Kamakura Buddha Peace Concert Experiences

Question: I don’t know if it’s my imagination, but it seems that the face of the Kamakura Buddha is changing over the years, even from when we saw it last time.

Sri Chinmoy: I think it is your own consciousness that reflects this. The Buddha is the same. In the morning if you see Lord Buddha, he will appear in one way. At noon if you go, you will have another experience, meaning that you will see him in a totally different way. Then in the evening again you will see him differently. As many times as you go, you can have new experiences. The Buddha remains in his own most sublime consciousness.

This time I had five or six experiences at the Kamakura Buddha. These are my own experiences. But it is the same Buddha. I am extremely fond of him; he is extremely fond of me.

The first message was on the first day, when I stood and folded my hands and then sat down and meditated. I had a most sublime meditation. The Lord Buddha said to me that I shall have to wait only for 100 years. Then my statues will be all over the world. Previously he used to say this would happen in 200 years. Now he has gone down to 100. So you people will be able to see, if you live for 100 more years.

During my Peace Concert, I saw Sri Aurobindo three or four times, and I saw the Sri Aurobindo Ashram Divine Mother six times. While I was singing, I saw her picture on the right side of Lord Buddha. She showed me the exact place where she and Rabindranath Tagore were standing when they visited the Kamakura Buddha. In the Ashram I had the picture of them at the Kamakura Buddha that Mahatapa’s great uncle had given me.

Then while I was singing, it was very hot. I saw clearly on my right side that the Ashram Mother was fanning me with a most simple Japanese fan with such affection and concern. Then I saw Sri Aurobindo behind me, watching very intensely, very lovingly and proudly, while I was singing my song dedicated to the Mother, “Janani Mirar,” and my Sri Aurobindo song. When the singing was over, I saw clearly they were going away.

Then I started playing, and I saw the Mother and Sri Aurobindo as old and mature. At the same time, on my right side, I saw that Lord Buddha had taken the form of a little boy. Lord Buddha’s highest transcendental statue was there, and I also saw Lord Buddha as a young boy, around 10 or 11 years old. I said, “What are you doing?” He said, “You are such a great Avatar, and here people come from all over the world to offer their homage to the statue.”

Behind me the Kamakura Buddha statue was in the highest trance. I saw clearly that the same Lord Buddha was on my right side, taking the form of a very cute little boy. I was begging him, “You are my guest, I am your host. Please sit on the chair that I am going to use for my harmonium.” But he would not sit on the chair.

Then I asked, “Why are you taking this form?” He answered, “I am tired of my highest height. I want to be in a childlike consciousness. Now you are in your highest, creating all joy and enjoyment, so I am taking the form of a child.”

And then, when I started playing louder-than-the-loudest, I saw the little Buddha had disappeared. And who came? The big statue, which is in the most sublime trance and beyond trance. What was the statue doing? The statue was pressing my shoulder so affectionately, so powerfully, while I was playing. This was not the little Buddha who was there earlier, but the real Kamakura Buddha, the statue, pressing my shoulder.

These are a hundred per cent my experiences. If you do not believe these stories, I do not lose anything. But when I believe them and I get joy, what else do I need in the world? If something gives me joy, and even if you say it is my imagination or mental hallucination, I will not mind, because I have received joy from these experiences.

My experiences are not thwarted by doubt or self-doubt. Even if you say it is hallucination, doubt is not entering into my experiences. Since doubt was not attacking me, I was enjoying them very nicely. If doubt attacks, then there is conflict. Doubt is telling one thing, and my experience is telling me something totally different.

But while I was experiencing this, there was no doubt-interference. If you people have a high experience, immediately you may say, “Oh, how can it be? This morning I told millions of lies.” Doubt will enter. In my case when I see something, at that time I take it as such a powerful reality that doubt does not dare to intervene.

11 July 2006 Japan