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Sri Chinmoy offers a Peace Concert and delivers three prayerful messages at Salle de Concert in St. Denis, Greater Paris, France.
Sri Chinmoy offers a Peace Concert at the Palais des Congrès de Montréal to an audience of 9,000 in Montreal, Canada.
Sri Chinmoy meditates before the start of the concert.
Give me, give me shelter,
Shelter at Your Feet, my Lord, today.
Published in Your Face Is My Dream
An article in The Weekly Deshe Bideshe about Sri Chinmoy’s Peace Concert in Ottawa, Canada. The photo shows Sri Chinmoy meeting with the High Commissioner of Bangladesh at the concert.
Sri Chinmoy has a second meeting with Pope Paul VI at the Vatican, Vatican City.
Sri Chinmoy delivers an evening lecture (7:30 p.m.), entitled ‘Death’, at Newcastle University in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, UK. After delivering a lecture, Sri Chinmoy sings Rabindranath Tagore’s 1939 song Samukhe Shanti Parabar — ‘The Ocean of Peace Lies Ahead of Me’.
Sri Chinmoy completes 27,000 Jharna-Kala paintings, in Jamaica, NY, USA.
Sri Chinmoy begins cycling again for the first time since he came to the West. He joins his students for one circuit as they ride a course in Central Park, New York, singing his ‘O My America’ song in honour of America’s Bicentennial. Sri Chinmoy’s love of cycling dates back to his childhood in Chittagong, East Bengal, and continued during his time at the Sri Aurobindo Ashram in Pondicherry, India, where the bicycle was a common mode of transport. His cycling career begins in earnest in 1977 when he and his students participate in the 24-Hour Pepsi Bicycle Marathon in Central Park, New York, NY, USA.
Sri Chinmoy runs 1500 metres in 6 min. 30 sec. at the Sri Chinmoy Race in Jamaica, NY, USA.
Sri Chinmoy offers a concert at the United Nations in New York.
Sri Chinmoy offers a Peace Concert at the Community Church in New York, NY, USA.
Sri Chinmoy offers a Peace Concert with a piano performance and delivers a lecture, entitled ‘O Senior Olympics, O Senior Olympians’, at Washington University in St. Louis, MO, USA.
Sri Chinmoy has an interview with the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that takes place prior to the opening ceremony of the US National Senior Olympics, in St. Louis, MO, USA.
Sri Chinmoy offers an opening meditation and gives a talk during the Opening Ceremonies of the first United States National Senior Olympics, at the First US National Senior Olympics in St. Louis, MO, USA.
Sri Chinmoy gives an organ recital at Ely Cathedral in Ely, UK.
Sri Chinmoy offers a Peace Concert with a piano performance and organ recital; and delivers a lecture, entitled ‘Oneness-Education’, in the West Road Concert Hall at the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England, UK. Sri Chinmoy also holds a ‘Lifting Up the World with a Oneness-Heart’ programme, at which he lifts Professor Brian David Josephson, 1973 Nobel Laureate in Physics and others.
Reykjavik, Iceland’s capital city, is dedicated as a Sri Chinmoy Peace Capital.
Sri Chinmoy runs the 100-metre race in the over-60s category, recording a time of 16.62 seconds, at the Sri Chinmoy Masters Games held at the Australian Institute of Sport Athletics Track in Canberra, Australia. He is also presented with special awards by the Australian Sports Commission and the ACT Cross Country Club.
Sri Chinmoy visits two of the five Canberra Sri Chinmoy Peace Capital signs that are placed at the road entrances to Australia’s capital city. The previous morning, Sri Chinmoy visited three of the signs.
Sri Chinmoy lifts 19 people in Jamaica, NY, USA.
Sri Chinmoy lifts 15 people, including Dr. Frederick Sanger, 1958 and 1980 Nobel Laureate in Chemistry, and numerous professors, at the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, UK. While there, Sri Chinmoy is given the opportunity to visit to Sri Aurobindo’s room, where he stayed as a student almost a century before.
Sri Chinmoy delivers a talk entitled ‘Conscience’, at Sherwood Hall Boys’ School, Stuart Avenue, Forest Town, Nottinghamshire, Mansfield, UK.
