Perfection Journey – Page 41 – Perfection Journey

The Track Is Ready For You

It is late February of 2016. In a large meeting hall of a hotel in Port Dickson Malaysia, 35 year old Kumaran Muniandy tells me an incredibly inspiring story. He has spent the last few days attending the functions and activities of the visiting disciples of Sri Chinmoy. It is a yearly gathering, and lacking a better description, is often referred to as simply, the Christmas trip.

Kumar is a native Malaysian and has come from his home. It is a long and complicated bus trip. Compared with that of all the disciples who are visiting Port Dickson it is almost insignificant. Most of those who have come here have traveled from all around the world to be here. But in some ways, in the always unpredictable journey of life, Kumar perhaps has come the furthest.

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What makes Kumar’s presence here unique however is that he is, in no small way, fulfilling a request made of him personally exactly 10 years earlier. A time when Sri Chinmoy last visited Malaysia, a little more then a year before he passed. At the time in 2006 Kumar was working in a textile shop on Langkawi.

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As he relates the experience now, so many years later, he is visibly moved at being able to share what had happened to him on that day when Sri Chinmoy walked into the shop where he was working. As divine fate would have it, Sri Chinmoy had come there to purchase saris.

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In the beginning Kumar gave no special notice to the elderly Indian gentleman sitting in a chair. When he had to cross the floor close by he says, “Guru called me.”

“I was thinking, this is a normal customer. Then when I went near he asked me my name. I said, Kumar. He said, O, that is my name.” As he recalls this moment now he laughs with a kind of infectious excitement. After this he says he spoke for a few minutes to Guru about the saris that the shop had for sale.

“Then Guru asked me whether I had an interest in music. I said yes.”

“If you are free come and join us tonight. There is a concert.”

“I said, okay Guru. Sure.”

Not having any idea what would come next, he invited his Mother and sister to come with him that evening as well. He adds that the day was also his birthday. Kumar did not know yet what a gift he was about to receive.

“Once I entered into the hall, only then did I realize actually with whom I am dealing. Before that I was thinking it is just an old Indian man who has invited me to a concert.”

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“When I sit in the second row I see a slide show describing who Guru is. Then my body started to shake. I was very nervous at that time.”

Kumar says that for the first time he was beginning to realize the significance of his chance meeting in a Langkawi Sari store. “I feel like I am facing God.”

Kumar was enthralled with the concert. His focus entirely upon the man who played so many instruments and with whom he now immediately felt a special heart felt connection.

After the concert was over, Kumar says, “Guru called me from the stage.”

“After that I sat in front of Guru. He said, I knew Kumar that you would come. I am so happy so see you here.”

Kumar does not say all that was said in the conversation he then had with Sri Chinmoy. “It was all about the real life. About the soul. He explained to me actually who I was.”

Sri Chinmoy also spoke to Kumar’s mother. He told her, “you are the luckiest Mother in this world to get Kumar here. At that time I was just crying. Guru was explaining to my mother who I was. My past life and everything.”

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Kumar says that Guru did not give him any specific instructions of what he should now do with his life now. Instead he gave him this simple phrase. “kumar, the track is ready for you.”

He is incredibly animated as he recalls this now. “I could not close my eyes when that came.”

The next day he attended the functions with the disciple group. “I still could not close my eyes. I was wondering what is happening. Why has Guru told me this.”

The next day Sri Chinmoy and the rest of the group were leaving. Kumar went again to the hotel and met with Sri Chinmoy who then handed him his transcendental photo. He also urged Kumar to come to visit with him in New York as soon as he had a chance.

There would be one last opportunity for him to be with Sri Chinmoy. Kumar went to the airport to see him off and was able to be with him before he boarded the plane.

“I took a blessing from Guru. He then took 5 envelops from his bag and handed them to me. He touched my head and blessed me.”

“After his departure my whole life had changed. It was then that I realized what was the importance of a life.”

Surprisingly it would be just 3 months later when he received an unexpected phone call. His sister had just an operation and was about to receive chemotherapy. Sri Chinmoy spoke with his sister and then talked to Kumar. Sri Chinmoy said, “do not worry Kumar. Do not worry. Everything will be okay.”

