by Arpan DeAngelo, New York
To continue some inspiring stories about Sri Chinmoy's pioneering events of the 70's, I wish to tell a personal experience from July 13, 1977. During that month Sri Chinmoy was creating and offering extremely inspiring and elevating talks which were mostly extemporaneous, called 'Everest-Aspiration', as many of you well know.
There were six talks given the evening of July 13, 1977 at Yoga-Life Perfection, an enterprise where I worked as a yoga teacher.
It was a hot summer night and the studio was a large loft on the second floor of a big building on the East Side around 35th St. There were only about 30 people invited which made the room full enough for an intimate function which included some plays and songs. But the crowning event was Sri Chinmoy reading the latest Everest-Aspiration talks that he had just created during the day and on his way to Manhattan.
It was around 9:30 p.m. when Sri Chinmoy started soulfully reading out the talks. In the past he had many times extemporaneously created them as he recited them in a very high trance-like consciousness. He seemed to enjoy reading them that night while still maintaining a very high state of consciousness. We were all very inspired and excited because some of them were about Yoga, Perfection and Intuition.
I also noticed something a bit peculiar. Sri Chinmoy had a battery powered portable flashlight with a little fan on the other end of it which I never had seen him with before. For some reason I noticed that he had it with him the whole time since he had walked into the studio. During one of the talks, around 9:40 or so, the lights all of a sudden went out along with the air conditioner which was on as there were no open windows to speak of. Immediately Sri Chinmoy turned on his trusty little flashlight and fan almost as if he had known there would be a power failure. He just kept on reading his talks, unfazed by the sudden event which turned out to be the biggest blackout in New York history. Some of the guys scrambled to see if the breakers had tripped in the building and I went to open a window for some air. When I looked out the window, I noticed that there were no lights anywhere in New York City. Realizing that we would not get any lights or air conditioner back, some of the boys starting fanning our Teacher with prasad trays. I think Adhiratha was doing it with me, if he can recall it.
I was both amused and worried that Sri Chinmoy would be too hot or uncomfortable to finish the talks. But he did finish with the incredible "If You Have, Then Come To Me" talk. When you read that poem or talk, just try to visualise Sri Chinmoy seated in a hot, dark second floor loft in the middle of Manhattan at the start of a very serious blackout sitting with his trusty penlight-fan and being cooled by plastic food trays while still maintaining an incredibly high and soulful consciousness as he was creating another Immortal Everest-Aspiration gem.
Soon after the last talk and a short meditation, some of his students escorted him down the stairwell with flashlights as the elevator was not working either. I believe that most of the students from Jamaica, Queens had come in a yellow school bus they used back then. I stayed in Manhattan since the subways were not operating and I had to go to work the next day close by.
Walking to work from a friend's apartment in Manhattan was an eerie but peaceful feeling. There were no traffic lights, so traffic was quite slow and was being directed by police and volunteers. Everywhere there seemed to be a feeling of oneness, of sharing a common serious problem which required people cooperating with a sense of oneness.
Of course there were exceptions to this golden rule, but in general it seemed as if a great Spiritual Master had left an impression on the City that night with his soul stirring talks about oneness, perfection and intuition, which he so clearly demonstrated with his own actions and words.
One more thing which most people may not know. Notice the dates of the talks which started on July 1 and ended on July 20th. Sri Chinmoy's wish was to give 100 talks and, I believe, 100 esraj concerts in the month of July, a seemingly impossible task. But the impossible once again surrendered to this Great Master as it only took twenty days, and not the whole 31 days of July, to give the talks.
Related
- Sweet moments with Sri Chinmoy at Sri Chinmoy Centre
- Sarama's reflections on the 13 July talks at Sri Chinmoy Centre
These talks can be found at Everest Aspiration Part 2, Agni Press, 1977
- 'You And Your Perfection',
- 'Yoga And Oneness',
- 'Hatha Yoga',
- 'Intuition',
- 'Perfection',
- 'If You Have, Then Come To Me'
Note: In photo from 1978, Arpan had not yet received his spiritual name. In 2004, Arpan DeAngelo completed the Sri Chinmoy Self-Transcendence Race
- Arpan's personal page at Sri Chinmoy Centre.