April 12
Sri Chinmoy offers a public meditation and concert at 8:00 p.m. and throughout the evening exhibits eleven of his Jharna-Kala 4’ x 8’ canvases dedicated to the ‘Soul of America’ in the McMillan Theatre at Columbia University, New York.
April 12
Sri Chinmoy offers a concert in St. Paul’s Chapel at Columbia University in New York.
April 13
Sri Chinmoy lands at John F. Kennedy Airport in New York on Monday at 3:30 p.m. on the Air India flight 101A from Madras. On arrival at JFK, he is welcomed by his sponsor, Sam Spanier, Sam’s friend Eric Hughes, and Sri Chinmoy’s co-sponsor Ann Harrison. He stays as the guest of ‘Samie’ and Eric at their Greenwich Village apartment in Manhattan.
Sri Chinmoy gives a talk on ‘The Quintessence of Hinduism’ to the Adult Class of Comparative Religion, Temple Beth-El, Laurelton, New York, a liberal Jewish congregation, at the invitation of Rabbi Ronald Millstein. This date marks the completion of Sri Chinmoy’s first two years in the United States.
The first official April 13th celebration of Sri Chinmoy’s arrival in the West is held by the AUM Centre in New York, NY, USA. The occasion marks his third anniversary in America.
Sri Chinmoy celebrates the tenth anniversary of his arrival in the West by cooking 10 separate dishes for 400 of his students in Jamaica, NY, USA.
Sri Chinmoy offers his first concert at Carnegie Hall entitled Existence-Consciousness-Bliss. This is Sri Chinmoy’s first public performance of the esraj and the cello. His Jharna-Kala artworks are also exhibited – New York, NY, USA.
Sri Chinmoy race-walks a personal best for 10 km (6.2 miles) in a time of 1:07:57 (10:57/mile pace) in the New York Walkers Day Walk in Central Park, New York, NY, USA.
Sri Chinmoy offers a concert for his 27 years in the West, at Silver Cup Studios, in Long Island City, NY, USA.
An exhibition of 32,000 Soul-Bird drawings opens at Kennedy International Airport in New York, NY, USA.
Sri Chinmoy receives a Doctor of Philosophy in Religious Science from St. Mark’s Major Seminary and College in Minnesota, USA.
Sri Chinmoy meets with President Gorbachev and Raisa Maximovna Gorbacheva (7th meeting) at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York, NY, USA.
Estonia is declared a Sri Chinmoy Peace-Blossom-Nation by Prime Minister Mart Laar.
Bulgaria is declared a Sri Chinmoy Peace-Blossom-Nation by Deputy Minister of Culture, Panteley Tsankov.
Sweden is declared the 21st Sri Chinmoy Peace-Blossom-Nation in a proclamation jointly signed by five National Party and Parliamentary Group Chairpersons.
Sri Chinmoy receives the Heart of Italy Award.
Sri Chinmoy offers a Peace Concert, performing on 30 instruments, at Queens College Auditorium in Flushing, NY, USA.
Sri Chinmoy offers a Peace Concert, performing on 38 instruments for 38 years in the West, in Jamaica, NY, USA.
Sri Chinmoy lifts 13 people, including actress Judith Light; Mr. America and Mr. Olympia Chris Dickerson, in Jamaica, NY, USA.
Sri Chinmoy offers a Peace Concert in Jamaica, NY, USA.
Sri Chinmoy lifts a stone fountain filled with 50 red roses, dedicated to all 50 States of America, in Jamaica, NY, USA.
April 12
Sri Chinmoy offers a public meditation and concert at 8:00 p.m. and throughout the evening exhibits eleven of his Jharna-Kala 4’ x 8’ canvases dedicated to the ‘Soul of America’ in the McMillan Theatre at Columbia University, New York, NY, USA.
Sri Chinmoy sings 100 new Bengali songs – later published as Illumination-Song and Liberation-Dance part 1 and part 2 — at his Jharna-Kala Gallery, 200 Mercer Street in Lower Manhattan, New York, NY, USA. The gallery displays some 12,000 of Sri Chinmoy’s paintings, which he had created in the previous sixteen months.
Australia is declared a Sri Chinmoy Peace-Blossom-Nation and the world’s first Sri Chinmoy Peace-Continent, by the Government Whip of Australia, Kay Elson. The Government Whip speaks on behalf of the Australian government.
