April 20

My Life

A talk by Sri Chinmoy
at SUNY at New Paltz, New York

 

My Lord Supreme, my committed life thinks of You. My perfected life meditates on You. My surrendered life loves You. My oneness-life fulfils You.

My thought-world tells me that there is definitely a goal. My meditation-world tells me that this goal is not a far cry. My love-world tells me that You are my Eternity’s Beloved Supreme. My fulfilment-world tells me that we need each other; I need You for my realisation-seed and You need me for Your manifestation-fruit.

My Lord Supreme, this is my simple discovery: I am not what my mind says, but what my heart does; not what my heart does, but what my life eventually becomes; not what my life eventually becomes, but what my soul eternally is. My soul is Your Eternity’s soulful Cry and Your Infinity’s fruitful Smile.

AUM – Vol. 5, No.11, 12, November-December 1978

 

Truth

A lecture by Sri Chinmoy
at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts

Satyam eva jayate
“Truth alone triumphs.”

A simple man likes truth. A sincere man appreciates truth. A God-believer treasures truth. A God-lover grows into truth. A God-knower establishes his inseparable oneness with truth.

The desire-life wants to bind truth. The aspiration-life wants to discover truth. The realisation-life wants to reveal truth. The perfection-life wants to manifest truth. The satisfaction-life wants to fulfil truth.

The soulful sincerity-cry is earth’s supreme truth. The fruitful luminosity-smile is Heaven’s supreme truth.

When I ungrudgingly accept truth, God purifies my mind. When I unreservedly accept truth, God illumines my heart. When I unconditionally accept truth, God liberates my life. Do not resist truth, for truth is always eager and anxious to assist you. Do not fracture truth, for truth is always more than ready to grant you its rich rapture. Do not negate truth, for truth is sleeplessly and compassionately trying to perfect you — your inner life and your outer life.

Truth and God are one, but there is a subtle difference. Truth can be replaced, whereas God can never be replaced. Here I am reminded of a most significant incident that took place in the life of Thomas Jefferson, when he was appointed the Minister to France to replace Benjamin Franklin. Thomas Jefferson said: “Benjamin can never be replaced. I cannot replace him. I can only succeed him.” Similarly, truth cannot replace God. Truth can, at most, succeed God.

It is always advisable to speak the truth and to become the truth. But there are very rare occasions when truth cannot be applied on the practical plane of earth-consciousness. Let us say that on the spur of the moment I am assailed by wild anger and I tell someone that I am going to kill him. The next moment wisdom-sun dawns and I do not want to keep my promise, for then I will commit an unprecedented crime. In this case, if I fail to keep my promise, my soul and the other person’s soul will forgive me. But if I tell someone that I shall grant him realisation, or at least a soulful aspiration-cry, and if I fail to keep my promise, then my soul and the other person’s soul will not forgive me.

Truth is universal and truth is transcendental. My aspiration-life loves the transcendental Truth. My aspiration-cry climbs up high, higher, highest, and while it is climbing up, it increases its love for the transcendental Truth. When the universal Truth sees that my heart’s aspiration-cry is reaching the highest Reality, it grants its measureless love to me and sows in me the seeds of realisation.

My dedication-life loves the universal Truth. It wants to serve the supreme Reality in each individual and in all creation. When the transcendental Truth sees that I want to dedicate my life to the universal all-pervading divinity in humanity, at that time the transcendental Truth becomes extremely pleased with me and descends to feed me, my life of dedication. So the universal Truth and the transcendental Truth go together in a seeker’s life. To reach the highest Reality, I need a burning flame of aspiration. Sleeplessly this aspiration-flame will climb up high, higher, highest and reach the supreme Heights. Again, sleeplessly my being has to dedicate itself to the supreme Cause, and that Cause is to serve the divinity in humanity. While serving the divinity in humanity, I will try to bring to the fore the divinity in humanity.

Truth grants us what it has and what it is. What it has is perfection-dawn. Cheerfully, steadily, unreservedly and unconditionally it is ready to offer its perfection-dawn to the sincere seekers of the Absolute Truth. What Truth is, is satisfaction-sun. Again, it is always ready to grant its satisfaction-sun to the sincere seekers who are crying to become choice instruments of the Absolute Supreme.

