May 10
Sri Chinmoy at the gate of Aspiration-Ground in New York.
May 12
Sri Chinmoy pays a visit to the apartment at 4826 New Utrecht Avenue, in Brooklyn, New York, where he lived from August 1965 to April 1966. Sri Chinmoy published his first AUM magazine and gave some of his earliest lectures here.
May 10
Diary Entry
by Sri Chinmoy
while in residence at the Sri Aurobindo Ashram in Pondicherry, India
10 May
"Chinmoy, can you go to Sisir (Director of the Sri Aurobindo International Centre of Education) and bring me a copy of the book of biographies of eminent scientists? I think he will have this book in the university library."
I immediately went to Sisir-da and told him that Nolini-da wanted to have a copy of that book.
He said to me: "Suniti is not here. When she comes back she will search for it, and if we have it she will take it to Nolini-da."
So I went back to Nolini-da's room and started working. Fifteen minutes later he came in and said: "Where is the book?"
"Sisir-da said he would send it with Suniti if they have a copy of it."
"What? Go immediately and see if he has that book. If he does not have it, then don't waste any more time. Go to Medhananda (the librarian of the Sri Aurobindo Ashram Library). I need that book urgently."
I went to Sisir-da. He said to me: "We don't have the book Nolini-da wants. Suniti says there is a book containing a few articles on the scientists, but it is a children's book. I am sure it will not serve Nolini-da's purpose.
I said to him: "You could have sent Suniti to Nolini-da. He has been waiting for the book and you promised to send it."
He said: "Well, I am sorry."
Then I went to Medhananda and got four different books entitled The Biographies of Eminent Scientists. Nolini-da was exceedingly glad to have these books and said to me: "Chinmoy, there was a special purpose in my asking you to go to Sisir."
Published in A Service-Flame and a Service-Sun.
Diary Entry
by Sri Chinmoy
while in residence at the Sri Aurobindo Ashram in Pondicherry, India
10 May
Amrita-da said to me: "Chinmoy, today you must type the birthday list for the Mother. She wanted it yesterday."
I said to Amrita-da: "Yesterday Champaklal-ji gave me two special messages to type for the Mother which he said were urgent."
"Chinmoy, don't involve me in your problems with Champaklal. I tell you, mine is much more important than his."
"Amrita-da, to be very frank with you, I have not yet had the opportunity of experiencing your anger, while I have had personal and impersonal, direct and indirect, experiences of our Champaklal-ji's divine outbursts. Therefore, I leave aside everything else whenever he asks me to do something for the Mother. True, I have experienced Champaklal-ji's divine outbursts, but I have also been inundated a good many times with his divine affection, love and concern."
"Chinmoy, you are not only right but also clever. You are a poet, but I can easily see that you could have become a good lawyer, too."
Around four o'clock I gave Amrita-da the birthday list, typed as neatly as possible. He said to me: "Chinmoy, yesterday you satisfied the Mother in Champaklal, today you are satisfying the Mother in me."
Published in A Service-Flame and a Service-Sun.
May 16
A chrysanthemum flower is named ‘The Honourable Sri Chinmoy’ by Frank J. Longo, Mayor of Bristol, in Bristol, CT, USA.
Sri Chinmoy offers a concert and delivers a lecture, entitled ‘Success-Height’, in the Oxford Union Debating Hall at Oxford University, Oxford, UK.
Sri Chinmoy offers a Peace Concert — Peace: Divinity’s Dream on Earth — at Cathedral Church of the Saviour in Philadelphia, PA, USA. Listen to the CD...
Sri Chinmoy receives the Nehru Medallion from UNESCO.
An exhibition of Sri Chinmoy’s Jharna-Kala paintings opens at Il Saggiattore in Rome, Italy.
Sri Chinmoy offers a Peace Concert at Palazzo Colonna in Rome, Italy.
Sri Chinmoy receives the Pilgrim of Peace Award from Gianfranco Costa, President and Founder of the International Centre for Peace among Peoples of Assisi, at Palazzo Colonna in Rome, Italy.
