January 11

 

Giving peace a chance

 


The completion of one million “peace-bird” drawings in a span of two years last week in Fiji is among the latest achievements of unusual international peace ambassador, Sri Chinmoy.

Currently visiting Rarotonga for a week with a large group, Sri Chinmoy unlike politicians and social activists believes that “freedom can come into being only when we have inner peace.”

That he demonstrates through his accomplishments in the fields of literature, music, athletics and through his art.

The message being our potential as individuals is boundless if we tap the unlimited source within, through prayer and meditation. His current peace tour of the South Pacific is with 140 of his students from New Zealand, Australia, Europe, North America and Japan.

They have already visited Samoa and Fiji, and from Rarotonga travel on to Tahiti.

Among their activities on Rarotonga this week are meditation classes that started last night and continue through to Thursday, and then 1 pm on Saturday. There is the nine and a half hour Sri Chinmoy Oneness-Home Peace Run on Saturday, and that evening the Sri Chinmoy Masters Games for athletes 50 years or older.

Sri Chinmoy will be giving a free concert for peace this Friday evening in the National Auditorium. Similar concerts in Fiji and Samoa he has dedicated to former Russian president Mikhail Gorbachev, whom Sri Chinmoy considers “the highest peace-dreamer, the deepest peace-seeker and the greatest peace-lover here on earth.”

Sri Chinmoy says “The greatest reward I can have is the opportunity to be of service to mankind. If I see that somebody is getting an iota of peace from my drawings or from anything else that I do, then I feel I have accomplished something because I have been able to share my inspiration and my aspiration with others.”

In a relaxed quietly spoken manner with his eyes closed most of the time, Sri Chinmoy wearing thongs, shorts and a shirt, in a media interview yesterday, explained how world peace had gained greater ground.

He said not long ago there was talk of world destruction through war, then the Cold War and now an end has most certainly been put to the Cold War era.

Now, Sri Chinmoy said people are talking even more about peace. 

— Alex Sword

Caption:

Sri Chinmoy, the Indian born and now New York based international ambassador of peace.

Published in Cook Islands News, Tuesday 11 January 1994, Rarotonga

 

 

January 15

Sri Chinmoy speaks on ‘How Can One Reach God in One’s Lifetime?’, during his visit to the Aum Centre in Santurce, Puerto Rico. The question is asked by Mr. Jose Luis Casanova (Agni).

Sri Chinmoy begins taking photographs on a regular basis.

Sri Chinmoy receives a gracious letter from Aye Aye Myint-U, daughter of the third Secretary-General of the United Nations U Thant, and sends his reply the very next day.

Sri Chinmoy gives a talk on ‘Poetry and Spirituality’ at the Sri Chinmoy Poetry Awards ceremony held in the Jharna-Kala Gallery at Grand Central Station in Manhattan, New York. During the course of the evening, Sri Chinmoy performs on the esraj and flute, and reads some of his own poems.

Sri Chinmoy writes 8 more Indian stories (51-58), which are later published in Great Indian Meals: Divinely Delicious and Supremely Nourishing, part 3.

Sri Chinmoy writes stories about two of Indias’s great patriots, Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose and Chitta Ranjan Das.

Sri Chinmoy celebrates the upcoming anniversary of his 20 years in the West by offering a 7-hour meditation, in New York, NY, USA.

Sri Chinmoy gives a short talk, entitled ‘Learning from Tennis’, at the Bali Beach Hotel, Indonesia.

Sri Chinmoy lifts 9 people at the Thavorn Palm Beach Hotel in Phuket, Thailand.

Sri Chinmoy plants a Peace Tree at Warmadewa University in Denpasar, Bali, Indonesia.

Mount Apo — the highest mountain in the Philippines — is dedicated as a Sri Chinmoy Peace-Blossom. During the dedication ceremony held in Sandawa Plaza, on Quimpo Boulevard, Davao City, the Philippines, Sri Chinmoy is presented with the Key to the City of Davao by Mayor Rodrigo Duterte.

Sri Chinmoy offers a Peace Concert at Davao Recreation Center in Davao, the Philippines. Sri Chinmoy also meets with the Mayor of Davao, Rodrigo Duterte, who attends the concert.

