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 lands at John F. Kennedy Airport in New York on Monday at 3:30 p.m. on the Air India flight 101A from Madras. On arrival at JFK, he is welcomed by his sponsor, Sam Spanier, Sam’s friend Eric Hughes, and Sri Chinmoy’s co-sponsor Ann Harrison. He stays as the guest of ‘Samie’ and Eric at their Greenwich Village apartment in Manhattan.
Sri Chinmoy gives a talk on ‘The Quintessence of Hinduism’ to the Adult Class of Comparative Religion, Temple Beth-El, Laurelton, New York, a liberal Jewish congregation, at the invitation of Rabbi Ronald Millstein. This date marks the completion of Sri Chinmoy’s first two years in the United States.
The first official April 13th celebration of Sri Chinmoy’s arrival in the West is held by the AUM Centre in New York, NY, USA. The occasion marks his third anniversary in America.
Sri Chinmoy celebrates the tenth anniversary of his arrival in the West by cooking 10 separate dishes for 400 of his students in Jamaica, NY, USA.
Sri Chinmoy offers his first concert at Carnegie Hall entitled Existence-Consciousness-Bliss. This is Sri Chinmoy’s first public performance of the esraj and the cello. His Jharna-Kala artworks are also exhibited – New York, NY, USA.
Sri Chinmoy race-walks a personal best for 10 km (6.2 miles) in a time of 1:07:57 (10:57/mile pace) in the New York Walkers Day Walk in Central Park, New York, NY, USA.
Sri Chinmoy offers a concert for his 27 years in the West, at Silver Cup Studios, in Long Island City, NY, USA.
An exhibition of 32,000 Soul-Bird drawings opens at Kennedy International Airport in New York, NY, USA.
Sri Chinmoy receives a Doctor of Philosophy in Religious Science from St. Mark’s Major Seminary and College in Minnesota, USA.
Sri Chinmoy meets with President Gorbachev and Raisa Maximovna Gorbacheva (7th meeting) at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York, NY, USA.
Estonia is declared a Sri Chinmoy Peace-Blossom-Nation by Prime Minister Mart Laar.
Bulgaria is declared a Sri Chinmoy Peace-Blossom-Nation by Deputy Minister of Culture, Panteley Tsankov.
Sweden is declared the 21st Sri Chinmoy Peace-Blossom-Nation in a proclamation jointly signed by five National Party and Parliamentary Group Chairpersons.
Sri Chinmoy receives the Heart of Italy Award.
Sri Chinmoy offers a Peace Concert, performing on 30 instruments, at Queens College Auditorium in Flushing, NY, USA.
Sri Chinmoy offers a Peace Concert, performing on 38 instruments for 38 years in the West, in Jamaica, NY, USA.
Sri Chinmoy lifts 13 people, including actress Judith Light; Mr. America and Mr. Olympia Chris Dickerson, in Jamaica, NY, USA.
Sri Chinmoy offers a Peace Concert in Jamaica, NY, USA.
Sri Chinmoy lifts a stone fountain filled with 50 red roses, dedicated to all 50 States of America, in Jamaica, NY, USA.
The 15th anniversary of Sri Chinmoy’s arrival in the West this April 13 triggered a stream of congratulatory letters.
Excerpts from a few of these letters follow:
“As United States Ambassador to your native India, as Ambassador to the United Nations — where you have served so selflessly and so well — and now, as United States Senator from New York, I have followed your important work in America with growing admiration ... You have brought joy and spiritual enlightenment to countless Americans, and indeed, to the people of many nations, and for this, we are all very much in your debt.”
— Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan
“On the occasion of your 15th year of spiritual leadership in the United States, I am pleased to extend my congratulations to you.”
— New York Governor Hugh L. Carey
“Poet, writer, artist, musician and, most importantly, spiritual force for the fulfilment of goodness in mankind, you have made many contributions to New York City.”
— New York Mayor Edward I. Koch
“Your roles as teacher, writer, poet, artist, musician and spiritual leader lead me to believe you are in the fullest sense the ‘Renaissance Man’ of our times.”
— New York State Senator Hugh T. Farley
“As a spiritual leader, teacher, writer, artist and musician, you have enriched the lives of many people in Queens, our City, at the United Nations headquarters and across our nation.
— Queens Borough President Donald R. Manes
“The many lives you have touched, with your prayers, words, songs, art and deeds, proves that you are a messenger, a catalytic atom of that Great Power that guides us all through this beautiful experience ... life. Your fifteen years here in the West ... only proves that you were chosen by Him, because His divine love always, has met and always will meet every human need and the world is indeed grateful.”
— Roy Allen, Producer/Director of “The Way to Go,” WCBS-TV
“Having long earned my living with words — as a teacher and a broadcaster — I know of the power words have. They can be used as friends or as weapons. Your words have touched me deeply. For, your words do not claim to be wiser or better. Your presence, your accomplishments, the love of those devoted to you in your gentleness and strength speak louder and more meaningfully than any mere words in voice or print can!"
— Joel Martin, Host, “Long Island Spectrum,” WBAB Radio
Published in Anahata Nada, Volume 5, Number 4, April 1979
Sri Chinmoy’s soulful tributes to his mother Yogamaya on her birth centenary year (born: 8 April 1894) are expressed in poetry and stories in his book, To the Streaming Tears of my Mother’s Heart And To the Brimming Smiles of my Mother’s Soul. It is Sri Chinmoy’s 975th published book.
