Sri Chinmoy lifts Asashōryū Akinori (Dolgorsürengiin Dagvadorj), Champion of Sumo Wrestling; and his brother Dolgorsürengiin ‘Slippery’ Sumiyaabazar, five-time gold medallist in Mongolia Freestyle Wrestling, at Aspiration-Ground in Jamaica, Queens, New York.
TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN:
This is to certify that in view of his creative achievements in ecumenical religious interpretation and in behalf of humanity
SRI CllINMOY
has been appointed an Honorary Visiting Scholar at Pacific School of Religion
Signed:
A. Durwood Foster
DeanJohn von Rohr
Interim PresidentOctober 5, 1978
Sri Chinmoy is named ‘Honorary Visiting Scholar’ at the Pacific School of Religion, University of California, in Berkeley, California.
Associated Students of Stanford University
205 Tresidder Memorial Union,
Stanford, California 94305
5 October 1978
The Associated Students are pleased and honored to have Sri Chinmoy among us tonight. No one of us can gauge the effect that you have had on the Stanford community over the years; whether deeply familiar or newly exposed to your teachings and music, everybody present will leave this hall a little better for the experience.
We thank Sri Chinmoy for his generosity and good will, and we heartily welcome him back to our home at any point in the future.
Andrew Neil Goldenkranz
ASSU Council of Presidents
Stanford University
Stanford, California 94305
To SRI CHINMOY, composer, singer, performer on many instruments, poet, painter, spiritual leader:
On behalf of the Department of Music, Stanford University, I offer you welcome at the culmination of your tour of California universities and colleges. Your presence on the campus is appreciated in recognition of your accomplishments in service to the world community and of your embodiment of the oneness of music with other creative manifestations of our common humanity.
Edward E. Golbry
Lecturer in Music
Published in AUM – Vol. 5, Nos. 9, 10, September-October 1978
Sri Chinmoy meets with Pablo Casals, world-renowned cellist, at the maestro’s residence in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Read more...
Remarks by Sri Chinmoy
on 11 December 2005 in Kuantan, Malaysia
I met Maestro Pablo Casals in Puerto Rico. He was on the wrong side of ninety, and I had perhaps scarcely crossed the barrier of forty. I was quite young. I still had a considerable amount of hair!
The rumour was circulating that Pablo Casals’ wife had been his mother in her previous incarnation. That rumour I had been hearing from the Puerto Rican disciples. She played the violin and another musical instrument with him. There was a great difference of age. She was quite young and he was over eighty when they got married. Some people said she had been his mother, and others said no, it could not be. I said, “All right, one day if I can see him, I will request him to show me a picture of his mother.”
I was able to see Pablo Casals. I folded my hands. He stretched out both his arms and placed his hands on my shoulders. I was much taller than he was. He put his palms on my shoulders and started shedding tears. I bent forward, and hot tears were falling from his eyes onto my garment. He said, “You have come in the very evening of my life.”
At that time I had never thought of playing the cello. He said, “Do you want to hear a piece? I will play a piece by Bach.”
He was an expert, a real expert — a maestro of the highest order. He started playing, and I was listening most devotedly, with deep feeling. He wanted to play another piece, so he played and I appreciated him.
Then we started talking. He wanted to talk all about children, little children. He said that they are our future, they are our dream. I most sincerely agreed with him.
I asked him if I could see a picture of his mother. I said, “Please, would you kindly show me a picture?” His wife overheard me and she brought the picture to me. It was hanging on the wall. I very sincerely, seriously and powerfully concentrated on the picture for three or four minutes. Then I smiled and said, “Those who say that your mother has reincarnated in the form of your present wife are absolutely correct. I am a man of prayer. I do have the capacity to enter into previous incarnations.” He definitely believed me. He was so happy and so relieved! Then his wife came and sat beside him. It was very, very moving. We talked and talked, all about children.
One or two years after his departure from the earth-scene, Pablo Casals started coming from the soul’s world when I gave Peace Concerts. He would sit always facing me, about a metre away, when I was playing. He would meditate very deeply. Other musicians who came from the inner world used to converse. They even brought their instruments. They were in their own world! But Pablo Casals never brought his instrument. His only request was to meditate, meditate with me. He was the only musician who always wanted to meditate. Others meditated a little, but Pablo Casals made it a point only to meditate in front of me. Of all my instruments, he said he liked the esraj best. Had he known, when he was in the physical, that I play the esraj so well, he would have wanted it to open his symphony orchestra!