Sri Chinmoy participates in the Sri Chinmoy Masters Games at Tereora National Stadium, Rarotonga, Cook Islands. He runs the 100 metres in 15.12 seconds and the 200 metres in 33.49 seconds.

A report on Sri Chinmoy’s recent visit to Nepal is published in the Eastern Time newspaper, in New York, NY, USA.

Sri Chinmoy completes his 9 millionth Soul-Bird drawing in Merida, Mexico.

Sri Chinmoy lifts 27 members of ‘The Healing Arts’ Theatre in Ho Chi Minh City, Viet Nam.

Sri Chinmoy comments on ‘Homeopathy and Allopathy’, at the Rex Hotel, Ho Chi Minh City, Viet Nam.

Sri Chinmoy offers a Peace Concert at the Qin Shihuang Terracotta Warrior Museum in Xi’an, China.

Sri Chinmoy gives a talk, entitled ‘When I Give You a Job, at the Awana Kijal Golf, Beach and Spa Resort, Kijal, Malaysia.

 

January 14

Sri Chinmoy delivers a lecture, entitled ‘How to Live in Two Worlds’, at Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, NY, USA.

Sri Chinmoy delivers a lecture, entitled ‘Self-Examination’, at St. Thomas Aquinas Chapel, the University of Connecticut in Storrs, Connecticut, USA.

Sri Chinmoy writes 7 more Indian stories (44-50), which are later published in Great Indian Meals: Divinely Delicious and Supremely Nourishing, part 3.

Sri Chinmoy meets with the Supreme Patriarch-elect of Thailand, Somdet Phra Nyanasamvara Suvaddhana, in Bangkok, Thailand.

Sri Chinmoy offers the opening meditation at the Cook Islands Parliament in Rarotonga.

Rarotonga is declared a Sri Chinmoy Peace Island.

Sri Chinmoy offers a Peace Concert at the National Auditorium in the district of Avarua, in Rarotonga, Cook Islands.

Sri Chinmoy participates in the Sri Chinmoy Masters Games at Technicon Stadium, University of Port Elizabeth, in Port Elizabeth, South Africa. He runs the 100 metres in 16.68 seconds and the 200 metres in 35.58 seconds.

Sri Chinmoy offers a Peace Concert at the Meru Paruku Hotel in Kumamoto, Japan.

The Mexican daily newspaper Diario de Yucatán (Yucatan Daily) reports on Sri Chinmoy’s peace initiatives in Mexico.

Sri Chinmoy lifts 38 people at the Rex Hotel in Ho Chi Minh City, Viet Nam.

Sri Chinmoy has a telephone interview with a reporter for the ‘Beijing Science and Technology Report’, who is calling from Beijing. Sri Chinmoy takes the call at the Shangri-La Golden Flower Hotel in Xi’an, China.

 

January 13

Sri Chinmoy delivers a lecture, entitled ‘The Beyond’, at Princeton University in Princeton, NJ, USA.

Sri Chinmoy gives a talk at the beginning of the New Year at the Sri Chinmoy Centre in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Sri Chinmoy gives a short inspirational talk about Swami Vivekananda (1) as part of a series of four lectures on world leaders from January-April 1978.

Sri Chinmoy writes 11 more Indian stories (33-40) and (41-43), which are later published in Great Indian Meals: Divinely Delicious and Supremely Nourishing, part 2 and part 3.

Sri Chinmoy has his first meeting with UN Secretary-General Javier Pérez de Cuéllar, at the United Nations in New York.

Sri Chinmoy meets with Bradford Morse, Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme, at the United Nations in New York.

Sri Chinmoy meets with the Supreme Patriarch of Thailand Somdej Phra Sankharaj — the head of the country’s order of Buddhist monks — in Bangkok, Thailand.

Sri Chinmoy lifts 9 Buddhist Monks at Wat Mahathat in Bangkok, Thailand.

Sri Chinmoy lifts Major General Chamlong Srimuang, Governor of Bangkok, at the Municipal Building in Bangkok, Thailand.

Davao International Airport is inaugurated as a Sri Chinmoy Peace Airport, which Sri Chinmoy attends in Davao City, the Philippines. At the airport, Sri Chinmoy gives a television interview.

