Sharani

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!

The first World’s Parliament of Religions was held in Chicago in 1893 in conjunction with the World Columbian Exposition – a precursor to later World’s Fairs. On the occasion of the 100 year anniversary, another Parliament was again held in Chicago in 1993.

I was lucky enough to attend that 1993 anniversary Parliament and was present in the audience when my meditation teacher Sri Chinmoy offered an opening meditation for the Parliament. Watch it here:
110-1-2.mp4

Since this 1993 centenary, Parliaments have been held every five years. This year’s event has been underway from December 3-9, 2009 in Melbourne.  I am acquainted with some of the presenters at this year’s Parliament because the International Sri Chinmoy Centres held various events at the Parliament as well as off-site.

What is the 2009 Parliament of World’s Religions all about? From the FAQ on the Parliament’s website:

Since 1993, a Parliament of the World’s Religions has convened every five years in a major international city (Chicago 1993, Cape Town 1999, Barcelona 2004). Sponsored by the Council for a Parliament of the World’s Religions, the 2009 Parliament will take place in Melbourne, Australia. A multi-religious, multi-lingual, and multicultural city, Melbourne offers an ideal location for the 2009 Parliament. Culturally vibrant and global in vision, Melbourne and Victoria are home to indigenous and Aboriginal spiritualities as well as the major world religions – Baha’i, Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism and Sikhism among others. Over 10,000 participants will come to Melbourne for the Parliament. The 2009 Parliament will turn worldwide attention to Melbourne as a destination city with international appeal. The Parliament will run for seven days with approximately 450 events including keynote addresses, seminars, conferences, debates, performances, concerts and exhibitions.

This year in Melbourne you can glimpse the multifaceted events of the 2009 program on their official website, complete with video, photos and news.

Related: Sri Chinmoy meditates at the Barcelona Parliament in 2004 (video).

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.

Tonight I took a nostalgic stop down memory lane when I bought ice cream from an ice cream truck wending its way through the neighborhood while I was out walking as the sun set. I had some money in my pocket and a smile on my face as I steered my feet towards the ice cream truck instead of back towards my house.

The early days of Palagi's Ice Cream

I have certainly heard the ice cream truck bell ringing in my Rhode Island neighborhood but this is the first time that I actually buy from it. Somehow it seems something tailor made for children and not for my middle-aged viewpoint. However, I felt a child once again as I pored over the pictures of ice cream oddities and creations. What did I get? A Klondike Choco Taco for $2.25 from Palagi’s Ice Cream.

Lo and behold they have been vending ice cream since 1896 and their website shows pictures of horse drawn selling wagons and Model A Ford Wagons. So my nostalgic trip down memory lane was just so in more ways than one.

This ice cream “taco” was fun to eat but I said to myself,

“From where to where!”

My favorite flavor of non-dairy ice cream

when I stopped to think that a couple of weeks ago I had frozen kefir for the first time ever at a
Starfruit shop in Wicker Village, Chicago and totally LOVED it!

Or that the frozen confection you are most likely to find in my freezer this summer is a non-dairy variety of ice cream such as Purely Decadent brand Pomegranate Chip or Rice Dream brand.

Since I seem to equate ice cream with happiness, I like to reference the following quote from my meditation teacher Sri Chinmoy’s writings for a spiritual perspective on the subject:

Charles: Does God like ice cream?

Sri Chinmoy: Yes, God does like ice cream because ice cream is the food of the human beings who love the childlike consciousness. God always treasures the child-consciousness; therefore, He likes ice cream. He eternally wants to remain in the child-consciousness. He is an eternal Child. Whatever a child likes, He also likes because that is the only way He can satisfy and please Himself. Because He is an eternal Child, He eternally likes ice cream.

Excerpt from God The Supreme Humourist Part 2 by Sri Chinmoy.

Ashrita Furman is synonymous with Guinness World Records.  Trace back over the last thirty years of his life and realize that he has achieved over 200 Guinness World Records. His latest record set earlier this week on April 14, 2009 is like a home run with bases loaded.

On Tuesday, April 14th in New York,  he set a record for recitation of a poem written by Sri Chinmoy that was translated and read out in 111 languages. He was joined in this record by students of  meditation teacher Sri Chinmoy, themselves  from around the world, gathered in Queens, New York for a spiritual retreat. The record-breaking poem recitation took place at City Hall Park in Manhattan. Attired in sashes that displayed their language to recite, participants read the poem in 111 languages – some of which were completely unfamiliar – like Picard or Dzongkha. The previous record for multiple language recitation involved 79 different languages.

