Awakened Consciousness

One of the nicest things about working at The Lotus-Heart is when people come in who feel 'something', a deeper connectedness on some level. Over the years many people have come through the doors who have become our true friends, offered us tremendous joy, and received genuine inspiration from Sri Chinmoy. To me these friendships are most significant in extending the arms of universal oneness friendship on a person to person basis. I wrote this a while ago...

Over the last few days I have had several experiences of both encouragement and amusement. I was walking past a table at The Lotus- Heart and heard a lady talking to her friend, (I don't like to be nosy, but one cannot help but overhear snippits of conversation whilst serving the customers). Usually people are talking about their daily activities - shopping, work, family etc. This lady said "I know what I have to do, I have to start doing yoga and I have to start meditating".

Something about what she said struck me, because in that moment I saw a glimpse into the future when all of humanity will see the clear necessity of putting spirituality first in their lives. At this moment in time the percentage of people actively including spiritual disciplines in their lives is quite small, but times are changing. In the future the percentages will surely be reversed.

I have been putting out flyers for meditation workshops around town, and the amount of interest I have received from a broad spectrum of people is most encouraging. One boy in a music store told me that I should put the flyers inside some of the cd's so that people would get a pleasant surprise when they discovered them!

Today a customer at The Lotus-Heart was in seventh heaven whilst reading one of Sri Chinmoy's books. She said she had never read a book like it before, and that she could literally feel it feeding her heart with light and inspiration!

I am so grateful to Sri Chinmoy for the ceaseless flow of hope and inspiration installed in his vast outpouring of poetry and writings. I also feel the words feeding me inwardly as I read them, like 'food for the soul'.

Below I have included a poem by Sri Chinmoy which is quite applicable: "The awakened consciousness of man is visibly tending towards the Divine. This is a most hopeful streak of light, amidst the surrounding obscurities of today. This is a moment, not merely of joining hands,but of joining minds, hearts and souls. Across all physical and mental barriers between East and West, high above national standards, above even individual standards, will fly the supreme banner of Divine Oneness."