A Jharna-Kala exhibition of Sri Chinmoy’s artworks opens at the Smith Gallery in London, UK.

Sri Chinmoy composes songs at the Insular Hotel in Davao, the Philippines. Songs from this day, as well as others composed on his visit to the Philippines, are later published in Gahite Chahi Kali Mayer Gan.

Sri Chinmoy offers a Peace Concert at Teknikon College in Port Elizabeth, South Africa. The concert is introduced by Raymond Mhlaba, Premier of Eastern Cape Province and Sri Chinmoy dedicates the concert to President Nelson Mandela.

Sri Chinmoy gives a talk, entitled ‘Unconditional Surrender’, at the Piramides Hotel in Cancun, Mexico.

Sri Chinmoy gives a talk, entitled ‘Greatness, Goodness and God-Oneness’, at the Piramides Hotel in Cancun, Mexico.

Sri Chinmoy tells 5 amusing stories — American cities, The Master’s prediction, My uncle rejects his occult power, Bengal, Indiana and What an occultist can do — at the Piramides Hotel in Cancun, Mexico.

Sri Chinmoy presents the U Thant Peace Award to Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Prime Minister of India, in Bali, Indonesia.

Sri Chinmoy offers a Peace Concert at the Kempinsky Hotel, Grand Hermitage, in Varna, Bulgaria.

 

January 12

Sri Chinmoy delivers his second university lecture, entitled ‘Fear of the Inner Life’, at the University of West Indies, Mona, Jamaica.

Sri Chinmoy delivers a lecture, entitled ‘Silence’, in Conference Room 6 at the United Nations in New York.

Sri Chinmoy delivers a lecture, entitled ‘You’, at Meyer Hall, New York University in New York, NY, USA.

A feature article on Sri Chinmoy’s life and philosophy, entitled ‘Sri Chinmoy Writes, Paints and Holds Out Hope of a Path to Paradise’, appears in the popular American magazine, People Weekly.

Sri Chinmoy is a special guest on ‘The Pat Collins Show’ on New York television, NY, USA.

Sri Chinmoy writes an Indian story (32), which is later published in Great Indian Meals: Divinely Delicious and Supremely Nourishing, part 2.

Sri Chinmoy is the invited Guest of Honour at a reception hosted by Akishige Matsumoto, Chairman of the Central Executive Office of the Japan Republic Association, in Kyoto, Japan.

Sri Chinmoy offers a Peace Concert at the Hotel Riu Bonanza, Puerto de la Cruz in Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain. Sri Chinmoy dedicates the concert to Soviet President Gorbachev and it is attended by over 400 people.

Sri Chinmoy meets with Sir Geoffrey A. Henry, Prime Minister of the Cook Islands, in Rarotonga, Cook Islands.

Sri Chinmoy offers a Peace Concert at the Holiday Inn Centro Hotel in Cancún, Mexico.

Sri Chinmoy completes one mile of a Runners are Smilers race, racewalking in a time of 16 munites, 48 seconds in Foz do Iguaçu, Brazil. At the race, he offers the race prayer.

Sri Chinmoy lifts 51 people including hotel staff at the Rex Hotel in Ho Chi Minh City, Viet Nam.

 

January 10

In honour of Sri Chinmoy completing his first 7,000 Soul-Bird drawings (on January 8, 1992) there is an exhibition of the ‘Seven Thousand Blue-Gold Birds’ at the Riu Bonanza Hotel in Puerto La Cruz, Tenerife.

In the morning Sri Chinmoy gives this special message:

My Lord, my Lord, may Your Divinity’s Breath and Your Immortality’s Fragrance play hide-and-seek inside the aspiration-heart and the dedication-life of my fountain-art.

 

 

Sri Chinmoy draws Soul-Birds on little objects that his students had purchased in Rarotonga, Cook Islands.

 

 

January 11

Message of Peace to the People of Nagoya

 

Everybody in this world is crying and dying for joy, but unless one has peace of mind and peace in one's heart, one can never have joy. Without peace there can be no real joy here in Nagoya or anywhere. The seeker and God-lover in me is praying for each and every human being living in Nagoya and also in Japan to have inner peace, because I know it is from inner peace that they will get true outer joy.

