Sri Chinmoy was born in 1931 in the village of Shakpura, near
Chittagong in modern-day Bangladesh. His father, Shashi Kumar,
was a railway inspector. Chinmoy was the youngest of seven
children, the others being Ahana, Chitta, Arpita, Hriday, Lily
and Mantu. Shortly before Chinmoy was born, Chitta had an
unusually vivid dream which prophecied that a great soul was to
be born into the family. Both parents were extremely spiritual.
One story relates how Chinmoy’s mother, Yogamaya, was watching a
play about Sri Chaitanya, when she burst into tears at the scene
describing how Sri Chaitanya left his mother for the spiritual
life. One of her sons tried to console her by assuring them that
none of them would ever do such a thing; she replied that she
was crying because she wished all her family would have the same
love for God as Sri Chaitanya did. Chinmoy had a very happy
childhood. His adventurous and often boisterous behaviour led to
his family giving him the nickname Madal, meaning kettledrum in
Bengali. When Chi