Question: Your family calls you Madal, your disciples call you Guru and the world calls you Sri Chinmoy. Do you have any other names?

Sri Chinmoy: I had so many names in the ashram. My dearest friend, who saw something in me long before anybody else, used to call me Chinny. Someone else used to call me Chinnymoyda. ‘Chinny’ means sugar and ‘moyda’ means flour. When I was very young, some people used to call me a name that meant ‘Japanese doll’ because they felt I was cute. Then some people, especially girls, gave me a name meaning ‘fire’ because my eyes were always red, wide open and very fiery; they felt there was no compassion in my eyes. Others called me Jogisamrat, Jogibar or Jogiraj. Everybody can give names. When my disciples are pleased with me, they give me one name; when they are displeased with me, another name they give me. Every day they may give me a different name, and I am ready to accept all of these names.

So these are the names that I had. I also have many, many inner names, but those are not for the disciples to know. Some special souls have given me names and also some of my disciples have given me names, but that information is restricted.