An Outer and Inner Journey

The idea of being able to retreat from the world of the mind, the world of thoughts, worries and anxieties, into a space of perfect silence and inner peace sounded enthralling. But it was not until many years later that the practice of meditation and the path of spirituality really came alive for me. After a series of unexpected events in my life, I suddenly found myself in New Zealand, a country I can remember dreaming about as a child, but never actually imagining I would one day visit.

As a born and bred Zimbabwean, I had never really planned on leaving home, but by the age of 23, I had already spent five years in America as a student and had travelled to six continents. On returning home to Zimbabwe, I found it difficult to pick up from where I had left off. For two years I struggled, looking for something in my life that would give me a sense of purpose, not being really sure what that would be. I eventually resolved to spread my wings for Australia, desperately hoping that I might find there what I had so far not been able to find at home. Very unexpectedly, and for reasons that are not important to mention here, my journey took me first to Australia, then to America and finally to New Zealand. I arrived in Auckland with hardly a penny in my pocket and feeling more depressed than ever. However, a friend I was staying with encouraged me to look for a job, and following his advice, less than a month later I was sitting behind a desk in an office in Auckland. My life had taken a drastic turn and I wondered where it would all end.

A few weeks later I picked up a flyer advertising meditation classes at the local Sri Chinmoy Centre and it was here that my real spiritual journey began. As I entered the neatly painted blue doors of the Auckland Sri Chinmoy Centre and made my way up the stairs, I had no idea what lay ahead of me. However, this single act completely changed the course of my life. Ten years on, it is now impossible for me to imagine my life without the Sri Chinmoy Centre and without meditation.

Sunrise over Auckland, New Zealand

Discovering the Sri Chinmoy Centre was like finding a journey and a home I had never known - the Centre embodied everything that I admired in the spiritual figures and paths I had read about. My practice of meditation blossomed and soon became for me a source of inner freedom and joy – freedom, because I was no longer plagued by the endless worries and doubts of my mind and joy because my long search had finally come to an end. I had reached the end of one long and often dark road and was now starting on a new sunlit road where only the present moment really mattered.

In an outer sense, joining the Sri Chinmoy Centre also gave me a new family, a spiritual family that at first seemed almost too good to be true. However, it soon became clear to me that the warmth and concern offered by this spiritual community of men and women was born not of any kind of deception, but rather of a deep and genuine foundation in the brotherhood of humanity and the oneness of spirituality. And at the source of it all was Sri Chinmoy, a man whose life, personal example and spiritual consciousness gave me the sense of a living teacher unlike any other I had ever read about or met, a man who only inspired me and of whom I felt completely comfortable in accepting as a spiritual teacher.

Three and a half years ago, after a full eight years in New Zealand, I arrived back on African soil on the unfamiliar shores of Johannesburg. One adventure came to an end and a new one began. To some extent this new adventure has been about separating the inner from the outer. In the deepest spiritual sense, our outer world, the places, people and events, are just part of an outer fabric of life that allows us to have the experiences we need to grow inwardly and progress spiritually. For me, it has allowed me to identify with my spiritual practice in the deepest and most personal sense.

South Africa is a wonderful country, full of new hope and promise and alive with activity. I am honoured and privileged to have a place amongst it ranks and if you too are from South Africa, I wholeheartedly encourage you to dive deep within to discover who you really are and what this world is truly about from the deepest spiritual sense. Sri Chinmoy's writings are a wonderful place to start and if you are interested in meditation you are most welcome to contact us to find out about our free meditation workshops.

O South Africa, South Africa, South! Your heart you give before you open your mouth. You are your life's streaming and bleeding tears. You offer mankind progress-promise-cheers. – Sri Chinmoy.