Mahatapa Palit, an educator by profession, was born in India.  She teaches marketing and entrepreneurship at the Borough of Manhattan Community College. Mahatapa works closely with the Bengali community in Queens, and offers meditation classes in Bengali as well as English.

Akuli Ganguli has been a student of Sri Chinmoy’s since 1982. She enjoys cooking at Annam Brahma, our vegetarian restaurant in Jamaica Hills, Queens. There, the outer nourishment can be enjoyed. In her classes she enjoys sharing Sri Chinmoy’s philosophy of the inner nourishment found through meditation on the spiritual heart.

Shantishri McGrath, an avid graphic designer was born in Ireland and grew up in Scotland. She established the Glasgow Sri Chinmoy Centre in the 1970s and has been involved in the Queens Oneness-Heart Centre since its inception.  Shantishri enjoys working with children and often organizes special programs for them.

Arpan DeAngelo grew up in Connecticut.  His first job was as a primary school teacher and he works really well with children.  He is an avid runner with over 100 marathons and many ultra-marathons under his belt, including the 3,100 mile foot race.  Arpan, a wonderful meditation teacher, exemplifies how the Inner Running and the Outer Running are so closely connected.

Suchitra Sugar, a recent university graduate, is an ecologist by training.  In her first job out of university she worked as a New York City Park Ranger and she now works as a consultant on environmental education for UNICEF. She has recently started offering meditation classes at The Oneness-Heart Centre. She and her mother lead the Girls’ Hiking Club that goes for hikes to really beautiful and meditative places in and around New York City during the weekends.