Dreaming about my spiritual name

Guru had told me he would give me my soul's name when he returned to Puerto Rico in May 1970. That evening I am dreaming that I am in a park or a garden, and all the young disciples of that time are in the garden. One of them tells me to come to the well: “Guru is waiting for you to give you your name.” So, I walk with them and Guru is waiting for me. He puts a bucket down inside the well. He puts it all the way down and then brings it up full of water. And in the water there is my name, my soul's name. Then Guru proceeds to pour the water in the bucket over me, over my head. He starts saying my name, over and over and over again. It is so realistic and so powerful that the mind wants to grab the name to remember it.

I woke up with the word Ananda in my mind. I kept on repeating it over and over and over again, but I knew that there was another part to the name before the Ananda. I spent the rest of the day trying to remember what the first part was. I made the most ridiculous combinations.  

During that visit Guru gave fifteen names, in groups of five disciples at a time, on the 5th, the 6th and the 7th of May. I was lucky to be in the group of the 5th of May. In those days, Guru would give your name mostly by physical contact. The same as in an initiation, he would place one hand over your head touching the third eye, and the other on the heart. He started to say, “In the name of the Supreme, I want to offer you your soul's name. Your soul's name is S E V…” Then I, in my mind, went on “…A N A N D A,” because I knew it, I knew what the name was. And I knew the meaning. Then Guru started to describe the qualities of the name.

As Guru was speaking, he gave me a vision of my entire life, my complete life quite fast. Every single movement, every single gesture, everything I did was connected to my name. It was like a dance, like a beautiful choreograph with every single gesture connected to my name. It was an amazingly beautiful experience. And as it was happening, Guru was telling me, your soul is giving the message to your heart, and your heart is conveying the message to your mind. This kind of experience you never forget, you can never forget, it stays with you forever.

Today  
My heart is beaming  
With God’s blissful Blessings.

Sri Chinmoy 1

• 1. Seventy-Seven Thousand Service-Trees, part 21, Agni Press, 2001