April 3

Sri Chinmoy delivers a lecture on the great American poet ‘Robert Frost’, at Dartmouth College in Hanover, NH, USA.

An exhibition of Sri Chinmoy’s artworks opens in Greenwich Village in New York, NY, USA.

Sri Chinmoy delivers a lecture, entitled ‘God’s World and Man’s World’, at New York State University in Purchase, NY, USA.

Sri Chinmoy offers a Peace Concert (68) and delivers a lecture, entitled ‘A Seeker’s Peace’, at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, NJ, USA.

Sri Chinmoy offers a Peace Concert (181) with a piano performance (51) and a lecture, entitled ‘Happiness’, at Friedrich Ebert Halle in Ludwigshafen, Germany.

Sri Chinmoy offers a Peace Concert (228) for the 20th anniversary of Sri Chinmoy: The Peace Meditation at the United Nations – UN, NY.

Sri Chinmoy lifts Hans Janitschek, President, UN Society of Writers – Jamaica, NY, USA.

Sri Chinmoy offers a Peace Concert (334) in Jackson Heights, NY, USA.

Sri Chinmoy achieves a vertical step-up onto a 30-inch platform in Jamaica, NY, USA. Read article…

Sri Chinmoy receives the Heart of Japan Award.

 

April 2

Sri Chinmoy completes 27 Jharna-Kala paintings in 27 minutes in Jamaica, NY, USA.

Sri Chinmoy delivers a lecture, entitled ‘Success and Progress’, at New York State University in Cortland, NY, USA.

Sri Chinmoy offers a concert and delivers a lecture, entitled ‘Our Human Life and Our Divine Life’, at Syracuse University in Syracuse, NY, USA.

Sri Chinmoy delivers a lecture, entitled ‘What Shall I Make of Myself?’, at New York State University in Binghamton, NY, USA.

Sri Chinmoy offers a piano performance at Progress-Promise in Jamaica, NY, USA.

Sri Chinmoy visits the Heiligenkreuz Monastery in Austria, where he prays and meditates with the nuns and the Mother Superior, and answers their questions about spirituality and religion.

Sri Chinmoy lifts Gajanan Wakankar, Consul General of India to New York, in Jamaica, NY, USA.

Sri Chinmoy offers the opening meditation at the World Choir Concert and met American poet Maya Angelou in Atlanta, GA, USA.

Sri Chinmoy delivers a lecture, entitled ‘Poet and Poetry’, and receives the Light of Asia Award at the University of Washington in Seattle, WA, USA. Listen to Poet and Poetry recording…

 

Sri Chinmoy offers a Peace Concert at the opening of a week-long Soul-Bird drawings exhibition held at the University of Washington in Seattle, WA, USA.

Sri Chinmoy lifts James Nachtwey, award-winning photojournalist, in Jamaica, NY, USA.

 

April 1

Sri Chinmoy is invited to speak at the Gandhi Centenary at the University of the West Indies in Mona, Jamaica. The talk, entitled ‘Mahatma Gandhi’, is subsequently printed in Mother India’s Lighthouse.

Sri Chinmoy delivers a talk, entitled ‘Does Meditation Really Accomplish Anything?’, in the Dag Hammarskjöld Auditorium at the United Nations in New York, NY.

Sri Chinmoy delivers a lecture, entitled ‘Faith, Love, Devotion and Surrender’, at New York State University in Oswego, NY, USA.

Sri Chinmoy offers a concert and delivers a lecture, entitled ‘Appreciation, Admiration, Adoration and Love’, at Cornell University in Ithaca, NY, USA.

Sri Chinmoy delivers a lecture, entitled ‘Contemplation’, at Columbia University in New York, NY, USA.

Sri Chinmoy offers a Peace Concert (afternoon) at the Wiener Konzerthaus in Vienna, Austria.

Sri Chinmoy offers a Peace Concert (evening) at the Wiener Konzerthaus in Vienna, Austria.

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 and delivers a morning lecture, entitled ‘My Success-Life and My Progress-Life’, at the University of Vienna in Vienna, Austria.

Sri Chinmoy offers a Peace Concert and delivers an evening lecture, entitled ‘Surrender’, at the Kurhalle Oberlaa in Vienna, Austria.

Sri Chinmoy completes 2 million Soul-Bird drawings in Jamaica, NY, USA.

 

March 30

Photos by Stutisheel Lebedev in Kiev;
Adarini Inkei in New York

 

Sri Chinmoy holds a photograph of Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko (centre) visiting an exhibition of Soul-Bird drawings at the Ukrainian Culture Foundation in Kiev, Ukraine, on March 30th. Also, pictured are, Academician Igor Yuhnovskyy (left) who hosted the President’s visit; and Namaskar Vladimir Petrenko (right), a Member of Parliament and prominent disciple of Sri Chinmoy. [Namaskar passed away in 2020.]

 

Note: The full photograph above is taken at Aspiration-Ground in New York the next day, on March 31, 2007.

 

March 30

Photo by Sarama Minoli

 

Sri Chinmoy gives a concert at the Westchester County Centre in White Plains, New York.

 

Eka Bingsha Shatabdi

Lyrics:

Eka bingsha shatabdi eka bingsha shatabdi
Eka bingsha shatabdi eka bingsha
Dhwangsha karibe agyanatar timir prachir dhwangsha
Nutan alor mridul parashe bhangibe abani supti
Dyuloke bhuloke biraj karibe asim amar tripti

Translation:

Twenty-first Century, Twenty-first Century,
Twenty-first Century!
You will utterly destroy the darkness-wall
Of ignorance-night.
The delicate softness-touch of your new light
Shall awaken the slumbering world
Your Infinity’s immortal Satisfaction
Heaven and earth shall together treasure and enjoy.