Sri Chinmoy completes 500 Jharna-Kala paintings in 100 minutes, in Jamaica, NY, USA.
Sri Chinmoy offers a silent meditation at the start of the 9,000-mile Liberty Torch Relay, at Battery Park in Manhattan, NY, USA. New York Lieutenant-Governor Mary Ann Krupsak lights the torch, which the runners will carry day and night for the next six weeks through all 50 American states.
Sri Chinmoy’s song ‘Welcome’ is named an official welcoming song of the City of Albany by Mayor Erastus Corning when it is played on the Carillon at City Hall in Albany, New York, USA.
Sri Chinmoy meets Ambassador Ilinome Tarua of Papua New Guinea following a programme for United Nations Charter Day, at the United Nations in New York.
Sri Chinmoy begins his weightlifting career with an overhead lift of 40 lbs. at Aspiration-Ground in Jamaica, NY, USA.
Sri Chinmoy offers a Peace Concert (155) at his third weightlifting anniversary, where he inaugurates the Lifting Up the World with a Oneness-Heart Award by lifting Mahasamrat Bill Pearl, 5-time Mr. Universe, at Julia Richman High School in New York, NY, USA.
Sri Chinmoy holds a 10:30 a.m. morning meditation to commemorate the 44th anniversary of the signing of the UN Charter at London’s Westminster Methodist Central Hall in Westminster Abbey in London, UK. (This is especially significant because in that same hall on 26 June 1944 the first General Assembly of the United Nations took place.) Afterwards, Sri Chinmoy holds a ‘Lifting Up the World with a Oneness-Heart’ programme, at which he lifts pianist Andre Desponds and others.
Sri Chinmoy composes a song, entitled ‘Oxford University’.
Sri Chinmoy offers an evening Peace Concert (193) with an organ recital (51), preceded by a short talk entitled ‘A Conversation with My Lord Supreme’, in the Sheldonian Theatre, at the University of Oxford, Oxford, UK. Sri Chinmoy’s special guest at both his concert and the organ recital is Sir George Trevelyan, the grandfather of the Movement for Spiritual Regeneration in Britain. (The famous theatre was designed by Sir Christopher Wren around 1664.)
Sri Chinmoy gives an afternoon organ recital (50) at Christ Church Cathedral, Christ Church College, in Oxford University, followed by a ‘Lifting Up the World with a Oneness-Heart’ programme in the home garden of, antiquarian and missionary in India, Mr. Robin Waterfield in Oxford. Sri Chinmoy honours Professor Dame Dorothy Hodgkin (1964 Nobel Laureate in Chemistry, University of Oxford); Professor B.K. Matilal (Professor of Sanskrit and Indian Studies, University of Oxford); Dr. Nicholas Goodrick-Clark (historian and author, University of Oxford); Sir George Trevelyan (educator and founder of the Wrekin Trust); and host of the function Mr. Robin Waterfield.
Sri Chinmoy offers a Peace Concert (353) — the 15th of 39 concerts held in honour of Swami Vivekananda — at the Paul Robeson Theater in Brooklyn, NY, USA.
Sri Chinmoy visits three of the five Canberra Sri Chinmoy Peace Capital signs that are placed at the road entrances to Australia’s capital city. The next afternoon, Sri Chinmoy visits the other two signs. Canberra was dedicated as Sri Chinmoy Peace Capital on 16 March 1995 by the Federal Minister for Sport Ros Kelly.
Sri Chinmoy visits a display of his ‘Soul-Bird’ artworks in the Senate Foyer of Parliament House in Canberra, Australia. Prior to Sri Chinmoy’s arrival in Australia, the public exhibition had been on display since 7 June and continues through to 30 June 1995.
At the invitation of Prime Minister Paul Keating, Sri Chinmoy offers a Peace Concert (408) — the 8th of 50 concerts held in honour of the 50th Anniversary of the United Nations — in the Great Hall of Parliament House in Canberra, Australia. (The concert coincides with the exact date of the signing of the United Nations Charter 50 years earlier in San Francisco, CA, USA.)