Many, many times Pablo Casals has come to me in the inner world. Others also have come — even people whom I never knew, as well as some that I saw in the physical world. Occasionally Bach’s soul, Beethoven’s soul and others have come. A few times Leonard Bernstein has come. He really appreciated me when we met! He is always very exuberant. He plays the cello so charmingly. Sometimes he is almost dancing, because of his familiarity with me.
Pablo Casals asked me not to forget him when I give very serious concerts, so I have kept my promise. Whenever I know I am going to be performing in a very serious, soulful concert, I invite him. He has come many, many times — more than any other musician. Meditation: soulful, prayerful meditation. He says that is the thing he should have done. When he was in the world of the living he did not meditate, so now he wants to meditate, meditate, meditate with me.
Published in My Golden Children
A talk by Sri Chinmoy
at Stanford University, Stanford, California (8:00 p.m.)
Run and become. We run, we become. We run in the outer world, we become in the inner world. We run to succeed, we become to proceed.
Inspiration helps us run, far, farther, farthest. It helps us run the length and breadth of the world. Aspiration helps us become fast, faster, fastest the chosen instrument of our Beloved Supreme.
Inspiration tells us to look around and thus feel and see boundless light, energy and power. Aspiration tells us to dive deep within and enjoy boundless delight, inner nectar and bliss.
Inspiration tells us to claim and proclaim our own divinity, which is our birthright. Aspiration tells us to feel and realise once and for all that we are exact prototypes of our Beloved Supreme. We can be as great, as good, as divine and as perfect as He is. Inspiration tells us to become our true selves. Aspiration tells us to become God Himself.
Inspiration tells us to feel what we soulfully have: God’s Love, God’s Compassion, God’s Beauty and God’s Peace in infinite measure. Aspiration tells us to feel at every moment that we are of the Source and for the Source. We are of our Beloved Supreme the One, and we are for our Beloved Supreme the many. Him to fulfil, Him to manifest, Him to satisfy unconditionally in His own way is of paramount importance.
We run. We become. At every moment we are running to become something great, sublime, divine and supreme. At the same time, while we are becoming, we feel that we are in the process of reaching our ultimate Goal. But today’s goal is only the starting point for tomorrow’s new dawn. At every moment we are transcending our achievements; we are transcending what we have and what we are. By virtue of our self-giving we are becoming the Beauty, the Light and the Delight of our Beloved Supreme.
Published in The Vision-Sky of California
At a meeting of the Meditation Group on 5 October 1976, Mr Le Kim Dinh, United Nations Correspondent for ’The New York Times” asks Sri Chinmoy this question:
Question: Sri Chinmoy, how do you view the problems of the world and how do you think these problems can be solved?
Sri Chinmoy: The problems of the world are nothing but teeming clouds in the sky. It is only a matter of time before the sun disperses the clouds. We use the term “God’s Hour”. This God’s Hour is the combination of humanity’s aspiration and Divinity’s Compassion. When humanity’s ascending aspiration meets Divinity’s descending Compassion, God’s hour strikes, and all our problems are solved.
Problems are everywhere. Each country has hundreds of problems. Each individual has hundreds of problems. But problems can be solved, should be solved and must be solved by individuals first, for it is the individual mind, or brain, or capacity that rules each country. If each individual sees that he has hundreds of problems of his own, then he will dive deep into his own problems. When he dives deep into his own problems, he sees and feels that there is only one problem, and that problem is lack of oneness.
Very often we notice this lack of oneness, inseparable oneness, even in our own individual being. We identify ourselves with a particular part or limb of our body more than we identify ourselves with the rest of the body. If somebody says that our eyes are beautiful, then we focus all our attention on our eyes and feel that we don’t need anything else. We neglect our arms, our feet, our nose, our head, and we forget that God has also made them members of our physical existence. Only the eyes have become part and parcel of our existence, and we consciously and deliberately ignore the existence of other things in our day-to-day life. At this time we have to know that we have lost our sweet, inseparable oneness with the arms, legs and the rest of our body. We do not consciously establish our soulful and fruitful oneness with all the limbs of our physical body proper.