Truth is the flower of our prayer-heart. Truth is the fragrance of our meditation-soul. When we pray soulfully, we see in the inmost recesses of our heart a lotus blossoming petal by petal. We place this lotus at the Feet of our Beloved Supreme, and then, while we are meditating, we smell its fragrance. This fragrance purifies the earth-bound mind and illumines the Heaven-free heart. Again, it liberates the pilgrim-soul in us that wants to walk along Eternity’s Road to manifest the supreme Reality. While manifesting, the pilgrim-soul in us is increasing its inner cry, and while crying, it is manifesting. At every moment the pilgrim-soul in us is crying and ascending, and while ascending, it is manifesting a new light, a new truth, a new perfection and a new satisfaction here on earth.

Satyam eva jayate
“Truth alone triumphs.”

Published in Sound and Silence, part 2

 

April 20

Photo by Pulak Viscardi

 

Sri Chinmoy signs a Jharna-Kala for marathon champion Paula Radcliffe at Pilgrim-Museum in Jamaica, New York.

April 20

Photo by Pulak Viscardi

 

Sri Chinmoy lifts Paula Radcliffe, marathon world record holder, and her husband, 1500m runner Gary Lough, at Aspiration-Ground in Jamaica, New York.

 

Paula Radcliffe: I would just like to thank Sri Chinmoy very much. It is a very big honour for me to be here. I don't think I have ever before been in a place which has felt so peaceful and serene, yet at the same time so powerful. It is very moving. I run because I love to run and I want to get the best from myself and to find out just what I am capable of. I think it is very similar to life. I think we should all just go at life to enjoy it and to give the best of ourselves each day that we can. That's the only thing that we ask.

Sometimes I think we find out that the inner strength is stronger than any of us believes. And each one of us, just by trying to get the most from that strength and by always believing in it, can make the world a better place, as Sri Chinmoy is doing with his peace.

Sri Chinmoy: I wish to tell you what I call my marathon 'adventures'. I have run the marathon 22 times. Each time I suffered and suffered and suffered like anything from muscle cramps. There was not even one marathon that I escaped cramps. The worst one was in Athens. There I suffered unimaginably. Anyway, I am very proud to tell you that my best timing was 3 hours and 55 minutes. That is my best performance. The rest were all four and a half hours, or five hours, or five and a half hours. Sometimes it was even over six hours.

One thing gives poor runners like me consolation. Once Bill Rodgers said that he admires runners who stay on the course for eight or nine hours; he admires our patience. Some of my students have taken nine or ten hours to complete the New York City Marathon. So he admires people who are able to stay on the ground for ten hours to complete the race.

We use the term patience. On the one hand, it is deplorable to take such a long time, but on the other hand, we feel that patience is a great virtue. If we have patience in one field of life and we are able to apply the same patience to other fields, then we are bound to be successful. Life is full of ups and downs. So when we are not successful, we must never give up. Your last Olympic performance was quite deplorable. People who love you and admire you felt your suffering, your sadness, your agonies. We all sympathised with you. Then came the London Marathon. There you were so successful, in spite of two unavoidable experiences during the race. Otherwise, your time would have been even better.

So our philosophy, like yours, is never to give up, never to give up. After such a sad experience in the Olympics, you became supremely victorious once more. For that we are very proud of you, very proud of you, Paula.

Published in The inner meaning of sport

 

April 20

Photo by Sarama Minoli

 

Sri Chinmoy at Jamaica High School tennis court in New York.

 

Photo by Bbhashwar Hart

 

Sri Chinmoy completes his first 12-hour walk, for a total distance of 45¼ miles, in Jamaica, New York.

 

April 20

 

Sri Chinmoy offers a concert of spiritual music at Carnegie Hall in New York as an expression of his gratitude to the city that has been his home for the past 16 years.

 

My Body Is Jumping

Lyrics:

My body is jumping
My vital, thundering,
My mind, climbing,
My heart, flying,
My soul, clapping,
My Lord, dancing,
My Lord’s Eye my devotion is meeting.
My Lord’s Smiles my gratitude is eating.

