March 19
March 19
INDIAN LEADERS PRESENT TRACK AND FIELD AWARDS
DELHI — Sri Chinmoy was among the Indian leaders — who included Prime Minister Indira Gandhi — presenting the prizes to winners of the Asian Veterans Athletics Championships held here the weekend of March 19.
The three-day series of track and field competitions, held in Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, drew masters athletes from the length and breadth of Asia.
Sri Chinmoy presented the awards to the winners of the 20-kilometre walk and the 400-metre dash on the final day of the meet.
Published in Anahata Nada, Volume 10, Nos. 2-5, February–June 1983
U THANT PEACE AWARD GIVEN
The leader of The Peace Meditation at the United Nations, Sri Chinmoy, presented the annual U Thant Peace Award this year to the United Nations Development Program (UNDP).
The presentation was made March 19 during a ceremony on U Thant Island, in the East River.
Dr. Uner Kirdar, who accepted the award on behalf of UNDP, said: “You are granting us the biggest honour.” The award, he added, belongs to UNDP field workers and those “whom we are privileged to serve.”
In a subsequent letter to Sri Chinmoy, the head of UNDP, Bradford Morse, wrote: “This award ... gives us new inspiration, dedication and energy to serve in the best manner millions of human beings in poor countries ...”
Published in Anahata Nada, Volume 12, December 1984–March 1985
Published in the Venezuelan newspaper, CRITICA, 19 March 1987
March 19
Sri Chinmoy presents prizes at ASUAB Veterans Athletics Championship at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in New Delhi, India. The three-day series of track and field competitions draws veteran athletes from the length and breadth of Asia.
Video by kedarvideo
Sri Chinmoy sprinting at the Olympic Stadium in Tokyo, Japan.
My Airport Friends
by Sri Chinmoy
I have so many friends at the airports, JFK and La Guardia, specially at US Air, Delta and TWA. I go almost every day to US Air or Delta to walk. Usually in the morning I go to Delta and in the evening I go to US Air. This evening I went to TWA. So many workers there like me, even high-ranking officials.
They ask me such funny questions, such as why do I walk on my toes? One worker will say he gets tired just watching me. This worker collects garbage. Another one will say, "I know why you are walking on your toes. I also do it to strengthen my ankles, but I do not do it for such a long time."
The other day I was walking quite fast. One black lady came and stood right in front of me. She said, "How is it that you are not saying hello to me?" I saw that it was my favourite friend, the lady who saved me when I lost my notebooks that had four thousand birds inside. She was so nice. She discovered the notebooks and returned them to me. I was so miserable on that day when I thought that I had lost four thousand birds.
A few days later I saw her while she was working. She was doing some official business and not paying any attention to me. So I finished my walking and as I left I said to her, "Good-bye." She looked up and said, "No, good morning."
I like to walk on the moving belt at the airport. Last week three or four little children jumped on the belt and started running in the opposite direction. They were only seven or eight years old. I was sincerely admiring them. A few minutes later, I tried to imitate them. I practically lost my balance and I was so fortunate that I was not injured. I said, "How did they do it?" Then I tried again for forty metres. When I came to the end of the walkway, I got frightened. I did not know how I was going to jump off the belt, so I turned around and started walking properly in the opposite direction. Those children have no fear.
At one terminal there are two ladies. They are high-ranking officials, but they are always very nice to me. They always scream at me, "Good morning! Are you praying for me?" One of them says that my prayer definitely works. About a year ago she begged me to pray for her. She said, "Do not forget to pray for me. Your prayer works." She is a Christian. I do pray for her.
Published in Walking-Challenging-Becoming, part 1
World-Story and Soul-Story:
Presented by Kusumita Priscilla Pedersen
at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Meeting
of the American Academy of Religion,
Panel on Religion and Literature
March 1985.
