way, it’s an award – coming near the beginning of the first term of office of a relatively young President – that anticipates an even greater contribution towards making our world a safer place for all. It is an award that speaks to the promise of President Obama’s message of hope.

“The prize is a magnificent endorsement for the first African American President in history, who will become the first serving American President to receive the Nobel Peace Prize since Woodrow Wilson 90 years ago, for his role in founding the League of Nations.

“Heartiest congratulations.”

The Nelson Mandela Foundation

“The Nelson Mandela Foundation, on behalf of its Founder Nelson Mandela, welcomes the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to President Barack Obama.We trust that this award will strengthen his commitment, as the leader of the most powerful nation in the world, to continue promoting peace and the eradication of poverty.”

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon

I would like to wholeheartedly welcome and congratulate United States President Barack Obama on winning the Nobel Peace Prize for 2009. This is great news for President Obama, for the people of the United States, and for the United Nations. We are entering an era of renewed multilateralism, a new era where the challenges facing humankind demand global common cause and uncommon global effort. President Obama embodies the new spirit of dialogue and engagement on the world’s biggest problems: climate change, nuclear disarmament and a wide range of peace and security challenges. President Obama’s commitment to work through the United Nations gives the world’s people fresh hope and fresh prospects. We at the United Nations highly applaud him, and the Nobel Committee for its choice. I look forward to further deepening the United States-United Nations partnership as a key building block to a better and safer world for all. Again, I send my deepest and wholehearted congratulations to President Obama. I wish him continued success.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi

“President Obama is working to restore American leadership worldwide and build bonds of friendship across the globe. The Nobel Peace Prize is a testament to his leadership and vision and a tribute to American values. I offer my congratulations to President Obama on this outstanding achievement.”

Sunday October 11, 2009 will be the second anniversary of Sri Chinmoy’s 2007 Mahasamadhi. Several hundred visitors from various countries will shortly arrive in Jamaica, Queens, New York to observe this year’s anniversary of Sri Chinmoy’s passing from the earth plane. Last year’s observance made a powerful imprint on me. I prayed and meditated through the entire night on the eve of October 11th at the site of his samadhi interment. Surrounded by flickering candles and an ocean of flowers,  fellow students of Sri Chinmoy chanted in unison for hours on end. Other musicians and singers soulfully performed.

• Listen to Radio Sri Chinmoy to hear some of the performances at last year’s one year observance.
• Read impressions from Kedar, a Swiss photographer, blogger and videographer who is a student of Sri Chinmoy.
• Read and watch moving tributes to Sri Chinmoy offered immediately after his passing on his official website.

I will also make the journey to New York for this year’s anniversary observances. I just spent time there last weekend to pray and meditate on my own 49th birthday. I felt many inner and outer blessings and special spiritual experiences during that visit. These experiences create yet another example of the continued sense of his inner presence and connection in my life despite the absence of his physical presence.

This continuing sense of guidance from my spiritual teacher makes me think that a Mahasamadhi anniversary can be as much a celebration of his life and gifts to others than for it to be a time for sorrow and mourning. I know there will be at least a few tears – there already were a few days ago – but mostly you will find me in a choir of happiness and praise for the profound encouragement, inspiration and peace that he shared  so completely with each and every person fortunate enough to know him.