Published in Sri Chinmoy’s Rainbow-Dreams

 

May 2

Sri Chinmoy delivers a lecture, entitled ‘Love, Devotion and Surrender’, at St. Paul’s Chapel, Columbia University, in New York, NY, USA.

Sri Chinmoy composes his 1,000th Bengali song Tomari Name Phute Je Phul in Jamaica, NY, USA.

1982 Sri Chinmoy runs the Newsday Long Island Marathon in a time of 4:26:56, with personal best split times for 25 km, 2:20.30; half-marathon, 1:54:30; and 13 miles, 1:54:04, on Long Island, NY, USA.

Sri Chinmoy offers a Peace Concert — Peace: Divinity’s Dream on Earth — at the First Unitarian Church in Providence, RI, USA. Listen to the CD...

Sri Chinmoy presents the U Thant Peace Award to Maurice Strong, Secretary-General of the 1992 UN Conference on Environment and Development, at the United Nations Church Centre in New York, NY, USA.

Sri Chinmoy offers a Peace Concert in honour of India’s 50th Anniversary of Independence — the 29th in a series of 50 concerts during 1997 — at Public School 86 in Jamaica, NY, USA.

Sri Chinmoy presents the U Thant Peace Award to Professor Arne Naess, in Oslo, Norway.

A reception in honour of Sri Chinmoy, hosted by Deputy Mayor Svenn Kristiansen, is held at Oslo City Hall in Oslo, Norway.

 

May 1

The Sri Chinmoy 1000-Mile Race begins in Flushing Meadows Park and continues until 16 May, during which time Sri Chinmoy (far left, race no. 10) completes 208 miles. It is America’s first 1000-mile road race.

Sri Chinmoy lifts Guido De Marco, President of the UN General Assembly, in Jamaica, NY, USA.

An exhibition of Sri Chinmoy’s Jharna-Kala artworks and 7,000 Blue-Gold Bird drawings opens at a gallery on 52 Vanderbilt Ave. in Manhattan, New York, USA. The exhibition runs for two weeks (May 1-14), each day featuring musical performances, poetry readings, plays, videos or receptions for dignitaries.  

Sri Chinmoy achieves a standing vertical jump of 34 inches, in Jamaica, NY, USA.

Sri Chinmoy meets with the mayors of Kuzma (Slovenia), Felsőszölnök (Hungary) and St. Martin an der Raab (Austria) at the border of the three countries for the unveiling of a plaque dedicated to world harmony.

Sri Chinmoy offers the opening meditation and performs on the esraj at an international concert, attended by 3,000 people, including eleven European Union members, and broadcast live on national and international TV, at the National Theatre in Maribor, Slovenia.

Sri Chinmoy lifts government officials and members of parliament from three European countries, and academics from nine countries, in Oslo, Norway.

 

April 30

Sri Chinmoy delivers a lecture, entitled ‘Intellectual versus Spiritual’, at Harvard University in Cambridge, MA, USA.

Sri Chinmoy honours United Nations staff members as guests of honour at a reception and banquet at his Jharna-Kala Gallery in Greenwich Village, New York City, NY, USA. Afterwards, Sri Chinmoy ex­plores a new artistic medium: cake-icing. He decorates four large cakes with icing of several colours, dabbing with his fingers to create his signature C.K.G. birds and designs.

Sri Chinmoy paints ‘C.K.G. Transcends’, a 13x69-foot canvas, in the boiler room of John F. Kennedy High School in the Bronx, NY, USA. Sri Chinmoy begins painting at 7:46 a.m. and just 2 hours and 29 minutes later, he completes the monumental artwork.

Sri Chinmoy delivers a lecture, entitled ‘Our Progress-Story’, at Long Island University in Southampton, NY, USA.

Sri Chinmoy completes 4,000 crunch sit-ups, and 100 step-ups of 7½ inches wearing a 50-lb. vest, in Jamaica, NY, USA.

Sri Chinmoy offers a Peace Concert at Public School 86 in Jamaica, NY, USA.

Sri Chinmoy lifts 250 lbs. with both arms simultaneously for a total of 500 lbs., in Jamaica, NY, USA.

