The State of Florida is proclaimed a ‘Sri Chinmoy Peace State’ by Governor Lawton Chiles in Tallahassee, Florida.
Sri Chinmoy in silent meditation with Jean Chrétien, former Prime Minister of Canada, in Ottawa, Canada. On the same day, he lifts 44 ambassadors, diplomats and Canadian government officials including the former PM.
by Sri Chinmoy
The Motto of the Aum Centres first appears in the issue of AUM Magazine dated 27 April 1966.
Man is Infinity’s Heart.
Man is Eternity’s Breath.
Man is Immortality’s Life.
Published in My Consulate Years
A lecture by Sri Chinmoy
at Purdue University, Lafayette, Indiana
God had a glowing Dream. The name of that Dream was Aspiration. Man has a climbing cry. The name of this cry is also aspiration. God was originally One. With His Aspiration, God wanted to become Many. He wanted to divinely enjoy and supremely fulfil Himself in and through an infinite number of forms.
Man is many. With his aspiration, man the dividing and divided consciousness, man the obscure mind, man the unfulfilled being wants to become one with the world-consciousness, the world-life and the world-soul. He unmistakably and soulfully feels that this is the secret and sacred way to feel the deepest Depth of Reality and the highest Height of Truth.
Aspiration, the inner flame. Unlike other flames, this flame does not burn anything. It purifies, illumines and transforms our life. When purification takes place in our lower nature, we hope to see the Face of God. When illumination dawns in our outer nature, we feel that God is near and dear, that He is all-pervading and all-loving. When our nature, the lower and outer, grows into the Transformation-Flame, we shall realise the truth that God Himself is the inmost Pilot, brightest Journey and highest Goal.
Some people are under the impression that desire and aspiration are the same thing. Unfortunately or, rather, fortunately that is not true. They are two totally different things. The difference between desire and aspiration is very simple and dear. Desire wants to bind and devour the world. Aspiration wishes to free and feed the world. Desire is the outgoing energy. Aspiration is the inflowing light. Desire says to man, "Possess everything. You will be happy." Poor man, when he wants to possess just one single thing, he sees that he has already been mercilessly caught and possessed by everything in God's Creation.
Aspiration says to man, "Realise only one thing, and that thing is God. You will be happy." Fortunate and blessed man, on his way upward and inward, long before he sees God, he feels sublime peace in his inner life and radiating joy in his outer life. He feels that the realisation of the Supreme Beyond can no longer remain a far cry.
Aspiration has, not one, but three genuine friends: yesterday, today and tomorrow. Yesterday offered its Inspiration-Flight to aspiration. Today offers its Dedication-Might to aspiration. Tomorrow will offer its Realisation-Delight to aspiration.
Aspiration is our inner urge to transcend both the experience and the realisation already achieved. This is absolutely necessary because God the Infinite constantly transcends His own Infinity, God the Eternal constantly transcends His own Eternity and God the Immortal constantly transcends His own Immortality.
The childhood of aspiration wants to realise the Supreme in an earthly and individual way. The adolescence of aspiration wants to realise the Supreme in a divine and glorious way. The adulthood of aspiration wants to realise the Supreme in the Supreme's own way.
Aspiration is realisation. Aspiration is revelation. Aspiration is manifestation. Aspiration is realisation if and when the aspirant needs God-Realisation and God-Realisation alone. Aspiration is revelation if and when the aspirant feels that God-Revelation is absolutely for God's sake. Aspiration is manifestation if and when the aspirant feels that God-Manifestation is his birthright.
Published in Eastern Light for the Western Mind
Opening prayer by Sri Chinmoy
at the Chapel of the Church Centre for the United Nations in New York
Father Supreme, we are Your oneness-loving children. It is a very special day for us. What can we give You, since You have everything and You are everything?
"My sweet children, you can give Me what you have, you can give Me what you are — nothing more. You can give Me your Eternity's flower-beauty. This is what you have. You can give Me your Infinity's prosperity-tree. This is what you are."
Published in The United Nations: The World’s Oneness-Home
Sri Chinmoy painting at the Jharna-Kala Gallery at Wooster Street, Soho in New York.
Sri Chinmoy lifts 230 lbs. with both arms simultaneously, for a total of 460 lbs., in Jamaica, New York.
BY CHARLENE OLDHAM
STAFF WRITER
NEAR A TABLE at Annam Brahma, a vegetarian restaurant in Jamaica, a large painting some of the patrons call a ‘birdscape’ rests on an easel.
The painting resembles a landscape, its thousands of tiny, brightly colored blue, green, red and purple birds forming hills and valleys for the two larger birds near the center. It is one of Jamaica-based peace leader Sri Chinmoy’s many variations for a series in which he drew seven million ‘dream-freedom-peace-birds’.
“He never said he was going to do seven million,” R. Ghose, the curator of Chinmoy’s art, said of the series Chinmoy started Dec. 29, 1991. “But when he finished each million, he kept saying he wanted to make the project larger. He was kind of on a roll.”
