Sri Chinmoy Centre
The Sri Chinmoy Centre is the spiritual home for the students of Sri Chinmoy. On regular evenings the seekers meet in the Centre for silent meditation, spiritual singing, reading, listening to spiritual music and sharing inspiration with seeker-friends in order to recharge and enliven their own inspiration and enthusiasm in their spiritual lives.
In order to make the fastest spiritual progress Sri Chinmoy stresses both the importance of individual meditation as well as group meditation. Individual meditation is done at home in front of the seeker's own meditation shrine. Group meditation is done collectively in a meditation hall or centre, a church, a temple, a synagogue or any venue where people meet together to pray and meditate collectively. In group meditation the aspiration of all seekers combined provides a powerful energy field which strengthens the meditation of each individual seeker present, making it easier to silence one's thoughts and enter into deeper meditative consciousness. For this reason the Sri Chinmoy Centre - among other things - serves as a venue where students of Sri Chinmoy can meditate together.
Apart from the meditation aspect the Sri Chinmoy Centre also sponsors and organises a variety of events and activities both in their local communities and internationally, such as running races and sporting events, free meditation classes and humanitarian service, in order to inspire people to be both physically and spiritually active and provide an accessible entrance to those who seek to establish a genuine spiritual life.
The Sri Chinmoy Marathon Team is the athletic branch of the Sri Chinmoy Centre, which yearly puts on more than 500 athletic events worldwide.
The Oneness-Heart-Tears And Smiles is an organization, which is run by volunteers from the Sri Chinmoy Centre. This is a charitable organization, which offers humanitarian service to people in need in more than 120 countries all over the world.
The first Sri Chinmoy Centre was founded in Puerto Rico in 1966. Presently there are more than 200 centres in over 50 countries. The Sri Chinmoy Centres from all countries meet twice a year in New York to celebrate Sri Chinmoy's birthday in August and commemorate his coming to the West each April.
From December until March Sri Chinmoy usually travels abroad for a three month period. During this time a retreat is being organized for his students to accompany him on his travels, engaging in both spiritual, cultural and relaxing activities, such as meditation, singing, theatre plays, musical performances and sports.
According to ancient spiritual philosophy there are three prerequisites for leading a sound spiritual life. These are: a qualified spiritual teacher, his scriptures or spiritual teachings and an active spiritual community of seekers following the teachings. In short, the Sri Chinmoy Centre tries to fulfill these three prerequisites for seekers who are sincerely interested in practicing spirituality.
by Abhinabha Tangerman
Abhinabha is a member of the Amsterdam Sri Chinmoy Centre
Related Pages
- Sri Chinmoy Centre. Home page for Sri Chinmoy Centres International. Includes home pages for students of Sri Chinmoy
- Music Groups of the Sri Chinmoy Centre. Within the Sri Chinmoy Centre there are many music groups who perform the songs and music of Sri Chinmoy. Also contains links to Radio Sri Chinmoy where you can listen to the spiritual music .
- The Joy of Peforming Spiritual Music - An article by Roger Chamberlain on spiritual music.
- Poetry by members of the Sri Chinmoy Centre at Poetseers.org