Sri Chinmoy hosts a special banquet for Environmental Ministers — the Bangladesh Minister for Environment and Forests, Mrs. Sajeda Chowdhury; Ghana’s Minister of Environment, Science and Technology, J. E. Afful; and Zimbabwe’s Minister of Environment and Tourism, Chen Chimutengwende; as well as representatives from the Bahamas Moldova and Sweden — at Annam Brahma restaurant in Jamaica, NY, USA. Sri Chinmoy presents his honoured guests with an environmental and peace award on behalf of ‘Sri Chinmoy: The Peace Meditation at the United Nations’, which he leads.
Sri Chinmoy achieves a lift of 900 lbs. using a seated calf raise, in Jamaica, NY, USA.
Uganda is declared a Sri Chinmoy Peace-Blossom-Nation.
Sri Chinmoy lifts Jim Smith, World Masters Weightlifting Champion, in Standlake, Oxfordshire, UK.
Sri Chinmoy lifts 26 people, including numerous professors, at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford University in Oxford, UK.
Sri Chinmoy recounts ‘Two Sweet Incidents’ in the Bronx, at an informal gathering of his students at Aspiration-Ground in Jamaica, NY, USA.
Sri Chinmoy offers a Peace Concert at Windsor Court Hotel in New Orleans, LA, USA.
Question: Do you have a philosophy on physical fitness?
Sri Chinmoy: As a truth-seeker and a God-lover, I feel the supreme necessity of physical fitness. To me, the body is the temple, and inside the temple is the shrine. If there is no temple, then there can be no shrine. The shrine is our soul, our inner life, our inner hunger for truth, for delight, for beauty, for perfection. The body and the soul must go together, like the inner life and the outer life. If I have a good thought inside my mind, then I can express it to the world at large. If I have a pure heart, then in my outer actions and dealings also, I will be pure. The inner and the outer must go together. This is my simple philosophy.
Question: Which comes first — the inner life or the outer life?
Sri Chinmoy: God always comes first. The creation did not create God. God is both God the Creator and God the creation. Then they become one, inseparably one. But we have to say the Vision of God came first, then the manifestation of God. The manifestation cannot come before the vision. You envision something and then you try to give shape and form to it. So the Vision of God came before the manifestation of God.
The physical strength or physical capacity that we have is the result of our inner aspiration. That is to say, how we behave inwardly is of supreme importance at the beginning, and then how we behave and react in our outer life. Our inner life of aspiration must come first; then comes our outer life of dedication. They go together, but the one will lead and guide the other. If we are not guided by our inner thoughts, inner goodwill, inner strength, then we will be nowhere in the outer life.
Question: How does exercise and competition help the inner life?
Sri Chinmoy: In my case, I use the term 'self-transcendence'. I do not compete with anybody. I compete with myself. It is like a seed that germinates and becomes a plant. Then it becomes a tree and, finally, it grows into a huge banyan tree. I always try to transcend myself. In the weightlifting world, I started lifting 40 pounds with one arm and then I went up and up.
There are many athletes who get inspiration and enthusiasm only when they compete with others. I cannot blame them. If someone is in a position to compete with somebody else, that means he is inspired, he is enthusiastic. If he is competing with someone, then he can bring to the fore his utmost capacity. Otherwise he may be lethargic. He may not practise daily. The physical discipline in his life may come into existence only when he knows that he has to compete with somebody else. Otherwise, he may not take these physical exercises seriously.
But with God's Grace, I practise daily for physical fitness and at the same time I try to better myself, I try to improve my capacity.
Question: Is improvement and building on previous records important, or is the main thing to exercise daily?
Sri Chinmoy: I feel improvement is necessary in order for us to make progress. In this world we are happy only when we make progress. When I studied English, in the beginning I had to learn the alphabet, the ABCs. Now at this age, if I had not studied hundreds and thousands of English books, I would have felt miserable because my teacher taught me the ABCs so many years ago. So that is called progress. This progress is giving me satisfaction. What we want is satisfaction. If we are satisfied with what we have right now, and we do not want to go forward, then we will not be happy.
