The Acropolis

statue in Delphi

Awesome monestry in Northern greece

 I’m currently in Greece and its kind of interesting to see how human spirituality evolves in different places across the globe. Some one once told me that Guru said that the Greek gods were man made. It is an interesting comment as the ancient Greek god worship has completely vanished. All that is left iscrumbling temples. They certainly took their spirituality seriously, the temples they built were totally awesome. It proves one thing. Guru was right. The Greek gods were a man made affair . If ancient Greek spirituality was for real, it would have lasted. Unlike Hinduism, which is totally for real, the Greeks worshiped a bunch of fakes. Like a fire cracker it faded into nothing.

The Greeks sure made up for it when they split with the Catholic church. The Greek orthodox religion is a beautiful religion. I sat in on a service on the island of Samos two years ago, i was swimming in an ocean of bliss during that service it was totally awesome. Their icon art is incredible as are their monasteries and churches. There is an atmosphere of tolerance with the Greek orthodox Christians, unlike the Catholics who claim to have absolute monopoly on God.

The Greeks are a very traditional lot. When they sink their teeth into something they like, they stick with it for good. There is not a hint of Islam in Greece, the whole country has embraced the orthodox religion- you could call it national oneness!

 There is similarities with myself and the great Christian split (lol) . The Catholic church claimed absolute jurisdiction over all things Christ. But different people have different ideas and Eastern European Christians disagreed over certain theological ideas and went their own way. Similarly the Sri Chinmoy centre did not see eye to eye with me so i have launched my own split and started a fully independent Sri Chinmoy manifestation. You could call it the “Great Eamonistic Reformation”…lol

I tell you there is real joy in a home grown manifestation program. You are unrestricted, totally free from the unelected heirarchy, free from rules and regulations, and worst of all, free from disciple expectation. What you have is total joy in freedom.

I’m writing this post in the absolute paradise of the Greek Islands. This is my idea of heaven. If you have never been to the Greek Islands, get your backside over here, it is awesome. It was a goal of mine to make the Greek islands and two years ago i knocked off twenty islands in one hit. I just had to get back. Guru’s aphorism ” The purpose of life is to dream and manifest the impossible dream”  inspired me to take this journey…..I will continue the “Great Eamonistic Reformation” over here for as long as possible…lol

“Reformation means

A new powerful promise.

Regeneration means

A new soulful achievement.” Sri Chinmoy

………Isn’t that an awesome quote!

Peace man cuz i,m in paradise,

Eamon

Guru in China

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

This piece of audio media goes for half and hour so hit the play button, sit back and relax, and enjoy the very beginings of Sri Chinmoy’s manifestation in the West.

Question: For what purpose do we have a physical body?

Sri Chinmoy: The soul, which is a conscious, divine portion of God, has to live inside the physical body in order to make progress. Inside the church is the altar. Similarly, the body is a temple, and inside the temple is the shrine, the soul. The body is our outer protection and, at the same time, our instrument for physical manifestation. Without the body the soul is helpless. Until manifestation takes place in the physical world, we cannot offer the real Truth to the world at large. The purpose of the body is to manifest the Reality of the soul. The soul needs the body to manifest the inner Truth, the divine Truth; the body needs the soul to realise the highest Truth. When the soul inspires us to do something, it also gives us the necessary capacity. Unfortunately, the unaspiring body, vital and mind do not obey the dictates of the soul. The body, vital and mind give us messages, but these messages are not the inner dictates of the soul. The desires of the body often directly contradict the divine necessities of the soul, because this material body is unconsciousness itself.

When a person begins to aspire consciously, his entire being gradually starts to aspire. His soul aspires, his heart aspires, his mind aspires, his vital aspires and finally his body aspires. When the physical in the aspirant starts to become one with the soul’s inspiration and aspiration, then God’s Light can find a fit receptacle in him.

Thanks to Soundaffair studios in California for helping me get this little project online.

Love

Eamon

Greek Islands

“Why is Europe like a frying pan? Because at the bottom of Europe is Greece.” Sri Chinmoy

Ha ha ha ha…. i like that.

Being an ardent traditionalist………….not! I have decide to keep up the tradition of the centre joy day by shouting myself a holiday in the Greek Islands. I thought, why not throw in some self-transcendence as well and extend the joy-day to three months. As the old fella said, ” the purpose of life is to dream and manifest the impossible dream”. And that is exactly what i intend to do.

I hit the Greek islands two years ago and the place is absolute paradise. So i thought, why not do it again!

An interesting snippet:

In the sixth century before the birth of Christ, the Supreme’s Light descended very powerfully to earth in the form of spiritual Masters of the highest order, visionary prophets and wisdom-flooded philosophers.

In India, Lord Buddha and Lord Mahavira attained enlightenment and established spiritual paths to guide humanity to the goal of nirvana; in Persia, the prophet Zoroaster spread his lofty teachings on the nature of goodness and the reality of Heaven and hell; in China, the sage Confucius taught moral and social precepts that were to become the foundation of the Chinese way of life; and in Greece, the philosopher-giant Socrates, with his indomitable inner spirit, ushered in a new mode of thinking and a new standard of morality.

The spiritual, religious, philosophical and moral teachings of these immortal figures continue to mould and guide the consciousness of countless millions of people even to this day.

If you know one, you know all.If you know all, you know one.One and all are the same.

—Lord Mahavira

Eamon

“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

Way back in the early years in the centre, i was at a Pizza Hut one evening with a few of the Canberra boys when out of the blue our centre leader said to me “Eamon you should go live in America for a while”. It hit me like a sledge hammer! It was like someone from above was speaking through him. It was just what i needed as i was totally lost at the time. So that April i packed my bags, got a small bank loan and took off for celebrations.

Sitting in Progress Promise (the hall above a garage Guru used for functions in Queens) one night, i bumped into Aparajita a Boston disciple. He said he had work going at his new Boston restaurant, The Oneness Fountain Heart, so i jumped at it and so started a short but fulfilling chapter in my life.

Life was ideal in Boston, in hind-site, Guru picked a good place for me. The people are normal in Boston-as for New Yorkers, its a god damn freak show. I used to walk down the street in Jamaica after functions just to look at the black people. It was better than the circus! Every black person had a different hair do, and totally different clothes. Black people have life energy.Australians are sooo boring.

Everything in Boston was good. The centre was great, no deluded politics or egos (blah blah) like Australia. The city is nice. MIT was just around the corner from Aparajita’s house so i used to pop over to do track work. The restaurant was great place to work with a great crew, although that kind of work is not my forte. We used to work five and a half days a week if i remember right, and at the end of every shift we would sing a song Guru wrote for the restaurant, it was a sweet and divine ending to every shift. Every weekend we would drive to New York to see Guru.

I used to say to myself , if there was a contest for the nicest guy in America, Aparajita would win it (there’s some serious flattery going on here folks).

American life is good. The people are different depending on where you go. There are crazy people in New York, but Bostonians are calm and orderly. The one thing i love about New York, is that New York will accept you no matter who or what you are, i love that kind of acceptance.

I have fond memories of Boston and its nice people and I’m glad who ever it was who called me to go there did so. It was a short but nice chapter in my life.

“America succeeds because America likes to proceed. America proceeds because America consciously and devotedly invokes God’s Compassion-Eye to precede”. Sri Chinmoy

I’m glad i lived in America for a short while.

Eamon.