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 delivers a lecture, entitled ‘God and Love’, at the University of Leeds in Yorkshire, England, UK.
Sri Chinmoy completes a series of 1,000 poems, later published in The Dance of Life parts 1-20.
Sri Chinmoy delivers a lecture, entitled ‘The Outer Power, the Inner Power’, at the Dag Hammarskjöld Library Auditorium, United Nations, New York.
Sri Chinmoy is interviewed on Medway Radio in Chatham, Kent, England, UK. Listen to the interview...
Sri Chinmoy offers a concert, a meditation, and delivers a lecture, entitled ‘Inner Peace and World Peace’, at Stuttgart University in Stuttgart, Germany.
Sri Chinmoy lifts 160 lbs. with each arm — a total of 320 lbs. — from a standing position, at his home gym in Jamaica, NY, USA.
Sri Chinmoy lifts Reverend Jesse Jackson, National Rainbow Coalition President; Democratic Presidential Candidate in 1984, 1988; and civil rights leader, at Annam Brahma restaurant in Jamaica, NY, USA.
Sri Chinmoy offers a Peace Concert — Peace: Divinity’s Dream on Earth — at The Empire Center at The Egg, in Albany, NY, USA. Listen to the CD...
Sri Chinmoy offers a Peace Concert in honour of India’s 50th Anniversary of Independence — the 43rd in a series of 50 concerts during 1997 — at Aspiration-Ground in Jamaica, NY, USA.
Sri Chinmoy holds 13-hour meditation and offers a Peace Concert the day before Father’s Day (June 21st) and delivers a talk that evening, entitled ‘To Have a Sweet Family’, at Public School 117 in Jamaica, New York, USA.
An article about Sri Chinmoy’s weightlifting achievements is published in Slovenske Novice (Slovenian News).
The Three-Country-Point of Austria, the Czech Republic and Germany near Passau is dedicated to peace as a Sri Chinmoy Peace-Blossom by Mayor Alfons Hellauer (Germany), Mayor Jan Jelen (Czech Republic) and Municipal Councillor Wolfgang Loetsch (Austria).
Sri Chinmoy lifts 20 people at Aspiration-Ground in Jamaica, NY, USA.
Sri Chinmoy lifts 20 people, including numerous professors, at New York University in New York, NY, USA.
Sri Chinmoy lifts a Russian documentary filmmaker as part of the ‘Lifting Up the World with a Oneness-Heart’ programme at Aspiration-Ground in Jamaica, NY, USA. Sri Chinmoy also offers a short esraj concert.
with Sri Chinmoy
on Medway Radio, Chatham, Kent, England
Listen to the interview with Sri Chinmoy
Published in My Rose Petals, part 7
LIFE IN THE LENS
Peacemaker and fitness enthusiast, 69-year-old Indian Sri Chinmoy, who has repeatedly stunned the world with his power, set a new world record for his age and weight a few days ago in New York. When pushing off the bench, he lifted two 68-pound dumbbells at the same time. Sri Chinmoy thus raised his own body weight and added an additional 59 kilograms to a total weight of 136 kilograms to “inspire people, especially those over the age of 50 years, that age is not a barrier.”
The spiritual leader, who is also a writer, musician, painter, a worker for world peace and the initiator of sporting events in many countries, persevered to lift the weights 20 centimetres high in seven seconds.
Pushing from the bench with two dumbbells is considered much harder than pushing a single heavier weight, because lifting with two arms separately requires much more power, control and balance. Before the successful achievement, Sri Chinmoy said, “My physical strength comes from the unconditional blessing of God.”
Then he explained, “I am a man of prayer and a disciple of peace. I feel that physical and spiritual strength need to go together. I am 69 years old. I try to inspire people who have given up their hopes. My colleagues, over the age of 60, may not have new inspiration, new aspiration, new hope. They have a feeling that their lives are coming to an end. My prayer to God is to give every human being new inspiration to become a world-elevating citizen.”
The older he is, the stronger he is.
Published in Slovenske Novice (Slovenian News), page 8, Tuesday, 20 June 2000
Sri Chinmoy plays the esraj for a Russian documentary filmmaker after honouring him with the ‘Lifting Up the World with a Oneness-Heart’ award at Aspiration-Ground in New York. A photograph of Sri Chinmoy’s good friend former Russian President Michail Gorbachev takes pride of place for the occasion.
Sri Chinmoy, at his home in New York, admires the certificate appointing him as an ‘Honorary Member’ of the Civil Air Patrol in recognition of his outstanding assistance to this non-profit humanitarian organisation, which is the official auxiliary of the United States Air Force.
Sri Chinmoy lifts Reverend Jesse Jackson, National Rainbow Coalition President; Democratic Presidential Candidate in 1984, 1988; and civil rights leader, at Annam Brahma restaurant in Jamaica, New York. Also pictured is singer Addwitiya Roberta Flack.
A talk by Sri Chinmoy
at the Dag Hammarskjöld Library Auditorium, United Nations, New York
Each human being on earth embodies the outer power and the inner power. He is aware of his outer power when he looks without, around himself. He is conscious of his inner power when he dives deep within.