Then after 6 months there was another call. It started with Sri Chinmoy chanting his name, Kumar, 3 times. “He gave me a very good message.”

At that time Kumar says he was trying to get to New York to visit Guru. “Unfortunately I couldn’t get my visa. 2 times I tried. Rintu also helped me.”

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Now 10 years have passed as we talk about all of this. In a short time he will be leaving to return to his home where he is now working in Human Resources for a small college.

I ask Kumar what it means to him to be able to come to Port Dickson now, and be with disciples of Sri Chinmoy. “I was not confident that I would be able to come. To this place at this time at this point.”

“When I sit here and do meditation then I realize that this is the same month that I met Guru 10 years ago. I am okay. I have life problems but when I come here I can see it. Guru is somewhere here. I can really feel it. It is like he is watching. I do not want to miss this.”

Click to Play Interview:

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Each moment is a golden opportunity
For our divine adventure
And supreme advancement.

Sri Chinmoy, Seventy-Seven Thousand Service-Trees, Part 20, Agni Press, 2001

Inspiration News #7

This is the follow up program.

Inspiration News #6

This is a program a group of us made describing the yearly Christmas trip that disciples take to many different countries around the world and what they do for inspiration and fun.

Run and Become

Click above to Play:

Sri Chinmoy was unique among spiritual Masters in demonstrating that sports can play a vital role in the life of a spiritual seeker. Himself a life long athlete, Sri Chinmoy encouraged his students to take seriously both the challenges of the inner life, and the opportunities for self-transcendence offered by participation in sport.

Run and become.
Become and run.
Run to succeed in the outer world.
Become to proceed in the inner world.

God’s Beauty: It is in Our Hearts

Most days Sulochana still makes the long trek from her home to open up her small shop on 164^th st.. She has been taking this same walk to and fro, up and down the steep hill along the way nearly every day for 30 years. Countless numbers of women from around Queens neighborhood and beyond have been grateful and glad that she has not stopped.

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Now at age 85, the trip takes a little longer than it once did. But though she is slower these days in making the trip, it is unlikely she is going to stop opening her door to customers any time soon.

Her shop, God’s Beauty is nestled amidst a long strip of stores. On either side of her are 2 big bright delis. Making a conspicuous contrast to her own tiny blue shop caught in between. But far from being eclipsed, her store, as well as the equally blue Annam Brhahma close by, stand out for reasons that become clear once you enter.

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Book-0179 It is not just that God’s beauty is painted bright blue, but perhaps as well because of just what it is, a divine enterprise. There is also the fact that Sulochana is a remarkable person who has spent most of her life trying to bring out the beauty in others. What most find, when they leave her shop however, is that she has also enhanced and brought to the fore their inner beauty as well. Something that has no price tag.

The remarkable story of her early life as a refugee fleeing Hungary in 1957 is an epic adventure that can be best learned about by reading her book. Not knowing any English and actually taking several attempts before she and her husband succeeded is a compelling story.

Yet what is so inspiring about Sulochana these days is not just her history but her tireless devotion to Sri Chinmoy her late spiritual teacher. An all encompassing presence in her life that she continues to draw inspiration and fulfillment from.

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Click to Play Audio Part 1:

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Continue reading “God’s Beauty: It is in Our Hearts”

Jharna Kala 2015: Painting Life

In 1988 a small child asked this question of Sri Chinmoy

Are you a famous painter?

Sri Chinmoy: Good boy, I am not famous, but I paint. I have painted my inner life and now I will paint my outer life.

It took me hundreds and thousands of years, thousands and thousands of years to paint the inner life. And now I have started painting the outer life. God alone knows when I will complete painting my outer life.

With my inner painting I cried and cried for God the Creator. With my outer painting I am smiling and smiling at God the creation. We are all God’s creation, you and I and all of us.

Sri Chinmoy, Sri Chinmoy answers, part 34, Agni Press, 2004

Click to Play Jharna Kala Parade New York city 1976:

The date, November 19th, for those who love and admire the accomplishments of Sri Chinmoy has been associated with his Jharna Kala art now for more than 40 years. Beginning in 1974 it would be something that he never stopped expanding upon. Yet on that date, while visiting in Canada, it all began with the drawing of a rose. From this would come a flood of divine creativity. In later years he almost exclusively drew soul-birds which would eventually number nearly 16 million.

