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 gives a talk, entitled ‘Has Your Soul a Special Mission?’ – the seventh in a Spring series of classes on Yoga – at the home of Mrs. Ruth Moseley in Manhattan, New York City, NY, USA.
Sri Chinmoy composes the song, ‘O Kurt Waldheim’ about the fourth Secretary-General of the United Nations (1972-1981).
Sri Chinmoy gives a short talk, entitled ‘On a Birthday’, at the United Nations in New York.
Sri Chinmoy offers a Peace Concert together with a piano performance at Mozarthalle in Mannheim, Rosengarten, Germany.
Sri Chinmoy hoists a 200-pound weight overhead, using only his right arm, to celebrate Congressman Gary Ackerman’s success in reducing his weight from 300 to 200 pounds. The New York Congressman, who had been invited to open the Sri Chinmoy 1,000-Mile Race in Flushing Meadows Park, Queens, New York, is there to personally witness the lift.
An article about Sri Chinmoy presenting the U Thant Peace Award to environmentalist Maurice Strong is published in the New York-based weekly, Asia Online No. 123, Vol. II.
Sri Chinmoy receives an invitation from Lester Kurtz, Professor of Sociology and Asian Studies, to be presented with the ‘Peace Educator’ award at the University of Texas at Austin.
Jamaica, West Indies, is declared a Sri Chinmoy Peace-Blossom-Nation.
Sri Chinmoy answers a question from Steve Finley, Major League baseball player with the Arizona Diamondbacks, at The Smile of the Beyond luncheonette in Jamaica, Queens, NY, USA.
Sri Chinmoy lifts university professors at Brown University in Providence, RI, USA.
Sri Chinmoy lifts university professors at Harvard University in Cambridge, MA, USA.
Sri Chinmoy offers a Peace Concert at Ulaanbaatar Palace in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.
Environmentalist Maurice Strong has received the prestigious U Thant Award for his “lifelong commitment to the soaring ideals of the United Nations”, and his “reverence for our beautiful and bountiful Planet Earth.”
In receiving the award from Sri Chinmoy: The Peace Meditation at the United Nations, the Canadian leader joins a select group of luminaries that includes Mother Teresa, South Africa’s President Nelson Mandela, former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev, freedom fighter Archbishop Desmond Tutu, former Indian Ambassador to the US. Siddhartha Shankar Ray, and India’s High Commissioner to Great Britain, L M Singhvi.
“I am overwhelmed to receive the honor that bears the name of U Thant and to receive it from the hands of Sri Chinmoy, who has been for so many years the custodian and guardian of the spiritual roots of the United Nations,” Strong declared.
''That combination makes this the greatest honor I could possibly imagine.”
Sri Chinmoy, the international peace advocate, presented Strong with the award May 2 at a ceremony held at the United Nations Church Centre, which was attended by about a hundred diplomats and staff members of the U.N. “You convincingly manifest the powerful truth that to unite humanity in the cause of preserving our Mother Earth is not only good, kind and necessary but also practical, profitable and fruitful, Sri Chinmoy told the Canadian leader, who was secretary general of the 1992 UN Conference on Environment and Development — known as The Earth Summit. Strong, who is currently advisor to the President to the World Bank, has, also been an Under Secretary General of the United Nations, first president of the Canadian International Development Agency, and Chairman and Chief Executive office of Ontario Hydro. The U Thant Peace Award, originated in 1982, goes to individuals whose life had furthered the cause of peace in the spirit of the late U Thant, who was the U.N.’s third secretary general. It is presented by Sri Chinmoy: The Peace Meditation at the United Nations, an association of U.N. delegates, staff, NGO representatives and accredited press correspondents holding twice weekly peace meditations and other programs at U.N. headquarters.
Published in Asia Online Number 123, Volume II, May 20–May26, 1996
O Kurt Waldheim, O U.N.’s lighting-speed!
Your mind-heart’s concern-flames constantly feed
This world of fearful cry and tearful sigh,
To see a peaceful earth and blessingful sky.
Your life of duty-tree and beauty-flower
Awakens the sleeping world and its oneness-power.
Published in Blue Waves of the Ocean-Source
Sri Chinmoy hoists a 200-pound weight overhead, using only his right arm, to celebrate Congressman Gary Ackerman’s success in reducing his weight from 300 to 200 pounds. The New York Congressman, who had been invited to open the Sri Chinmoy 1,000-Mile Race in Flushing Meadows Park, Queens, is there to personally witness the lift.
The race, including simultaneous 700-mile, 1,000-mile and 1,300-mile races around a one-mile loop, draws athletes from 12 countries.
In his opening remarks, Ackerman calls Sri Chinmoy a “very, very dear friend ... (and) a truly remarkable and unique individual ... one of a kind. There is none like him.”
