"Peace" - Original Audio Talk - mp3 Wayside Chapel Kings Cross Sydney, Australia 6 March 1976
There Shall Come a Time
The Reverend Ted Noffs: My friends, it’s my great privilege tonight to welcome to the Wayside Chapel a person with whom you are all familiar, Sri Chinmoy. And I would like to welcome you to this little chapel in the heart of King’s Cross in Sydney, Australia. I could just say this, by way of welcome that I believe over the years, twelve years we’ve been in this location, we’ve had swamis, gurus, teachers from all across the world. I should imagine that if I were to think back, there must be at least twenty or thirty, which we remember not only by their last name, but very often by their particular designation, their cities, their countries, the particular locations that they are involved in.
And I daresay that we will remember you, if I may think so, by ‘the Swami who comes to us from the United Nations’. And we will think of you in that connection because we know something of your work there. And I don’t think any one of us tonight, particularly those of you who have gathered here, who know the teachings of Sri Chinmoy, I am sure you would be aware that of all the places in the world at this moment that are in need of equilibrium, harmony, peace, whatever word we may use for that greatest of all gifts, well then I imagine the United Nations would be that place.
May I also say, by way of welcome, that it is my opinion, as Alfred North Whitehead said on one occasion, that the greatest of all values, the greatest of all gifts, is indeed the gift of peace — above love, above justice, above truth. It took me a long while to understand what he meant, but I think this was Jesus’ own concept when he sent his disciples into the world long ago, not with any animosity, not even to convert people, not to turn people into Christians. He said, when you go into any house, let your first word be ‘peace’.
And it seems to me that you have come to us tonight as a disciple of peace, as a person who leads others into an understanding of the true meaning, the true meaning of peace. And for that reason we welcome you and I know all of us are going to listen tonight with great attention to all that you have, not only to say to us, but to share with us in terms of your illumination. Welcome to the Wayside Chapel.
Sri Chinmoy: Most revered Reverend, I am extremely grateful to you for your blessingful words and blessingful welcome. This is not an ordinary place. This is not a university hall, but this is a shrine. This is a place where we can feel the living presence of God. And it is you who embody the living presence of God and you are sharing with us the living presence of God.
In silence, to the Almighty Father in you, I offer my most soulful gratitude. And in silence, to all the seekers here, I offer my oneness-heart and dedicated life. To be here, is to be in the presence of brothers and sisters who belong to the same family. To be here, is to be in one boat that carries all of us to the Golden Shores of the Beyond. To be here, is to bring to the fore what is one’s peerless treasure, and that peerless treasure is our aspiration, inner cry. This inner cry manifests itself in the form of prayer and meditation. When we learn the art of praying and meditating, we feel deep inside our hearts, in the inner recesses of our hearts, the living presence of God.
Here I have not come to offer you my sermon. My esteemed brother is most qualified to do so in that line. Here I have come as a seeker-brother, a member of your family. I tell you that I am of you and I am for you. It is aspiration, which is the climbing flame within us and, at the same time, the connecting link between you and me, between your soul and mine, that has brought me to this part of the world, thousands and thousands and thousands of miles from America.
I happen to be a seeker at the United Nations. My sole aim is to serve the United Nations, body and soul, in silence with prayers and meditations. I do not know anything about politics, but I do know about the oneness of the heart. In the United Nations, we have a meditation group and there the seekers come and participate according to their capacity. They are genuine seekers. So when we seek, when we cry, we feel that there is not only hope but certainty that this world of ours can certainly be a world of divinity.
Now fear, doubt, anxiety, tension, disharmony are reigning supreme. But there shall come a time when this world of ours will be flooded with light and delight. Who is going to bring about that radical change? It is you, it is you, sisters and brothers. ‘You’ means an extension of my reality-existence. When I say ‘you’, it is the oneness-heart that is spread throughout the length and the breadth of the world.
I serve the United Nations, a small group of about a hundred genuine seekers who serve the United Nations with soulful prayer and meditation. We feel that this inner prayer and inner meditation can and will help in boundless measure in bringing light, peace and bliss to the United Nations and all the world over. It takes time, but we see that the achievements of the United Nations are far from satisfaction. But when we think of the aim and goal of the United Nations, we feel that still there is hope. The world will not be doomed to disappointment.
The United Nations is a symbol of inner cry, inner oneness. Outwardly, the members of the United Nations do commit mistakes, various human errors. And again, if we make mistakes, that does not mean that we shall never arrive at the truth. No, error itself is the pathfinder. We may make mistakes, but if we have an inner urge to do the right thing, to grow into the right thing, to fulfil the divine within us, then there comes a time when we can become perfect instruments of God.
So, do not judge the United Nations on its present appearance. We cannot judge the United Nations on what it has already offered us. Only we can judge the United Nations on its soulful promise, the promise that this world of ours will one day be flooded with harmony, peace, light and delight.
As my most revered brother pointed out, peace is the most important thing God has. God has countless children, countless qualities, divine qualities. His fondest child is peace. Everything this world of ours has save and except one thing, and that is peace.
And how do you get this peace? What is the conception of peace? Peace is satisfaction. Each individual has a way to discover peace or to determine peace. A child breaks an instrument or makes a clamorous noise and that gives him satisfaction and that makes him feel peace. He breaks the thing into pieces but he is satisfied and he is peaceful for a few seconds.
And again, when the destructive vital of a nation or an individual comes to the fore, by destroying another nation the victorious nation gets joy; it feels satisfaction and peace.
Similarly, each individual has a way of determining peace, appreciating peace and achieving peace. But most of the time this kind of peace is false peace; it is peace that is followed by frustration. It can never be peace, real peace.
A child breaks something and then a few minutes later, he is not satisfied, he wants to break something more and something more. He wants to break ten things. One thing is not enough. Constantly his hunger is increasing to break things. A nation destroys another nation, but it is not satisfied. The nation wants to destroy a few more nations. In this way there is no end to its hunger. Here, frustration is being followed by achievement, which we call peace.
Julius Caesar said, “Veni, vidi, vici”: “I came, I saw, I conquered.” He came, he saw and he conquered, but there was no peace. Inside him was nothing but a barren desert. By coming, by seeing and by conquering one cannot have happiness. If he had said, “I came, I saw, I became,” then he would have had peace. Here I will get peace if I say, “I have come here, I am serving you, I am becoming part and parcel of your existence-reality.” Then I am in perfect peace.
India’s greatest poet, Tagore, wrote a most soulful poem on peace: “In front of us is the sea of peace.” I wish to sing it for you.
Samukhe shanti parabar
Bhasao tarani he kornodhar
Tumi habe chirosathi
Lao lao he crorpati
Samukhe shanti parabar
Bhasao tarani he kornodhar
Mukti data tomar kaoma tomar daya
Habe chirapatheya chirajatrar
Samukhe shanti parabar
Bhasao tarani he kornodhar
(Sri Chinmoy concludes by chanting “Peace shanti peace shanti peace shanti” and then meditates in silence for several minutes)
Wayside Chapel
Kings Cross
Sydney, Australia
March 6th, 1976