— Sri Chinmoy
Nagoya

Published in Japan, My Life Bows to Your Heart

 

Event for Victims of the
2004 Boxing Day Tsunami

 

Sri Chinmoy leads a moment of silence and performs on the esraj at an afternoon fund-raising event for tsunami victims — in Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, and Thailand — held in Beijing’s York Hotel, China.

The speakers include the General-Secretary of the Beijing Red Cross, Liu Yan Jun, and the Editor-in-Chief of the Beijing Science and Technology Report, Zhao Ying Hua, whose organisations sponsored the event. Sri Chinmoy’s own humanitarian organisation, ‘The Oneness-Heart-Tears and Smiles’ donates significantly to the tsunami appeal.

 

Photos by Maral Siegel

 

Sri Chinmoy honours both organisations by presenting one of his Soul-Bird drawings to each of their representatives.

 

Question about the Tsunami

answered by Sri Chinmoy
at the Beijing York Hotel in Beijing, China

 

Question: During this huge disaster, what kind of spirit would we need to face it?

Sri Chinmoy: We need a spirit of oneness. This disaster has in a very special way helped us to bring the world together. The world of division must go. The world of oneness must come forward. Your Foreign Minister, Li Zhaoxing, has written a most beautiful, soulful and heart-rending poem and I have taken the liberty of setting that particular poem to music. Many, many people have written about this tsunami disaster, but your Foreign Minister's poem I feel should be at the top of the list. He began, "To my distant friends." The world is vast, but on the strength of our oneness, heart's oneness, we can make each and every human being feel that we exist for the improvement of the world.

We human beings have been doing many, many things wrong over the years. Now, I do not wish to use the term 'punishment', but let us say that somebody is trying to illumine us. Mother Nature is illumining us in a very special way. She is saying, "Now wake up, wake up!" This world has to be inundated with peace, joy and harmony. The tsunami is, to me, a blessing in disguise. Many, many people who did not previously care for the world have now brought forward their hearts. They have come together with utmost sympathy and a feeling of oneness. This world belongs to each and every human being. We exist not only for our little family, but for the big family, which is the world.

On the one hand, the tsunami is a great disaster. On the other hand, if we look at it from a different point of view, it has helped immensely to bring about the feeling of oneness. To me, it is a kind of blessing in disguise for the world as a whole. Outwardly, it seems like a severe, severe punishment. Inwardly, we feel it has helped immensely to prove to the world at large that we belong to one family.

Published in My Heart-Door I Have Kept Wide Open

 

January 10

Video filmed and edited by Mridanga Spencer

 

Sri Chinmoy performs a special concert and tells stories for his students at a function honouring Swami Vivekananda (b. 12 January 1863) for his upcoming birthday anniversary. The 2-hour concert and storytelling takes place in Brazil on the same day Iguaçu Falls is dedicated as a Sri Chinmoy Peace Falls.

 

Sundar Karo Madhumoy Karo Akkhoy Karo

 

Lyrics:

Sundar karo madhumoy karo akkhoy karo jiban
Eso sundar eso madhumoy sri charane dao sharan

Published in Sundaratama Dekha Dilo Aji, Part 2

 

Meditation at Christ Church

Anahata Nada, Vol. 3, No. 1 – Feb. 1, 1976.

A Remembrance of Things Past

 

Sri Chinmoy meditates with Liberty-Torch runners at
Christ Church in Philadelphia. Photo by Bhashwar Hart

 

Philadelphia — Sri Chinmoy held a brief meditation Jan. 10 in Christ Church here in a moving ceremony that evoked memories of the Revolutionary War era.

“I believe in reincarnation,” the master said, declaring that he had worshipped in this very church 200 years ago as a well-known American patriot.

“It is here that I played my role soulfully, devotedly and unconditionally as a supreme lover of this mighty country. Again, in this incarnation I have come as a seeker to love this country and to serve this country infinitely more than I previously did.”

At that time, he continued, “the world was one of hope, promise, sacrifice and pride. Now the world is oneness within, oneness without...”

Upon leaving the church, Sri Chinmoy inscribed in the guest book: “The country-server of the past comes as the country-lover of the present to fulfil the Supreme in His own Way.”

The meditation here was part of the programme for the 360-mile ‘Liberty-Torch’ run between New York and Washington.