Belize is declared Central America’s first Sri Chinmoy Peace-Blossom-Nation by Prime Minister Said Musa.
Sri Chinmoy lifts 20 people in Jamaica, NY, USA.
Barbados is declared a Sri Chinmoy Peace-Blossom-Nation.
Sri Chinmoy receives the Heart of Eritrea, Heart of Estonia and Heart of South Africa Awards.
Sri Chinmoy lifts Olympians including Bob Beamon, 1968 gold medallist in the long jump; Ottis Davis, 1960 gold medallist in 400m and 4 x 400m relay; Diane Dixon, 1984 gold medallist in 400m, 1988 silver medallist in 4 x 400m; Lindy Remigino, 1952 gold medallist in 100m and 4 x 100m; and Jose Torres, Light Heavyweight Boxing Champion of the World – Jamaica, NY, USA.
Sri Chinmoy lifts Ustad Sultan Khan, sarangi player, in Jamaica, NY, USA.
April 11
CULTURAL PROGRAM HELD AT CONSULATE
NEW YORK – Sri Chinmoy gave a short concert and read his poetry at a reception hosted by the Indian Consulate here on April 11.
The Consulate, where Sri Chinmoy had worked as a clerk when he first arrived in America in 1964, also held an exhibit of his artwork.
After his performance, the spiritual teacher presented one of his paintings to the Consul General, Shashi Tripathi, and also one to the Indian Consulate.
The reception concluded with a short concert by the Bhajan Singers, led by Ranjana, who had coordinated the evening’s activities.
Published in Anahata Nada, Volume 33, March – July 2002
April 11
Sri Chinmoy honoured pioneer marathon runner Kathrine Switzer in Jamaica, New York.
In 1967, she became the first woman to finish the Boston Marathon as a numbered entrant, even though during the event a race official tried to stop her.
Sri Chinmoy lifts a hot-air balloon in Hampton, New Jersey.
April 11
Sri Chinmoy looks through his Jharna-Kala exhibition at Hunter College in New York, where he also offers a Peace Concert.
Jharna-Kala Exhibition
at the Indian Consulate in New York
Video by kedarvideo
Sri Chinmoy’s Peace Concert at the Indian Consulate in New York is also the scene for an exhibition of his Jharna Kala paintings.
April 11
Sri Chinmoy completes 29 miles in a 12-hour walk at Jamaica High School Track and around school block in Jamaica, Queens, New York.
April 11
The Inner Experience of Light
A lecture by Sri Chinmoy
at St. Paul’s Chapel, Columbia University, New York
The outer experience of Light is immediate inspiration. The inner experience of Light is eternal aspiration.
With inspiration, we run towards the farthest Beyond. With inspiration, we fly to the highest Height. With inspiration, we dive to the deepest Depth. With aspiration, we become the Goal of the ever-transcending Beyond.
The outer experience of light is the transformation of binding desires into liberating freedom. The inner experience of Light is the transformation of earth’s fate into God’s Face.
The outer experience of Light is necessary in order to build the Palace of Transcendental Truth on earth. The inner experience of Light is essential in order to watch and enjoy the Cosmic Dance of Reality, Divinity and Immortality.
Reality is the dreamer in us. Divinity is the lover in us. Immortality is the fulfiller in us. The dreamer dreams and acts. The lover loves and becomes. The fulfiller fulfils and transcends.
The inner experience of Light. In our spiritual existence, we find quite a few seekers who cry for the inner experience of Light, but among these seekers there are two who are quite prominent — that is to say, who are really trying to have the inner experience of Light. These two seekers, these two members of our inner existence, are the mind and the heart — the searching mind and the aspiring heart. The searching mind and the aspiring heart come together to the transcendental Light, the Light Supreme, and say, “O Light of the Supreme, save us, illumine us. We are far apart, but we want to live together. We want to become inseparable.”
Light answers, “That is quite easy. I shall fulfil your wish. But I wish to ask each of you one thing. Mind, tell me, what is your best quality?”
The mind hesitates and says, “You want me to tell you my best quality, but I have no good qualities! My best quality is my stupidity.”
Light consoles the mind, saying, “Oh no! Your best quality is your sense of boundless vastness. Your sense of boundless vastness, O mind, is your best quality.”
