Video by Utpal Marshall
On March 3rd 1979, Sri Chinmoy completed his first marathon in Chico California in a time of 4:31:34. Each year since then, his students in New York and around the world have honoured him by running the 26-mile distance.
Video by Utpal Marshall
On March 3rd 1979, Sri Chinmoy completed his first marathon in Chico California in a time of 4:31:34. Each year since then, his students in New York and around the world have honoured him by running the 26-mile distance.
Sri Chinmoy is presented with the Key to the City of Ponce, Puerto Rico, by Mayor Luis Antonio Morales.
Sri Chinmoy meets with Sir Vere Cornwall Bird, Premier of Antigua, in St. John’s, Antigua.
Sri Chinmoy offers a concert in St. Joseph’s Roman Catholic Church in Scarborough, Tobago. There, he also gives a short talk entitled, ‘A Higher and Better Life’.
Sri Chinmoy meets with Jaime Lusinchi, President-elect of Venezuela, in Caracas, Venezuela.
Sri Chinmoy is invited by the President of Sri Lanka, Ranasinghe Premadasa, to share the podium with him and to offer a prayer during his nationally televised speech at the Festival of Lights in Kandy, Sri Lanka.
Sri Chinmoy dedicates theParco Zoo di Sicilia as the World’s first Sri Chinmoy Peace Zoo, in Sicily, Italy.
Sri Chinmoy offers a Peace Concert at the Sheraton Hotel in Catania, Sicily, dedicated to Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti, attended by 600 people.
The Philippine Star daily newspaper hails Sri Chinmoy as a “peace crusader”, in its Saturday edition, published in Manila, the Philippines.
Sri Chinmoy offers a Peace Concert and organ recital in Manila Cathedral in the Philippines. The same day, he composes a song, entitled, ‘I Am a True Filipino’.
Sri Chinmoy sketches Soul-Bird drawings, with a total for the day of 5,592, bringing his all-tine total to 861,906.
Sri Chinmoy takes a boat ride with his students on the Zambezi River in Zimbabwe.
Victoria Falls is dedicated as a Sri Chinmoy Peace Falls in Zimbabwe. Later the same day, Harare International Airport is proclaimed a Sri Chinmoy Peace Airport.
An exhibition of Sri Chinmoy’s Soul-Bird drawings opens at the Okura Hotel in Takamatsu, Japan.
Sri Chinmoy offers the first of 48 Peace Concerts dedicated to the New Millennium, at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church — Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe — in Guatemala City, Guatemala.
Sri Chinmoy composes 9 prayer-poems in Curitiba, Brazil; later published in My Christmas-New Year-Vacation Aspiration-Prayers, Part 2.
Sri Chinmoy offers a Peace Concert at Canal de Musica in Curitiba, Brazil.
Sri Chinmoy is invited by Myanmar’s Secretary-1 to pray and meditate at the 37-foot-high Buddha statue on Min Dhamma Hill in Yangon, Myanmar.
Sri Chinmoy in deep concentration, sketching his soul-bird drawings. The total for the day is 5,592, bringing his all-tine total to 861,906.
Peace Ambassador Sri Chinmoy will be offering a public peace concert tonight at 8 p.m. at Manila Cathedral. Admission is free.
The concert is part of the 61-year-old spiritual teacher’s month-long peace tour of the Philippines, which marks the start of a year that Sri Chinmoy predicts will be filled with brightness and luminosity.
Sri Chinmoy’s peace tour included a meeting with Cardinal Sin yesterday. He will also be meeting with President Ramos on Monday.
Sri Chinmoy is a poet, artist, composer and philosopher as well as a spiritual teacher. He has offered hundreds of lectures at universities around the globe, including talks at Siliman University in Dumaguete City and Southwestern and San Carlos Universities in Cebu City.
He is also the inspiration behind the biennial Oneness-Home Peace Run, a 70-nation relay for peace that passed through the Philippines last year. A prolific composer, he will be performing his own compositions at tonight’s peace concert.
Sri Chinmoy is visiting the Philippines with a group of about 150 students from around the world. Several of them will be offering free classes and workshops on meditation and ways of integrating spirituality into daily life.
A free workshop will be held at the Theosophical Society Lecture Hall at 1 Iba Street, near Florentino Street, Quezon City from 10 a.m. to noon on Sunday.
Published in The Philippine Star, Saturday, January 2, 1993
Sri Chinmoy offers a Peace Concert and organ performance in Manila Cathedral in the Philippines.
I Am a true Filipino.
Division-hungry mind, no, no!
My heart shall give a oneness-feast;
I shall top the perfection-list!
Published in My Aspiration-Heart’s Country-Life-Salutations
Sri Chinmoy offers the first of 48 Peace Concerts dedicated to the New Millennium, at ‘Our Lady of Guadalupe Church’ in Guatemala City, Guatemala.
Sri Chinmoy meditating during a boat ride on the Zambezi River in Zimbabwe.
Sri Chinmoy sprint training at a track in Manila, the Philippines.
During a visit to Antigua, Sri Chinmoy and some of his students meet with Premier V.C. Bird. Sri Chinmoy and the Premier discuss, among other things, what role the island nation would play in the United Nations when it became independent and joined the world organisation. [Both of these events finally occurred in November 1981.]