Anahata Nada was the longest-running newsletter of the Sri Chinmoy Centre. It was first published on January 1, 1974, and chronicled Sri Chinmoy’s life and activities for over three decades until 2007.

 

January 10

Spirituality: What it is and What it is not

A talk by Sri Chinmoy
at the University of the West Indies
Kingston, Jamaica.

 

Spirituality is man's boundless freedom in his life-boat, freedom of his life-journey, freedom from his life-pangs and freedom beyond his life-achievements.

In spirituality is man's farthest Vision. In spirituality is man's nearest Reality. God has Compassion. Man has aspiration. Spirituality is the consciousness-light that unites man's aspiration and God's Compassion. Spirituality tells man that he is God veiled and that God is man revealed.

Spirituality is not an escape from the world of reality. Spirituality tells us what the true reality is and how we can discover it here on earth. Spirituality is not the denial of life. It is the purest acceptance of life. Life is to be accepted unreservedly. Life is to be realised soulfully. Life is to be transformed totally. Life is to be lived eternally.

Spirituality is not the song of ignorance. It is the mother of concentration, meditation and realisation. Concentration takes me dynamically to God. Meditation silently brings God to me. Realisation neither takes me to God nor brings God to me: realisation reveals to me that God is the Blue Bird of Infinity's Reality and I am the Golden wings of Divinity’s Truth.

Spirituality has taught me the difference between my speech and my silence, between my mind and my heart. In speech I try to become. In silence I am. When I open my mouth, God closes my heart. When I close my mouth, God opens my heart. My mind says, "God needs me." My heart says, "I need God." My mind wants to possess God's creation while negating it. My heart wants to embrace God's creation while serving it. My mind says that it does not know whether it thinks of God or thinks of itself. At times my mind feels that as it does not think of God, so also God does not think of it. My heart sees and feels that God thinks of it even if it does not care to think of God.

Spirituality has told me secretly what my supreme necessity is and how I can have it. What is my supreme necessity? God's Blessing. How can I have it? Simply by borrowing it from God's Bank.

How can I pay off my debt? Easy. Just by borrowing once from God's Bank. But I must borrow wisdom and nothing else. Wisdom possessed, debt nullified. Verily this wisdom is the breath of spirituality.

I am God's experiment. He has given me my name: Science. I am God's experience; He has given me my name: Spirituality. I am God's Realisation. He has given me my name: Oneness — Oneness within, Oneness without.

God is my Reality.
Heaven is my Immortality.
Earth is my Divinity.

On earth I grow.
With Heaven I become.
In God I am.

Published in AUM – Vol. 4, No. 4, 5, Nov. – Dec. 27, 1968

 

Philadelphia’s Christ Church

A talk by Sri Chinmoy
 

Early in the afternoon of Saturday, 10 January, the runners arrived at Philadelphia's Christ Church, seat of worship of many of the Revolutionary leaders whenever they were in Philadelphia. Sri Chinmoy met the runners at Christ Church and held a brief ceremony for them. These are his inspired words from the church.

O Church of Christ, to you I bow, to you I bow. You embodied, you embody and you will forever embody America’s hope, America’s promise, America’s sacrifice and America’s pride. As a seeker of the transcendental Truth, I wish to tell you that in the inmost recesses of my heart I feel that you are not only historically unparalleled but also spiritually unparalleled. Countless are the churches in America, but I soulfully and unmistakably feel that this particular church has been blessed by the Absolute Supreme most dynamically and most powerfully. Here I always experience the freedom-spirit of America, not only in the physical world, but also in the world of the spirit.

It is the most significant day for me and for my students, especially for the thirteen hero-runners, runners who are lovers of their nation. These divine runners will cover three hundred sixty miles as one way to acclaim their country’s independence from bondage. Love of their country, love of the presiding deity of their country, love of the Inner Pilot of their country, has divinely and supremely inspired these thirteen runners to offer their dedicated capacity to their country.

Here in Philadelphia we are offering our heart’s most soulful prayer to this church, the Truth-Abode of God. The soul of America embodies peerless hope, peerless promise, unparalleled sacrifice and unparalleled pride. My soulful prayer is this: “O soul of America, you are awakened. You are running fast, faster, fastest. May you continue this unimaginable speed, not only in the world of vision but also in the world of reality.” The world of vision has made America great. The world of reality is making America good.