Again, we have to know that there is a great difference between competition and progress. When we want to compete with others, sometimes we adopt foul means — by hook or by crook we try to win. Then we bring to the fore our feelings of rivalry and almost animal propensities, animal qualities. We are only thinking of how we can defeat others, how we can lord it over others. But when we are competing with ourselves, we know that we have to purify our inner existence in order to improve. So here is the difference. When it is a matter of self-transcendence, we have to depend on our inner purity, inner love, vastness and oneness with the rest of the world. We try to develop universal goodwill, whereas, while competing with others, we may not have those feelings. At that time, we may see others as rivals, we are on the border of enmity with them. It can be as if we are fighting with enemies when we are competing. But when we are trying to transcend ourselves, we cannot fight with ourselves. If we can go ten steps ahead today, tomorrow we will try to cover twenty steps, and the day after thirty steps.
Question: Spiritually, what can we get from games? Volleyball, for instance, is one of those sports that they will be doing in the Senior Olympics.
Sri Chinmoy: Very good. I happened to be a volleyball player in my teens. I was the captain, the main instructor, in the place where I was brought up in India for many, many years. I used to play volleyball quite well.
From the spiritual point of view, there are many things we can learn from games. One is fellow feeling. Then, in volleyball there is something called a serve. Let us take the term 'serve'. By playing, we are serving mankind. You will say, "How?" Let us say you are playing volleyball, and I am in the audience. You are giving me joy and inspiration. You are playing so well, you are smashing the ball and doing all kinds of things.
Why do we watch sports? The world needs inspiration and enthusiasm. You play volleyball extremely well, and I am inspired by it. Then I go and play tennis. You have given me the inspiration, and I go and play some other game. But you gave me the joy, you gave me the inspiration, you gave me the courage. Like that, each person can get inspiration from another person to do better in their own respective fields.
Question: Why is the development of the Senior Olympics important?
Sri Chinmoy: I am very happy because those who participate in the Senior Olympics are utilising time in a divine way. There are two kinds of time. One is fleeting time. Another is eternal Time. Here these people who are advanced in life are trying to defy the attacks of self-doubt, frustration, failure and so many negative things. As we advance in age, incapacity lords it over us. We can no longer do this, we can no longer do that. Ten years ago we did it, but now we cannot run fast, we are unable to do so many things. Then we become frustrated.
But the Senior Olympians are saying, "No! We are still walking along the same road. Sometimes we are sprinting, sometimes we are running, sometimes we are jogging, and sometimes we are crawling. But as long as we keep to the same road, we will reach the destination." We often see a marathon runner running very fast. Then, to wards the end of the race, how difficult it is for him to run. He is obliged to walk. But when he reaches his destination at the end of 26 miles, he gets tremendous joy. So here also the Senior Olympians, after the age of 55, may not run as fast as they did in their prime. But the fact that they are still willing to run and eager to run deserves tremendous appreciation and admiration from us.
Question: In your remarks tonight, what do you anticipate saying to the Senior Olympians?
Sri Chinmoy: I only wish to encourage them and inspire them. I will tell them that they have developed wisdom. I use the term 'wisdom-light'. These senior athletes do not belong to the fleeting time. They belong to Time eternal. They are running along Eternity's Road, challenging the giant pride of self-doubt. Self-doubt so proudly declares, "I cannot do this, I cannot do that." The giant pride of self-doubt stands against us in the battlefield of life. These Senior Olympians are challenging their own self-doubt. They are shaking hands smilingly and proudly with impossibility. People say, "It is impossible — a person of that age cannot do pole vault. They cannot do shot-put or hurdles." But these Senior Olympians are proving that there is no such thing as impossibility.
Question: Could you talk about the concert that you will be giving?
Sri Chinmoy: It is a Peace Concert. This world of ours has everything save and except one thing: peace. And this peace has to start from within. If I have peace of mind, then only can I be of help to you. If you have peace of mind, then only can you be of help to me. This peace of mind we can get from our peaceful meditation and our prayerful life, not from political talk. Not by talking, but by praying and becoming something good can we offer peace to others. So I play quite a few instruments and offer soulful music — not the music that stimulates our vital, but the music that increases our inner hunger, which is love of God.
Question: What is the relationship between meditation and sports? I know in martial arts, which is something I've done for many years, there is a direct relationship, but does it also exist with sports?