(c) Copyrights Sri Chinmoy Centre Photo by Sarama

Question: How do you find the time to draw, to write, to do everything you do?

Sri Chinmoy: As you know, where there is a will, there is a way. I pray to God and meditate on God. Out of His infinite Compassion, He has given me the capacity to accomplish quite a few things. These creations of mine are not my personal belongings or my personal possessions. These are my dedicated offerings to my Inner Pilot. Out of His infinite Bounty He has given me the capacity, and it is He who receives the fruits.

Starting on January 9th of that year Sri Chinmoy began his 50 state university lecture tour which would culminate in the final talk given in Alaska on October 9th.

On February 9th Sri Chinmoy wrote 208 poems in 22 hours. Part of series of poems called The Golden Boat.

In March Sri Chinmoy gave 16 lectures in Canada, from March 16th to 29th.

In April he celebrated his 10th anniversary of coming to America.

On April 29th Sri Chinmoy wrote 360 poems in 24 hours. They were published in a book called, The Goal is Won

From June 24th to July 21st he gave 21 lectures at universities in Europe.

On November 10th Sri Chinmoy completed his 200th book.

By December 10th he had completed 1,000 paintings.

By December 28th the first exhibit of painting was held in Hollis, Queens NY

Sri Chinmoy was in Canada for 6 days that November to give a series of 4 Public Meditations that took place in Montreal, Ottawa, and Toronto. On the 18th Sri Chinmoy planted an oak tree on federal parkland in Ottawa.

In dedicating the tree, he said: “O Aspiration-dawn of Canada, you will succeed. The universal earth-cry you will embody. You will proceed. The transcendental Heaven-Smile you will reveal. You will become. Infinity’s all-illumining vision you will become. You are. Immortality’s oneness-reality you eternally are.”

The public meditations for the most part were given at Universities. In Ottawa on the 19th Sri Chinmoy gave a meditation at the University of Ottawa. The next night a mediation was held at Carleton University.

At one of the meditation held in a classroom, Sri Chinmoy went to the chalk board and gave us a hint of just how spontaneous and prolific he would become.

Fortunately Sarama recorded a divine gift that would so soon be brushed away.

Eventually great galleries would be full to bursting with Sri Chinmoy’s Jharna Kala art.

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Question: What is the role of art in the spiritual life?

Sri Chinmoy: The role of art in the spiritual life is first to awaken oneself and then to awaken the sincere seekers around one. Through self-discipline and self-sacrifice the seeker will first develop his oneness-heart, and then he will offer his oneness-heart to others. In the spiritual life, one has to be a seeker first. Then his aspiration he will offer to the world at large: That is his art. That is his progress for earth and his service to God.

Songs of the Soul: Canadian Tour 2015

Interviewer: What part does music play in the spiritual life of an individual?

Sri Chinmoy: The role of music in the spiritual life is extremely important and significant. God is the Supreme Musician, and His entire creation is His divine Music. At every moment we can be his conscious instruments. And spiritual music itself is an instrument to show us our universal Reality.

Interview: Then you agree with the traditional idea of man being a hollow bamboo flute that God plays?

Sri Chinmoy: Yes, that is what we are all striving for- to be the instruments of the Supreme.

Sri Chinmoy, What I need from God, Agni Press, 1982

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I am sitting with Projjwal on a wide green sofa in a little room tucked away backstage of the DB Clarke theatre in downtown Montreal. He is the producer of an extraordinary musical tour. Just outside the crew for Songs of the Soul are busy readying for the nights concert. Even though this is but the first of 4 concerts, in 4 different cities, everything seems to be progressing incredibly well.

Each crew member, as well as each musician, has been working and performing in concerts, just like this one for several years. Most of the sound equipment travels with the tour. Tonight the stage has all the necessary lights, good news for Harkara the lighting specialist. There is the usual systematic clatter and banging sounds that goes with setting up for a well-organized concert. Everyone seems relaxed and happy, including Projjwal.