Poland is declared a Sri Chinmoy Peace-Blossom-Nation.

Sri Chinmoy lifts several athletes, including Martin Strel, the long-distance swimmer who swam the lengths of the Danube, Mississippi, Yangtze and Amazon Rivers; and Tomaž Humar, winner of mountaineering’s prestigious Piolet d’Or award, and famous for his Himalayan solo climbs, at Hala Tivoli in Ljubljana, Slovenia.

Sri Chinmoy offers a Peace Concert at Hala Tivoli in Ljubljana, Slovenia.

Sri Chinmoy offers a Peace Concert for flautist Paul Horn, who was lifted earlier the same day in Jamaica, NY, USA.

Sri Chinmoy offers a Peace Concert at the Nobel Peace Center in Oslo, Norway. The recording of the concert is later released on a CD, entitled ‘My Heart-Offering’. Listen to the concert...

Sri Chinmoy presents the U Thant Peace Award to Vidar Vambheim, Co-ordinator of Peace Studies at the University of Tromsø, in Oslo, Norway.

 

April 29

Sri Chinmoy delivers a talk, entitled ‘Who is Fit for Yoga?’ — the fourth in a Spring series of classes on Yoga — at his home, 4826 New Utrecht Avenue, Brooklyn, NY, USA.

Sri Chinmoy meets with French savant Paul Richard in Flatbush, Brooklyn, NY, USA. Paul Richard was a barrister, a candidate in the French Legislative Assembly elections, a philosophical anthropologist, a supporter of Indian independence, and friend to Sri Aurobindo. He was also the second husband of Mme. Mira Alfassa (Mother of the Sri Aurobindo Ashram).

The Goal Is Won, a poetry book containing 360 of Sri Chinmoy’s poems, all written the previous day, is published by his students in Jamaica, NY, USA.

Sri Chinmoy paints ‘Larger than the Largest’, a 12-by-27-foot canvas, in two hours between 5:45 p.m. and 7:45 p.m., at the Jharna-Kala Gallery, 224 Mercer Street, Greenwich Village, New York City, NY, USA.

An exhibition of Sri Chinmoy’s Jharna-Kala paintings is opened at John F. Kennedy High School in the Bronx, NY, USA.

Sri Chinmoy offers a concert at the Artists’ Association in Woodstock, NY, USA.

Sri Chinmoy is interviewed by Monsignor Thomas Hartman (Father Tom) for his television show in New York, NY, USA.

Sri Chinmoy performs a special duet with cellist Scott Terzaghi in the afternoon at Public School 117 in Briarwood, NY, USA.

Flautist Paul Horn performs at a private concert in the evening for Sri Chinmoy and his students at Public School 117 in Briarwood, NY, USA.

 

April 28

Sri Chinmoy delivers a lecture, entitled ‘Reality’, at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, OH, USA.

Sri Chinmoy writes 360 poems in 24 hours, which are published the very next day as The Goal Is Won, in Jamaica, NY, USA.

Sri Chinmoy paints ‘Supreme, I Bow To Thee’, a 9’ x 16’ canvas, in Jamaica, NY, USA.

Sri Chinmoy meets with American artist Peter Max at the Jharna-Kala Art Gallery in New York, NY, USA.

Sri Chinmoy delivers a lecture, entitled ‘A Seeker’s Conversation with his Inner Pilot’, at St. John’s University in Jamaica, NY, USA.

Sri Chinmoy offers a Peace Concert at New Rochelle High School in New Rochelle, NY, USA.

Sri Chinmoy holds a public meditation for spiritual seekers in Buchman Hall in Manhattan, NY, USA. He meditates in silence, plays music and answers questions. Three other similar programmes were held at the same venue during April and May.

Sri Chinmoy offers a Peace Concert at the State University of New York in New Paltz, NY, USA.

Sri Chinmoy lifts 13 people in Jamaica, NY, USA.

As part of the Sri Chinmoy Ten and Six Day Races, the 6-day race begins at Flushing Meadows Park, Queens, New York, USA. The 10-day race began on 24 April; both races end on 4 May.

Sri Chinmoy offers a Peace Concert in Jamaica, NY, USA.