The smell of burning incense fills the air, the light of flickering candles illuminates the darkness and the eerie stillness is broken only by the soft footsteps of Sri Chinmoy as he moves among his followers “bringing down transcendental peace.”
Chinmoy is a Far Eastern yogi, more commonly known to the Western world as a guru.
But, while such notables as the Beatles and Mia Farrow traipse off to India to seek salvation from the Western stress, Sri Chinmoy Kumar Ghose brought his “path toward God realization” to Long Island.
“The Supreme commanded me to come to the West to help the sincere seekers serve the Supreme in humanity,” the soft-spoken guru explained as he sat in “lotus position,” his eyes half-closed, in his Aum Center at Jamaica.
How does the “sincere seeker” serve the Supreme?
“Through the path of meditation, love, devotion and surrender — the way God wants us to,” the guru said.
CHINMOY’S PRETTY little white-frame house looks like any of the well-kept homes in the Jamaica Hills area.
But, while the exterior is typical, what takes place inside the Aum Center is indeed strange — to the Western world. Twice a week Chinmoy’s disciples gather at the center for silent meditation, lectures, blessings and private consultations.
A Thursday night visitor is instantly struck by the almost sleepy peacefulness that prevails as 30 men and women, some in “lotus position” on the living room floor, others seated upright on card chairs in the adjacent dining room, enter into a “deep plane of consciousness.”
No heads pop up, no eyes search a stranger as he walks among the “sincere seekers” to find an empty seat. He is awed by the serenity and dares not creak his chair lest the spell be broken.
He smells the incense. He looks around the room.
THE WALLPAPER is a non-descript leaf pattern. There is little furniture, only the card chairs, a big gold brocade chair and a few tables with candles, flowers and a photograph of Chinmoy in “highest spiritual form.”
His eyes scan the crowd. They rest upon a young girl in pink leotards sitting cross-legged, a bearded man in his early 20s, a stocky middle-age woman with her head between her knees, an elderly gentleman nattily dressed.
An hour passes unnoticed before a word is spoken ...
THE FIRST SOUND is the barely audible voice of Chinmoy. Seated in “lotus position,” his hands above his head “embodying divine compassion,” the guru whispers: “I am bringing down [unconditional] peace, love and bliss.”
The stillness, more strange, returns ...
A song to the Supreme, a Sanskrit chant and a few announcements conclude the session.
Sri Chinmoy, 37, came to the U. S. almost five years ago. He had spent the preceding 20 years in a “spiritual community” in India.
When he first arrived in the U. S., Chinmoy worked for the consulate general of India. At the same time he set up his first Aum Center in a walk-up apartment in Manhattan’s Upper East Side. His disciples bought him the Jamaica Hills house last July.
“Those who support me take responsibility for my physical needs as I take care of their inner needs,” Chinmoy said, stressing there is no fee for his “inspiration.”
CHINMOY THEN WENT on to discuss his discipline.
“It’s not a religion, but a form of spirituality that leads to God-realization. It transcends religion,” he said.
The “lotus position,” he explained, is the most important posture of spiritual discipline in yoga.”
The flower, according to the yogi, stands for “purity which enters into us in the form of fragrance conveying our love.” The incense signifies “aspiration — we get inspiration to aspire to the highest.” And, he continued, the flame “illuminates darkness into light, imperfection into perfection and obstruction into immediate help.”
Chinmoy also explained the meaning of AUM: “an original sound which stands for God in three aspects — the creator, the preserver and the transformer.”
Chinmoy has close to 65 devoted followers who come to the Jamaica center regularly — from as far away as Philadelphia and Mahopac, Although he spends most of his time in Jamaica, the guru also visits his disciples in Miami, the West Indies, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.
WHAT KIND OF people are Chinmoy’s followers?
“All types but mostly middle-age,” the guru responded. And, interestingly, he said, they are of all religions.
“I do not accept everyone as a student,” he explained. “I make the decision on the strength of their inner wisdom.”
For example, as a rule he does not accept alcoholics, drug addicts, sexual perverts or hippies.
“I feel it is like a contagious disease,” he said.
How do Chinmoy’s followers feel about their guru?
“I was completely relieved to find there was something true in the world,” an Astoria mother, who is also a biology researcher, described her first reaction to Chinmoy.
SHE ADMITTED SHE had been “very wary of this kind or off-beat spiritual group.” The 40-year-old mother of two, is separated from her second husband. She said she had been “very disillusioned” before she met the guru.
“The future was black. It seemed like people were going down hill,” she continued, slowly. “Now,” she said, “I have the feeling there is a stability and security in the world. People aren’t just rushing around blindly in the dark.
“One of the most important things about guru,” she went on deliberately, “is that although he’s concerned with spiritual matters, he is also concerned with living in the world. Guru’s philosophy is completely balanced. He has clairvoyant powers.
“Whatever he tells you actually works,” she emphasized, explaining that her financial position has improved “as guru said it would,” and she has found an apartment “just as guru said.”
“HE’S NEVER MADE a mistake as far as I’m concerned,” said an enthusiastic 35-year-old salesman from Mahopac. He claims his job has improved and he has resolved some marital problems since he joined Chinmoy and his followers nine months ago.
“This has produced an awareness I never had before — an awareness of what one is rather than what one could do, he said.
The Westchester resident, who says he attends Lutheran church regularly with his wife and three children, admitted he was “hesitant in the beginning.” But, he quickly added, “On seeing him for the first time, it was like meeting an old friend again.”
Chinmoy speaks of “love, devotion, and surrender to the Supreme.” But his disciples, who view him as the “Supreme messenger” talk of “love, devotion and surrender” to their guru as seen in the few lines from a poem written to Chinmoy:
There you stand
Like a torch
That is always burning
For all that looks
And turns to thee
Transcending the form
Perceive
The CHRlST in you ...
