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.

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.