Sri Lanka is declared a Sri Chinmoy Peace-Blossom Nation.
Sri Chinmoy receives the Medal of Friendship from President Nambaryn Enkhbayar of Mongolia, at the Government Palace in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.
May 9
Invitation to Meditate
A talk by Sri Chinmoy
in the Dag Hammarskjöld Library Auditorium at the United Nations, New York
Dear seekers, every Friday we meditate in one of the conference rooms here, and offer our aspiration to the soul of the United Nations. I wish to invite the United Nations members who are present today to come and meditate with us. This meditation is not only for the United Nations but for the world at large. This meditation is for the God-lover and the man-lover. If we really love God, and if we really love mankind and consciously believe that we are responsible for mankind, then we feel that our aspiration and dedication to the soul of the United Nations and our Inner Pilot is of paramount importance.
Please feel that it is your own aspiration that will expedite the vision for the United Nations. And when the vision is transformed into reality, the Inner Pilot will know our contribution whether or not the world ever recognises it. Our contribution, which is our aspiration, cannot be measured by money-power or any kind of world-power. It can be measured only by God’s Love-power, His Concern-power, His Confidence-power.
Published in Union-Vision.
Sri Chinmoy answers questions
at the United Nations in New York
Question: How does the Supreme see the United Nations?
Sri Chinmoy: The Supreme sees the United Nations as a thoughtful experience and a soulful hope.
Question: What is the supreme role of each individual nation vis-à-vis the United Nations?
Sri Chinmoy: The supreme role of each individual nation is to maintain a genuine faith in the United Nations and implicitly abide by the United Nations Charter.
Question: On what principles should the United Nations be unyielding and uncompromising?
Sri Chinmoy: When ignorance wants to lord it over the United Nations, naturally the soul of the United Nations cannot and will not surrender or compromise.
Published in My Meditation-Service at the United Nations for Twenty-Five Years
May 20
Sri Chinmoy gives a talk, entitled ‘Has Your Soul a Special Mission?’ – the seventh in a Spring series of classes on Yoga – at the home of Mrs. Ruth Moseley in Manhattan, New York City, NY, USA.
Sri Chinmoy composes the song, ‘O Kurt Waldheim’ about the fourth Secretary-General of the United Nations (1972-1981).
Sri Chinmoy gives a short talk, entitled ‘On a Birthday’, at the United Nations in New York.
Sri Chinmoy offers a Peace Concert together with a piano performance at Mozarthalle in Mannheim, Rosengarten, Germany.
Sri Chinmoy hoists a 200-pound weight overhead, using only his right arm, to celebrate Congressman Gary Ackerman’s success in reducing his weight from 300 to 200 pounds. The New York Congressman, who had been invited to open the Sri Chinmoy 1,000-Mile Race in Flushing Meadows Park, Queens, New York, is there to personally witness the lift.
An article about Sri Chinmoy presenting the U Thant Peace Award to environmentalist Maurice Strong is published in the New York-based weekly, Asia Online No. 123, Vol. II.
Sri Chinmoy receives an invitation from Lester Kurtz, Professor of Sociology and Asian Studies, to be presented with the ‘Peace Educator’ award at the University of Texas at Austin.
Jamaica, West Indies, is declared a Sri Chinmoy Peace-Blossom-Nation.
Sri Chinmoy answers a question from Steve Finley, Major League baseball player with the Arizona Diamondbacks, at The Smile of the Beyond luncheonette in Jamaica, Queens, NY, USA.
Sri Chinmoy lifts university professors at Brown University in Providence, RI, USA.
Sri Chinmoy lifts university professors at Harvard University in Cambridge, MA, USA.
Sri Chinmoy offers a Peace Concert at Ulaanbaatar Palace in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.
May 19
Sri Chinmoy delivers a talk, entitled ‘God and Truth’, in the Peace Room of the Church Centre at the United Nations in New York, NY.