The “Hindu renaissance” of nineteenth and twentieth century Bengal has given rise to a number of notable literary figures writing in both Bengali and English. Among these are the novelist and essayist Bankim Chandra Chatterji (1838-1894), Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941), Nobel Laureate in 1913, and the yogin, theologian and poet Sri Aurobindo (1872-1950). Religious themes are prominent in much of their work. Bankim's novel Anandamath fanned the flames of Hindu nationalism.
Rabindranath’s poem-cycle Gitanjali is pervaded by the ethos and imagery of earlier Bengali poetry in the tradition of Krishna bhakti or devotion. Sri Aurobindo’s epic Savitri, based on a story from the Mahabharata, is his spiritual auto-biography. This essay interprets the English poetry of Sri Chinmoy (1931- ) as a vehicle of religious statement emerging from the Bengal tradition of Neo-Vedanta, with special concern for his use of narrative as a mode of poetic expression which plays a special role in making that statement. View PDF...
March 18
Sri Chinmoy meditates in the tent at Aspiration-Ground in Jamaica, Queens, NewYork.
March 18
Sri Chinmoy plays various instruments at his home in New York.
March 18
Sri Chinmoy being interviewed by television host Russell Barber in New York.
March 18
Sri Chinmoy meets with the President of Hungary, Árpád Göncz, at the Hungarian Consulate in New York.
Letter of Welcome
to Sri Chinmoy
from the Governor of the state of Washington Gary Locke
Dear Sri Chinmoy:
As Governor, and on behalf of the state of Washington, I am pleased to welcome you back to Seattle and the University of Washington as you present your global Peace Concert for the people of the Pacific Northwest.
This Peace Concert is a celebration of our existence and a promise of what tomorrow brings for our world. Your past, present and future are filled with your dream of peace. May your endless faith and enthusiasm continue to guide you to towards a day when your dream is realised.
Thank you for sharing your inspiring words and music with the people of our state. In addition to your accomplishments as a musician and poet, you are founder of the global Peace Run which came through our state in 1997 to spread a message of peace throughout our communities. It was an honour to receive the global Peace Run here, and I wish you continued success as you work to advance global peace and harmony in the 21st century. The hope and promise of the new millennium bring renewed confidence and enthusiasm for a united world and a shared understanding.
Best wishes for the future!
Sincerely,
— Gary Locke — Governor
Published in Blessingful Invitations from the University-World
March 18
Weightlifting Prayer
by Sri Chinmoy
My Supreme, my Supreme, my Supreme!
Only because of Your Heart’s
All-fulfilling Blessing-Grace,
Today I am my life’s
Smiling face.
My Supreme, my Supreme, my Supreme!
Sri Chinmoy offers this prayer at 6:22 a.m. before lifting 170 lbs. with both arms simultaneously (total: 340 lbs.) — a new record.
Published in My Morning Soul-Body Prayers, part 3
Mike Katz’s Prophecy Comes True
by Sri Chinmoy
When Mike Katz heard that I had lifted up 160 pounds in each arm, he said, “I am amazed but not surprised. For Sri Chinmoy, 170-pound or 180-pound dumbbells in each arm would not surprise me.”
His prophecy was so powerful. In two days it has come true. Today I have lifted up 170 pounds in each arm. One hundred and seventy was my goal for April 13th and I have got it today.
It is true that after one hundred years people will wonder whether I am one man or ten. In each field I have acted like a cyclone!
Published in A Mystic Journey in the Weightlifting World, part 2
The Essence of a Miracle
by Sri Chinmoy
For me, if ten million people cannot do something and then one individual comes who can do it, it is a miracle. If millions and millions of people cannot do something — on any plane — and one individual does it, it is a miracle. Only our mind gets stuck, that is why we do not use the word. If one individual writes an immortal song, a song that comes from another world — like “Ave Maria” — then, according to me, that is a miracle. Look at all the unimaginable things President Gorbachev and President Mandela have done — are those things not miracles? Sudhahota’s nine gold medals — is that immortal achievement not a miracle? In so many fields, miracles are taking place if we have the eyes to see them.
Published in A Mystic Journey in the Weightlifting World, part 2