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I ask Projjwal what exactly is ‘Songs of the Soul’?

“It is a concert series that has traveled the world for the last 7 years.” In fact this year there have already been 19 concerts in 8 other countries. Though not present for all those concerts he has been the overall producer of the project since its inception.

With the passing of Sri Chinmoy, his spiritual teacher in 2007, there was an enormous void that immediately opened up within his life. It was an emptiness that of course all of Sri Chinmoy’s students and friends universally experienced. An incalculably great loss, that seemed in the beginning, one that would be impossible to fill.

For how do you replace someone who was truly irreplaceable? Sri Chinmoy, who was active and prolific in so many areas was perhaps best known and well respected for his Peace concerts. A series of musical performances that he had singularly performed and done for many years all around the world. Projjwal says that for him, “it was always the biggest thing that Guru did.”

“So the idea came up that we could follow up on Guru’s concerts. So we started with the idea that we would have disciples perform and play Guru’s music. In that way we could present Guru’s consciousness, Guru’s love, his writings, his Jharna Kala art in a very professional setting.”

When asked where the name ‘Songs of the Soul’ originated he points clearly to Homagni, who is also a regular member of the tour. “He is the first to have the idea, for the celebrations in New York in 2008. It was a very appropriate name.”

Projjwal’s tells me that his history of first producing a concert dates back to a a much earlier conversation he had at an airport in China in 2005. Sri Chinmoy asked him to organize a large concert tour for him in Germany. One in which the goal was to have at least 30,000 people attend. Projjwal tells me that concert ended up with even more than that number.

“He put a lot of faith in me and a lot of confidence in me. “ Out of this experience he says he developed the qualities he needed to be able to continue on as he has done now for the past 7 years organizing and producing the tour.

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Projjwal says the inspiration to get involved did not come immediately. He says that it was only after seeing the first New York Songs of the Soul concert in April of 2008 that he realized it could also be done as well in Europe.

When he presented the idea at a joy day there, he says, “people totally embraced it. Immediately I had 3 or 4 music groups who said I definitely want to do it.”

In the fall of 2008 the Songs of the Soul concert tour began in Europe with 8 concerts in 8 days. Without having any real experience producing concerts he got a tremendous help from Ketan, who had much more production experience. “He taught me, what you can do on a stage.”

Now he says, “we have a format that works quite well. You learn by doing. In the beginning there were disastrous things happening.” (None of which were mentioned) Projjwal says that the most important aspect of what the concerts are striving to achieve, “is to present Guru. To present his music and to attempt as best they can offer up his consciousness. That is the most important thing to me.”

“When people go home after 2 hours they feel they have had an experience with Guru. That is my goal.” Projjwal says that generally most people who come to the concerts have no real idea what to expect. Afterwards he says, that through their reactions and their generous comments it is clear to him that the concerts are succeeding.

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He feels that for those who come they are taken on a spiritual journey. “Constantly things are happening. I always feel that Guru is very present.” It is an experience that occurs he feels, not just with the audience but also as well with all those who take part in any capacity with making the free tour happen.

There is no magical formula of how the cities are picked or the countries chosen. The tour now in Canada was a logical selection Projjwal says as it is so close to New York and the gathering of disciples that took place a few days earlier there for October 11^th. Which is the anniversary of Sri Chinmoy’s passing. As a rule he says, “I am never imposing or trying to talk people into it. It has to be embraced by the organizer.”

Overall there is no far-reaching goal for the number of concerts and the number of countries. “It is a beautiful thing we do.” It seems to all come about due to grace he feels. “It just goes along the path.”

Projjwal at the end of our talk describes a feeling that all of those who take part in the tour feel, and want to express. “I am still trying to serve Guru, and really follow what he would like to see us do on stage. That is what I am sincerely and humbly trying to do.”