Sri Chinmoy: In sports we need energy, strength and dynamism. When we meditate, we make our mind calm and quiet. If inside us there is peace, then we will derive tremendous strength from our inner life. That is to say, if I have a peaceful moment, even for one second, that peace will come to me as solid strength in my sports, whether I am running or jumping or throwing. That strength is almost indomitable strength, whereas if we are restless, we do not have strength like that.
Look at an elephant. An elephant has tremendous strength. It is not restless like a monkey which is moving here and there. It is exactly the same for us. In our inner life if we have the strength of an elephant, then only in our outer life can we be peaceful. A lion is very peaceful. Then when something happens, he starts roaring. But its strength is the peace that it has. It has confidence. But a monkey and other animals that are very, very restless, what kind of strength do they have? Meditation gives us inner strength. Once we have inner strength, we are bound to be successful in our outer life.
Published in Run and smile, smile and run
Sri Chinmoy gives a talk, entitled ‘The Significance of a Flower’, during the inauguration of ‘The Garland of Divinity’s Love’ flower store on Parsons Boulevard in Jamaica, NY, USA.
Sri Chinmoy delivers a lecture, entitled ‘The Seeker’s Four Lives’, at the University of Zurich in Zurich, Switzerland.
Sri Chinmoy delivers an afternoon lecture (12:30 p.m.), entitled ‘Confidence’, at the University of Oxford, in Oxford, England, UK.
Sri Chinmoy delivers an evening lecture (7:30 p.m.), entitled ‘Spirituality as an Art, at the University of Birmingham in Birmingham, England, UK.
Sri Chinmoy delivers a lecture, entitled ‘Satisfaction and Frustration’, at the United Nations in New York.
Sri Chinmoy meets with Brian Gormley, Dean of New York School of Visual Arts and receives an Award of Appreciation, in New York, NY, USA.
Sri Chinmoy first meets with Bill Pearl, 5-time Mr. Universe; Al Oerter, 4-time Olympic gold medallist in discus; and Jim Smith, British Weightlifting Registrar, World Masters Weightlifting Champion, at his Body, Heart and Soul One-Arm Lift anniversary in Jamaica, NY, USA. After his invited guests — including athletic and weightlifting champions: Sudhahota Carl Lewis and his parents Bill and Evelyn, Bill and Judy Pearl, Terry and Jan Todd, Al and Cathy Oerter, Jim Smith, Cliff and Mrs. Sawyer, Narada Michael and Anukampa Walden and others — have dinner at Annam Brahma restaurant, Sri Chinmoy begins the evening programme at Aspiration-Ground with a meditation and an opening prayer before the assembly of champions. Sudhahota Carl Lewis acts as the Master of Ceremonies for the event.
Sri Chinmoy offers an evening (7:00 p.m.) Peace Concert with an organ recital to an audience of 3,000, at the Royal Albert Hall in London, UK.
A Sri Chinmoy Peace Bridge connecting the Twin Cities of St. Paul and Minneapolis in Minnesota, USA, is dedicated by the presidents of both city councils.
An exhibition of Sri Chinmoy’s Jharna-Kala artworks opens in the Shinjuku Kuritsu Kumin Citizen’s Gallery in Tokyo, Japan.
Sri Chinmoy offers a Peace Concert — the 14th of 39 concerts held in honour of Swami Vivekananda — at Public School 86 in Jamaica, NY, USA. He uses a cello as a drum, for the first time, beating it with both hands like an Indian tabla.
Sri Chinmoy offers a Peace Concert in honour of India’s 50th Anniversary of Independence — the 44th in a series of 50 concerts during 1997 — at Aspiration-Ground in Jamaica, NY, USA.
Sri Chinmoy delivers a lecture, entitled ‘My Peace-Education-Life’, and is also presented with the Peace Educator Award by Professor Lester Kurtz at the University of Texas at Austin, TX, USA.
Sri Chinmoy offers a Peace Concert — the 16th of 48 concerts in his New Millennium Concert series — at the University of Texas at Austin, TX, USA. During the concert, Sri Chinmoy pays tribute to Sudhahota Carl Lewis who joins him on stage as he sings a song in honour of the Olympic champion.
