An Old Friend
A story by Sri Chinmoy
After the race* a tall, thin gentleman came up to me and said, “Do you remember me, Sri Chinmoy?”
At first I thought, “How am I going to remember who he is, even though I am looking at him?” Then I remembered that his name was John Graham. He was formerly with the U.S. Mission to the United Nations. It was he who wrote a letter to the U.S. State Department arranging for my talk there last year, and I thanked him deeply.
He said, “I was glad to be of help to you.” He told me his timing for the seven-mile race. It was about an eight-minute pace. My timing is better for seven miles, but I didn’t tell him.
Before he left the U.S. Mission, I gave him an interview after one of our meetings at the United Nations. During the interview he had asked me how he could bring forward and utilise his power. So I had given him an answer and he had remembered it. He had even memorised some of my words and he quoted them to me.
After he left the U.N. he went to India to give lectures on “How to change the world.” He was at Gandhi’s ashram. For seventeen years he has been in politics. Now he has learned about spirituality and he is a real seeker. Still he is giving lectures. His theme is always “How to change the world.”
* Sri Chinmoy was watching the Seven-Mile Reversible Race in Central Park.
Published in Run and Become, Become and Run, part 6
Sri Chinmoy offers the opening meditation for the Martin Luther King Programme, sponsored by the UN Society of Writers at the United Nations in New York.