the story continues - part 11

A few weeks later a friend called to ask me if was interested in doing a free meditation course . He had seen a pamphlet at university and offered to drive us as the course was in the city and his parents had a car-parking space there, which we could use. He even invited me for a home cooked meal afterwards. How could I refuse?

So I wound up at free meditation classes offered by the Sri Chinmoy Centre in Melbourne in October 2003. I definitely did not think it would be a life changing experience. I was somewhat smug about the concept of meditation, having felt that I had explored it fully during my intense yoga sessions, and that I already knew how to keep my mind quiet if I wanted. Despite my smugness, the classes gave me a nice feeling. Although I did not have any life-changing epiphanies, I felt that there was something genuine and wholesome to it all. After the initial 6 weeks of beginner classes my friend went overseas to study for the Summer semester. By this time I had developed an affinity for the person giving the class and I responded to his encouragement for me to persevere with the extension classes. In all honesty, I would rarely practise the suggested exercises at home, but come Tuesday nights I would feel sad at the prospect of Kishore (the class giver) turning up to an empty room. And anyway, it was a nice way to spend a couple of hours.

After about 12 weeks, Kishore presented the option to me of applying to become Sri Chinmoy’s student. We had explored a little of Sri Chinmoy’s writings and music during the classes and had also meditated on a picture of him meditating a few times. However, I was not aware that you could apply to become his student. I told Kishore I would think about it during the coming week. In some ways in sounded too wild, the whole idea of a spiritual teacher. My friends definitely thought so. But a little voice encouraged me to give it go. I liked Kishore and I liked the feel of the centre.

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