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 joins ambassadors from Israel, Panama and Liberia in a programme paying tribute to US President Abraham Lincoln, at the United Nations in New York. Here, Sri Chinmoy meets for the first time with Dr. Jorge Illueca, Ambassador of Panama to the United Nations.
Sri Chinmoy begins a series of lectures and esraj concerts at thirty-seven universities in New York State, starting with a talk, entitled ‘I Pray’, at Columbia University, New York, NY, USA.
Sri Chinmoy runs 13 miles of the Boston Marathon course in Boston, MA, USA.
Sri Chinmoy offers a concert at Harvard University in Cambridge, MA, USA.
Sri Chinmoy hosts a special function to honour Sudhahota Carl Lewis and his sister Carol at Progress-Promise function hall in Jamaica, Queens, New York, NY, USA.
Sri Chinmoy performs a piano improvisation and lifts his own bodyweight for Vision of Asia TV in Jamaica, NY, USA.
Sri Chinmoy honours Grammy-winning singer Addwitiya Roberta Flack on her birthday, at Annam Brahma restaurant in Jamaica, New York, NY, USA.
Sri Chinmoy offers a Peace Concert at Public School 86 in Jamaica, NY, USA.
The city of Unava in Gujarat, India, is declared a Sri Chinmoy Peace-Blossom.
Sri Chinmoy offers a Peace Concert and receives the Udayana University Medallion of Honour, presented by the Rector, Professor Dr. I Wayan Wita, MD. Sri Chinmoy lifts the Rector; Professor Dr. Ir. I Gde Suyatna, Secretary of the Faculty Senate; and Dr. Nyoman T. Suryadhi, MD, Head of the Population and Biostatistics Study Program, at Udayana University in Denpasar, Bali, Indonesia.
UNITED NATIONS — Sri Chinmoy joined ambassadors from Israel, Panama and Liberia February 10 in a programme commemorating Abraham Lincoln and the emancipation consciousness.
The Jewish people, who have been fighting for liberation since the time of the ancient Pharaohs, have felt especially attracted to Lincoln, declared Ambassador Soffer of Israel.
They see Lincoln not only as the emancipator of the Negro slave, but also “as a dreamer of peace and as the spokesman of a way of life,” he declared.
Ambassador Illueca of Panama said Third World countries feel that “the symbol of Abraham Lincoln and his emancipation consciousness are a permanent source of inspiration, strength and positive action.”
Ambassador Thomas of Liberia spoke of how Lincoln urged Congress to recognise his nation in 1862, when it was one of the world’s only two black republics.
Lincoln’s own life, he declared, exemplified “the spirit of freedom and justice for all.” Ambassador Young of the U.S. was unable to attend because he was involved in negotiations over South Africa. A representative of the U.S. Mission declared, however, that his “absence is a living proof that America still has that commitment to civil rights, human rights, social rights and freedom of all peoples.”
This programme, which was sponsored by the United Nations Meditation Group, was opened with a short meditation and musical dedication by Sri Chinmoy.
Sri Chinmoy has begun a statewide series of concerts and lectures that will bring him to each of New York’s thirty-seven universities.
The series began Feb. 10 a Columbia University, where the Master spoke on prayer.
“My prayer is a two-way conversation between my heart’s soulful cry and my Lord's blessingful Smile.” he said.
Identifying with the aspiring seeker, he said: “My life is a combination of my unanswered prayer and my unoffered prayers. My unanswered prayers are blessings in disguise .... But it is my unoffered prayers that pain me constantly.”
Published in Anahata Nada, March 1, 1978, Volume 5, Number 2
With the beauty of my outer running
And with the fragrance of my inner running
I shall make my God-manifestation a must.
Published in Self-Transcendence Race-Prayer Songs
Sri Chinmoy hosts a special function to honour Sudhahota Carl Lewis and his sister Carol at Progress-Promise in Jamaica, Queens, New York.
Sri Chinmoy requests questions from his students:
Question: Are you aware of the other competitors in a race as short as 55 metres, or do you just run as fast as you can?