Then Light asks the heart, “What is your best quality?”
The heart spontaneously says, “I, too, have no good qualities. If I have to tell you what my best quality is, then I feel that it is my insecurity, for I always feel insecure.”
Light consoles the heart and says, “No! Your best quality is your universal oneness. Your universal oneness, O heart, is your best quality.”
Then Light asks the mind, “Have you any idea how far you are from your Goal?”
The mind replies, “I have no idea at all. But I feel that I am far from my Goal, farther than the farthest.”
Light says, “O searching mind, your farthest Goal you can bring right into you if you once can make yourself feel that your very existence on earth is for the Supreme Reality and the Absolute Truth.”
Light asks the heart, “Heart, how far are you from your Goal?”
The heart answers, “I feel that my Goal is very near, right in front of me. But, alas, to my utter astonishment and sorrow, I do not see it. If I do not see my Goal face to face, then my feeling has no conviction. First I want to actually see my Goal right in front of me, and then I want to grow into my Goal.”
Light says to the heart, “Heart, you can see your Goal right in front of you and you can grow into your Goal immediately if you know how to discover the eternal truth: that your existence on earth has come directly from the eternal Existence of the Supreme and that you are part and parcel of the Supreme. O heart, when you have discovered this Truth — that you are of the Supreme — then you are bound to see your Goal right in front of you.”
Now the mind asks Light, “O Light, please tell me if there is anything I have done that has displeased you.”
Light says, “Yes, you have displeased me. You have misused time. When you foolishly misuse time, you displease me deeply.”
“How can I stop misusing time?”
“You can stop misusing time if you believe in my illumining Reality and if you believe that I need your service unreservedly for my full manifestation on earth. If you believe in my illumination and if you believe that I badly need your assistance, then you will stop misusing time.”
The heart asks Light, “O Light, is there anything I have done that has displeased you?”
“Yes, you have displeased me by wasting time, and you are still wasting time mercilessly. That is why I am displeased with you. You can stop wasting your time if you believe in my illumining Reality and if you believe that I need your dedicated service, your soulful service, for my immediate and permanent manifestation on earth.
“O mind, O heart, if you listen to me, if you fulfil my needs, then both of you can stay together permanently, inseparably.”
The mind says to Light, “O Light, I give you my word of honour: I shall serve you; I shall fulfil your manifestation.”
The heart says to Light, “O Light, I shall serve you unreservedly and unconditionally for your immediate and permanent manifestation on earth.”
When we have the inner experience of Light, we realise that the finite can embody and reveal the Infinite and, at the same time, the Infinite can manifest its Infinity, Eternity and Immortality in and through the finite. When we have the inner experience of Light, we feel the constant necessity of knowing whether we are working for God, whether we are constantly taking God’s side or whether God is taking our side. After we have had the inner experience of Light, we always want to take God’s side. We do not want and do not allow God to take our side. This is the experience that transcends all other experiences. A seeker of the highest order, a Yogi of the highest order or even a spiritual Master of the highest order may at times ask the Supreme to take his side. But when one has had the full inner experience of infinite Light, one always takes the side of the Supreme.
In the ordinary life, there are many people who feel that there is no happiness on earth, and so the best thing is to live without happiness. But a spiritual Master does not see eye to eye with them. He asks them to have the inner experience of Light just once. If one has the inner experience of Light, then his life is all happiness. For him every day is happiness, every hour is happiness, every minute is happiness, every second is happiness.
In the ordinary life, there are many people who think that there is no fulfilling love on earth. They claim that there is only one kind of love, the love that binds us, the love that chains our hands and shackles our hearts. But a spiritual Master tells them, “No, there is something called real Love, divine Love, and you can have this divine Love, this Love that liberates, this Love that perfects human imperfections, this Love that fulfils. You can have this Love if you have had an iota of the inner experience of Light. The inner experience of Light tells us that human life is a constant unfulfilling want, whereas the divine life is a constant fulfilling and fulfilled achievement. Before we have the inner experience of Light, we try to live on earth and hope to live in Heaven in the future. But once we have had the inner experience of Light, we actually do live in Heaven on earth: we live in the heart of Eternal Time and in the lap of Immortality.”
Published in Promised Light from the Beyond