Published in The New Millennium

 

March 30

I Watch, I Pray

A lecture by Sri Chinmoy
at C.W. Post College, Long Island University
Greenvale, New York

 

I watch before I pray. I watch if there are undivine thoughts trying to assail my mind. Needless to say, I do not surrender to these undivine thoughts.

I watch before I pray. I watch if there are divine thoughts trying to inspire my heart. Needless to say, I welcome these thoughts with my open mind, open heart and open arms.

I pray, and then I watch. I watch and see if the jealous world is trying to rob me of the peace, light and bliss that I have acquired from my prayer. Needless to say, my conscious awareness prevents the jealous world from robbing me.

I pray, and then I watch. I watch to see if there are sincere seekers who would like to have the peace, light and bliss that I have acquired from my prayer. Needless to say, to them I immediately offer my peace, light and bliss devotedly, soulfully and unreservedly.

God watches me pray. Through my prayer He expects me to change for the better: to have a better consciousness, better aspiration and a better realisation.

God watches me pray. Through my prayer He expects me to become a more soulful instrument of His, Him to serve unconditionally in His own way.

God watches me pray. Through my prayer He wants me to become an unconditional seeker, an unconditional server and an unconditional lover.

Before God created this world, He watched and measured the ascendance of His Silence-Height. Now that God has created the world, He watches and measures the excellence of His Sound-Might.

I pray, I watch, I accept and, finally, I embrace the Feet of my Beloved Supreme with my heart's purity. God meditates, accepts and, finally, embraces my heart with his constant Self-giving Reality and Self-giving Divinity.

Published in Wisdom-Waves in New York, part 1

 

A Promise was a Promise

A brief talk by Sri Chinmoy
at his home in New York

 

Centuries ago, in the Vedic seers’ time, a promise was a promise. If you made a promise, the story was finished. Even at the time of the battle of Kurukshetra, a promise was a promise. They believed in their promise, and they would kill themselves to keep their promise.

Published in Not Every Day, but Every Moment: Illumining Questions and Answers, Comments and Talks

 

March 30

Photo by Pulak Viscardi

 

Sti Chinmoy poses for a photograph with a very happy Indian family who had just been lifted at Public School 86 in Jamaica, Queens, New York.

 

March 30

An Honour to Run with You

A story by Sri Chinmoy

 

During the seven-mile race today, one man was with me for the entire time. I followed him and he followed me.

After three miles he took two glasses of ERG and offered one to me.

At one point, he went five or six metres ahead of me. I said, “Where is he going?” Then I ran fast and caught him.

He finished just a little ahead of me.

Then he shook hands with me and said, “It was such an honour to run with you.”

Published in Run and Become, Become and Run, part 3

 

The Past is Gold

A story by Sri Chinmoy
on 20 September 1981

 

I always say that the past is dust. In my case the past is gold. For inspiration I was watching a videotape of my best seven-mile race performance in Connecticut on 30 March 1980. That day I ran at a 7:19 pace. So the past for me is not dust; it is gold.

Five minutes before the race, Wally brought me a cup of coffee and I got strength from it in the beginning of the race. But later on it stopped working.

One man ran next to me. He was Mohan’s brother-in-law. He gave me drinks along the way. Then he went ahead of me at the last moment. At the end, after finishing, he congratulated me.

Published in Run and Become, Become and Run, part 7

 

Sri Chinmoy runs personal bests for 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 miles – his 3-mile split time is 21:31 (7:10/mile pace); 4-mile split time is 29:04 (7:16/mile pace); 5-mile split time is 36:39 (7:20/mile pace); 6-mile split time is 44:09 (7:21/mile pace); and 7-mile time is 51:18 (7:20/mile pace – at the Sri Chinmoy 7-mile Race in Fairfield, CT, USA.

 

Nature Will Help Me

A story by Sri Chinmoy

 

This morning I went to our Runners Are Smilers race. I walked the two miles in 38 minutes and 56 seconds. Unfortunately, my knee was extremely painful. In the afternoon Saroja made a special compress for me. I gave her the recipe. It consisted of eggplant, cabbage, onion, cauliflower, squash, pumpkin, avocado, mango, mushrooms, ginger, garlic, tamarind paste, chilli and a few spices. She blended them into a paste and then heated them together to make a poultice. I really feel that nature will help me.

Published in Walking-Challenging-Becoming, part 1

 

March 29

 

50 RACES FOR 50 YEARS

 

The festivities have already begun for Sri Chinmoy’s upcoming 50th birthday celebration: a series of 50 two-mile races in the New York area.

The first Sri Chinmoy Two-Mile Race was held 29 March in Westport Conn. Sri Chinmoy himself ran in the race, finishing in 13:42 with a 6:51 pace.

The Master also ran in two-mile races in Weston, Conn. on 4 April, on Compo Beach, Westport, on 5 April, and in Flushing Meadow Park in Queens on 9 April, finishing in 13:56, 13:54 and 13:44 respectively.

By the end of May, eight of the two-mile runs had been held.

Published in Anahata Nada, Volume 7, Nos. 2-5, February 1981-May 1981

 

 

CONCERTS HELD AT YALE AND VIDYA BHAVAN

 

A Peace Concert was given at Yale University on March 28 and at the Manhattan headquarters of Bharatiya Vidyan Bhavan (USA) on March 29.

The Bhavan concert — the 21st in the series Sri Chinmoy is offering in honor of the 50th anniversary of India’s independence  — was part of a Bhavan program celebrating Netaji’s birth centenary· 

Indian Consul-General Harsh Bhasin was guest of honor.

Published in Anahata Nada, Volume 26, November 1996-March 1997