Other speakers helping to kick off the race include Queens Parks and Recreation Commissioner William Cook and several world-class ultra- marathoners.
a question from Mr. Steve Finley, Major League baseball player with the Arizona Diamondbacks at The Smile of the Beyond luncheonette in Jamaica, Queens, New York
Mr. Steve Finley: The hardest part of baseball is every day trying to get your mind right to perform.
Sri Chinmoy: You want to keep your mind under control. There are a few ways, but the easiest and most effective way is to bring the heart to the fore. The soul can control the mind, but it is difficult, extremely difficult, for us to bring the soul forward. If we can bring the soul to the fore, then in the twinkling of an eye the soul can tame the mind. Since it is extremely difficult for us to be in touch with the soul, we can try to feel the existence of our spiritual heart. Then we can invoke the heart to come to the fore and tame the mind.
In the circus there are elephants and many other wild animals, but there is also someone who can control them. In your case, if you can feel that your heart has infinitely more power than your mind, then it is easy to keep the mind under control. You have to feel that the heart is definitely, definitely stronger than the mind.
Each time the mind says something negative, immediately you will take the other side. Always be positive, positive, positive! Again, if the mind says something positive, please try to increase the height, the length and the depth of the positive thought. If you have any positive thought, immediately try to expand that thought. Please try to feel that your positive thought is going higher than the highest, farther than the farthest and deeper than the deepest.
If a negative thought comes, immediately try to feel that you are absolutely squeezing it like a rubber ball. Your arms and wrists are so strong! Just imagine the thought as something very small and insignificant, like a ball. You can squeeze it, or you can break it into pieces. If any negative thought comes into your mind, use your strength — physical, vital, mental and spiritual — to destroy it. Again, if any positive thought comes, please try to have a prayerful attitude. When you have a good thought, in a prayerful way try to increase it: its height, its length and its depth. This way you can control the mind.
There is something called a higher mind. This mind wants to be changed, to be improved, to be illumined. This is the mind we are trying to have by virtue of our prayers and meditations. There is also a mind that does not want to change. It wants to bind us, and it wants us to doubt our capacities. One moment the doubting mind tells you that you can do well, very well, in your game. The next moment that same mind may tell you that you are no good, you are useless. This moment your mind is saying you are a great player. The next moment your mind will say there are many players who are better than you, and in that way it makes your life miserable. You do not need that mind! The other mind, the mind that wants to be illumined and transformed by the light of the heart, is the mind that you want.
The spiritual heart will always tell you who you really are, and the heart will always give you encouragement, enthusiasm, willingness, eagerness and intensity. From now on, please give as much attention as possible to your heart. The heart is bound to increase your capacities in baseball in everyway. The mind will think of others who are not doing well, and then you will be upset. Or the mind will think of someone who is doing very well, and then you will say, “How I wish I could do as well as that player!” These wrong thoughts will only bring jealousy and insecurity into your life. But the heart will not do that! The heart will immediately identify with everyone on your team. You will have such identification and oneness that, when they achieve something great, you will feel that you yourself have done it. Again, if somebody has missed a ball, you will have such oneness that you will feel that you yourself have missed it. In this way, on the strength of your heart’s identification and oneness with others, you will be able to go far beyond your present capacities and achievements.
Published in Only Gratitude-Tears
From Lester Kurtz,
University of Texas at Austin20 May 1998
Dear Sri Chinmoy:
On behalf of the Sociology Department and the Ad Hoc Committee on Peace and Conflict Studies, I am delighted to invite you to the University of Texas at Austin on 25 June 1998. We are looking forward to your sharing with us your vision of world peace and will present you with a “Peace Educator” award at that time to recognise your contributions.
Eliza Esquivel-Amin will be working with the Distinguished Speakers Committee to make arrangements for your visit and will be contacting you with further details. In the meantime, I assure you that many of the students, faculty and staff of the University of Texas are looking forward to meeting you when you visit our campus.
Most sincerely,
Lester Kurtz
Professor of Sociology and Asian Studiescc: Ronald Angel, Chair
Department of Sociology
Published in Blessingful Invitations from the University-World
Sri Chinmoy gives the seventh of his Spring series of classes on Yoga at the home of Mrs. Ruth Moseley in Manhattan.
Your soul has a special mission. Your soul is supremely conscious of it.
Maya, illusion or forgetfulness, makes you feel that you are finite, weak and helpless. This is not true. You are not the body. You are not the senses. You are not the mind. These are all limited. You are the soul, which is unlimited. Your soul is infinitely powerful. Your soul defies all time and space.
