On 14 November, Ambassador Jorge Enrique Illueca of Panama addressed the Meditation Group at a "Panama Day" programme on 14 November 1978. The programme was in honour of Panama's joining the United Nations on 13 November 1945. The programme also included the performance of a new song composed by Sri Chinmoy about the Ambassador, as well as slides and music of Panama.
His Excellency Mr. Jorge Enrique Illueca, Permanent Representative of Panama to the United Nations:
Let me first of all express my thanks to Sri Chinmoy for his generosity toward me that I have recorded very deeply in my heart. Honorable Sri Chinmoy, distinguished friends and colleagues, no words of mine can convey to the Sri Chinmoy Meditation at the United Nations the depth of my appreciation for their kindness to my Government and my people. I must tell every one of you how very happy I am and how very deeply the Panamanian delegation is honoured by this commemorative programme marking the anniversary of the day of entry of the Republic of Panama into the United Nations.
Everything that is great and noble in this world is the product of meditation. Our modern world, with its technological prodigies and interplanetary adventures, has originated in the meditation of Copernicus, Galileo and others. If we move from the sphere of the concrete and tangible into the sphere of great artistic creations, we find that meditation is the mirror of our mind and conscience, the world around us, and our own individuality. Then we understand more clearly that meditation is the essential creative power of a human being and is an example of our creative potentialities...
[After the programme, Ambassador Illueca thanked Sri Chinmoy: "Today you have touched something very significant in our inner being. We feel that we have encountered some superior feelings in ourselves that are very, very nice. There are really no words to express these feelings. They are something very good."]
Meditation at UN – Vol 06, No 11; 27 Nov 1978, Bulletin
Song for Ambassador Illueca
Ambassador Illueca!
Professor, editor Illueca!
Barrister, mentor Illueca!
Congressman, chairman, President prominent,
Server, Brother Illueca!
A great illumination-mind
In you we find, in you we find.
A good perfection-heart
Has smashed darkness-dart.
A supreme oneness-life
Beyond ignorance-knife,
A God-satisfaction-soul.
Within your ken, your Goal.
— Sri Chinmoy, Sri Chinmoy Songs
Photos: Shraddha Howard and Sri Chinmoy Centre