Afterwards, Sri Chinmoy’s students sing his newly composed song, ‘Antigua’, which is dedicated to Premier Bird.
The Premier tells Sri Chinmoy, “Your presence at the United Nations in the Meditation Group must help because, after all, it is the inner values — the way we think and the faith that we express — that will be able to dilute the wrongs and make a better world for us all.”
Published in the introduction to Ten Thousand Flower-Flames, part 22
Sri Chinmoy is invited by President Ranasinghe Premadasa to share the podium with him and to offer a prayer during his nationally televised speech at the Festival of Lights in Kandy, Sri Lanka, where the President is celebrating the first anniversary of his presidency.
For the occasion, the President invites Sri Chinmoy to stand by his side as he lights the first of 84,000 devotional candles and, later, as he delivers a most illumining address to the nation.
Before ascending to the podium to give his speech, President Premadasa was introduced to Sri Chinmoy. The President said, “Peace, peace, peace. I am very happy to meet you. Welcome to Sri Lanka. Are you enjoying your stay here?” He also mentioned that he had seen Sri Chinmoy’s interview on television, saying: “You are a true man of wisdom.”
After the President had lit two or three candles, he hands a candle to Sri Chinmoy and says, “A true man of peace.”
The President asks Sri Chinmoy the meaning of his name. Sri Chinmoy told him that it means "full of Divine Consciousness." Then, addressing the crowd, the President says, “And now you will be able to hear a few words from our friend, Sri Chinmoy, whose name means "full of Divine Consciousness." Please give us some of that.”
Published in President Premadasa: Nectar-Bliss-Heart, Lion-Roar-Soul
Sri Chinmoy’s book is published in 1990 in honour of the President’s 66th birthday. Tragically, the President is assassinated just three years later.
Victoria Falls is dedicated as a Sri Chinmoy Peace Falls in Zimbabwe. Later the same day, Harare International Airport is proclaimed a Sri Chinmoy Peace Airport.
A talk by Sri Chinmoy
at St. Joseph's Roman Catholic Church, in Scarborough, Tobago
My dear friends, my dear seeker-friends, let us all try to live a higher and better life. A higher and better life is a life of inspiration, a life of aspiration, a life of dedication and a life of realisation.
Inspiration makes our lives surprisingly great. Aspiration makes our lives astonishingly good. Dedication makes our lives unquestionably divine. Realisation makes our lives supremely perfect.
A great man deserves appreciation. A good man deserves admiration. A divine man deserves adoration. A realised man deserves love.
Let us appreciate our own good qualities: simplicity and sincerity. Let us admire our own good qualities: humility and purity. Let us adore our own good qualities: our love of truth and our respect for justice-light. Let us love our own good qualities: our oneness with man in God for God-manifestation, our oneness with God in man for God-satisfaction.
Let us try, let us try. We shall without fail succeed.
Published in AUM – Vol. 7, No.1, January 1981
Stories by Sri Chinmoy
about his shopping experiences
In Bukittinggi, I was bargaining to buy a synthesizer. The man in the store was coming down only 2,500 rupiah, so I did not want to get it.
I told Savyasachi to take Vijali there to bargain with them some more. She has immediate luck.
The synthesizer has one setting that sounds like a violin and another that sounds like a harpsichord. With my Yamaha, I have to push several buttons in order to make these sounds.
In some stores the people are nice; they are ready to bargain. In other stores, whatever price they say is all they will take — finished!
In one store I was bargaining and bargaining. The man in the store would write down one price, but I did not understand his writing, so I would write down another price. It never ended. Finally I bought two items and left.
Then I decided to go back and buy a third item — a T-shirt for Raghu. I said to myself, “I am not going to bargain this time. Whatever price the man asks for, I will give.”
The man said, “5,000 rupiah.”
I became the silent Brahma and said, “All right.”
The man couldn’t believe his ears. When I gave him 5,000, he returned 2,000 to me. That was a nice experience.
Every day when I am on my way to the shopping area in Bukittinggi, some little boys see me. They greet me by saying, “Good morning, Air India!”
When I went into a flute store in Bukittinggi, Dhanu and a few other disciples also came in the store, and they were listening while I was trying out different flutes. Dhanu was supplying me with flutes, and I was trying to see which ones were good.
The owner was also selecting flutes for me. He wanted to show me how they sounded, so he was playing as loudly as possible. Meanwhile, I was trying to play in my civilised way. So the owner and I were giving a great performance! Finally I selected two flutes. The man used two Hindi words, so I started talking to him in Hindi. But he could not speak Hindi; he knew only two words and used them because I was an Indian.
The man asked for 10,000 rupiah for the two flutes, and I offered 5,000. The man said 7,000 and I was a little bit disappointed. Then Dhanu took out 5,000 from his wallet. I could see that the man was ready to accept 5,000, but he was not taking it. Finally, he agreed and took the money. I thought the transaction was over, so I took out 10,000 rupiah to pay Dhanu back. When the man saw my 10,000 rupiah, he thought it was for him. Then he didn’t want to sell the flutes for 5,000 and started asking for 10,000 again. What kind of problems I created!
Finally, I said that I wouldn’t pay more than 5,000, and Dhanu asked for his money back. Then the man accepted our price.
Published in I Love Shopping, part 4