![](/sites/default/files/contents/timeline/june/jun_16_2003_sri_chinmoy_lifts_sam_spanier_and_eric_hughes_woodstock_700x458.jpg)
Sri Chinmoy lifts Sam Spanier (left), one of his original sponsors who assisted him in coming to America in 1964; and Sam’s friend Eric Hughes (right), who also assisted Sri Chinmoy in his early days in America, at Matagiri Ashram in Woodstock, New York.