Trishakash

Keep the physical always in good order, in perfect order — not for the sake of competition, but for the sake of completeness of the physical existence...I am requesting you to be involved in only two worlds: the inner world and the outer world, which is your physical body.

Here is Trishakash. He has swum the English Channel. I am very, very proud of him, very proud of him! Among the older members of our spiritual family, Trishakash has to be really appreciated and admired for keeping physically fit.

Sri Chinmoy1

The following stories should be read by anyone who considers himself to be a skeptic. I, for one, had always been the eternal skeptic until I discovered my meditation Master and dear friend, Sri Chinmoy.

I still question many things, but somewhere along the way, thanks to the compassionate hand of the universe, I fell in love with a Truth that goes far beyond skepticism. I discovered an inner knowing that comes from true oneness with your own highest “inner voice."

I didn’t even know I had an inner voice until I started to meditate. It was not until I began to calm the noise in my mind through meditation that eventually I was able to discover the world of the heart. What I have experienced from a spiritual perspective, a snapshot of which is contained in these stories, cannot be explained in words; it can only be felt by the heart. Everything that I had read in those spiritual books so many decades earlier was about to be revealed to me directly by my Master.

We may think that the reality of the universe is what we see with our human eyes, but when we begin to open the spiritual heart, we become part and parcel of a spiritual reality that really transcends time and space. What I was about to discover is that pure spirituality goes beyond religion and faith to a direct personal experience of God. Meditation allows those of all religious persuasions (or none at all) to touch and feel and actually experience the Truth contained in all religions. That is the beauty that was about to unfold before my eyes. All the words in the world could not possibly express what I felt when I began to personally experience the inner realities that my Master showered upon me.

I would like to make a comment to those who have never heard about the existence of spiritual Masters. A spiritual Master is like a precious jewel of light shining brightly in the midst of the human condition. A Master is the true silent Hush from which all activity springs. A real Master is the one who has already established his or her oneness with all that eternally Is, and whose sole purpose on earth is to teach aspiring humanity how to do the same.

I am grateful to my spiritual Master, my Guru, my teacher, Sri Chinmoy, for being the Lighthouse: the beacon of wisdom-light that has guided me through my meditations and the dynamic activities of everyday life beyond my mind to my heart and to the real in me. Guru found his home in my heart and I found my eternity’s home in his heart of love. As Guru says, the role of the spiritual teacher is to guide the student through meditation and spiritual living to discover the hidden treasures within his own heart. Once the teacher has done that, his role is over.

What an unexpected adventure into spirituality I have had! If it can happen to me, it can happen to anyone!

• 1. Sri Chinmoy, The temple and the shrine, Agni Press, 2013