Click to Play Interview:

Projjwal

Songs of the Soul Link:

http://www.songsofthesoul.com/en/songs-soul

*(With the Winnipeg Concert there is now an official total of 149 concerts in 36 countries. The total audience has been84,900. Projjwal was involved with 121)*

Continue reading “Songs of the Soul: Canadian Tour 2015”

The Self-Transcendence Ultra Classic….Ottawa 35 Years On

There is not very much about the very first Self-Transcendence 24 hour race held in Ottawa that anyone now associated with organizing the race can still remember. The kind of exact records and details associated with nearly every current day race have somehow slipped away. It was after all 35 years ago. A time when hard drives were what you did when you got in your car and went from Halifax to Vancouver.

No one today even knows which track it was held on, or the exact date in May when a brave band of runners appeared on starting line of a 400 meter track to do something that the world had rarely seen before. The little that we do know however is still pretty impressive. Starting in May of 1981 the Ottawa race has an unbroken streak, except for one year, that now stretches back 35 years. It just may be the longest continually held 24 hour race in the world.

For the past few years the race, which now also accommodates a 6 and 12 hour event, has been held in the Louis Riel dome. 49 participants came to take part this year on September 26. The winner of the race will be the Canadian 24 hour champion.

One thing that makes the research a little easier on the history of this race is that the indisputable fact that the great Canadian/Scottish Al Howie was one of the runners that first year. He not only won but he also set Canadian and North American records at the same time. His distance for the 2nd race in 1982 was even greater. He ran an astonishing 150 miles and 233 yards (241.726 KM) which pushed the record out even further. He was so intent on improving himself when he came again, that in the 3rd race in 1983, he ran all the way from Winnipeg to Ottawa as part of his training.

Al Howie, an icon of endurance events would run a lot of miles and engrave some serious running history at the event for its first 5 years, and for a lot of other years afterwards in ultra races all around the world.

What becomes clear when you attempt to gaze backwards across the many years, is that something so unique and challenging 35 years ago is now dwarfed in comparison to some of the huge distance races that are being held elsewhere. Multi day running, though still not commonplace, is no longer shocking when brought up around most runners today.

Picture taken In New York — Picture of Sri Chinmoy and Al Howie taken after a race in New York

Sri Chinmoy, the founder of the marathon team saw early on that distance running would become much more common all around the world. That people would use the challenge of long races to test a runners capacity in every way. He first asked the members of the group in Ottawa to put on their first 24 hour race in May of 1981.

Long-distance running gives us a real feeling of accomplishment. We can run 100 metres forty times during the year and not feel the same sense of accomplishment as when we run one marathon. But speed and endurance are both important, especially in the spiritual life. If one has only speed, then one cannot ultimately succeed; we need endurance because the goal is quite far. Again, if one has only stamina and no speed, then it will take forever to reach the goal. Only if someone has both qualities will he be able to make very good progress in his spiritual life and achieve something really great in life.

Continue reading “The Self-Transcendence Ultra Classic….Ottawa 35 Years On”

The Dinesh Band… A Good Milestone

“Something is wrong here…… I have to check this out.”

In 1987 when a 18 year old Dinesh walked into a well known Concert hall in Munich(Circus Krone) to listen to a Sri Chinmoy Peace concert for the first time he was mystified. It was a place he had already seen many rock and jazz concerts. There was nothing about what he was about to see though that would in any way compare with anything else he had ever experienced before.

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“It was very unforgettable. Usually you have a huge stack of amplifiers onstage. But there on the left and the right you had just a small stick and on the top you had a ridiculous small p.a.. I came in and said, what is this? (laughs) It was just too small for this hall.”

“I was not interested…. or I did not know about meditation and yoga, but from the musical point I was interested.”

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When Sri Chinmoy walked on stage and meditated before a hushed audience of nearly 2000, any doubts Dinesh may have had vanished. He immediately recognized what he calls Sri Chinmoy’s authenticity. Dinesh says that the more authentic a musician is than the more he is liked. “That is what people are searching for. Something that is authentic, something real. In Guru’s case he was completely real. There was not a single percentage of ‘show’.”

“I had no idea what to expect.” As the concert proceeded and Sri Chinmoy moved from instrument to instrument Dinesh realized that Sri Chinmoy was not performing for applause and appreciation but for a completely different reason. “He had a program that he wanted to do and he did it. That is what impressed me most. There was no in between. Either you liked it or you didn’t like it. I was like wowwww!!!”

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