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When in New York to visit my teacher Sri Chinmoy, I often have occasion to stop by my friend Anugata’s house which is just up the hill from Aspiration-Ground, not least because of the free internet connection that can be obtained if you lean your computer a certain way against the window Anugata lives upstairs, and in the stairwell there is the above beautiful framed picture of Sri Chinmoy. It is absolutely huge and takes up at least half the wall, and when I look at it I have this tremendous feeling that my teacher is really close to me - often my exit from the house has been delayed at least five or ten minutes just from looking at this picture.

The picture was taken by Projjwal Pohland from Germany, who over thirty years took many beautiful pictures of Sri Chinmoy - many of which can be found in his photo gallery - but none so beautiful as this, I think. I must ask Projjwal the circumstances under which the photo was taken. It somehow does not seem like other for-the-camera pictures - a lot of the photos where Sri Chinmoy sat for the camera have this tremendous air of dignity and inner strength, almost like a statesman, whereas this photo seems to embody something else entirely - love, concern, eternity - one can only grasp at words.

Actually, this unusual photograph also reminds me of an interesting anecdote about another picture of Sri Chinmoy (unfortunately I cant find an online version of that particular picture). One time when I was visiting new York, myself and Databir had a gentleman’s disagreement (for want of better words) during a frenetic game of early morning frisbee. By way of patching things up, the great and good Databir later that day brought me a very beautiful photo of Sri Chinmoy in deep meditation, eyes raised upwards as if soaking in the entire expanse of Heaven.

Apparently, Databir told me, there was a plan to put this picture on the front cover of one of Sri Chinmoy’s books. Someone else objected, arguing that Joe or Josephine Public don’t exactly come across someone in this state of meditation every day of the week, and that they might be a little startled - perhaps one of the stately photos mentioned above would be more suitable. The photo was presented to Sri Chinmoy - he looked at the photo for a few seconds, and then exclaimed in a childlike voice “But…it’s me!”. A very sweet reminder that these high states of meditation are not something a spiritual Master goes into from time to time, they are something that he eternally is.

At the end of each meditation function, we generally have the Indian traditional custom of prasad i.e. food that is blessed by the master before being offered to everyone at the function. I dareday some of the fondest memories many of Sri Chinmoy’s students have are of when he was giving prasad - one could very tangibly feel the light the master was offering both to you and to the food itself.

A lot of the time when Sri Chinmoy was giving prasad, he would first ask the children under eighteen to come up first who had come to visit with their parents, or the more elderly members of the audience so they could come up at their own pace. Other times Sri Chinmoy would ask us all to come up in stages - for example he might say those over 30 years on the path, followed by those over 25 etc. I remember one time he asked us all to come up by age, starting with youngest and ending with eldest. As the older members came up I remember Sri Chinmoy commenting how he couldn’t believe how young some of them looked compared to their age - a definite testament to the power of meditation.

One very fond memory I have is when Sri Chinmoy asked us to come up according to our religious background. First he called for Christianity. I didn’t really consider myself an orthodox Christian so to speak, but I saw a few others in the same boat getting up to go down, so I figured he must be talking about background rather than actual practise. Then he asked for Judaism, followed by Islam, which he referred to in such affectionate terms as his ‘dearer than the dearest’ Islam. I have always been very struck by Sri Chinmoy’s appreciation for this oft-misunderstood religion; Sri Chinmoy taught me in regarding other ways to the Goal than my own to move beyond mere tolerance (which often smacks of superiority) to a feeling of oneness, of feeling their experience as my very own. Then came Hinduism, Buddhism and finally Sri Chinmoy asked for those of no religion to come up, and a few people came. “I also have no religion“, Sri Chinmoy smiled sweetly at them. “My only religion is my love of God.“

(Picture by Adhikari Diganta Pobitzer on Sri Chinmoy Galleries)