The Chicago Centre has around twelve people. During the winter, the weather is often bad and inimical, and sometimes nobody comes to the meetings. This past winter, I broke my foot, and the weather was often cold and slippery. I missed many Centre meetings, and it affected me. Even if I’m the only one there, I feel I’m making a contribution to the fund of human aspiration. Every aspiring thing we do adds to that fund. We owe it to our future selves to contribute as much as possible to humanity’s growth and evolution. Go to the Centre, even if you’re the only one, and your voice echoes in the empty rooms. You are singing for the walls’ appreciation, and you are also keeping Guru company.
This past Wednesday I was meditating at the Centre, and inside the Consciousness of the Transcendental, I saw Jesus Christ. The image looked like a medieval devotional icon, or fresco. He had red hair, a broad face, and he was smiling. The vision lasted for just a couple of seconds.
What does this vision mean? I saw Christ just for an instant, and then his Consciousness vanished. But if I was much more developed inwardly, then I could have maintained the vision for hours, I could have communed with the Lord Jesus Christ on an intimate level. Right now, I can only have a faint glimpse. The reality, the living reality of Jesus Christ is far beyond my loftiest vision or dream. But one day that vision must become living, vivid, real, eternal.
The founder of the Puerto Rican Sri Chinmoy Centre, Sudha, used to meditate so deeply that people would see Guru’s face on her face. One boy, Sevananda, was there, and told me that he saw Guru’s face on her, like a painting in the Moghul Indian style. So, not so far off from my experience of seeing Jesus in Guru, as a fresco, or mural.
Today we see. Tomorrow we have to become. Aspire, aspire.