The world is composed of many, many countries. If an individual can become inseparably one with the inner cry of his own nation, then he is bound to feel that his nation is nothing but a tree. If I belong to a country, then I should feel that my nation-tree has countless branches, which are the other countries. And if you belong to a country, then you can also feel that your country is the tree and the rest of the countries are all branches.
A tree without branches is no tree at all. When we see that there are quite a few branches, we appreciate the tree. And if we see that the tree is bearing flowers and fruits, we deeply appreciate it. So, from the human point of view, we can solve our problems by thinking that we are trees and that others are the branches. If we can feel this way, and if others also can feel exactly the same way — that they are the trees and we are the branches — then there will be a feeling of inseparable oneness. This is the human way that we can solve world problems.
But the divine way is to feel God’s entire creation as our very own and to feel our oneness with the Will of the Supreme. I come from India; you come from some other part of the world. But everything is in God’s creation and God is both creation and manifestation. He is Silence and He is also sound. Silence we see in His Vision-Reality and sound we see in His manifestation-Reality on earth. So, from the spiritual point of view, from the divine point of view, if we want to solve the problems of the world, then there is only one way. That way is to pray and meditate for our conscious oneness with the Will of the Absolute Supreme. On very rare occasions, the Will of the Supreme is being executed through us even though we are not consciously praying and meditating. But if we consciously pray and consciously meditate, then without fail God’s Will will be executed in and through us.
Prayer and meditation are nothing short of our constant communion, or conversation, with God. When we pray, at that time we talk to God; and when we meditate, God talks to us. Two persons are here: God and us. When it is our turn, we have to pray and offer our soulful cry. What we want from God is Peace, Light and Bliss. And when God meditates on us, we just listen. He has a Message for us. He wants to give us the Message. And also, He will tell us how we can share His Message with the rest of the world.
So, prayer and meditation can solve all the world problems. If we can become soulfully and constantly one with God’s Will, then we can make no mistakes. It is because of our mistakes that we create problems for ourselves. And what is the mistake that we have already made, and from which we are constantly suffering? Our only mistake is that we have made friends with ignorance. We are swimming in the sea of ignorance. But we can change our friendship. God is there to help us and guide us. We can make Wisdom-Light our friend, our only friend. Then we will be able to swim in the sea of Wisdom-Light instead of swimming in the sea of ignorance-night.
So, from the human point of view let us think of ourselves as a tree and the rest as branches. From the divine point of view, let us feel our constant oneness with the Will of the Supreme Absolute Pilot. And this Will we come to know and discover within us only by constant prayer and constant meditation. This is how we can solve all the problems that are in the world.
Published in Flame-Waves, part 9
by Sri Chinmoy
after a morning sports practice and meditation at Jamaica High School track in Jamaica, New York
What is needed
Is the conquest of self-indulgence.
What is needed
Is the conquest of self-importance.
What is needed
Is the conquest of self-doubt.
What is needed
For God's Compassion
Is a prayerful life.
What is needed
For God's Love
Is a soulful heart.
What is needed
For God's Forgiveness
Is a fruitful surrender.
What is needed
Is the supreme wisdom:
God comes first always,
And
God for God's sake.
I do not deny the fact that
God the Creator
And God the Creation are one.
But if I have to make a choice
Between God the Creator
And God the Creation,
Then I shall always choose
God the Creator, God the Creator,
God the Creator.
This is my personal choice
And this will always remain
My personal choice,
For God the Creator
Preceded God the Creation.
I wish to be always
With the Source,
In the Source
And for the Source.
Published in Aurora-Flora
O Pablo Casals, O Pablo,
Your wonder cello-flames
Eternally shall love and hallow
Our diving and climbing human frames
Charmingly short in earth’s body-height,
Supremely long in Heaven’s soul-length,
O child of tomorrow’s dawn, no night
You saw in your beauty’s world of strength.
Published in Four Summit-Height-Melodies
Sri Chinmoy offers a Peace Concert (427) at the Centre Sportif du Bout-du-Monde in Geneva, Switzerland.
Excerpt from remarks by Mr. Vladimir F. Petrovsky, Director General of the United Nations Office in Geneva, at his private residence during a meeting with Sri Chinmoy before the Peace Concert:
I admire you very much, Sri Chinmoy. What I admire very much in your case are your relentless efforts to achieve the goal of peace. For me, you and your Group are like the United Nations, a miniature United Nations. You now have Centres in most countries all over the world. You have long been a dear and close friend. My friendship with you and with all your students is a most pleasant experience in my life.