Sudhahota: I’m aware of them being there, but I’m just trying to go as fast as I can. Those races are so short that you can’t make any mistakes. You have to be aware of the competition so that, if you’re behind, you can make quick adjustments. In the 100 I wouldn’t try to make adjustments; I’d just run my own race. But if I’m behind in the 55 metres, I may do this or that because I don’t have much time to waste.
Question: Carol, do you and your brother help each other at meets?
Carol Lewis: Sometimes we help each other. But since our coach travels with us everywhere, we usually leave everything to him. But if he’s not with us, we’ll help each other when we compete by looking out for little things. When we go some place we’ll jog together and do things like that, but when you get out there into the competition, it just has to be you yourself.
Question: Carol, could you tell us about your Olympic experiences — what you enjoyed most?
Carol Lewis: I had a really good time meeting the athletes from the other countries. I had a sprained ankle going into the Games, and I just wanted to have a good experience. I knew that I was young enough to compete again some other time. I didn’t compete very well there, but I wasn’t really upset because I tried the best I could and that’s all I could do.
Sri Chinmoy: Last time you helped your brother in the long jump. You were holding the take-off board. This time where were you?
Carol Lewis: This time they used a hammer and nails to keep it down. Last time they didn’t think they’d need that, and Carl didn’t think it would slide as much as it did. So I decided to hold it just in case. Better safe than sorry!
Sudhahota: It was kind of fun! Carol and I came to the meet, and Carol said, “I want to hold the board again.”
Carol Lewis: I wanted to get in the newspaper. I wanted to get some press, so I said I’d hold the board.
Sri Chinmoy: This time, why were you in such a hurry in your long jump? Last time you were concentrating and invoking the spirit and all that. But this time you were in a hurry at the start.
Sudhahota: After the Olympics and all the travelling I did last year, I didn’t really get into the indoor season. That’s why I wanted to cut it off early and get ready for outdoors.
Sri Chinmoy: You can’t concentrate on anything at Madison Square Garden. When you started running, the pole vaulter also started running — disturbing you. It was like a five-ring circus! The competitors can’t concentrate and the spectators can’t enjoy. Your starting has improved a lot. In previous years your starts were just a little slow, but with your tremendous speed you went ahead of the others anyway. Now you don’t have that problem at all.
Sudhahota: I’ve been working extra on my starts. For the last year and a half, I hadn’t taken very many gun starts in practice. This year I have been practising more gun starts, and I think that has helped.
Sri Chinmoy: Now that you have won four gold medals, which was your goal, do you feel that it has given you more inner and outer confidence? Or has it added more pressure on you to maintain the highest height? When you run with your colleagues, do you get more confidence at the starting block because you have won, or more worries and anxieties?
Sudhahota: For me it has opened a whole new positive thing. Winning those four medals was something that I had wanted to achieve all my life. When you set a goal for yourself and achieve it, you feel, “That’s done, so what’s the next one?” Every new goal that I achieve makes me feel more confident that I can achieve the next goal I set. So I just keep going and setting higher and more challenging goals.
Question: Have you ever had an incredible jump in practice that you know would have broken the record if it had been for real?
Sudhahota: When we train, we don’t put the approach and the jump together, so that couldn’t happen. There was one meet last year where I think I beat the world record, but I fouled. Before that, there was one other meet where I put a jump past the world record, but I fouled then too. So in meets I’ve done it, but because of little mistakes the jumps were disqualified. It’s a very, very small mistake — one inch in 50 metres — that I have to correct. It’s a challenge to work it out.
Question: What athletes do you admire in track and field today?
Carol Lewis: (Joking) I was going to say me, but…
Sudhahota: That goes without saying! I admire all of them because it’s such hard work whether you’re a great athlete or not. I admire the very idea of trying to be the best you can be. This I admire rather than the person. Evelyn Ashford, for example, I admire very much because she works so hard. This year she won an Olympic gold medal and was able to defeat her arch-rival despite suffering an injury last year. I admire the struggle, the desire, the training and the working to come to that moment when you run the best race you can.
Sri Chinmoy: When you run, is there a little gap between your fingers or do you hold them tight?
Sudhahota: I leave them just a little open to keep them relaxed. So my fingers move around a little bit when I run.
