“My wise soul and my pure heart
patronise only one
divine enterprise,
and that enterprise
is God’s satisfaction-enterprise.” Sri Chinmoy
Ok, since i’m on a roll here, i,ll write about another divine enterprise i worked in. The now defunct Baked Potato Cafe in Melbourne.
Back in the early days of my disciple hood when i was a bit of a drifter in the outer world, i ended up back in Victoria working in a lumber yard for a while. I quit that and moved into a disciple mate’s house in Melbourne. I had a new job lined up and the day i was supposed to start work, i got this over powering feeling to stay in bed- can you believe it? So i did listen to my inner voice and stay in bed that morning and low and behold a few hours later Sunirmalya ran and said he had sacked a guy and had a job for me. It pays to listen to your inner voice!
So began my year long career in Sunirmalya’s Baked Potato Cafe.
Ex- centre “spark plug” Sunirmalya set up a Baked Potato cafe in Richmond, Melbourne, just around the corner from the centre. Every day we would trek over to Richmond to begin out day with food preparation. It was interesting having a job were everyone you knew in Melbourne came to you. Though the course of the year so many long lost friends drifted through the door of the spud cafe. I remember some old friends who came in for a spud and were bitterly disappointed that i had joined the “Hari Krishnas” and not the communist party…ha ha. Some of my acquaintances were hardened communists.
The cafe food was great, i still remember the mushroom and lentil filling. I quickly got used to the daily formula food prep.
Cafe work is really not my forte and we certainly were not there for the money, but to spend a year in a little universe with my spiritual brothers making and selling great food, in a great suburb was kinda fun in a way.
Sunirmalya rented a medium sized mansion in the richest suburb in Melbourne, Toorak and six of us rented rooms there. Sunirmalya was a real people person and he would always order pizza after Sunday and Wednesday night meditation and us boys would sit around eating pizza and watching videos as a post meditation anti-climax- not a very spiritual thing to do, but it was certainly good for centre camaraderie. The centre leader never ever would join us. I remember Sunirmalya saying to me that he was not one of the boys. I also remember the centre leader telling another centre leader that Sunirmalya riled him. Sunirmalya was independent and great for centre oneness, but pride and insecurity would not allow the centre leader to be usurped from his position of authority. It was kind of strange that the only person in the centre who would,nt join us was the centre leader. Pride really does ruin everything.
It was interesting to rent a mansion and live in the richest suburb in Australia for a year, it is peaceful in rich suburbs but sooo full of pretense. The tram ride home from work late at night was almost like a meditation in itself, riding home through the glitzy suburbs.
There was a great energy at the shop, you could say a divine energy when i think back about it. It was almost like we were a little oneness family for the period of a year. After a while the regular customers become like family too, like an extended family.
Aparajita’s Oneness Fountain Heart restaurant in Boston and Sunirmalya’s Baked Potato Cafe on Melbourne were my two divine enterprise experiences for this incarnation. For some inexplicable reason, i know not why but the light and the divine spark of both places left a little imprint on my soul which i will take with me to the grave. There is something quite unique about working in a divine enterprise, as anyone who has worked in one will testify. It is a completely different experience to working just for cash. For the last seven years i have sold my soul to oil rigs and minesites for the paycheck. Believe me, i understand fully why Guru wanted his disciples to stick to divine enterprises. The divine spark pays great dividends.
This aphorism sums it up perfectly.
“Human life is a clever compromise and reluctant sacrifice.
Divine life is a prosperous enterprise and glorious sunrise” Sri Chinmoy
Cheers
Eamon
