On 24 October 1975, to mark the 30th anniversary of the United Nations, Sri Chinmoy led religious leaders from various faiths in an opening meditation at the Spiritual Summit Conference, at the United Nations. In attendance was Kurt Waldheim, Secretary-General of the United Nations, and representatives of the major religions, including Mother Teresa.
Anahata Nada reported that the theme of the spiritual summit was "One is the Human Spirit." This is very much in keeping with Sri Chinmoy's own service to the United Nations.
Sri Chinmoy: Each nation has to feel that there is only one world-nation and one world-family. It has to feel that we are not only of the One but also for the One. Since the Source is one, that means that the end is also one. When we say that we are of the One but for the many, we immediately create problems for ourselves. As soon as we say ‘many’, we feel that there are many different minds, many different approaches and many different realities; we may lose the feeling of oneness. But if we say that we are of the One and also for the One, then there is no problem.
— Sri Chinmoy, My Meditation-Service at The United Nations for Twenty-Five Years, Agni Press, New York, 1995
Footnote:
At a later date, Sri Chinmoy and Mother Teresa would become close friends. Their second meeting was 1 October 1994 at Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity House, adjoining the Church of San Gregorio in Rome, Italy.
Related
- Interfaith service at Sri Chinmoy.org
News coverage
Religious Figures Meet at U.N.
Reprinted from the Journal Inquirer, Vernon, Conn., Oct. 18, 1975.
By GEORGE W. CORNELL
AP Religion Writer
NEW YORK (AP) — Amid the world’s rough political weather, noted religious figures are converging here from around the globe to try to inject some unifying spiritual vision into international affairs.
The United Nations, strained by various conflicts and pressures, is welcoming the added input.
“Political leaders feel a kind of bankruptcy and despair and have become aware of the need for spiritual unity,” says Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan, head of the Sufi order in the Western world. “That’s why they’re opening their doors to us.”
Scholars and specialists of the major world faiths, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, Christianity and Judaism, are taking part in the affair Oct. 19-24, with U.N. Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim and diplomats joining in portions of it.
It is described as the first international religious meeting at the U.N. in its 30-year history, although Pope Paul VI addressed the U.N. in 1965.
“There is increasing recognition in secular and political life that we’re floundering and drying up, that it’s not sufficient to be grounded in merely humanistic documents,” says Dr. Jean Houston, conference chairman.
Dr. Houston, president of the Foundation for Mind Research, Pomona, N.Y., adds, “We’ve gotten lost in ideologies, in particular groups and nationalisms, and now, in the crises of world affairs, there’s a new realization that we’re not going to solve problems from the outside.
“We need to renew our rootage in the deeper spiritual realities, in the image of oneness of humanity, and do it from within. We need to draw on the fundamental resources of the human race, on the taproots of existence.”
The gathering, called “Summit V,” the fifth inter-religious meetings sponsored in various parts of the world by the Temple of Understanding, an interfaith educational foundation, has the theme “One in the Human Spirit.”
Waldheim and various religious notables are among scheduled speakers, including Mother Teresa, Roman Catholic founder of the Missionaries of Charity in India; Lord Abbott Kosho Ohtani of Japan, a leading Buddhist scholar; Seyyed Hossein Nasr of Iran, a prominent Islamic scholar; Srimata Gayatri Devi of Bombay, India, internationally known Hindu philosopher; Rabbi Dr. Robert Gordis of New York, a top Jewish philosopher; and anthropologist Margaret Mead, an influential Episcopalian.
Only the last of six days of seminars, panel discussions, lecture sessions and ritual demonstrations will be at the U.N. Other features, at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, include two celebrations of a “cosmic mass,” expressing in story, dance and music the kinship of human faiths.
“What we try to do is to bring out the beauty, the validity and basic unity of all historic religions and the potentiality for doing good,” says Saphira Barbara Lindin of Boston, director of the unusual mass.