.In a feature article, The Australian newspaper earlier reported on the inner workings of the UN headquarters in New York, and the influence of the disciples of Indian guru Sri Chinmoy. Mr Chinmoy has now laid claim to Australian cities, including Canberra - Terry Craig reports.

lf you are wondering, 'who is this Chinmoy he's talking about? Then join the majority of Australians, who know nothing about him. Who he is and what he is doing were brought bluntly home to Canberrans a couple of months back when signs appeared proclaiming that Canberra was a 'Sri Chinmoy Peace Capital'.
They were near the borders of the ACT, beside the main roads into town from the south, east and north, and were designed and placed to look like they were a part of the ACT Government's own 'Welcome to Canberra' signs.

I was alerted to them by a prayer counsellor in my church who specialises in praying with people for occult-related bondages, Nan Baker. She asked me to investigate them.

Our concern was.

These signs would bring a curse on the city for having turned to a false prophet and false gods for protection. Sri Chinmoy's peace is not the shalom of God - we didn't want Canberra to continue to be under the peace of a false prophet!

The signs themselves were on the ,gates' of the city: north, west and south; in the ancient world, and in the non-industrialised world today the gates of the city have great strategic importance. I photographed alI of the signs and have
spoken with staff in the relevant government bodies. I also rung the Sri Chinmoy Centre here and after a useful chat about what they did, they sent me a bundle of literature about the 'Sri Chinmoy Peace Blossoms' program, which they are promoting. What is this program?

A Sri Chinmoy Centre leaflet told all: “The ever-expanding family of Sri Chinmoy Peace-Blossoms now links some 600 places in over 40 countries around the world, including the capital cities of 7 nations, 13 States of the USA, Niagara Falls, the Matterhom, Russia's Lake Baikal, Langtang 11 in Nepal, the island of Puerto Rico, and also Vietnam's Mekong Delta.”

“Prominent Australian Peace-Blossoms include our capital, Canberra, the cities of Sydney, Melbourne and Wollongong, the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, the Australian National Botanic Gardens (Canberra), the Murray and Yarra Rivers, Bruce Stadium (Canberra) and Hyatt Hotel (Canberra).”

“Each Sri Chinmoy Peace-Blossom has a commemorative plaque, unveiled during a simple dedication ceremony often coinciding with the Sri Chinmoy Oneness Home Peace run, a biennial global torch relay passing a Peace Torch from hand to hand across 72 nations.”

“Inspired by Sri Chinmoy's message of oneness ... the Peace Blossoms serve as tangible reminders of the need to nurture peace in our hearts, for peace is the responsibility not only of governments, but of each and every one of us.”
According to Sri Chinmoy: “Peace is the beginning of love. Peace is the completion of truth. Peace is the return to the Source.” The leaflet quotes supporting messages from Paul Keating, Mikhail Gorbachev, Bill Clinton, the Dalai Lama and others.

If only it was the peace which 'passes all understanding', which only the Prince of Peace can give, that Sri Chinmoy is promoting. But it is not. The 'message of oneness' of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords is that of peace with God through Him, sharing in His peace, by His shed blood.

Sri Chinmoy's message of oneness is that you are God, you are one with everything, find peace in your own 'god-self'. What it really means in practice is that you turn to Sri Chinmoy for his peace, because you cannot find it within yourself. Like all guru cults, to find peace, the guru must become god to you,
There have been a number of complaints to the authorities in Canberra regarding these signs, mine among them. A large grouping of Canberra churches is behind the talks I have had with officials.

I am convinced that our approach of gathering facts about the signs, the relevant government organisations, the Chinmoy organisation and Chinmoy, then approaching government officials quietly and seeking a resolution to this without public debate has been the right approach. From what I have been told, the signs are about to come down.

It is likely that the Chinmoy organisation and the Federal and ACT politicians (the significance of their involvement will emerge later in this article) who support the Chinmoy peace program will 'come out fighting' to have the signs reinstated. If so, we are ready to 'fight the good fight' in the public arena, should that be necessary.

'The LORD [is] a man of war: the LORD [is] a warrior' (Ex 15:3) has given us the victory. We believe that the arm of the Lord has moved and he will deliver these signs 'into our hands'. I think that we, the Christians of Canberra, also will have to repent on behalf of our spiritually blind government and the officials who allowed this. If we do not intercede and pray for them, what hope have we, or they for that matter?