The native of Bangladesh has been on a creative roll for a while. According to a release sent out after Chinmoy finished his last bird on March 28, he has written more than 1,200 books and 22,000 songs in either English or Bengali. And he performed on 150 instruments in a single 14-hour concert.
Chinmoy also keeps busy as spiritual leader to followers in Queens and around the world. He teaches that enlightenment and self-transcendence come through meditation and exercise, and has eight centers in other countries as well as a large following in the United States. But Ghose emphasizes that Chinmoy is a teacher, not a religious leader.
“It’s a philosophy, not a religion,” she said while sitting at one of the red-clothed tables at Annam Brahma, which is run by some of Chinmoy’s students.
The restaurant’s back wall is crowded with books by Chinmoy and greeting cards and gift bags covered with the guru’s art. The ‘birdscape’ is displayed nearby.
The painting’s vivid colors have a high ‘joy factor’, as do many of the other paintings in the series, according to Ghose.
Alan Spence, a journalist for The Scotsman who saw an exhibit of Chinmoy’s in Edinburgh in 1994, wrote that Chinmoy’s bird art was “unusual and delightful” and that each bird was “executed with tremendous speed and confidence, like Zen calligraphy.”
Renee Phillips, editor in chief of Manhattan Arts International Magazine, said Chinmoy’s drawings were full of “spontaneity and purity.”
“It gives a very positive message to anyone who views it,” said Phillips, also the author of the book ‘New York Contemporary Art Galleries’. “Just the idea of being in front of so many birds is powerful.”
And, she added, each one of the birds is unique.
“If you stand there long enough, the birds become personified. They have their own personalities,” said Phillips, who last saw Chinmoy’s bird drawings at a 1992 exhibit in Soho titled ‘My 70,000 Soul-Bird-Flights’.
“It’s been a long time since I’ve seen them, but I still remember the birds,” she said. “I think it’s because their message was so universal.”
“Ghose said Chinmoy, who counts Raisa Gorbachev among the fans of his art, chose to draw birds because they are symbols of the soul and illustrate how humans can “elevate themselves.”
“The metaphor that Sri Chinmoy uses for the soul is very often the bird, because the bird takes flight from the earthly firmament to the sky,” said Ghose, a Chinmoy student for 27 years. “There’s something special about the bird that inspires mankind.”
Caption: The 7-million-drawing man, Sri Chinmoy, has a soft spot in his hearts for birds. He completed his 7-millionth bird drawing last month.
Published in the Sports section of Newsday – Queens – Sunday, April 27, 1997
Sri Chinmoy and a group of disciples took a journey to Quebec that ended up as a real ultra-marathon.
The bus left April 26 shortly after a 10-mile Sri Chinmoy Race in Flushing Meadow Park, Queens.
After a 13-hour trip, the group arrived in Quebec around three o’clock Sunday morning, in time for a short nap before a 13-kilometre Sri Chinmoy Run sponsored by the Quebec Centre.
Later in the day, Sri Chinmoy gave a concert at Laval University, and then the long trip home began.
The bus broke down near the U.S. border and was eventually abandoned. The Master and his students finally returned to Queens, in a chartered Greyhound, around dusk Monday.
Maintaining the lighthearted air that pervaded the whole trip, Sri Chinmoy invited the disciples to his house for an informal gathering, meditation and dinner, and it wasn’t until nearly midnight that the memorable Quebec ‘weekend’ came to an end.
Published in Anahata Nada, Vol. 6, No. 2-3-4 Feb.-March-April 1980
by Sri Chinmoy
Millions and millions of years our mother earth Basundhara was in one body with Savita, the Sun. Our mother on whose lap we are born, grow, play and retire after finishing our part has taken millions and millions of years to be what she is now.
Banaspati, the King of the trees hides himself in a tiny seed. With the help of light, air and food gradually it becomes a huge tree. Who will believe by seeing a little particle of seed that it will grow one day a gigantic banyan tree and will live thousands of years? A time may come when a weakling of today may, gathering courage and strength, become a Timur or Hitler before whom nations trembled in horror. Or an ordinary child of today may grow up as Christ, Ramakrishna, Buddha, or Sri Aurobindo through whom God will reveal Himself to the Earth. Even if we see no mark of progress, no appreciable change, progress and change are going on. Unnoticed yet, under the secret guidance of God through nature.
We should remember what the world-famous poet, Tagore, once sang with so beautiful and sweet voice, "I know well, very well, the river that has lost her flow in the desert-way has not lost herself nor her way."
One's endeavour is not finished even when one's days are numbered with the dead. Death is nothing but changing one flow of life for another. Man is going on slowly, but steadily and unerringly to fulfil his mission, to be the Divine. The finite is going to realise the Infinite hidden in its core. Seeming weal and woe, seeming light and darkness, seeming success and failure are the process through which the Incarnate Supreme is becoming the Transcendent. Everything exists, nothing does perish. What is within, under the pressure of the omniscient and omnipotent is becoming what is above — slowly — though it may seem — but steadily and unerringly.