I believe in reincarnation. I can tell you with absolute certainty that this church was frequented by me in the physical body many, many years ago. It was here that I played my role soulfully, devotedly and unconditionally as a supreme lover of this mighty country. In this incarnation I have come here as a seeker, to love this country and to serve this country infinitely more than I did in that previous incarnation. In this incarnation, by the Grace of the Absolute Supreme, I shall be infinitely more successful, for I have with me this time hundreds of sweet children, who are for the Supreme and who consciously want to please the Supreme in the Supreme’s ever-illumining, ever-fulfilling way.

When I lived here before, I saw a new world emerging. Now again, after a long time, I see another new world. The world that I saw and lived in is being triumphantly surpassed by the world that I now see and now live in. Previously, the world was one of hope, promise, sacrifice and pride. Now the world is oneness within and oneness without — oneness of the individual with the collective, oneness of the one with the many, oneness with the world that we already have and oneness with the world that we are going to have. Here I see the oneness of the veiled world and the unveiled world. The veiled world is ignorance; the unveiled world is wisdom. Today the veiled world is being transformed into the fulfilling manifestation-world of the Absolute Supreme.

In the name of the Absolute Supreme, in the name of the Saviour’s soul, I bless my runner-seekers. These thirteen runner-seekers will always feel special Grace in the heart of the American freedom-spirit. Today their dedication to their country’s spirit is being imprinted in letters of gold in my gratitude-heart.

[Sri Chinmoy wrote in the guest book at Christ Church this significant message:]

The country-server of the past comes as the country-lover of the present to fulfil the Supreme in His own way.

Published on AUM – Vol. 3, No. 1, 27 January 1976

 

Peace: God’s Universal Language

A  talk by Sri Chinmoy
at Tokyo University in Tokyo, Japan

 

Peace is the aspiration-cry of man’s heart in God’s Compassion-Eye. Peace is the Satisfaction-Smile of God’s Heart in man’s perfection-life.

Peace lies in man’s renunciation of his desire-life. This peace is superb. Peace lies in man’s acceptance and transcendence of his present-day reality-life. This peace is divine. Peace lies in man’s sleeplessly unconditional surrender to God’s Will. This peace is supreme.

If I want and need peace in this world and from this world, then I must demand peace from my own heart, my own mind, my own vital and my own body.

Peace is at once God’s transcendental language and His universal language. Each seeker, during his Heaven-ascending prayers and earth-transforming meditations, must learn this language from God Himself. This peace-language only the Inner Pilot can teach to the Truth-seeker and God-lover.

Here at Tokyo University, I am offering my heart’s loving and soulful gratitude to the aspiring students and illumining teachers of the university. I am offering them my heart’s divine love-songs and I am requesting them to spread their hearts’ flower-fragrance all over the world.

My aspiring life sees, feels and knows that Japan is beauty’s flower-garden. A flower immediately gives me joy and, from this joy, I immediately feel peace in my outer life. A good thought also gives me immediate joy and, from this joy, I immediately feel peace in my inner life. My outer peaceful joy is illumining. My inner peaceful joy is fulfilling. I pray to God for the inseparable oneness of my outer peaceful joy and my inner peaceful joy.

From the inmost recesses of my heart I am praying to the Liberator, Lord Buddha, to inundate the aspiring consciousness of Japan, his Immortality’s choice abode, with his Infinity’s Peace.

It is here in Japan that Hiroshima and Nagasaki became the untold destruction-sufferers. May Hiroshima and Nagasaki become the two harbinger-peace-givers for the entire peace-longing world.

Peace:  
God’s Dream-Reality’s Oneness-Boat,  
Fulness-Shore.  
Peace, Peace, Peace.  

Published in The Oneness of the Eastern Heart and the Western Mind, part 1

 

Philosophy: Wisdom-Chariot of the Mind

by Sri Chinmoy

 

 

Sri Chinmoy invites his students to ask him questions about philosophy, at the Golden Sands Hotel in Penang, Malaysia, This book contains his spontaneous answers to those questions.

Published in Philosophy: Wisdom-Chariot of the Mind