Sri Chinmoy’s Interview
with The New York Times
at Annam Brahma restaurant in Jamaica, Queens, New York
Interviewer: Sri Chinmoy, I was watching a video where you spoke of oneness and your drawings. What do seven million birds mean when you speak of oneness?
Sri Chinmoy: To me, each bird signifies a new hope, a new inspiration, a new journey. Each bird, according to me, embodies oneness. Birds fly in the firmament. They are free. While they are flying, we see that they have an inner openness and an inner oneness. If we have openness and oneness, like the birds, we can enter into various fields of activity.
If you say that I am a jack of all trades and master of none, I will fully subscribe to your view. I draw, I sing, I write, I do weightlifting and quite a few other things. In my case, my life-tree has quite a few branches, but I do feel the oneness of the branches with the trunk, with the tree proper. Each branch has its own significance. Each branch can offer something new, although it belongs to the same tree.
I am a student of peace, and I try to learn my subject by offering it to the seekers who are also longing for peace. I feel we are sailing in the same boat. A student always wants to learn. If he becomes a teacher or a professor, he may not be inclined to learn anymore. But if he remains a student, then he constantly learns new things.
Interviewer: How did you come to Queens?
Sri Chinmoy: I came to America in 1964. I lived in Manhattan for a year or so, and then I lived in Brooklyn. I have been in Queens for about 30 years, in Briarwood. Truth to tell, it was difficult for me to adjust to Manhattan. The hustle and bustle of life was not congenial to my life’s activities. It is not that I dislike Manhattan — far from it! I go to Manhattan twice a week to offer my peace meditations at the United Nations, but I feel that Queens is more peaceful in comparison.
Interviewer: When do you meditate at the United Nations?
Sri Chinmoy: I meditate at the United Nations on Tuesdays and Fridays from one to two o’clock. We have been offering these peace meditations for the last 27 years. When the United Nations celebrated its 50th anniversary, our peace meditation group celebrated 25 years of dedicated service to the United Nations. We are half the age of the United Nations. Our meditation sessions originated under the late Secretary-General U Thant, who was very kind to me.
The first Secretary-General was Trygve Lie, then Dag Hammarskjöld, then U Thant. He came from Burma. He was a close friend of mine, and he inspired me to start the peace meditations at the United Nations. The delegates and staff who are interested come and meditate with us. Over the years we have organised many, many programmes honouring the countries that long for oneness and peace. I have also given many talks about world peace, oneness and harmony at the United Nations.
Interviewer: Are your activities for the staff and delegates?
Sri Chinmoy: Yes. When we have special functions, quite a few ambassadors and delegates from different countries come. Each country, like each branch, has something unique to offer to the world.
Interviewer: You seem to do so many things!
Sri Chinmoy: Life is activity. It is like the ocean. The bottom of the ocean is peaceful, but on the surface it is all tumultuous. Activity and life go together. If we want to become good citizens of the world, we have to be part and parcel of the world. We cannot enter into the Himalayan caves and ignore the world. If I consider my fellow citizens to be members of my family, then there has to be mutual give and take. I give you what I have; you give me what you have. One person does not and cannot have everything. But if we are united, I offer you my goodwill, good wishes and whatever I have, and you offer me what you have. Only in this way can we establish a oneness-world-family.
I have been to many parts of the world and met with world leaders. This same theme we have discussed: how we can bring about world peace. We sincerely try. Still world peace is a far cry, but we have made an attempt. There is nothing wrong in making attempts. If we fail, we fail. I take failures as the pillars of success. Yesterday we failed; today we are failing. That does not mean that tomorrow also we are going to fail.
It is the same in all spheres of life. Last year, at the Olympics, it seemed that Carl Lewis would fail in the long jump. He was not even among the first three places. Then all of a sudden he became the gold medallist.
Interviewer: Do you play basketball?
Sri Chinmoy: In India I used to play basketball. Now I practise taking free throws from the penalty line. Usually I throw a hundred times, and then I take a little rest before throwing another hundred times. I practise on a regular basis when the weather permits it. My highest score is 79.
Interviewer: No kidding — 79 out of 100!
Sri Chinmoy: In India I also played soccer. For many years I was captain of the soccer team in our spiritual community. I was also a volleyball captain and instructor. Here in New York I have played tennis. Some great tennis players have been very kind to me. They have come and played with me here at our court in Queens. Monica Seles, Steffi Graf, Ilie Nastase and Ramesh Krishnan came at different times to encourage me. After playing a few sets, I lifted each of them with one arm using a special apparatus. I have lifted people from many walks of life, and they all got joy. We call the programme Lifting Up the World with a Oneness-Heart. These world-citizens are great in their own fields, so I have honoured them in my own way. In India, whenever people do something great, they are lifted up on the shoulders of their colleagues.
Interviewer: So this has a symbolic meaning?
Sri Chinmoy: Yes, it is symbolic.
Interviewer: May I ask you about your bird drawings? This idea came to you about six years ago?
Sri Chinmoy: Yes, in December 1991, to be precise.
Interviewer: Was it a dream, a vision, an understanding?
Sri Chinmoy: It was a special inspiration. It came to me in a flash, but it did not come from my mind. I do not use my mind to know what I am supposed to do from one moment to the next moment. Being a seeker, I only pray to God to guide me in His own Way. I pray: “Please make me a choice instrument of Yours. Do utilise me. Please give me the capacity to inspire people and at the same time enable me to be of better service to You.” That is my prayer.
This year my Beloved Supreme has inspired me to offer fifty concerts honouring India’s independence. India achieved her independence fifty years ago.
