About the Sri Chinmoy Centre

We study meditation and the inner life under the guidance of Sri Chinmoy, an Indian spiritual Master.

The first Sri Chinmoy Centre in the world was established in Puerto Rico in 1966, followed by the New York Centre a few months later. Now there are over 350 centres in over 50 countries.

Our centres serve two purposes:

  • A place where our members can meet for meditation and spiritual practice
  • An opportunity to serve the public by offering free classes of meditation and spirituality in the yoga tradition, concerts, sports events as well as programs for peace.
Video
Sri Chinmoy describes the philosophy of oneness that our Centre activities are based on

Meet some of our members...

As you can see, Sri Chinmoy encouraged us to develop our dynamic, creative and athletic talents as part of our spiritual life. This means that we all have very interesting and unexpected stories to tell!

Papaha Gosline

San Diego

Papaha owns a gallery and art studio that focuses on showing spiritual contemporary art and producing commercial design. Inspired by the Sri Chinmoy's example, he lives a very athletic lifestyle teaching tennis part time, along with enjoying many other sports activities in sunny San Diego.

Harita Davies

New York

Harita is the US co-ordinator for the Sri Chinmoy Oneness-Home Peace Run. She is also a formidable runner, having run the world's longest race - the Self-Transcendence 3100 Mile race - three times.

Suprabha Beckjord

Washington D.C.

Suprabha is a pioneer in the world of ultra-distance running, completing the world's longest race - the Self Transcendence 3100 Mile Race - 13 times in a row between 1997 and 2009.

Mahatapa Palit

New York

A professor of social entrepreneurship in New York, Mahatapa also looks after the Oneness-Heart Centre, which offers free meditation classes in multiple languages to the many communities of Queens, New York.

Stories by Mahatapa:
Sri Chinmoy's biography, written by one of the most famous Bengali authors
The Master's concern
If I can smile like that, it's worth becoming a disciple

Pradhan Balter

Chicago

Pradhan gives talks on meditation and spirituality all over the world. He has written two books based on his talks: "At The Feet of My Master" about his life with Sri Chinmoy, and "A Twenty-First Century Seeker", a guide to living a deep spiritual life in today's world.

Stories by Pradhan:
Sri Chinmoy meets an old friend
Sri Chinmoy's opening meditation at the Parliament of World Religions
How I learned from Sri Chinmoy
Visit Pradhan's homepage »

Pranlobha Kalagian

Seattle

Pranlobha is a very keen photographer, and has used that talent to great effect on her travels throughout the world with the Peace Run.

Stories by Pranlobha:
My typical day
Siblings on a spiritual path
Life in a spiritual workplace
Visit Pranlobha's homepage »

Sanjay Rawal

New York

Sanjay is an award-winning filmmaker; he recently directed the documentary 3100: Run and Become which explores the connection between running and spiritual seeking in cultures all over the world.

Vajra Henderson

New York

Vajra has been a student of Sri Chinmoy for over 50 years; his medical and massage experience is invaluable in the many ultra-distance races that we organise.

Stories by Vajra:
'If I find a Master, he would have to tell me that all men are brothers.'
Meditation saves a prison inmate's life

Lunthita Duthely

Hialeah

Lunthita wrote her Ph.D thesis on the effectiveness of meditation music, with Sri Chinmoy's well-known flute music as a particular example. As part of her spiritual life, she loves running, and giving musical performances and meditation classes.

Stories by Lunthita:
My first impressions of Sri Chinmoy's philosophy
Connecting the dots
Visit Lunthita's homepage »

Ashrita Furman

New York

Ashrita became a student of Sri Chinmoy in 1970. Using the practise of meditation, he embarked on a 40-year journey of setting Guinness world records, and now holds more world records than any other person.

Stories by Ashrita:
An early spiritual experience
I just knew from the moment I saw him
Visit Ashrita's homepage »

Nikolaus Drekonja

San Diego

Nikolaus spends his time between the United States and Austria, where he has family in both countries. He loves to travel with our international Peace Run team as they visit schools and communities around the world.

Boijayanti Gomez-Badillo

New York

Boijayanti is a joint race director of a number of races organised by the Sri Chinmoy Marathon Team in the New York area, including the Self-Transcendece Swim-Run and the Flushing Meadows 5k race.

How does one join the Centre?

People join our Centre because they feel an affinity with Sri Chinmoy as a spiritual teacher, and with the spirituality that he taught and practised.

There is never any financial commitment associated with being a student of Sri Chinmoy. Sri Chinmoy has said that his only fees are the student's sincerity and aspiration - the inner yearning to go higher and deeper into the spiritual life.

People who would like to try Sri Chinmoy's path should feel that spirituality comes first and foremost in their lives. This is a path where spiritual seekers can make very fast progress, provided they make their inner search a priority. Sri Chinmoy taught us to live a life of simplicity and purity, and abstaining from things that affect your ability to have sublime meditation experiences such as meat, alcohol and drugs.

The best way to see if Sri Chinmoy's path might be for you is to attend one of our free meditation classes, workshops or concerts. This will allow you to see first-hand the type of spirituality we practice. If this is not possible straightaway, you can also feel Sri Chinmoy's consciousness through his books, or through his music which is available on radiosrichinmoy.org