Sri Chinmoy’s Peace Concert in Oxford
Sri Chinmoy offers a Peace Concert in Christ Church Cathedral, University of Oxford. This is one of his fifty worldwide concerts to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of India's Independence. The introduction to Sri Chinmoy is given by Professor Indra Nath Choudhuri, Director of the Nehru Centre in London; formerly Professor of Comparative Literature at Universities in Delhi, Hyderabad and Bucharest, Christ Church Cathedral, University of Oxford.
Introduction by Professor Indra Nath Choudhuri:
Today is a very auspicious day. Today is the Birthday of Lord Buddha, who gave us the message of peace and non-violence. It is a happy coincidence that on this day Sri Chinmoy is presenting his Peace Concert to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of India's Independence. When Indians were engaged in their struggle for freedom, Mahatma Gandhi would always say that India's freedom movement was India's contribution to peace. He would not say even once that India's freedom movement was to gain territorial freedom. Even Tagore would say, “A country is not mrinmoy (territorial), but chinmoy (ideational).”
Chinmoy is an idea, another name for meditative consciousness, chaitanya tanmayata. Sri Chinmoy is an artist, poet, writer, musician and composer all combined into one holistic self-dedicated to bringing peace to mankind. He sings and plays music — not just one instrument, from these diverse musical instruments comes the melody of peace based on love — love for humanity and love for God. His words are like poetry. He says about peace:
Peace is God’s constant Grace.
Peace is the beginning of Love.
Peace is the completion of Truth.
Peace is the return to the Source.
Sri Chinmoy stirs you to a recollection of the original, or the source of the original, or stirs you to a voyage of self-exploration. He is a verbal and musical paradise. He reveals a sky, a lost horizon. He is our link with the inner being. I bow to him and request him to begin his Concert for Peace, the divine ecstasy.
Published in The Mind Loves the Heart, the Mind Becomes the Heart, part 1