Table of Contents
I — "Reflections": a radio broadcast
- Interviewer: This morning we have a different "Reflections," and I think this music really sets the scene. There you had Yehudi Menuhin playing violin with the Eastern musician Ravi Shankar playing sitar: the meeting of the East and the West.
- Interviewer: And what happened to you in those early years to make you a spiritual Master today?
- Interviewer: You are a teacher. You are bringing to us the spirituality which you have discovered, and teaching it to us in the West. Does it matter that I'm not a Hindu, but a Christian?
- Interviewer: I accept the fact that you are a Master, a Guru, a teacher. As a Christian, what am I expected to do, or what, in fact, would you teach me that would deepen my inner silence, my spiritual life?
- Interviewer: You have written a number of books, and after reading what you have written, it seems to me that peace, the inner peace, is the thing that is the result of all this. I am very interested to see that you emphasise that to get this peace is not a matter of departing from the life of work and retreating into the Himalayan caves or sitting on snow-capped mountains, but that it can be achieved here on earth in the hustle and bustle of life. Can I move from you, Master, for just a moment, to one of your disciples?
- Interviewer: Master, I'll come back to you now. I think we know a little more about it all now. You mentioned Yoga. One of your books is called Yoga and the spiritual life. For many people, Yoga is nothing more nor less than a set of physical exercises where you stand on your head, or fold your legs into impossible positions. But that's not what you mean by the word "Yoga," is it? Are there exercises? Are there physical postures that you try to teach your students?
- Interviewer: Now, for the many listeners who are living in this county of Kent in England, how can your spirituality, your teachings, help them?
- Interviewer: Thank you. Master, in addition you seem to have done many things. You paint, you write, you compose and play music.
- Interviewer: I notice, too, that you were a decathlon champion in your youth, that you were a fine athlete.
- Interviewer: Now we are going to end this morning's "Reflections." I want to read out one poem you have written, called "The Absolute." And while I read it we will hear the music of Yehudi Menuhin and Ravi Shankar again. But before we end, I would like to go around the table and ask each of you for one very short sentence about what life really means to you now.
- The Absolute
II — Talks
III — Ipswich television interview
- Interviewer: Yoga is becoming highly respectable. One Guru at least has been welcomed in the corridors of power. He's Guru Sri Chinmoy, who's Guru to the United Nations Meditation Group in New York. Sri Chinmoy was taking a break from his UN work today and enjoying a visit to Ipswich. For six years now, Sri Chinmoy has been Guru at the United Nations in New York, ministering to the spiritual needs of a growing number of the UN.'s official staff. The Indian-born teacher and philosopher sees meditation as essential to world unity and peace, a view shared by his UN disciples, who see meditation as "Our hope for mankind."
- Interviewer: Why does there seem to be an increase in interest in what meditation can do for mankind? I notice that on the UN Meditation Group book here, they call meditation "Our Hope for Mankind."
- Interviewer: When you talk about peace are you talking about individual peace of mind or world peace?
- Interviewer: So you think that an increased awareness of meditation and interest in meditation in lots of nations throughout the world brings hope for world peace and unity?
IV — Talks
V — Questions and answers
- Question: Can you explain what is the meaning of the word AUM?
- Question: I am a Christian, and although I pray, I never get any higher than I am now. How can I start to do the things that you are talking about? What is the first step to take in order to learn how to meditate?
- Question: Thank you very much for your message. Would you be so kind as to give us further explanation about concentration and meditation?
- Question: Is the spiritual reality involved in other activities? Is it bound to other realities?
- Question: What is the real meaning of love between man and woman? What is the spiritual significance of marriage?
- Editor's preface to the first edition
