Prasad with Sri Chinmoy
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)
Oh, I followed the historical imperative and went down first
What a great story Shane!
For historical reasons I would have gone down first, but now would more accurately be at the end of the queue.
By the way, where abouts exactly were you in the queue?