Guru had come to San Francisco for many things, but one of the things was to visit Ananda Fuara, a really good restaurant they have out there. There were many people there from all over the West Coast. Of course, not everybody could fit into the restaurant. It wasn't big enough. So I was standing outside with the group of people.

Finally Guru came out and he was blessing us with his hand and smiling. Everybody was really happy. Guru got into the car that was waiting. Then Guru got out of the car and started walking towards me. I actually looked behind me to see if there is somebody more important standing there. But there wasn't. Guru walked up about six feet away from me and looked at me with half-closed eyes. He said, “You will not swim the channel? You will not swim the English Channel?” Then Guru turned around and slowly walked back to the car and they drove away.

Mridanga was the videographer for many of the events that took place in Sri Chinmoy's life.

We were in Nepal for the Sri Chinmoy Peace Nation dedication. We had the ceremony, which was very nice. The Prime Minister came, big shots came, and the next day Guru gave the Prime Minister the U Thant Peace Award.

When meeting big shots, I would check and double-check and recheck the equipment, and normally I would bring a backup camera, just in case, because many, many things could go wrong. Actually, I don’t think ever there were any major problems, but there was an enormous amount of stress beforehand for me. I never really enjoyed the meetings because I was so focused on checking that everything was working. 

My name is Gabriele. I grew up in Italy and a few years ago I moved to San Diego, California, where I now live. I’m going to tell you a story that happened to me about three years ago. It changed my life, so it’s very significant to me.

It was a Saturday afternoon, so I went for lunch at Jyoti-Bihanga restaurant here in San Diego. They were organising a water station for the following day’s race -- the San Diego marathon.

That day I felt particularly inspired to do something for the community, with the community. Sure enough, the opportunity came along. I thought, “These guys are looking for volunteers for the race and I would like to be part of it”. 

So I talked to the gentleman sitting outside, Mahiyan, and asked him if I could join in. He hooked me up with Vasudha, and she said, “Come along. It will be great to have you!”

The following morning at 5:30 a.m. I met them at the water station, and we set up. We were given instructions on how to go about the race. My duty was to sweep the street of the plastic bottles and anything that was in the way of the runners. As you know, there is such a fantastic energy at the race. Everybody chips in, runners and volunteers. It was a really nice build-up.

In 1994, the first time Guru met with Mother Teresa, he was moved in every way. This was not the very first time, but it was the first time that Guru had a longer meeting.

This meeting was October 1st, 1994.  So I wanted to tell you the story of how it happened. Starting in 1994, Guru began asking me to call Mother Teresa and give messages to her—very, very sweet messages. She in turn would give very sweet messages of her love for Guru and gratitude to Guru.

Guru would give a New Year’s Message every year. In 1994 his message said it was the year of destruction. Most of the time the message for the year was very positive, but this particular year Guru said was extremely dangerous, and we had to be very careful. Usually Guru travelled quite a bit outside of the United States. He would go to many countries, but in that year, it was already September, and Guru had not gone to any other country by then.

Guru asked me toward the end of September, “Please, I would like you to go to Rome and arrange for me to meet with Mother Teresa.” I told the nuns that I was coming and I would be so grateful to come to pray with Mother Teresa and then speak with her briefly after the prayer.

This is the very beginning of when Guru started to incorporate sports and fitness into our Path.

As you know, Guru came to the West in 1964, and the very first Centre he opened was in Puerto Rico in 1966. I came in 1970, four years later after the Centre was opened there. But during those first years, it wasn't anything like it is today. We didn't run. We didn't do sports unless someone on their own happened to do it. But most of us weren't athletes. I happened to be a surfer because I was from Hawaii.

Our Centre life as disciples consisted basically of our daily practice, of course, our meditation and study and coming to the Centre meditations. The only other real activity we had was what Guru called karma yoga nights, selfless service nights, when we would come to the Centre and do arts and crafts. Whatever we made we would eventually sell. With these sales we would raise money for the Centre. And maybe sometimes on the weekends, just informally, the younger disciples mostly, we would go on a hike in nature, in the mountains and things like that, but there were never any organised sports at all. No one was running at that time.

I think it was maybe around 1970, on one of Guru’s trips to Puerto Rico. One night after meditation we were sitting around with him very informally talking and joking. Out of the blue Guru said, “Okay, everyone, I want all of you to be at the park tomorrow morning at 7:00 a.m. We're going to take exercises.”

A deep meditation is one of the most beautiful and fulfilling of all possible experiences. Once we have learnt how to find our way into that desireless inner stillness that is always there inside us, our life can never be the same. Here in the sanctuary of the heart, free of time and the burdens of the mind, everything is clear, everything is already done. Out of this silence comes wisdom, understanding, and delight.

In many ways Guru taught us to take our practice of meditation out into the everyday aspects of our life—karma yoga—to train ourselves to sustain the meditative feeling as long as possible. Walking through a park, sitting on a bus, waiting for somebody, travelling to the next moments of our life, learning to string these moments of calm together as a necklace of day-long moments of happiness.

At first, the experience of meditation itself relies upon a calm environment and some combination of time, place, and correct technique. But then it goes beyond these needs. We begin to realise that while our increasing moments of “success” have been possible through some combination of external factors—a workshop we attended, group practice, a new exercise we tried, or inspiring music—in reality these things have reconnected us with our deeper self, and that “self” is always there inside us, wherever we are.

Five-time Mr. Universe Bill Pearl and his wife, fitness expert Judy Pearl, are better known to Sri Chinmoy’s disciples as Mahasamrat and Bhavatarini; these are the spiritual names that Guru gave them.

I live in Seattle, and they have visited our Seattle Centre numerous times. Mahasamrat is such an amazing person. His vibration is so powerful— Guru once said about him that he could walk into a hospital and help heal people just from his prana, or life-energy. He has such energy and such a deep love for Guru. You can just feel it when you're in his presence. And Bhavatarini is the same way—it’s like you can't take the two of them apart. They are absolutely one.

This is a story about my mom and Guru. Over the years, my parents have become increasingly grateful to Guru. Originally they were not at all—quite the opposite—but they have since grown to be quite thankful to Guru in a deep way.

A little background about my mom—the first time she can remember going to the doctor was when she had her first baby. She grew up in the Italian countryside in a very poor family. Her mother knew about herbs and the old ways of curing sickness, so she never went to the doctor. To this day, whenever she gets a pain or feels anything wrong, she says, “As it comes, so it will go.”

Several years ago my mom called to tell me about some shoulder pain she was having. She never complains, so I knew it must have been pretty bad. “My shoulder hurts so much I can’t sleep at night,” she said. “I can only sleep sitting up.”

A couple of days of this went by and I told her, “Mom, talk to Guru, tell Guru.” I knew that in their bedroom my parents had a photo of Guru, and they also had a Transcendental photograph in their car which Guru had told them they could have, so my mom knew that was for protection. So I told her, “Mom, just tell Guru.” She didn’t, and day by day her shoulder pain got worse. Finally she got to the point where she couldn’t sleep for two full nights. She was in her late eighties, and this was very much telling on her health. Unbeknownst to me, she finally became so desperate that she inwardly spoke to Guru. I got a phone call out of the blue, and my mom asked me, “Does Sri Chinmoy talk to you?”

This was after Guru had physically passed away. Nevertheless, I said, “Yes, he can, if he wants to. He can speak to you, too.”