One of my colleagues – an especially hard-working and time-pressed one – consciously avoids the word ‘busy’. As an exercise I tried the same for a week and found it surprisingly awkward. That was an education.
Category: Memoirs
“What do you want?
I want good health.
Meditate on a vegetable garden.
Meditate on a dancing child.”
– Sri Chinmoy
My running life has had a chequered past. I know I’m not alone in having detested cross-country at school, but that’s no true prediction of one’s relationship with the sport anyway. Who wants to be clambering through mud and weeds in the dead of winter, clad only in shorts and a polo shirt? Very few.
It is often said that while meditation is simple, it may not be easy. In our growing culture of ever-quicker fixes, those new to meditation are prone to giving up early, convinced they lack the aptitude. In truth, few take to it naturally right away.
Do little people still read Dr Seuss nowadays, or am I showing my age? I loved taking time in those imagined worlds of the Cat in the Hat, Fox in Socks, Green Eggs and Ham – where everyone talks in rhyming couplets and looks a bit fuzzy round the edges.
Categories
Newness and Astrology
My family is in the midst of an almighty clear-out. There’s nothing like the buzz of giving things away, especially to people who even recognise what they are and thus how they could be useful.
Categories
The Mythology of Mistakes
Do you ever stop to think what an achievement it is that you and I – metaphorically or metaphysically – are sitting here? Perhaps you do. Perhaps I ought to do more often.
Categories
Not the Fruits Thereof
It was part way through a bowl of shahi paneer at a local restaurant that I remembered Mr Ramesh. There was something about the chef that brought my old tutor back to me from a half-buried past.
Categories
God’s Great Experiment
This story was first published in Inspiration-Letters #25, an online magazine of articles, written by members of the Sri Chinmoy Centre around the world. The theme for this edition is “Living in the Now”.
Categories
The Humble Gourd
I was pondering the subject of humility this morning, and came across a passage by Sri Chinmoy, where he makes a clear distinction between humility and unworthiness. I realised there are so many different interpretations of the quality. What is the true meaning?
Categories
The Tiger-Striped Goat
I am often reminded of a parable related by Ramakrishna to his disciples over a hundred years ago – a striking analogy of spiritual learning.
Categories
Love, Freedom and Fifteen Years
Valentine’s Day. What does it mean? The word ‘love’ itself seems to have so many connotations nowadays. By chance, February fourteenth is the day I became a student of Sri Chinmoy, so it has had a very different meaning for me these past 15 years, compared to all the ones it used to have.