My spiritual children,
If I have Love, if I have Compassion,
if I have Light,
If I have Power, if I have Peace,
if I have Delight,
Then it is all for you, all for you, all for you.
O my sweet children,
It is with you, for you and in you
that I exist here on earth.— Sri Chinmoy
Published in My Consulate Years
We have one choice and one decision.
Our choice is to become one with God’s Life.
Our decision is to be the ever-dedicated breath in the fulfilment of God’s universe.— Sri Chinmoy
O Supreme, to Thee I offer what I am: my life’s soulful gratitude. O children of the Supreme, to you I give what I have: my life of selfless dedication and oneness. My love is my weight. My love is my height. My love is at once my weight and my height. My love for the devoted disciples, on the strength of my oneness with them, is my weight. My love for the Supreme, on the strength of my oneness with Him, is my height.
For the past few years, the disciples have been entering into my life and I have been entering into their lives. I am serving the Supreme in them; they are serving the Supreme in me. Together we are growing. Together we shall eternally grow. Gradually we give and take. I expect from you absolute dedication and you expect from me absolute realisation of the One Absolute.
According to grammar, “best” is the superlative degree. Everybody cannot be best in the ordinary life. Only one person can be best; others can be good, better and so forth. But here we are dealing with Infinity, Eternity and Immortality. Infinity has no bounds. We are all spiritual seekers, seekers of the infinite Truth. So each individual can have the aspiration to become one with the Dearest, the Supreme. Each individual can be a unique instrument of the Supreme on the strength of his absolute dedication and unconditional surrender to the Will of the Supreme. Grammar is written by mortals, by ordinary human beings. But our life is written by the Supreme, who can make each of us a unique instrument of His Will.
Each disciple can be like a petal of a divine lotus, a unique petal of the lotus. The whole lotus will be bloated with divine pride when it sees that each individual petal is helping and serving the whole to grow into the Supreme’s perfect Perfection here on earth.
We know that slow and steady wins the race. The hare lost the race to the turtle. But again, I wish to say that when we live in the Divine, when we live in the Supreme, in the Supreme Consciousness, at that time we do not have to follow this principle. In our case, quick and dynamic can win the race. The Supreme is our Pilot, our Eternal Pilot. According to His Will, at His choice Hour we have started our journey. It is He who is inspiring us to run towards the Golden Shore of the Beyond. It is His race He is running in and through us, so we are bound to reach the destined Goal.
Some of you have the wrong impression that the Supreme is unknowable. But it is not true. Right now He is unknown to all human beings. But, at the same time, those who have realised Him are fully aware of the fact that He can be seen, He can be talked to, He can be felt. When I speak to Him, I see Him more clearly than I see you here with my eyes wide open. So you can say that God is unknown right now, because you have not realised Him. But if you say, “God is forever unknowable,” then you are mistaken. God is our Father. How can our Father remain all the time unknowable? He can at most remain unknown for a short period of time, because now we are wallowing in the pleasures of ignorance. We are in a dark room that is wanting in light. But when our consciousness, our inner being, is flooded with the divine Light, then we are bound to see Him face to face.
So from now on, please change your opinion as regards God. God is unknown for the time being, but He can never be unknowable. He is our Father. He is our dearest, He is our closest. At His choice Hour He will open our third eye, the eye that actually sees the Truth. These two human eyes do not see the ultimate Truth. Only the third eye, which is the eye of our divine oneness with the Highest, with the Supreme, can make us see, feel and become one with the Supreme. The Supreme has inspired us to commence our journey. Our journey’s Goal is destined. We shall never fail because the Supreme is our Pilot, the Supreme is our Way, He is our Guide, He is our eternal Goal.
Published in Sri Chinmoy Speaks, part 10
A long twenty-three years ago my Beloved Supreme Absolute brought me to America to be of most soulful service to Him in the West. He blessed me with His infinite Hope, infinite Inspiration and infinite Aspiration to serve Him in the West.
You are my sweet children. You are my service-plants. You will one day become huge banyan trees. I am not only helping you; I will make you realise the Absolute Supreme and I will manifest Him in and through you at His choice Hour.
You are my choice children. With you and in you I see the perfection of humanity's heart and life. Love the Supreme in me infinitely more. Be devoted to the Supreme in me infinitely more. Lo, yours will be the sleepless joy and breathless satisfaction. Yours will be the complete perfection that humanity has been longing for centuries and centuries.
Published in Twenty-Five Aspiration-Flames
A talk by Sri Chinmoy
at West Colden Auditorium, Queens College, Flushing, New York
We shall chant “Supreme” thirty-nine times. Each time we chant “Supreme,” we must feel gratitude inside our hearts, and this gratitude we are offering to our Absolute Lord Beloved Supreme.
My Guru is my Lord Beloved Supreme. Your Guru is the same Guru, the Lord Beloved Supreme. Everybody’s Guru is the Lord Beloved Supreme. The Guru of the entire Universe is the Lord Beloved Supreme. From our soulful and prayerful songs, we come to learn how to increase our devotion to our Absolute Lord Beloved Supreme.
No God-devotion, no God-realisation. No God-devotion, no God-realisation. No God-devotion, no God-realisation.
Published in Our Sweetest Oneness