Top 10 sensational facts about Sri Chinmoy

Top 10 sensational facts about Sri Chinmoy

Sri Chinmoy was a spiritual teacher who established meditation centres around the world; he was also a prolific poet, musician, artist and weightlifter.

His teachings emphasise love for God, daily meditation on the heart, service to the world, and religious tolerance rooted in the view that all faiths are essentially divine. He often described himself as a “student of peace”.

He emphasized upon the importance of physical activities to maintain good physical and mental health, which is imperative to spiritual growth. As a result, he was an advocated athleticism including distance running, swimming, and weightlifting.

Below are the top 10 sensational facts about Sri Chinmoy;

1. The spiritual call was great within his family

Young Sri Chinmoy – Sri Chinmoy Photos

As a child Sri Chinmoy was very active and outgoing, unlike his brothers and sisters whom he describes as being quiet and reflective.

He recalls that when he was still an infant, his eldest brother, Hriday, entered the Sri Aurobindo Ashram in the south of India. The Sri Aurobindo Ashram is a spiritual community in Pondicherry.

Later on, all the other siblings would join Hriday at the Sri Aurobindo Ashram. In the ashram, Sri Chinmoy studied Bengali and English literature, meditated and worked in the ashram’s cottage industries.

2. He lost both his parents at a very young age

Entrance to Aurobindo ashram in Pondicherry – Wikipedia

Sri Chinmoy was born on 27 August 1931 in the village of Shakpura, Chittagong in East Bengal to Shashi Kumar Ghose and Yogamaya Ghose.

He was the youngest child of seven siblings. His brothers were Hriday, Chitta and Mantu; his sisters were Lily, Ahana and Arpita.

His father, Shashi Kumar Ghose, worked as a ticket inspector, and later set up his own bank. In 1943 at the age of 11 he lost his father to an illness and his mother a few months later.

In 1944, Chinmoy joined his brothers and sisters at the Sri Aurobindo Ashram where he lived for the next 20 years.

3. Dreams of a young Chinmoy

Platform tick of Indian Railways – Wikipedia

Today, we remember Sri Chinmoy as a spiritual leader who advocated for inner peace and inspired many followers with his teachings.

As a child, Chinmoy only wished to follow in his father’s footsteps and become a ticket collector on a train. However, his bath would to be that of a leader.

4. The meaning behind his name

According to his horoscope, the young Chinmoy was given the name of Ganapati. Ganapati is the name of the elephant god, the Hindu deity who removes obstacles from the path of a seeker.

However, as a growing child he was nicknamed “Madal”; Madal, meaning “Kettledrum”, proved to be an appropriate name. His family describe him as being a very energetic, inquisitive and at times mischievous child.

At the age of 12 he joined his brothers and sisters in entering the Sri Aurobindo Ashram under the guidance of Sri Aurobindo and The Mother. It was at entering the ashram that Madal received his name Chinmoy after his brother Chitta bestowed it on him.

The meaning of Chinmoy in Sanskrit is “full of divine consciousness”. Literally, ‘Chin’ means “consciousness. ‘Moy’ literally means “full of”.

5. He served as a personal secretary

Nolini Kanta Gupta – Wikipedia

In 1958, he was appointed secretary to the General Secretary of the ashram, Nolini Kanta Gupta. Nolini Kanta Gupta was a revolutionary, linguist, scholar, critic, poet, philosopher and yogi, and the most senior of Sri Aurobindo’s disciples.

Chinmoy was responsible for organising his papers and also translating his Bengali writings into English. He did this for the next 8 years.

Sri Chinmoy would have been content to stay in the ashram, but he was prompted to move to the United States in response to a “message from within” to be of service to people in the West searching for spiritual fulfillment.

6. He worked at the Indian consulate

Embassy of India, Washington, D.C, – Wikipedia

With the help of Sam Spanier and Eric Hughes, American sponsors connected with the Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Sir Chinmoy emigrated to New York City. The arrived in JFK airport on 13 April 1964.

On arrival in New York, Chinmoy found work at the Indian Consulate, under LL Mehrotra, despite his lack of formal education.

He worked as a junior clerk at the passport and visa section for two years. This job enabled him to receive a US green card.

While at the consulate, he received support and encouragement from his colleagues and bosses and was invited to give talks on Hinduism.

His time at the consulate is well documented in his book titled My Consulate Years.

7. He was an exceptional poetry writer

Sri Chinmoy, poetry – Flickr

It was while at the Ashram that Chinmoy first started writing poetry. In 1946, he translated Sri Aurobindo’s Bengali story ‘Kshamar Adarsha’, ‘The Ideal of Forgiveness’, into 200 lines of Bengali verse.

When writing poetry, Sri Chinmoy often used to say lines of poetry would come to him spontaneously, as if they have been already composed. His first poem in English was “The Golden Flute.”

According to the Sri Chinmoy Centre, Chinmoy published over 120,000 poems. Many of these poems are aphorisms – a short but complete spiritual poem or verse.

His inspirational writing has been praised by many in the world.

8. From an early age, Sri Chinmoy enjoyed running

Sri Chinmoy running – Flickr

While at the ashram, Chinmoy would practice athletics. He was an excellent sprinter, winning the ashram championship for 16 consecutive years. He was also a decathlon champion in 1958 and 1959.

While in America, he founded the Sri Chinmoy Marathon Team in 1977. The marathon holds running, swimming, and cycling events worldwide, from fun runs to ultramarathons.

He also founded the Self-Transcendence 6- & 10-day Races, which run concurrently in Queens each April, and the Self-Transcendence 3100-Mile Race, described by The New York Times as the “Mount Everest of ultramarathons”.

Chinmoy himself continued to enter races until his 60s, when a knee injury hampered his ability to run; afterwards he turned his attention to tennis and weightlifting.

9. Sir Chinmoy displayed exceptional strength

Graça Machel, Sri Chinmoy and Nelson Mandela – Wikiwand

Chinmoy began weightlifting in 1985, at the age of 54. His message to the public in his weightlifting endeavours was that anything is possible if one is able to put aside the limitations of the mind.

In a program created in 1998 known as ‘Lifting up the world with a Oneness Heart’, Chinmoy lifted people of inspiration while they stood on a platform overhead. Among some, of the 7000 people he lifted included Nelson Mandela.

Chinmoy described his motivation: ‘I lift them up to show my appreciation for their achievements,’

10. Sri Chinmoy was against taking drugs and alcohol

Say no to drugs sign – Flickr

Chinmoy was firm in stressing that real spirituality involved purity of mind and body. He cautioned his students to refrain from taking drugs and alcohol as they are very harmful to spirituality.

The consumption of these substances harms a seeker’s subtle nerves, making meditation more difficult.