One point that should be made here, and it probably applies to where you are. Our information is that these signs were approved by quite low-level officials in the bureaucracy who had little understanding of their significance. They were only approved under a mere technicality of particular regulations. That this could happen could be said to be part of that terrible tragedy and catastrophe of today - the rapid loss of the knowledge and wisdom of God. Those of us who are middle-aged are part of a generation that, in many cases, dumped the true God for other so-called gods. A generation has now grown up that mostly does not know God. The vacuum is rapidly being filled by deceivers and liars of the first magnitude.

Who is this Mr Chinmoy?

However, my original question should be answered, because the answers are significant. Mr Chinmoy is an Indian guru. He is claimed to be the official meditation teacher at the UN, in New York, but I have no confirmation of this. He experienced 'enlightenment', in his words 'self realisation', as a young man. After spending some years in the ashram of another well known yogi, Sri Aurobindo, (Sri means holy) he came to the west in 1964 and set up his own ashrams. teaching meditation techniques and gathered disciples in many countries.

But Mr Chimnoy is not like most gurus that have come to the west. Important differences mark his cult (i.e. his 'ministry' of non-dualistic monism), his teachings and practices:

• HE HAS SELECTED a quite small number of disciples around the world
• HE HAS MADE a special effort to influence politicians and international political forums, like the UN, where the activities of his disciples among staff at the UN have been the subject of highly critical articles in US newspapers, suggesting that they have undue influence in the day to day life of the UN headquarters and its staff
• HIS SAYINGS encourage people to reach their full potential and are a mixture of positive thinking, human potential movement horizons and the seducing lie of yoga, that every man can find himself as god
• HE SHOWS a great interest in sport and claims remarkable sporting accomplishments, as do some of his followers.
• HE LAUDS achievements for performance and involvement in life, in contradiction to most yoga teachers.
• HE CLAIMS considerable creative talents, draws many paintings and exhibits them and plays a number of instruments at concerts.
• HE HAS BEEN almost never reported in the mass media; he is remarkably discreet and has usually eschewed publicity.
• HE HAS WORKED quietly for 30 years, building 'his ministry' i.e. his cult and its influence.
• AND FINALLY, he is promoting his own world peace program, Peace-Blossoms; signs supporting it are in Melbourne, Sydney, Canberra and somewhere on the Great Barrier beef.
  In short, he presents and speaks quite differently from many Indian gurus, showing exceptional restraint and discipline.

Typically, an exhibition of his paintings was held in Parliament House several
months back, but with virtually no publicity. Few Canberrans knew it was on. Politicians were his chosen focus. From all this, I believe that he may prove to be the most dangerous guru to come to the West.

I use the word 'dangerous' deliberately, because underneath the acceptability to westerners of this man, underneath the creative gifts and the achievements, underneath the many positive thinking ideas, lies the standard Indian non-dualist monist teaching which categorically 'denies the Father and the Son' and that 'Jesus is the Messiah come in the flesh'.

Mr Chinmoy would never attest to who Jesus really is, as laid down so clearly by Paul in Colossians chapters one and two. That all-encompassing description of Jesus is not in his vocabulary.

A few 'Sri' Chinmoy quotes.

For those who are unfamiliar with Indian gurus and the cults they build around themselves, the following quotes, from a Chinmoy devotee I spoke to here, will give you some basic idea of their understanding and ideas.

On the introductory courses on meditation conducted by the Sri Chinmoy centre: 'Many people who start to meditate do then feel the need for a spiritual guide.' Why?

Most meditators don't find inner peace through introductory meditation practices. The answer they are given, of course, is that you need a guide in your meditation. Sri Chinmoy, of course. If you take the next step in their meditation program, you will receive a photo of Mr Chinmoy on which to meditate, so that you can experience oneness with him and inner peace. The meditator needs to be initiated into Mr Chinmoy's consciousness.
On the'Peace-Blossoms' program: 'The Sri Chimnoy Peace-Blossom places remind people of their commitment to peace.' What peace? Sri Chinmoy's peace, not the Shalom of God. Regarding world peace: 'Inner peace in people will create world peace.' If you don't have inner peace, how do you get it? Through meditating on Sir Chinmoy, of course. What peace does he have to offer? Not 'the peace that passes all understanding'.

If you believe you should do something about Sri Chinmoy Peace-Blossom signs near you, you are willing to systematically approach dealing with them, you are welcome to contact me. My phone/fax number is: 06 254 3957.