Introductory remarks given at the Peace Concert by Mr. Aleksandr Gavroushkin, Political Affairs Officer and Special Assistant to Mr. Vladimir Petrovsky:
On behalf of the Director General of the United Nations Office in Geneva, I would like to welcome Sri Chinmoy and, indeed, all the participants in this concert, to the city.
This event is dedicated to peace, and the purpose and aim of the United Nations is also peace. Thus, it is not an accident that Sri Chinmoy, his ideas and his activities are deeply respected at the United Nations. He is among those few who are able to share their spiritual strengths with others to provide us with guidance, hope and encouragement. And this is why I am sure that this concert will be among the most remarkable events in our lives.
Peace Concert dedication by Sri Chinmoy:
Today’s Peace Concert I am prayerfully, soulfully and self-givingly offering to the most illumining soul of the United Nations. True, according to many, if not all, the United Nations has made deplorable mistakes. In spite of that, the United Nations has served the world-community in hundreds of ways most beautifully, most powerfully and most convincingly. The role that the United Nations has been playing for the last fifty years in the world-arena will forever and forever be remembered throughout the length and breadth of the world with love, infinite love, and gratitude, infinite gratitude. I personally am most grateful to the Lord Supreme for having given me the golden opportunity to be of service to the United Nations through my prayers and meditations for the last twenty-five years.
Published in My Prayerful Salutations to the United Nations
Sri Chinmoy descends an enormous set of 27 portable steps — constructed by Unmilan Howard — at Flushing Meadows Park in Queens, New York.
Sri Chinmoy at the Jharna-Kala gallery at Grand Central Station in Manhattan, New York.
Video by kedarvideo
Sri Chinmoy offered an organ recital (42) at the Church of St. Boniface in Munich, West Germany.
O South Africa, South Africa, South!
Your heart you give before you open your mouth.
You are your life’s streaming and bleeding tears.
You offer mankind progress-promise-cheers.
Published in Nelson Mandela: the Pinnacle-Pillar of Mother Earth and Nelson Mandela, The Pinnacle-Pillar of Mother Earth songbook.
Words and music by Sri Chinmoy
Lyrics:
Mongolia, Mongolia, Mongolia
Mor hiyakashe berau uriya
Buddha debatar karuna murati
Tomar jibane nahi je birati
Joy joy joy joy Mongolia
Ghora gati druta gati pulokita
Mongolia, Mongolia, Mongolia!
In my heart-sky you fly and fly.
In your inner life ceaselessly
You reveal and manifest
Lord Buddha’s Compassion infinite.
Mongolia, victory, victory, your victory we proclaim.
You are, indeed, the horse-specialty-clime.
From children to octogenarian
Your horse-riding experience is exquisitely charming.
May you be your fastest horse-speed-success-progress
In your life’s journey.
Published in Country Songs, Part 2
At Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, New York
I am a student of peace, and I feel this is one of the ways to offer peace to the world at large. I am a man of prayer and meditation, and from my prayer and meditation, I got this inspiration to be of service to mankind. I feel that while running we are able to offer our very best to establish a world of peace.
Athletes derive tremendous benefits from these races. They go beyond their capacities. In order to make oneself happy, one has to go always beyond and beyond and beyond one’s capacities. So here, while running, each runner is getting a very special opportunity to go beyond his or her capacities. Self-transcendence is the only thing a human being needs in order to be truly happy. So these races help the runners tremendously, although outwardly they go through such hardship. Eventually, when the race is over, they feel they have accomplished something most significant.
The future of this kind of race is very bright. Our philosophy is the philosophy of self-transcendence. I do hope either in the near future or in the distant future we shall increase the distance. Eventually, it is my fervent hope that we shall one day have a 2,700-mile race. Since we believe in self-transcendence, I am sure that we are not going to stop at one thousand three hundred miles. We shall try to cover a longer distance. The seeker-runners who believe in their capacity — which is totally the Grace of God — with this Grace of God will be able to accomplish something unique in their lives.
Published in Pioneer-Runners of Tomorrow’s World-Peace-Dawn: Ultramarathon Running and Self-Transcendence
Sri Chinmoy competes in the field events – 600gm javelin throw (24.2m), 4kg shot put (8.19m) and 1kg discus (21.56m) — at the Sri Chinmoy Masters Games held at Victory Field, Forest Park, Woodhaven, New York.
