Video by Utpal Marshall
On March 3rd 1979, Sri Chinmoy completed his first marathon in Chico California in a time of 4:31:34. Each year since then, his students in New York and around the world have honoured him by running the 26-mile distance.
Video by Utpal Marshall
On March 3rd 1979, Sri Chinmoy completed his first marathon in Chico California in a time of 4:31:34. Each year since then, his students in New York and around the world have honoured him by running the 26-mile distance.
Sri Chinmoy meets with Pir Vilayat Khan, Head of the Sufi Order in the West, at Willow, Woodstock, NY, USA. Read more...
Sri Chinmoy gives three spiritual talks, part of 100 lectures in 20 days.
Imagination, 7:35 a.m., Jamaica High School Track, Jamaica, NY, USA
My Lifelong Friends, 12:35 p.m., Dag Hammarskjöld Auditorium, United Nations, NY, USA
Aspiration, 9:30 p.m., Manhattanville College, Purchase, NY, USA
These talks (nos. 16-18) are later published in Everest-Aspiration, Part 1.
An exhibition of Sri Chinmoy’s Jharna-Kala artworks opens at the Centro De Bellas Artes in Maracaibo, Venezuela. The 75 paintings filled the entire museum.
Sri Chinmoy offers the opening silent meditation for an international gathering of several hundred Hindu leaders, on the final day of the 10th World Hindu Conference, held at Madison Square Garden in New York, NY USA.
Sri Chinmoy offers a Peace Concert at the Jefferson Memorial in Washington DC, USA.
Sri Chinmoy lifts David Lange, Prime Minister of New Zealand, in Auckland, New Zealand.
Sri Chinmoy offers a Peace Concert, delivers a talk, entitled ‘Stupidity, Insecurity and Fear’, and recites 6 peace poems, at the University of Auckland, in Auckland, NZ.
Sri Chinmoy offers a Peace Concert — the 17th of 39 concerts held in honour of Swami Vivekananda — at Aspiration-Ground in Jamaica, NY, USA.
Sri Chinmoy sets to music ‘August 15, 1945’, his epic 194-line Bengali poem written at the age of 13 and dedicated to Sri Aurobindo on his birthday, in Jamaica, NY, USA.
An exhibition of Sri Chinmoy’s Jharna-Kala artworks (Fuente de Arte) opens at the Centro De Bellas Artes in Maracaibo, Venezuela for the first time in Latin America. The 75 paintings fill the entire museum.
The exhibition runs until the end of July, offering beauty and peace to hundreds and hundreds of people who come to the museum every day, as is evidenced by some of the many positive comments recorded in the guestbook on 8 July:
"It inspired a deep inner feeling."
"It could not be better."
"Beautiful, inspiring peace and love."
"Beautiful art."
"The art, the ambience are a road to achieve peace."
"Infinitely beautiful."
"Fantastic movement."
In addition, every local newspaper covers the exhibition with an inspiring picture-review.
During the exhibition, Actress Lupita Ferrera, who had starred with Anthony Quinn in his films, comes to visit the exhibit and says that the paintings give her more peace than she had had in a very long time. John W. L. Russel, the United States Cultural Attache in Venezuela, also visits and says that he wished he could own all the paintings.
Published in Jharna-Kala: The Art of Sri Chinmoy
Words and music by Sri Chinmoy
The original Bengali poem was written by Chinmoy in Pondicherry, India, on August 14th, 1945 — the day before Sri Aurobindo’s Birth Day. Chinmoy was then thirteen years old.
The poem becomes a song in New York on July 8th, 1995 — fifty years later. It is the longest song of all Sri Chinmoy’s musical compositions.
Sri Chinmoy began translating this Bengali song into English on June 9th, 1996. He completed the translation on August 4th so that it might be released on August 15th.
The complete score is published in Sri Aurobindo: Divinity’s Seer-Light
Listen to Sri Chinmoy speaking about the poem and the song...
by Adarini Inkei
adapted from an interview
with Utpal Marshall for Perfection Journey
“The photo was taken on July 8, 1988, in Washington, DC, at an outdoor Peace Concert Sri Chinmoy gave at the Jefferson Memorial, overlooking the Potomac River*.
“Sri Chinmoy was in a white dhoti, and the whole background is kind of white. The blue carpet was giving a feeling of the sea. Everything was white and blue.
“It is one of my favourite photographs of Sri Chinmoy. I took it just moments after he had finished.
“The air was charged with energy as storm clouds roll in across the Potomac. Within minutes the rain will pour down on us.
“Sri Chinmoy at that time was walking back and forth. He said he had to walk back and forth seven times in order to come down from this high plane that he was on.
“The picture is not perfect. It is a little grainy. But the feeling you get from that picture is unbelievable. For me, there is this peace and this vastness.”
*A tidal basin inlet of the Potomac River.
Comments by Sri Chinmoy
the next day, 9 July 1988
When I went to Washington, D.C., I spent a long time inside the Jefferson Memorial. The design I liked so much, but the statue of Jefferson really disappointed me.
They showed him as a military man — with a heroic spirit. But his so-called outer heroism was nothing in comparison with his inner vision and wisdom-light. These were his main qualities. America loves dynamism, and the outer dynamism of a soldier this statue has. But the inner wisdom of a statesman or true world leader the statue does not show.
On the wall were some significant statements by Jefferson. Unfortunately, he came long before the world, especially America, was prepared for his beautiful and powerful wisdom-light. Always prophets come at least one minute before the world is able to appreciate them. When they are here, they are not accepted. They have such wisdom, but they are not taken seriously. Only afterwards does the world accept and appreciate them.
