Heart of Gold Award
presentation to Sri Chinmoy
by the Society of Authors and Composers of Music of Mexico,
at the Dag Hammarskjold Auditorium, United Nations Headquarters, New York
Maestro Roberto Cantoral, President
[translated from Spanish]:
Today, in the name of the Society of Authors and Composers, over which I preside, I hereby present to Sri Chinmoy the "Heart of Gold" while we stand in the heart of the United Nations.
The "Heart of Gold" is a distinction that was conferred on Sri Chinmoy for his lifelong dedication to humanity. His untiring efforts for world peace, manifested through concerts and other events throughout the globe, have made him worthy of the recognition of the Heart of Gold on behalf of all Mexican authors and composers.
Personally speaking, I, Roberto Cantoral, have found in Sri Chinmoy a great man who transmits affection and deep inner peace, which is especially needed in these difficult days and enables us to perform our daily duties. At the same time, I am sure that those present here have found in Sri Chinmoy a constant hope in their daily striving to improve the condition of our world. His message of peace to humanity, and the humanitarian and selfless causes that he pursues, provided the necessary elements for the Society of Mexican Authors and Composers to confer on him the important "Heart of Gold Award" during his recent visit to Mexico.
Sri Chinmoy, it is an honour to present you today with this "Heart of Gold".
Published in A Peace-Collecting Pilgrim-Soul
Acceptance Speech
offered by Sri Chinmoy
Sri Chinmoy: My dear Brother-Friend Roberto, I wish to offer you my prayerful and soulful gratitude for this signal award that you have accorded to me. In all sincerity I wish to tell you that, unlike you, I am not a musician of Himalayan height. In the past you have given this award to most distinguished people who have contributed much to the music world and to the Society. Here you have made a most deplorable mistake by offering this award to me! I am a budding musician, still blooming. But as a student of peace, as a man of prayer, I try to include music in my prayers and meditations. Whatever I do, I do with prayerful and soulful melodies deep inside my heart.
So, in that capacity I wish to accept your blessingful award — as a student of peace, as a man of prayer, as a lover of God who tries in each and every activity of his to carry a peaceful melody. My prayerful and peaceful music I wish to offer to you, Brother-Friend Roberto, and also to my dear friend Rafael, and to all the others who are blessingfully offering this award to me. I shall cherish this award in the very depths of my gratitude-heart.
I feel that each and every human being in God’s creation needs a heart of gold. A heart of gold means purity, beauty, divinity and immortality. If each of us has a heart of gold, then this world of ours — which right now is full of conflicts, quarrels and fights — will, without fail, be inundated with peace, light and bliss. So today’s blessingful award of yours will always remind me, and I do hope all my students as well, of one thing — that we all desperately need a heart of gold to have a peaceful world. If we have a heart of gold, then automatically peace will blossom in each and every human being, and the whole of humanity will be flooded with love, joy and bliss. I wish this heart of gold to grow inside my prayerful heart so that my heart will be as beautiful, as pure and as divine as your blessingful offering to me today.
Published in Sri Chinmoy, A Peace-Collecting Pilgrim-Soul
Sri Chinmoy presents the U Thant Peace Award to Swami Satchidananda, founder of the worldwide Integral Yoga Institute, at the 87-year-old yoga teacher’s institute in New York.