Category Archives: Christmas

Dec 18

Season of Giving

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During this holiday season, my thoughts turn to a different way to approach “giving”. Traditionally I share in charitable activities such as adopting a family to give presents to and contributing to the Toys for Tots drive.

This year my finances necessitated a different approach. I have been meditating on the following quote from my spiritual teacher Sri Chinmoy. It starts by envisioning a world in some future yet to be realized date in which divinity is more established on Earth. Giving to others is a big part of the picture painted of a more beautiful world.

In answer to the question, “What will it be like when divinity is more manifested?” Sri Chinmoy states:

Treachery will go away, first of all.

Then, people will think more of one another and less of themselves, as a spiritual Master does. I can meditate all the time for myself, but I don’t do that. Instead, I concentrate on my disciples; I help them and others who want and need my light. In this way I serve them, and I get joy. As long as I am of service, I am fulfilling my role on earth.

But right now, It is not like that with everybody. When divinity is more manifested, people will offer themselves more for the cause of others than for themselves.

Now you will say, “If one is not realised, how can he help others?” But you can help, according to your own achievement. Always we have to be of service to those who need us.

When divinity is more manifested, each one will offer himself to the service of mankind and each one will have something to receive which he has not yet manifested.
Sri Chinmoy, Oneness-Reality And Perfection-Divinity, Agni Press, 1983.

Because I do not have the resources to give material gifts this Christmas, I am contemplating the idea of being of service to others and thinking more of others and less of myself as this year’s way to share in the “Season of Giving”.

Joel Osteen, in his new book Every Day a Friday devotes an entire chapter to these concepts, using the terms “be a dream releaser” and a “people builder”. He writes,

TODAY’S WORD from Joel and Victoria

Think about the people God has placed in your life. They’re not there by accident. God brings people to you for a purpose. We should live with this awareness that, “I am here to add value to people. I am here to help them succeed.” Don’t go around always thinking, “I wonder what that person can do for me. I wonder what they have to offer.” No, we should have the attitude, “What can I do for them? How can I help them come up higher? Can I teach them something I know? Can I connect them with someone who can help them?” Don’t make the mistake of going through life ingrown. Instead, be a dream releaser. Use your talent, your influence and your experience, not just to accomplish your goals, but to help release a dream in someone else.

Remember, there is nothing more rewarding than to lay down at night knowing that you helped someone else become better. You not only fulfilled your purpose for that day, you did your best. It may have just been a two-minute phone call where you encouraged someone; but when you live as a dream releaser, you’ll see your own dreams come alive as well.

TODAY’S SCRIPTURE

“Be devoted to one another in love…”
(Romans 12:10, NIV)

I find it inspiring that this spiritual truth transcends different religions and perspectives. Whether I am trying to help someone on my job who approaches the desk with a question, or I am trying to be a patient teacher in computer classes or I am trying to share Sri Chinmoy’s meditative wisdom with seekers; it all comes back to Sri Chinmoy’s words from above,

“As long as I am of service, I am fulfilling my role on earth.”

This Christmas, that is my prayer and wish as I travel, a girl on a road.

 

 

 

Dec 26

Tis the Season – East Meets West

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Being the student of an Indian spiritual teacher offers the opportunity for a fascinating perspective when Christmas time arrives. My own Christian background finds me celebrating in traditional ways with a Christmas tree, exchanging of presents, sending Christmas cards to friends and family and a vegetarian version of a holiday dinner with all the trimmings. And yes, I even laugh out loud when I hear the song Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer on the radio.

My 2009 Christmas Tree

When I celebrate the Christmas season, I also infuse my old traditions with the Eastern spiritual perspective found in spiritual teacher Sri Chinmoy’s own background. His youth was firmly rooted in Eastern spiritual traditions, having lived first in Chittagong, Bangladesh and then for two decades in the Sri Aurobindo Ashram in Pondicherry, India.

From 1964 forward he made his home in New York and his own philosophy as a spiritual teacher transcended any particular religion. He frequently travelled and met with people from all corners of the globe and all faiths.

He also accepted students from all religions and encouraged them to honor their own religious background even as they branched out and embraced a meditative lifestyle that fostered interfaith harmony. In a book entitled My Religion, he explains,

My religion
Deeply and equally values
All the religions of the world,
For it knows that each religion
Is a beautiful, powerful
And fruitful branch
Of God’s Life-Tree.
-Sri Chinmoy

Sri Chinmoy’s respect for various world religious traditions and spiritual figures throughout history came through in his songs, prose and poetry on the subject of Rama, Krishna, Ramakrishna, Vivekananda, Buddha and Christ, to name a few.

Sri Chinmoy honored Jesus Christ in poems, in a full-length play called The Son, through songs he composed about Christ (75 alone published in December 1990 in a songbook entitled Jesus the Seeker, Christ the Savior) and in miscellaneous writings.

His body of writings and songs on Jesus offer a unique perspective on Christianity as seen from an Eastern perspective. Some of his compositions on Jesus are written in his native Bengali tongue and he refers to Jesus as an “avatar”. He explains, “An Avatar is someone who is the direct representative of the Highest Absolute, who embodies God’s Vision and Reality all at once.”

Hear one of his songs on Christ as performed by the European music ensemble, Mountain Silence:
Jishu Avatar by Sri Chinmoy performed by Mountain Silence

To find inspiration in blending East and West in your celebration of Christmas, look no further than Sri Chinmoy. His reverence and respect for Jesus Christ is readily evident and offers a lesser-known perspective on appreciation of the holiday season. Merry Christmas!