Sri Chinmoy lifts 18 people, including professors from Aberdeen, Glasgow and Edinburgh Universities, at the University of Edinburgh in Edinburgh, Scotland, UK.
An exhibition of Sri Chinmoy’s Jharna-Kala artworks opens at the Art Museum, in Harkov, Ukraine.
Sri Chinmoy offers an evening Peace Concert (8 p.m.) at the Riviera Theater in North Tonawanda, Buffalo, NY, USA. The highlight of the concert is Sri Chinmoy’s performance on a 1926 Wurlitzer band organ.
Sri Chinmoy lifts violist Yuri Bashmet and his orchestra, for a total of 22 people, in Jamaica, NY, USA.
Sri Chinmoy delivers a 12:30 p.m. lecture, entitled ‘Failure’, at Riverside Lounge, Cambridge University Centre, Cambridge University in Cambridge UK.
Sri Chinmoy delivers an 8 p.m. lecture, entitled ‘Love Divine’, in the Conference Room, University College, London University Union, 15 Gordon Street, London, WC 2, UK.
The Mayor of Ticonderoga, NY, USA, proclaims‘Canada’s Oneness-Heart Day’ in honour of the Canadian running team that passed through the town during a 500-mile relay run from Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Canada, to the Statue of Liberty in New York, USA.
Sri Chinmoy runs 4 miles in a time of 33 min. 41 sec. (8:25/mile pace) in the Sri Chinmoy Race at the Gateway National Recreation Area, Breezy Point, New York.
Sri Chinmoy gives an organ recital at the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris, France.
Sri Chinmoy offers a Peace Concert at Le Zénith in Paris, France.
Sri Chinmoy race-walks a personal best for 400 metres in a time of 1 min. 44.05 sec., in Queens, NY, USA.
Sri Chinmoy competes in the 100–metre race at the Invitational 60-65 at McAteer Track in San Francisco. He covers the distance in a time of 16.06 seconds.
Sri Chinmoy lifts 19 people in Jamaica, NY, USA.
Sri Chinmoy lifts 29 people, including Lady Patricia Mountbatten, the great-great-granddaughter of Queen Victoria and daughter of Lord Louis Mountbatten; and Ralph Fiennes, actor and Academy Award nominee, at the Methodist Central Hall in Westminster, London, UK.
Sri Chinmoy visits the home of Mr. B. Ramamoorthy and Mrs. Lakshmi Ramamoorthy where they enjoy a wide-ranging conversation. Mr. Ramamoorthy was an extremely close friend and colleague of Sri Chinmoy when they both worked at the Indian Consulate in New York in the mid-1960s.
Sri Chinmoy meets with Nelson Mandela for the first time at the United Nations in New York. The two are introduced by New York City Mayor David Dinkins (right).
Sri Chinmoy’s first meeting with Nelson Mandela takes place at United Nations headquarters in New York, immediately prior to Mr. Mandela’s address to the United Nations General Assembly. Mr. Mandela’s historic visit to the United States, as part of a 14-nation tour. Mr. Mandela is at this time one of the foremost leaders of the African National Congress.
The Hon. David Dinkins, Mayor of New York City [right] introduces the two leaders. During the meeting, Sri Chinmoy presents Mr Mandela with the words and music to the song A Perfect Justice-Voice, which he had composed in honour of Mr. Mandela just three days earlier. He then offered Mr Mandela the following message:
Sri Chinmoy: South Africa sleeplessly needs the fragrance of your heart for its liberation and peace, and the whole world soulfully needs the garden of your life for its inspiration and bliss.
These words are to prove prophetic. Within a few fleeting years, South Africa was liberated from its strict apartheid policy. Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela became the first democratically elected President of the nation and the widely revered and adored elder statesman and moral conscience of the entire world.
In 1993, Mr. Mandela received the Nobel Prize for Peace jointly with President F.W. de Klerk of South Africa.
Published in Nelson Mandela: the Pinnacle-Pillar of Mother Earth
Sri Chinmoy lifts Michal Kováč, the first President of the Slovak Republic, and his wife Emília Kováčová at the Istropolis Theatre, in Bratislava, Slovakia.
Sri Chinmoy at Pilgrim-Museum near Aspiration-Ground in New York.