The Poem “Precious” by Sri Chinmoy from his classic book of poems entitled My Flute reads:

Precious beyond measure is God’s Will,
None can undo its Power.
Precious beyond measure are man’s tears.
They alone can hug God’s Hour.

Precious beyond measure is man’s love,
Unveiling his golden face.
Precious beyond measure is God’s Gift:
His all-fulfilling Grace.
-Sri Chinmoy

Why is this poetry recitation record like a home run with bases loaded? By setting this latest record, he also reached the pinnacle goal of 100 Guinness World Records held simultaneously. Through the years he has achieved well over 100 records, but some of the categories have been subsequently broken by someone else. Reaching this record on April 14th catapulted him into a new realm – the first person in the world to hold 100 simultaneous, active and current Guinness World Records. Guinness World Records Editor-in-Chief Craig Glenday, attended the event and commended him for his extraordinary footing in the world of Guinness.

Did you know that Ashrita’s world record breaking abilities warrant an entire chapter in a book written about the history of the Guinness Records phenomenon around the world?   Getting into Guinness : One Man’s Longest, Fastest, Highest Journey Inside the World’s Most Famous Record Book by Larry Olmsted provides an in-depth look at Ashrita’s record-breaking activities in its opening chapter – “Meet Ashrita, Record Breaker for God.”

Read more about the record in this post at the blog InspiringNews.org and in the New York Daily News. Watch a short video of Ashrita’s poetry record at the website of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

A very special monument to peace can be found in the port of the city of Oslo, at Akker Brygge, a complex along the water of shops, cafes, sculpture, and boat and ferry docking. It is frequented by thousands  since the cruise ships dock here upon arrival in Oslo.  Near the tip of the Akker Brygge boardwalk, a permanent monument to peace can be found – The Eternal Peace-Flame.  The installation looks like a giant lotus flower and in the center of it is a flame that burns continuously.

The Eternal Peace-Flame was dedicated to the City of Oslo by World Harmony Run founder Sri Chinmoy. Watch a slideshow I made from my photos/video here:

Eternal Peace Flame Oslo, Norway from Sharani Robins on Vimeo.

The Eternal Peace-Flame moved me deeply. As I sat and contemplated peace, both individual and collective, I found myself considering just how often I do not make the quest for peace front and center as a goal and destination of my life. Of course, I pay lip service to the concept of peace but what do I actually do to line my life up to achieve it? Knowing that this installation exists where the flame burns non-stop day in and day out inspires me to keep the same kind of presence inside my own being focused on the importance of peace.

I was also deeply moved to see that many of the people walking by stopped and read the plaque, took photos and video and seemed to really appreciate it. The day I was there was a somewhat cold wintry day and the sun was low on the horizon despite it being shortly after Noon. This time of year the sun sets in Oslo by 3:30 pm. Despite this weather, the Eternal Peace-Flame was a hub of attention. It must be even more so in the summer when the cruise ships dock in Oslo. If you are ever there, be sure to include a visit to the Flame in your travel itinerary. And if you can’t make it there in person, visit it virtually at the Eternal Peace Flame website or World Harmony Run Norway Site .

While discussing how much I liked the Korean TV mini-series Dae Jang Geum with some of my friends, they answered with a recommendation to watch Jodhaa Akbar – a Hindi film about the Muslim Emperor Akbar and his marriage to a Hindu princess during his reign in India in the 16th century.

The film opened in Feb. 2008 and is directed by Ashutosh Gowariker, the director of Lagaan, a Bollywood musical which received an Academy Award nomination. Gowariker created this latest film on a grand scale. He spent several years researching it, then a couple of years in pre-production before finally filming. There are musical scenes with 1,000 dancers and 100 horses, 55 camels and more than 80 elephants were used in the production of the movie. It took 4-5 hours to dress the extras in costume.

I was especially interested to see the film because my meditation teacher Sri Chinmoy wrote a book about Emperor Akbar and many times I have watched and acted in short play productions based on stories from Akbar’s life. The book entitled, The Moghul Emperors, is available full-text online at SriChinmoyLibrary.com.

Granted, even though Gowariker did extensive research for this historical period piece, he admits that 70 percent of the film is all imagination. The love story portrayed between Emperor Akbar and Jodhaa, one of his Hindu wives feels mostly cliche. However, the scale of the movie and the visual splendour more than compensate. As a spiritual seeker, I particularly liked the themes of the movie that emphasized religious tolerance.

This YouTube clip shows my favorite scene of the film when Akbar watches Sufi dervishes dance and joins them. The music in the film is fantastic. This song performed by the Sufis in the film is about the saint Kwaje.* A. R. Rahman, the composer of the scores in the movie has sold hundreds of millions recordings making him one of the top selling composers in the world. Richard Corliss wrote about him in Time Magazine, “Rahman doesn’t even write what’s thought of as world music. He writes a world of music — so broad and deep, so instantly likable and lastingly satisfying, it is the whole world.”