Published in AUM — Vol. 8, No. 5, December 1972.
A lecture by Sri Chinmoy
at Cornell University, Ithaca, New York
Both God and I are true dreamers. We have been dreaming from time immemorial. In my dream I feel God’s infinite Light and swim in His Sea of infinite Delight. But alas, harsh reality is totally otherwise. I get a most deplorable shock from the reality-world. Similarly, in His Dream my Lord Supreme sees me as a most perfect instrument of His. But alas, reality is otherwise. God gets a shocking experience from the reality-world.
Both God and I are true lovers. I love God precisely because His is the only Love that is genuine, pure, blessingful, illumining and fruitful. He loves me because I have a sleeplessly aspiring cry. Because my heart has grown into a sleeplessly aspiring cry, my Lord Supreme loves me.
Both God and I are true beggars. I beg Him for infinite Light and Delight. He begs me for an iota of cheerfulness in my outer life. A flame of cheerfulness He needs from me in order to grant and fulfil my desire. Someday I shall offer to my Beloved Supreme my invaluable gift: my life’s total transformation. Someday my Lord Supreme will grant me His invaluable Gift: His immortal Satisfaction.
Satisfaction is absolute fulfilment. Purity is the fulfilment of my body. Humility is the fulfilment of my vital. Peace is the fulfilment of my mind. Bliss is the fulfilment of my heart. God-Vision is the fulfilment of my soul. My unconditional surrender to God is the fulfilment of my Beloved Supreme.
Two existence-realities: frustration and satisfaction. My earth-bound desire-life and frustration-night are always inseparable. My Heaven-free aspiration-life and satisfaction-day are always inseparable.
My desire-life eventually grows into a ferocious tiger that devours me entirely. My aspiration-life also grows. It grows into a glowing sun that illumines my inner life of aspiration, fulfils my outer life of dedication and fills my life with true satisfaction.
I need satisfaction in my inner life. I need satisfaction in my outer life. This satisfaction I cannot get from humanity. Again, I shall not be able to give satisfaction to humanity unless and until God grants me His Satisfaction-Delight. It is God’s Presence alone, deep in the inmost recesses of my heart, that I must feel. It is only His Presence that can and will grant me Satisfaction in infinite measure.
Once somebody phoned a minister and asked, “Could you please tell me if the President will be coming to church this weekend?”
The minister replied, “I am not sure about the President, but I promise you that God will come. I am sure that will be enough incentive to attract a large congregation.”
The minister was so right. Not the earthly acclaim, but the heavenly presence is what matters. In his aspiration-life each seeker must feel that it is God’s Presence that is of paramount importance. When God’s Presence we consciously feel in the very depths of our heart, then our heart becomes all light and delight. At that time we see that God’s children are all beautiful, soulful and prayerful flowers growing in God’s Heart-Garden.
We have to satisfy God by invoking Him sleeplessly and unconditionally. When God is satisfied with us, only then can we be truly satisfied. Him to please in His own Way, each individual seeker sees the light of day. In the course of time, when God is satisfied and we are satisfied, then His creation becomes absolutely ours.
Satisfaction-God once upon a time I had. But, alas, I have lost Him. Why? I have lost Him because I now love myself infinitely more than I love God. There was a time when I loved God, my Beloved Supreme, infinitely more than I loved myself. Then there came a time when I loved Him only, sleeplessly, and nobody else.
Alas, those golden days are now buried in stark oblivion. Ignorance now covers my life within and my life without. Therefore, my oneness-reality with my Beloved Supreme is now buried in oblivion and I live a life of failure-night. Even though what I am now is a failure-night, still I have a determined hope-ray. With my adamantine determination, again I shall win in the battlefield of my life. The ignorance-night that has enveloped me will be removed by my soulful, sleepless and unconditional prayer and meditation.
But first I have to please my Lord Supreme in His own Way. The secret of pleasing my Lord Supreme is to realise that His Way is not only my way, but the only way. The moment I realise that His Way is the only way, at that time I will be able to please Him sooner than at once. His Way is the way of conscious, constant, sleepless and unconditional surrender. Once again there shall come a time when I shall enjoy consciously, in the very depth of my heart, the Presence of my Lord Supreme, and I shall then grow not only into my own satisfaction-life, but also into His Satisfaction-Sun.
Published in Sound and Silence, part 2
Sri Chinmoy takes a walk in Flushing Meadows Park in Queens, New York. The day marks the finish of the 8th Annual Sri Chinmoy 24 Hour Road Race and the start of the 2nd Annual Sri Chinmoy 1000 Mile Race.
Sri Chinmoy visits the counters’ tent at the beginning of the second Sri Chinmoy 1,000 Mile Race in Flushing Meadows Park, Queens, New York.
Sri Chinmoy walks in the parade for Bangladesh community in New York.
