Immortal Photographs

Pulak: Certainly some of Sarama’s greatest contributions to the Centre are the immortal photos of Guru she took during the ’70s, the most significant of which were compiled in a “high-consciousness album" that Guru would personally sign whenever anyone bought one. Besides those there are literally hundreds of sublime photographs documenting Guru’s unfolding manifestation.

Of these, the "Christ-consciousness" photo is probably Sarama’s most popular photo of Guru. Sarama told me the story of this picture many times, and I repeat it here. It was taken at a small church in Queens on Christmas Eve, 1974. Guru had planned a Christmas meditation for the evening. Before the function began, Guru instructed the photographers that he would be entering into a very high consciousness, and because the click of a camera could be very painful when he was so elevated, he did not want any photographs taken.

As the meditation proceeded, Guru did enter into a very high consciousness and he also placed a shawl around his shoulders. He was standing beside a copy of a painting of the Christ. Knowing she would be consciously disobeying Guru’s express request if she took a picture, at first Sarama restrained herself from taking a shot. But at a certain point it became impossible to suppress the urge. The seeker in her could not let this immortal moment pass by unrecorded. So, Sarama said, she was compelled to take two shots, and she was willing to take the consequences.

The next day when she showed the prints to Guru, he selected the second one, and said that she had caught the moment he was in the Christ-consciousness. Guru was not the least bit upset. He was, in fact, grateful that Sarama had been obedient to her inner voice.

The full name that Guru gave to this photograph was “Christ-consciousness: Simplicity he saw, Purity he felt, Divinity he became."

Back in the early years, Guru held meditations in St. Paul’s Chapel at Columbia University. Two of my Columbia photographs of Guru have become widely known—there have been large prints of them displayed on the wall at Annam Brahma Restaurant for many years.Many people have asked for the story behind those pictures, because it is quite obvious that something powerful is going on, on a higher plane. So here is Guru’s explanation.In the first of the two pictures, Guru is looking heavenward, with such intensity that his hands appear to be totally stiff. In the second picture, he is looking down, with an expression of amazement on his face. He explained to me that in the first photo he is looking up into the heavens at the enormous size and power of the Supreme. In the second picture, he is looking down at everyone in the audience, amazed that the Supreme intends to manifest all of this power in every one of these little ant-like creatures down below.

The third Columbia photograph, which shows Guru seated in a chair, remained fairly unnoticed, except by me, for perhaps a year. One day I was inspired to enlarge Guru’s head. It then became an instant hit, especially for use on posters. Guru said that it embodied his “light consciousness,„ and so it became known as the Light photograph.

Pulak: The “Everest-Aspiration" photograph„ was taken by Sarama on 20 July 1980, during the third anniversary celebration of Guru’s immortal Everest-Aspiration—100 spontaneous talks given by Guru in 20 days from 1-20 July 1977. The anniversary celebration was held at Goose Pond Park (Captain Tilly Park), and Guru was offering a very high meditation.

For my birthday in 1997 I was inspired to offer this photo for prasad, so I brought a copy to Guru’s house and showed it to him for his approval. When I handed Guru the photo, he concentrated on it for quite a while. Then he reached for a pen and wrote on it, “Supreme, I am all Yours", and drew some birds. He handed the photo back to me, saying, “Very good", and telling me to copy it exactly as it was for everyone.

Most significantly, Sarama was the first disciple entrusted by Guru to reproduce his Transcendental Photograph and to safeguard the negatives.