Be sure not to miss this Bollywood epic that the New York Times called, “Filmmaking on the grand scale of Cecil B. DeMille, with romance, stirring battles, a cast of thousands and enough elephants and gold to sink the Titanic.”

*Lyrics and unofficial translation:
Khwajaji, khwaja (O saint khwaja)
Khwajaji, khwaja, khwaja ji (O saint khwaja) ; (O saint khwaja)
Ya gharib nawaz (The one who cherishes/soothes the poor)
Ya moinuddin, ya khwaja ji (O moinuddin chisti), (O khwaja saint)
Khwaja mere khwaja (O saint khwaja)
Dil mein sama ja (Reside in my heart)
Shaho ka shah tu (You are the king of kings)
Ali ka dulara (Ali’s beloved)

Khwaja mere khwaja dil mein sama ja (O saint khwaja); (Reside in my heart)
Beqaso ki taqdeer, tune hai sawari (The destiny of the ones in despair, you have changed for the better)
Khwaja mere khwaja (O saint khwaja)

Tere darbar mein khwaja (At your door, o khwaja)
Door toh hai dekha (Ive seen it from far)
Sar jhuka te hai auliya (Your confidents/protectors/confessors bow down to you)
Tu hai Hindalwali khwaja (You are the hindalwali Khwaja)
Rutba hai pyara (Your status is glorious/great)
Chahne se tujhko khwaja ji mustafa ko paya (By wishing/worshipping you Khwaja, I have found muhammed [the chosen one])
Khwaja mere khwaja (O saint khwaja)

Dil mein sama ja (Reside in my heart)
Shaho ka shah tu (You are the king of kings)
Ali ka dulara (Ali’s beloved)
Mere peer ka sadka (The alms of my old age)
Hai mere peer ka sadka (It is the charity of my old age)
Tera daaman hai thama (That I have come in your refuge)
Khawajaji
Tali har bala humari (All my problems/crisis have been averted)
Chaya hai khumar tera (Your trance is all over me)
Jitna bhi rashk kare beshak (No matter how much one may envy(rashk) be jealous)

Each heart-bird of mine
Is a passport to the world
Of peace-blossoms.
-Sri Chinmoy

Last night a little miracle happened in my living room. I had returned from a few days of spiritual retreat and was trying to remember where I might have put a note written on a small piece of paper. I walked across the room over to where I have some files of papers, etc. and as I walked past some files stored vertically in a wire basket bought at an antique show, I looked down from above it and saw a square piece of paper inside a file folder slightly gaping open. I reached down thinking it was the note I needed.

What that paper turned out to be instead was a small original Jharna-Kala bird drawing by Sri Chinmoy done on a square piece of paper embossed with floral textured edges. In the middle was a soul bird drawing – on the right a long bird and as if tucked under its wings, two smaller birds facing the bird on the right. To the right of the birds was CKG – the form Sri Chinmoy used when signing his paintings. CKG for his full name – Chinmoy Kumar Ghose.

Sri Chinmoy drew millions of birds. When asked why he favored this theme, he said:

I am a man of prayer and meditation. For me, birds have a very special significance on a spiritual level. They fly in the sky, and the sky is all freedom. So when the birds fly in the sky, they remind me of the soul’s infinite freedom. The soul has come from Heaven. When we think of birds, we are also reminded of our Source, and this gives us enormous joy. I feel that if people come here to view these birds, their inner hunger to fly in the sky of infinite freedom will be fed.
Sri Chinmoy Answers, Pt. 3

No one was more surprised than me to find a Jharna-Kala bird drawing loose inside a folder labeled Christmas Trip Information. While I am pretty disorganized when it comes to papers and their tidy upkeep, it still seemed a remote possibility to me that I would have misplaced a Jharna-Kala bird drawing lost and forgotten in a folder for how long I cannot even remember.

I felt as if I had just found a rare and precious treasure. And I smiled because it felt as if God Him/Herself was talking to me with the sudden appearance of this original bird drawing by Sri Chinmoy. At the Sri Chinmoy Centre spiritual retreat I had just returned from, it was a tradition to have a sideshow as part of an amateur circus complete with prepared food and all manner of items for sale. Sri Chinmoy would bless certain purchases as part of the festivities. One area of sideshow included some of his art prints and original bird drawings and he would sign them with one’s name, etc. upon purchase.