Each human being is the outer power and the inner power. When he calls himself the head and the body-consciousness, nothing more and nothing else, then he is the outer power. When he calls himself the soul, the soul-light, then he is the inner power.
The body-consciousness has light of its own. The soul-consciousness has light of its own. The body-consciousness, because of its limitations, does not see far. For the body-consciousness the future always remains a far cry. The soul-consciousness, because of its unlimited capacity, at one and the same time sees, grows into and becomes the achievements of the past, the realisations of the present and the vision-dreams of the future.
The outer power blinds the human in us. The outer power is devoured by the animal in us. The inner power clears and expands our vision; it shows our vision the way to reach the highest transcendental Goal.
The outer power is competition: conscious and constant competition. The inner power is conscious conception: conception of its own worth, its own reality and divinity. Divinity proceeds and succeeds, succeeds and proceeds. Reality eternally is. Again, in its silence-life, reality is at once the transcendental Height and the immanence-Light.
The outer power is supremacy. The inner power is accuracy: accuracy stating the fact of what it has and what it is. What it has is the source and what it is, is the manifestation of the source.
The outer power sings with imagination, dances with temptation, dies in frustration. The inner power is concentration, meditation and contemplation. Concentration accepts the challenges of life. Meditation purifies and illumines the challenges of life. Contemplation transforms the challenges of life into golden opportunities in life for the inner being, the Inner Pilot in us. The outer power wants to strike and then immediately wants to escape. The inner power wants not only to embrace the world but also to convince the world that the world's existence and its own existence are eternally inseparable.
The outer power says to the inner power, "Look what I have. I have the capacity to destroy God's entire creation." The inner power says to the outer power, "Look what I have. I have the power to illumine God's entire creation."
The outer power is at times afraid of its own creation: the atom bomb and the hydrogen bomb. The inner power is constantly feeding its creation with love-light, concern-light and perfection-light.
The outer power feels that there is a height which has to be transcended and that if this goal is achieved, then satisfaction will dawn. The inner power feels that height and depth, the foot of the mountain and the top of the mountain, are all at one place. It sees that they are singing the song of one reality, that they are all inside the cosmic Heart in perfect union, enjoying inseparable oneness.
The outer power wants only to ascend. It is afraid of descending. The inner power wants to ascend and descend. It knows perfectly well that when it is descending, it is carrying down to earth the descending God; and when it is ascending, it is carrying up to Heaven the ascending God.
The outer power is the dance of sound. The inner power is the song of silence. The life of sound is the creation of the human in us. The life of silence is the creation of the divine in us. The human in us wants to prove its existence. It feels that unless and until it can prove its existence, the world will have no respect for us, the world will not care for us. The divine in us does not want to prove its existence for world-acceptance, world-appreciation and world-admiration. The divine in us feels that its existence is God's universal existence. God is experiencing His own ascending, descending and transcending Light in the divine in us.
The outer power is the human power. The inner power is the divine power. The outer power says, "I can do. I need no help, no assistance." The inner power says, "I can do nothing and I am nothing. At the same time, I can do everything because there is someone in me, the Inner Pilot, who will do everything for me." Furthermore, it says that the Inner Pilot has already done everything for us and that we only have to be aware of this.
When we live in the desire-world, the outer power lords it over us. The desire-world is the world of possession and frustration. When we live in the aspiration-world, the inner power illumines us and fulfils us. The desire-world is the world without. The aspiration-world is the world within. Realisation has a free access to the inner world. And what is realisation? Realisation is the acceptance of reality as it is, reality at its present stage of evolution and reality at its ultimate height. Realisation tells us that the animal in us is for transformation, the human in us is for perfection, the divine in us is for manifestation.
Published in Union-Vision
A talk by Sri Chinmoy
the night before Father’s Day,
at P.S. 117 in Jamaica, New York.
Once you make unconditional surrender to God’s Will, if you want to enter into God’s Manifestation-Game, or Lila, then you cannot come out of it. I am swimming in the sea of sorrows and tears. Each spiritual Master sings in the same vein. There is no spiritual Master who does not suffer ruthlessly at the hands of humanity. There is not a single spiritual Master who has not suffered from humanity, so I cannot be an exception. Again, you suffer, I suffer; we all suffer. There is not a single person, either realised or unrealised, who does not suffer.
Many, many, many times I said to the Supreme, “To realise You is a Herculean task.” It takes countless incarnations to realise God. It is not that God-realisation is like drinking water. We cannot get it for the asking. No, we do not get it for an easy price. It demands many, many incarnations, inner preparations, outer preparations and the mounting flame of aspiration. But always there is hope. God’s own Hope is keeping His Universe alive. If He loses Hope, then the Game is over.
Here I am with you. Ours is a very small world. But again, I have the whole world. When a spiritual Master comes into this world, he gets a few hundred or a few thousand disciples. But in the inner world, he has to work for the entire humanity. Outwardly, he has to take care of a few hundred or a few thousand; but his inner commitment to God is such that he has to work for the whole world.
