A Bengali ashram monk turned consulate clerk built a global meditation movement
Sri Chinmoy arrived in New York in 1964 with little formal schooling and took a job as a junior clerk at the Indian consulate. Within a decade he was lecturing in all 50 states, guiding Carlos Santana and John McLaughlin, and preaching that running, swimming and weightlifting could be spiritual practice.
Chinmoy Kumar Ghose was born on 27 August 1931 in Shakpura, in the Chittagong District of East Bengal, the youngest of seven children. His father died of illness in 1943 and his mother months later, and in 1944 the 12-year-old joined his siblings at the Sri Aurobindo Ashram in Pondicherry. His brother Chitta gave him the name Chinmoy, meaning full of divine consciousness. He stayed twenty years, meditating, studying Bengali and English literature, competing in athletics and working in the ashram's cottage industries.
In New York his consulate colleagues encouraged him to talk about Hinduism, and the talks moved to universities and eventually the United Nations. His first centre opened in Queens; by his count the movement grew to 350 centres and some 7,000 students in 60 countries. He charged nothing for guidance or concerts and asked devotees, married or not, to stay celibate and avoid alcohol and drugs. McLaughlin named his Mahavishnu Orchestra after the spiritual name Chinmoy gave him, and in 1973 he and Santana released Love Devotion Surrender.
His creed of self-transcendence spilled into sport. Carl Lewis learned meditation from him, followers have swum the English Channel over 40 times, and his circle stages a 3100-mile race. Ashrita Furman, holder of more than 150 Guinness records, credits the meditation. Chinmoy also began a torch relay for peace in 1987, a humanitarian aid service in 1991, and free peace concerts on flute and esraj, the biggest drawing 19,000 people in Montreal.
The picture has a darker side. Some former members call the group a cult, critics fault his relentless self-promotion, and several female ex-disciples have alleged sexual misconduct; he was never charged or sued, and his lawyer denied the claims. He died of a heart attack at his home in Queens on 11 October 2007.
Source: Sri Chinmoy