Do you come from Japan?
Interviewer: I was born there, yes.
Sri Chinmoy: This year I was there for two months. My most favourite place is Lord Buddha’s statue at Kamakura. I have been there seven times, and two or three times I have given concerts in front of the Lord Buddha.
Interviewer: Sri Chinmoy, who are the living or historical men whom you admire most?
Sri Chinmoy: Among the world figures of our time, there are many whom I admire, but first and foremost is President Gorbachev. After him come Mother Teresa, the present Pope1 and President Nelson Mandela. There are other world figures whom I have met and greatly admire, like Archbishop Desmond Tutu, President Vaclav Havel and several Secretaries-General of the United Nations.
I would like to say something about my first few choices. In Mother Teresa I find two aspects: the mother and the sister. One moment she is the mother of compassion; the next moment she is the sister of affection. When I see her and talk to her, she blesses me as a mother blesses her child, and again she shows me the utmost sisterly affection.
The Pope also has two aspects: that of a father and that of a grandfather. According to me, he is not only the Holy Father, but also the Holy Grandfather. A father believes in justice. If his children do something wrong, the father will be upset, and he may take action. But the grandfather is all forgiveness for his grandchildren. In his eye, the grandchildren cannot do anything wrong. In this respect, the Pope is like a grandfather.
In my humble opinion, President Gorbachev is the world’s greatest man. He could have acted like his predecessors, like Stalin and others, but his heart came to the fore. Now there is one Berlin; previously there were two Berlins. He was the main instrument to liberate Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Poland and so many other countries in the Eastern Bloc. I am not saying he was the only instrument, but he was the main instrument to liberate those countries. I know how difficult it is to unite two countries, but he has done it. Because of him, there is now one Germany. But his greatest service has been in his own country. He has opened the door to the West. You may call it democracy or something else, but there is an openness now which did not exist previously. How far he has succeeded is up to God and humanity to decide. Humanity will always misjudge us. What is important is how we are judged in God’s Eye.
Before President Gorbachev came to power, world peace was only a dictionary word. Discussion about disarmament and reducing nuclear weapons all came from him. He started it; he was the pioneer. Many people did not trust him in the beginning, but he proved he was sincere. When President Gorbachev took over, for a few years he could have acted like an autocrat, the way his predecessors did, but he did not do this. Instead, he introduced perestroika, glasnost and democracy.
To be frank, politics is not my forté. I am a spiritual seeker. But if I see that somebody is trying to elevate the consciousness of humanity, then I offer that person my wholehearted support. President Gorbachev showed how human beings can be united. In his case, he acted. Many other political figures, forgive me, only talk about peace. One moment they propose world peace; the next moment they drop bombs somewhere. They use the term ‘nuclear weapon reduction’; then we see that they are increasing their weapons. But in President Gorbachev’s case, when he said something, he did it. That is why I take him as the world’s greatest living figure.
Another rare quality President Gorbachev has: he is sincere and brave enough to say that he has made many Himalayan blunders. There are many political leaders who will never admit that they have made any mistakes. President Gorbachev writes in his memoirs that he has made mistakes and now he is trying to rectify them. We are human beings. To err is human; everybody makes mistakes. But there are some who admit that they have made mistakes, while others do not want to admit this. People who admit that they have made mistakes are, according to me, not only great but good people.
Interviewer: Let me ask you about spirituality. I don’t know so much about President Gorbachev, but can I assume that you are admiring him from a spiritual point of view, the way that you admire Mother Teresa and the Holy Father?
Sri Chinmoy: Spirituality has two wings. One we call aspiration, and the other we call dedication. With our aspiration, we pray to God. With our dedication, we serve Him. In the case of the Holy Father and Mother Teresa, we see that they are aspiring. They are praying every day to God. Again, they are also dedicating their lives to humanity.
In President Gorbachev’s case, the whole world can see and feel how many things he has done to serve mankind. He may not pray to God early in the morning like Mother Teresa or the Holy Father, but his very life he has dedicated not only to Russia, to the Soviet Union, but to the entire world. Now he is in Turkey; last week he was in Argentina. He goes to so many places. Why? They invite him because they see something very special in him. They see that he has light. That is why each country adores him. Again, a prophet is not honoured in his own country, so he lost the election very badly. But wherever he goes, people appreciate him. They see that he sincerely means what he says. For him world peace is a reality in his life. His dedication aspect we accept as part and parcel of the spiritual life. He may not pray in the Christian way, like the Pope or Mother Teresa, but he is getting messages from within, and he is trying to express and reveal these messages to the world at large. That is why, for me, he is truly spiritual.
Interviewer: Did you say, “He who serves, prays?”
Sri Chinmoy: Certainly! We serve others because we see them as the embodiment of God. God manifests Himself in and through each human being in a particular way. In a family each and every one may have a different vocation: one will be a doctor, another a musician and so forth. But they are one family. In the evening they come and eat together. Each individual is unique in his own way, and this uniqueness has to be utilised for the betterment of the world.
It is absolutely true that he who serves God is also praying, and in the same way, he who prays is also serving God. Let us say that someone is praying inside a cave in the Himalayas. If he becomes a good person, there will be one less undivine person on earth. In that way, the person praying in the Himalayan caves is also serving humanity.
Again, he who is offering his service is also praying in a special way. An unaspiring person will not dedicate his life even for a fleeting second. A good person will dedicate his entire life. This dedication is nothing other than aspiration. One who embodies light cannot be separated from one who offers his light to the world at large.
Published in Sri Chinmoy Answers, part 11