Published in The World-Experience-Tree-Climber, part 6
Sri Chinmoy meets with Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan, Head of the Sufi Order in the West, at Willow, near Woodstock, New York.
An excerpt from the meeting
a Willow, New York
Sri Chinmoy: I am fortunate and blessed to be here with the supreme Authority on Sufism. He is not only the supreme Authority but also the supreme embodiment of love and truth in the Sufi tradition. He has a heart and I have a heart. The Supreme, out of His infinite Bounty, has granted us two aspiring hearts, and both of us are safe in each other's hearts, are happy in each other's hearts, are illumining and fulfilling in each other's hearts.
I have come here to share with you soulful meditation and also I have come here to be in the company of a supremely holy man, Pir Vilayat Khan. I am extremely grateful to all the seekers of truth and light who have given me the opportunity to be of dedicated service here for an hour or so. Nothing gives me greater joy and fulfilment than to become a server of truth and light in the hearts of aspiring mankind. With your kind permission I will hold meditation.
Pir Vilayat Khan: Sri Chinmoy, it is my privilege to say how open our hearts are to receive you in this temporary abode, where you bless us by your presence. You said so many nice things about me. I wish to say that your presence here is a blessing to our gathering. You are a true representative of the spirituality of our home, India.
Ever since I met you for the first time, the link between us has always grown in strength, although we have seen each other only three or four times. But I want to say how greatly I value the meaning of that bond, because it is the one of true dedication to the service of God.
Published in AUM – Vol.II-2, No. 7, July 27, 1975
A talk by Sri Chinmoy
in the Chapel of the Church Centre atr the United Nations
What is aspiration? Aspiration is speed.
What is aspiration? Aspiration is the fastest speed.
What is aspiration? Aspiration is Eternity's fastest speed.
What is aspiration? Aspiration is Eternity's fastest speed-communion between man and God.
What is aspiration? Aspiration is silence-vision. It is God the Supreme Beloved's Silence-Vision.
What is aspiration? Aspiration is sound-mission. It is God the Supreme Lover's Sound-Mission.
What is aspiration? Aspiration is the crying man's duty. Aspiration is the smiling God's Beauty. Aspiration is God's constant declaration of man's capacity. Aspiration is man's conscious necessity of God's real Reality within and without him.
Aspiration is not and cannot be the destination. Aspiration is the eternal journey. It is man's eternal journey to self-transcendence in the soul-light of perfection.
Aspiration is God's eternal journey of supreme manifestation in the satisfaction-heart of His transcendental Height, universal Length and unfathomable Depth.
With aspiration God started His journey. With aspiration He asks His children, His creation, to continue the journey.
Published in Union-Vision
A lecture by Sri Chinmoy
at the University of Auckland in New Zealand
Stupidity, insecurity and fear are three foes of our inner life. Stupidity includes insecurity and fear. As a matter of fact, stupidity encompasses everything that is unaspiring and negative in our life of aspiration. Why am I stupid and why do I remain stupid? I am stupid because I have not yet seen my true form and I have not yet realised my own highest height. I remain stupid precisely because inwardly I cherish stupidity.
There is not a single day when my mind does not cherish authority and supremacy. In my outer life I try to exercise supremacy over others; I show my undue and unauthorised authority. As soon as I show my authority and supremacy, I separate myself from the rest of mankind. With the disappearance of my oneness-life, my stupidity begins.
Why am I insecure and why do I remain insecure? I am insecure because I have not yet felt my inseparable oneness with the rest of the world. I remain insecure because inwardly I cherish insecurity in a very strange and peculiar way: I think that my insecurity is keeping me alert and cautious. I know that I have countless superiors but very few inferiors. But because of my insecurity I am always afraid that even these inferiors are going to dethrone me and start dominating me.
As long as I do not have confidence in the purest sense, I feel that I have to keep insecurity at my heart's door to protect me, which is absurdity on the face of it.
Why am I afraid? I am afraid of certain people for various reasons, but the main reason is that I dislike them. When I dislike anyone, I feel that the person I dislike is always speaking ill of me; I feel that sleeplessly and breathlessly that person is counting my shortcomings. I feel that he is leaving no stone unturned to expose me to the outer world. Because I dislike others, because I have no love for others and feel no oneness with them, I am afraid of the world. Where there is division and lack of oneness, there is always fear. But if I like the world, the world will also like me. If I love the world, my love will be reciprocated. In the life of a person who does not feel oneness with the rest of the world, stupidity, fear and insecurity can never come to an end.
Stupidity, insecurity, fear: These are my problems. But do I sincerely, soulfully and bravely try to liberate myself from these problems? No! I feel in a very peculiar way that my countless problems are keeping me alive. I feel that if I had no problems, by this time I would have become lifeless, inactive, and my life of sloth and inertia would have made me even more miserable. I feel that because I have problems to face, my inner energy comes to the fore. Alas, these are the strange ideas that I cherish.
At times, when I am beset with problems, I go to my friends and dear ones in the hope that they will be able to free me from my problems. But, like me, they too are loaded with problems, and they cannot help me.
Each problem is an inner ailment, an inner disease, and only an inner doctor can cure me. My inner doctor is my Inner Pilot. He tells me, "My son, I can cure you of all your problems, but I have to charge you a fee. The fee that I need is your constant prayer-life. The fee that I want is your constant aspiration-life. If you give Me your prayerful heart and your aspiration-life, I shall cure you of all your centuries-old maladies. Only a life of prayer and a heart of meditation can cure you of your long-cherished ignorance-dream.
Published in My Heart's Peace-Offering