An exhibition of Sri Chinmoy’s Jharna-Kala artworks, featuring ‘United Nations: the Heart-Home of the World-Body’, is opened at the United Nations in Geneva.
Sri Chinmoy offers a Peace Concert (4) at the Sheraton-Washington Hotel in Washington, DC, USA.
Sri Chinmoy offers a Peace Concert (105) together with a piano performance (11) at the Kongresshalle in Augsburg, Germany.
Sri Chinmoy offers a Peace Concert (339) — the first of 39 Peace Concerts dedicated to Swami Vivekananda’s 39 years on earth — in Jamaica, NY, USA. Read Sri Chinmoy’s remarks following the concert.
An exhibition of Sri Chinmoy’s Jharna-Kala artworks opens at the Lutece Art Exhibition at the Town Hall in Paris, France.
An article about Sri Chinmoy’s participation in a special ceremony for world peace on 23 March 1996, prior to the Rome Marathon, is published in the Italian-language daily newspaper America Oggi (America Today) in Westwood, NJ, USA.
Malta is the first country in the world to be declared a Sri Chinmoy Peace-Blossom Nation.
Sri Chinmoy lifts guitarist and singer Richie Havens and santoor master Shivkumar Sharma at Aspiration-Ground in Jamaica, NY, USA.
Sri Chinmoy lifts a total weight of 1,000 lbs. with two arms from a seated position, at his home in Jamaica, NY, USA.
Sri Chinmoy lifts 17 white horses and 15 Mongolian children at Hotel Mongolia in the Gachuurt Area, Mongolia.
May 18
An exhibition of Sri Chinmoy’s Jharna-Kala artworks opens at the Sri Chinmoy Gallery in Glasgow, Scotland, UK.
Sri Chinmoy offers a Peace Concert together with a piano performance at the Novotelhalle in Freiburg, Germany.
Sri Chinmoy offers a Peace Concert at Buchman Hall in New York, NY, USA.
Sri Chinmoy offers a Peace Concert in honour of the 78th Birthday of Pope John Paul II, at the Church of Santa Maria in Campo Santo in Vatican City.
Sri Chinmoy offers a Peace Concert at Bleecker Street Theatre in New York, NY, USA.
Sri Chinmoy delivers a lecture, arranged by Dr. G. Mend-Ooyo, President of the 26th World Congress of Poets and President of the Mongolian Lecture Academy of Culture and Poetry, who also offers Sri Chinmoy the Pegasus Literature Award at the Government Palace in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.
May 17
An exhibition of Sri Chinmoy’s Jharna-Kala artworks, featuring ‘United Nations: the Heart-Home of the World-Body’, a painting dedicated to the UN opens at the United Nations in New York.
Sri Chinmoy runs a personal best 5 km time of 22:12, coming second in his age group, at Greenport, NY, USA. He completes his first mile in 6 min. 35 sec.
Sri Chinmoy achieves a lift of 230¼ lbs. using only his right arm in Jamaica, Queens, NY, USA.
Sri Chinmoy performs his first double-dumbbell lift — a two-arm lift of 130 lbs. with both arms simultaneously — a total of 260 lbs., in Jamaica, NY, USA.
Sri Chinmoy offers a woodwind concert in Jamaica, NY, USA.
Sri Chinmoy presents the U Thant Peace Award to Pope John Paul II on the eve of the Holy Father’s birthday (18 May) at Sala Clementina in The Vatican, Vatican City.
Ecuador and Georgia are declared Sri Chinmoy Peace-Blossom Nations.
Sri Chinmoy presents the U Thant Peace Award to Jan Eliasson, President of the UN General Assembly, who is also lifted – New York, NY, USA.
Sri Chinmoy is honoured at the opening ceremony of his Jharna-Kala exhibition at the Art Gallery of the Union of Mongolian Artists (UMA) in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. He is presented with the union’s highest award by Vice Chairman, Mr. P. Tsegmid — the first time the award had been given to a foreigner.