Since this year was the first sideshow since Sri Chinmoy’s passing last October, I was lamenting that this special part of that tradition would never happen again. Even more so, I was thinking that there would never be another bird drawing or painting created by Sri Chinmoy. Granted, he drew literally millions of soul birds so it is not as if we weren’t blessed with a vast expanse of his artwork. Yet to me it still felt sad.

When I found an original bird drawing that I do not remember even owning, it seemed that my lamentation was hardly unheard or missed. Finding a bird drawing peeking out of a file folder of papers in the room adjacent to my living room made it seem as if a new bird had been created since Sri Chinmoy’s passing on October 11, 2007 after all.

I will certainly treasure this particular drawing with its air of mystery and miracle surrounding it. Most of all though I will treasure the keenness with which God seems to hear our every little thought and the kindness with which He responds to soothe our pangs of sadness.

Download Sri Chinmoy draws soul birds in Guatemala in 1997. Video by Kedar Misani, SriChinmoyTV.

See also examples of his acrylic paintings.

The human artist in me says:
“What is finished is finished.
What is complete is complete.”
The divine Artist in me says:
“Nothing can be permanently finished,
Nothing can be completely complete,
For in the inner world
Today’s destination and
Today’s perfection
Are the starting points to embark on a new journey
And to see the face of a new dawn.”
Here comes the message of my Art:
Self-transcendence is the life,
Heart, breath and soul
Of my Art.
-Sri Chinmoy in Sri Chinmoy Answers, Pt. 3

Photo of Sri Chinmoy by Kedar Misani.

The recent prominence of the new reality TV show called Oprah’s Big Give has brought my attention back in time to a blogging initiative from exactly three months ago today. BlogCatalog’s group called Bloggers Unite sponsored an Acts of Kindness Day last December with the intent of bloggers engaging in an act of kindness followed by blogging about it. In part a contest, one of the judges, Richard Becker, has kept the spirit alive by profiling various winning participants on his blog Copywrite, Ink.

Many of the participants weighed in on the contradiction of drawing attention to themselves and the preference for anonymous self-offering. Yet we also discussed how kindness can be contagious and that in talking about it seeds of inspiration for future kindness might grow.

One possible window beyond this conflict over intentions and charitable actions comes from Eastern spiritual wisdom. My spiritual teacher Sri Chinmoy created an international humanitarian aid organization as part of his spiritual mission but emphasized that a spirit of superiority/inferiority would taint one’s efforts. Instead he taught and expressed a spirit of oneness and universality. He named the service organization run purely on volunteer efforts Oneness-Heart-Tears and Smiles. Sri Chinmoy states,

“Our humanitarian service is not our self-motivated, condescending act of charity to the poor and needy. It is a gigantic opportunity to feed, nourish and strengthen our own poor brothers and sisters so that they can, side by side, march along with us to proclaim the world-oneness-victory of God the Creation.”

Another renowned figure in India’s spiritual lineage, Swami Vivekananda, echoes the same perspective of viewing all human beings as being important in the eyes of God and that the person doing the giving receives more than the person receiving.

“Do not stand on a high pedestal and take five cents in your hand and say, ‘ Here, my poor man,’ but be grateful that the poor man is there so that by making a gift to him, you are able to help yourself. It is not the receiver that is blessed, but it is the giver.”

Vivekananda also eloquently expresses this concept of the brotherhood and sisterhood of all with his following words:

‘Ask nothing; want nothing in return. Give what you have to give; it will come back to you – but do not think of that now. It will come back multiplied – a thousandfold – but the attention must not be on that. You have the power to give. Give, and there it ends. ” Thus SpakeVivekananda

Since I felt like the Acts of Kindness Day (in my case 9 days of activities) did indeed impart a host of special blessings and learning, I eagerly tuned in to Oprah’s reality television show with the theme of charitable giving. While the three episodes I watched brought tears to my eyes in heart-rending and poignant moments, I ultimately am finding it hard to resonate to a show steeped in some of the structural limitations of so-called reality TV which pits contestants against each other, eliminates them until only one remains and seems to subtly reward outrageous interpersonal behavior over quiet integrity. I guess its value may outweigh these limitations if it spreads a spirit of contagion for giving.

My vote for a recent television spotlight on a charitable organization rather goes to 60 Minutes for their coverage of Remote Area Medical. Watch the episode here:

The nonprofit charity provides free medical, dental and vision care in weekend clinics. The relief efforts began primarily in under-developed countries but lately have concentrated sixty percent of their efforts in the United States serving uninsured or under-insured individuals. The founder Stan Brock, born in England, lives very simply and gives his all to offering health care to those in need. After you watch this video about this amazing spirit of self-giving and teamwork, I think you will agree that this effort is nothing less than heroic and makes you wish you were a doctor just so you could take part in this very worthy cause.