When you pray most sincerely and meditate very well, you must realise that your prayers and meditations are entering into the soul and heart of the universe. There you are helping, helping, helping those who are crying for light, love and bliss from God.
On our path, the outer manifestation is very beautiful and powerful. We are manifesting here, there and everywhere. But the inner manifestation is oneness, oneness, oneness with God’s Will. At every moment we have to offer God our love, devotion and surrender. At every moment we have to offer Him our loving, cheerful and self-giving obedience. If we neglect to offer these things to God, what can poor God do? He needs us for His Manifestation; we need Him for our realisation. If I am not a good instrument, then He chooses you. And if you are not a good instrument, He chooses somebody else. In exactly the same way, if I am a good instrument of His, then as many years as He wants me to continue His Mission, I must.
A spiritual Master comes into the world to expedite the evolution of mankind. In order to do this, he needs constant, constant, constant co-operation from humanity. Spiritual life is a one-way street, but we have forgotten, or we deliberately forget, and we make it into a two-way street. And what happens if it is really one-way? Then if we try to make it two-way and turn around, there is only collision, collision and nothing else.
Many disciples started very well, with utmost sincerity. There is not a single disciple who joined the path out of curiosity. Each and every one joined with utmost sincerity, according to his capacity, according to her capacity. Then over the years, in some cases, sincerity disappeared, eagerness disappeared, willingness disappeared. In this way some have become indulgent to their own unaspiring life.
I came of a very insignificant village, smaller than the smallest. Shakpura is even smaller than Briarwood. Look at God’s miracle-power! From there I came into existence. Then I lost my dearest ones, my father and mother. But everything happened in accordance with God’s Plan, and I entered into a spiritual community. You people are lucky. Some of you have brought your children to the path. Again, some of you saw something in me, and you felt that I would be able to play the role of your parents. I have tried my best, and you have also tried your best.
In my case, my eldest brother brought me and our whole family to the path. Our mother’s heart and soul were all for the spiritual life, but she was concerned about her children’s higher education. After God took my parents away, the whole family entered into the spiritual life with a spiritual Master.
Again, speed, speed, speed is always a factor. I was the youngest in the family, but I ran very fast. When I think of my eldest brother, in terms of praying and meditating for hours and spending time in the spiritual life, he far, far surpassed me. Long before I came to the Ashram, he spent many, many hours in prayer and meditation. Again, all my brothers were under the guidance of spiritual Masters of the highest order in their previous incarnations. Some were Jesus Christ’s disciples, some were Sri Ramakrishna’s, one was Sri Chaitanya’s and some were Sri Ramachandra’s direct, direct disciples.
One day, when you realise God — which you should, you must and you will — you will be able to tell the whole world that you were once also my direct disciples. You will also be able to claim that you were with me; you were then my contemporaries; you were then my disciples.
I have had millions of sufferings and millions of failures, inner failures, with regard to the disciples. But He who has created me, He who has created you, will not suffer failures eternally. If that were the case, then God would not have created this world — never. Either in the near future or in the distant future or in one of your future incarnations, you will realise God. I will be at that time in Heaven. God is very, very kind to me. Definitely this is my last incarnation. From Heaven I will be able to see you, help you and fulfil my vision in and through you.
My last and only request to you is this: always think that spirituality is a one-way street, not a two-way street. You may go slowly at times if you are tired, but do not turn around, do not turn back. Please remember it is a one-way street.
I do hope that one day you will be the ones who will transform my sorrows into an ocean of delight. You have come into the world to manifest me, but this manifestation can take place only on the strength of your oneness, oneness, oneness with my will. You have to go beyond and beyond and beyond all the barriers, physical, vital, mental, psychic, spiritual — all, all, all. You have to go beyond all earthly bondage. You have to conquer all the forces that are standing in your way. All our enemies are inside us, not outside us. They come in the form of doubt, suspicion, disobedience, fear, jealousy and insecurity. These inner enemies are obstructions on our way.
I have not given up, and I beg of you all not to give up. Let us continue. Let me continue having faith in you all, and I expect the same from you. Let us have mutual faith. I shall give you what the Supreme in me wants me to give you. You will also give me what the Supreme in you wants you to give me. He wants me to give you my compassion, my love, my affection, my divine sweetness, fondness and constant concern to make you happy. At the same time, He expects you to give me your constant readiness, willingness and eagerness in the form of love, devotion, surrender and cheerful obedience at every moment.
What I am supposed to give, I shall definitely, definitely, definitely give, as I am giving. What you are supposed to give, some of you give and then withdraw. For one day you give and then, for months and months, you take rest, you take vacation. But I do hope we can have a good family. To have a sweet family, the father has to give what he is supposed to give and the children have to give what they are supposed to give. Let us turn this family into a very sweet, very illumining, very fulfilling and very satisfying family.
Excruciating pangs let us forget, completely forget. Let us only grow into sweetness, peace, light and bliss.
Published in Live in the Eternal Now