The Hidden Path (WINNER OF THE BEAUTY AWARD for Spiritual)

At The Aspiration Ground

What is meditation? Meditation is our conscious awareness of something vast and infinite within us. Meditation grants us Peace, Light and Bliss.

- Sri Chinmoy

Having swept his silent gaze over each one of us, Guru swiftly moved towards the little hut.

A casually dressed boy hurriedly opened up the right wing of the door, which basically made up half of the front of the construction.

From my vantage point, I could clearly see that I had been right in assuming that the whole contraption consisted of nothing more than wooden and frail beams, covered by a kind of blue, strong plastic foil.

Inside of it a blue, upholstered reclining chair took center stage, laden with folded blankets. Behind it, an infrared lamp mounted on a stand emitted a soft, red glow and a small heater on the floor appeared to be running, as well.

Beside the chair, small cupboards on either side were littered with all kinds of trifles. Probably stationary items.

While Guru was walking towards the chair, everybody around me resumed their seats.

As soon as his trainer-clad feet had stepped across the threshold, the Master became still for a a few seconds, his posture very straight. A moment later, he placed the red purse on the low cupboard to his right and lowered himself into the chair. Finally, he pulled a lever, activating the reclining mode.

While Guru was covering his legs with some blankets he signaled the boy, who was still holding onto the door-like contraption, to close it.

Hiding himself from my curious eyes in the process.

For the longest time, nothing happened.

Which came to me as no surprise, since the previous evening, D had already briefed me on what to expect.

I was therefore ready to immerse myself in the blissful world of my meditation once again.

Of course, trying to meditate outside has its challenges.

Exposed to the forces of man and nature, it was hard for me to decide which one was more distracting.

While those of man mostly attacked my ears (the frequent, loud wail of various sirens belonging to police cars, fire trucks or ambulances, the deafening roar of planes starting and landing at the close-by JFK airport or the loud voices of the neighbors' children playing) but also my sense of smell (the hunger-inducing smells wafting through the air, escaping from a kitchen somewhere nearby), the forces of nature tickled (a cold, light wind tugging on single strands of my hair too short to remain confined in my ponytail and by my headband, but long enough to reach my face), dazzled (the weak, but bright sun, shining right into my eyes) and froze (well, fortunately not literally, but the temperature did make sitting outside a bit unpleasant).

All in all: an outdoor mediation was definitely something to get used to!

Still, the charged energy of Aspiration-Ground must have aided me in my endeavor, since I soon forgot about my surroundings and entered into a realm of relative stillness.

After about an hour of meditating, however, my body started to become restless and I knew that it would not allow me to continue.

Not ready to surrender just yet, I tried for a few more minutes, until I finally had to accept defeat.

But... I had not come unprepared!

Again, thanks to my new friend D, who had wisely encouraged me to take one of Guru's many books with me. From her library, I had chosen one of the "Sri Chinmoy Answers" volumes and was rather delighted to come across solid spiritual wisdom, as well as some rather juicy information about the more mysterious parts of our existence (unfortunately, it would lead too far to retell those here).