A Spiritual Name
For anyone wondering why my name has changed all of a sudden.....
It has long been the custom in the Sri Chinmoy centre to adopt a spiritual name after having practised meditation seriously for some time - in my case this period of time turned out to be almost 16 years, which is quite a while! Still, it was a wonderful feeling to be given the name Garga on my recent trip to Bali and the long wait for this has perhaps made me value it all the more. Garga was the name of an old sage, a vedic "Rishi" who practised austerities and had deep inner experiences. Taking this name really feels like a new beginning - it's both inspiring and exciting. It gives me something to aspire to, and I hope it will serve as a constant reminder of why I'm here.
I guess some people will find it hard explaining to sceptical work colleagues their reasons for a mid-life name change, but at Run and Become most of the staff are connected with the Sri Chinmoy centre just as I am, and many have sanksrit/bengali names themselves - in fact being Garga will be more normal in this business than being Roger was :) And if anyone is worried about pronunciation, I'm quite happy with an anglicised version of this Indian name (ie. rhyming with "lager" or "aga"). Kokila (my wife, previously Fran) seems to be easier for people to pronounce!
The deedpoll process is pretty straightforward in this country, so, by the beginning of March 09, I hope to be Garga Roger Chamberlain officially. I'm keeping the old name in the middle to avoid any confusion and as an acknowledgement that some family members and work contacts are still likely to use it just out of habit. If anyone is uncomfortable calling me Garga then I'd like to reassure them that I will continue to answer to the old name, especially at work! I expect to encounter some confusion entering races etc. in the near future, so we'll see how they handle it in the results!
Some of Sri Chinmoy's words on spiritual names are on our centre web site - srichinmoycentre.org.
Garga Roger Chamberlain
Garga & Kokila in Bali 2009