Can you ever realise your soul? Can you be fully conscious of your soul and be one with it? Certainly you can. For, in fact, you are nothing other than the soul. It is your soul that represents the natural state of consciousness. But doubt makes it difficult to realise the soul. Doubt is man's fruitless struggle in the outer world. Aspiration is the seeker's fruitful confidence in the inner world. Doubt struggles and struggles. Finally it defeats its own purpose. Aspiration flies upward to the highest. At its journey's end it reaches the Goal. Doubt is based on outer observation. Aspiration is founded on inner experience. Doubt ends in failure because it lives in the finite physical mind. Aspiration ends in success because it lives in the ever climbing soul. A life of aspiration is a life of Peace. A life of aspiration is a life of Bliss. A life of aspiration is a life of divine Fulfilment.
To know what your special mission is, you have to go deep within. Hope and courage must accompany you on your tireless journey. Hope will awaken your inner divinity. Courage will make your inner divinity flower. Hope will inspire you to dream into the Transcendental. Courage will inspire you to manifest the Transcendental here on earth.
To feel what your special mission is, you have always to create. This creation of yours is something which you ultimately become. Finally you come to realise that your creation is nothing other than your self-revelation.
True, there are as many missions as there are souls. But all missions fulfil themselves only after the souls have achieved some degree of perfection. The world is a divine play. Each participant plays a part in its success. The role of the servant is as important as that of the master. In the perfection of each individual part is the collective fulfilment. And at the same time, the individual fulfilment becomes perfect only when the individual has established his inseparable connection and realised his oneness with all human beings of the world.
You are one from the sole of your foot to the crown of your head. Yet at one place you are called ears, at another place you are called eyes. Each place in your body has a name of its own. Strangely enough, although they all are part of the same body, one cannot perform the action of another. Eyes see, but they cannot hear. Ears hear, but they cannot see. So the body, being one, also is many. Similarly, although God is one, He manifests Himself through many forms.
God tells us our mission. But we do not understand God's language, so He has to be His own interpreter. When others tell us about God, they can never tell us fully what God is. They misrepresent, and we misunderstand. God speaks in silence. Also, He interprets His message in silence. So also let us hear and understand God in silence.
Has your soul a special mission? Yes. Your mission is in the inmost recesses of your heart, and you have to find and fulfil it there. There can be no external way for you to fulfil your mission. The deer grows musk in his own body. He smells it and becomes enchanted, and tries to locate its source. He runs and runs, but he cannot find the source. In his endless search, he loses all his energy and finally he dies. But the source he was so desperately searching for was within himself. How could he find it elsewhere?
Such is the case with you. Your special mission — which is the fulfilment of your divinity — is not outside you, but within you. Search within. Meditate within. You will discover your mission.
Published in Yoga and the Spiritual Life. The Journey of India's Soul
by Sri Chinmoy
On our birthday the Absolute Supreme reminds our soul about the promise that it has made to Him. On our birthday the soul reminds the body, the physical consciousness, about the promise that the physical has made to it.
The soul’s promise to the Absolute Supreme is God-manifestation through conscious and constant cooperation with the body-consciousness. The body’s promise to the soul is cooperation and unreserved and unconditional manifestation of the Supreme. When these two promises are fulfilled, the human being becomes a perfect instrument and perfect representative both of Heaven and of earth.
Published in United Nations Meditation-Flowers and To-morrow's Noon
answered by Sri Chinmoy
Question: Do you foresee the possibility of a fully committed spiritual person becoming Secretary-General of the United Nations in this century?
Sri Chinmoy: I wish to tell you that the twentieth century has already been blessed with two spiritual giants: Dag Hammarskjöld and U Thant. Outwardly they may not have been recognised as spiritual figures. But, being a spiritual man, I have established my own oneness with their inner achievement, with their tremendous sacrifice and with their inner cry. I wish to say that they were undoubtedly spiritual persons committed to high spiritual realities that are difficult for the doubting, sophisticated mind and analytical intellect to comprehend.
Sometimes the word ‘spiritual’ is misunderstood badly. Spirituality does not mean self-abnegation. True spirituality means the acceptance of life as such — the acceptance of matter as well as spirit. The really spiritual person wants to make the inner reality operate in and through the material proper. In the case of Dag Hammarskjöld, his mind was inundated by his inner light. Then, from the illumined mind, he executed the inner promptings of the heart, utilising the illumining realities of the vital and the sacrificing realities of the physical. In the case of U Thant, who was a staunch and devout Buddhist, we saw how he brought to the fore the compassion aspect of life, which is the purest jewel-reality of human existence, and offered it to mankind unreservedly, almost unconditionally.
Sometimes non-believers or disbelievers in God look down upon those who are spiritual. A spiritual person is often an object of ridicule to cynical human beings. But those who inwardly see the inseparable oneness of God the Creator and God the creation will continue offering their realisation to the world at large. In spite of being misunderstood, in spite of being assailed by physical ailments, as in the case of U Thant, in silence they continue to act. And they leave the result of their actions at the Feet of God, the Author of all Good.
Published in My Meditation-Service at the United Nations for Twenty-Five Years