Statement for October 14 Sri Chinmoy Memorial Service

On October 14, 2007, my spiritual teacher Sri Chinmoy will be laid to rest. The statement below is excerpted from one I offered for Sri Chinmoy's 76th birthday on August 27th, 2007. He told me twice this speech would be published one day. This is now that day.

Today we celebrate Spirit and Consciousness. Today on earth – in this physical place and through our earthly perception – we celebrate pure Spirit and Heavenly Consciousness of our Guru - Sri Chinmoy.

It is a miracle that some can feel Heaven on earth. Feeling Heaven is not a capacity that I was aware of growing up. It was not something I learned in school. Feeling Heaven was not an activity that my friends engaged in while growing up. And it was something entirely unfamiliar to my parents.

No, for me this ability to feel pure Spirit and know Heavenly Consciousness came from one divine Life. And this incredible miracle of divine awareness was born into me through hard work and persistence by the One who was dedicated to my progress. Sri Chinmoy.

I feel and know Heaven on earth because my soul intersected with the sacredness and divinity that was the life of Sri Chinmoy – my divine teacher and sacred Guru.

And to varying degrees, many lives became intertwined with, integrated with, and fused into Sri Chinmoy’s divine life and higher purpose.

Many feel blessed because we lived life with Sri Chinmoy over these past decades. And as time passed, each day with Guru – each moment with Guru - became increasingly important. As his love became deeper. As his vision grew. As his accomplishments inspired. And as his consciousness trancended.

For in my experience of Sri Chinmoy he was the Supreme manifesting on earth.

His breath a pathway to higher awareness.
His eyes a vision of the Beyond
His words the soulful, sacred texts of our lives.
His songs an ocean of infinite bliss.
His voice, the voice of Heaven itself.

For Guru descended from and was connected to a Cosmic Source. That was his life’s purpose. And in Sri Chinmoy’s life was penultimate experience that pointed me to Higher awareness.

He was the sacredness in Sacred.
He was Love in Love.
He was the Divinity in Divinity.
He was the Soulfulness in Soulful.
He was the One.

In Guru’s sweet life – in his remarkable life’s work – I was witness to aspiration itself.

He sought to realize himself through my life and the lives of his disciples and those who believed in him. That is, in my view, what this journey was about. It was Guru realizing his soulful Magnificence though our lives…and in the lives of those who believed.

And today and forever, as we step ever closer to our own self-realization, through each future step, I feel Guru in his soulfulness remains eternally bowed at the Feet of the Lord Supreme.

And through the remaining days of our lives, I do believe Sri Chinmoy’s Realization itself will become it’s own infinite splendor through our future good works.

Because even Infinity itself can be more powerfully infinite. And we can enable a truly magnificent Ecstasy for Guru, in his soulful State, through our individual and collective achievements. So that should hopefully and ideally give us inspiration and resolve to strive and become.

And we should feel gratitude. Gratitude. When I think of gratitude I think of every single moment. It is possible to infuse gratitude into each and every moment of our lives. Gratitude is one of the most powerful personal empowerments. One that benefits life and infuses the resonance of the entire planet with Higher Consiousness. Gratitude.

And Love. I believe that to feel love you need to give love. To love you simply need to be loving. Not with an on off switch. Be loving all the time because when you open your eyes, you see through a prism of love. When you hear you wrap what you hear in love. And when you give it is because you love. Because if you’re consciously giving love –– you will embody love. You will feel satisfied. And love will empower gratitude. And gratitude is realization.

So this time of our life is a time for gratitude. A time for love. And a time for soulful aspiration. Gratitude. Love. Aspiration. That kind of life will bring the realization that Sri Chinmoy so longed for in our lives. That commitment will enable the fulfillment of the promise of our collective journey together.

Photos were taken in June when Sri Chinmoy generously celebrated my birthday and offered me two incredibly beautiful drawings he made for me which I deeply cherish.