Sri Chinmoy: It was so nice and kind of you to wear our T-shirt at Madison Square Garden. So, with all my heart’s loving joy and gratitude I am giving you these T-shirts. (Presenting a cake) And this is for yesterday’s victory. (Presenting cake to Carol) This is our heart’s gift.
Published in Carl Lewis: The Champion Inner Runner, part 2
Sri Chinmoy honours Grammy-winning singer Addwitiya Roberta Flack on her birthday, at Annam Brahma restaurant in Jamaica, New York.
Video by kedarvideo
Sri Chinmoy receives the ‘Medaillon of Honour" and a Doctor Honoris Causa degree from Udayana University in Bali. He then offers a short Peace Concert.
A talk by Sri Chinmoy
at Columbia University, New York
I pray. I pray because I am hungry. I have an inner hunger for my Lord's Compassion-Flood and Satisfaction-Sea.
My prayer is a two-way conversation between my heart's soulful cry and my Lord's blessingful Smile.
My prayer is at once my assurance and my confidence. I assure my body, my vital and my mind that they are of the Supreme and for the Supreme. I offer confidence to those who are sailing in the same boat and heading towards the selfsame destined Goal as I, and yet are wanting in confidence.
Each day I renew my prayer. That means that each day I intensify and strengthen my commitment to my Beloved Supreme. It is my commitment, my sole commitment, to please Him in His own Way constantly, unreservedly and unconditionally.
I pray to my Lord Supreme that I will be conscious that His Existence is constantly with me. I pray to my Lord Supreme that I will be constantly, consciously with Him. I feel that when He is with me, I am partially perfect, but when I am with Him, I am totally perfect.
My Lord Supreme, out of His infinite Bounty, has already chosen me to be His devoted and surrendered instrument. Now it is I who have to choose Him as my Eternity's only Pilot Supreme. It is I who have to make the supreme decision of choosing Him all the time on the strength of my inner cry. When I choose God unconditionally and when I remain with God constantly, at that time I am completely perfect.
My life is a combination of unanswered prayers and unoffered prayers. When my prayers are not fulfilled, I am not sad. At that time sorrow does not torture me, for I know that my unanswered prayers are blessings in disguise. It is my unoffered prayers that pain me constantly. My unoffered prayers take me far, farther farthest from God's Justice-Light and Compassion-Height, while my unanswered prayers are always helping me far beyond my imagination. The divine seeker and the divine lover in me teach my unconscious body, my uncontrolled vital and my unillumined mind that my unanswered prayers are blessings in disguise, for my Beloved Supreme knows what is best for me always.
My prayers are my Lord's Compassion-cultivation and my own satisfaction-harvest. I pray, I pray.
Published in Wisdom-Waves in New York, part 1
by Sri Chinmoy
given in Sabah, Malaysia
No prayer, no prayer,
No prayer:
Life is an ignorance-lair.
No meditation, no meditation:
Life is an utter imperfection.
Sound
Is man-cheering.
Silence
Is God-becoming.
Life-river flows.
Patience-tree grows.
Life is a thunder-gong.
Death is a silence-song.
My life-story
Is painful.
My heart-song
Is Godful.
What is peace?
The absence of selfishness.
What is bliss?
The presence of oneness.
Published in My Christmas-New Year-Vacation Aspiration-Prayers, part 14
by Sri Chinmoy
given in Penang, Malaysia
My gratitude-life
Is the only way
For me to please God.
To serve God
Is the greatest honour.
I do not see You, but I do feel
That You are in the depths
Of my heart, my Lord.
Before you look
At the world,
Muster all your love.
Life means
Adamantine determination.
Heart means
Constant aspiration.
Inside my Master’s smile
I see my new world
Blooming.
God really wants to love us.
Alas, why do we make it so difficult
For Him?
It is we
Who take ourselves away
From God’s Forgiveness-Reach.
To falsify anything in life
Is the height
Of our stupidity.
Published in My Christmas-New Year-Vacation Aspiration-Prayers, part 51
by Sri Chinmoy
given in Chiang Mai, Thailand
The mind loves
The zigzag road.
The heart loves
God’s sunlit Road.
My God-gratitude
Is my heart’s
Most powerful strength.
Cry, cry, sleeplessly cry
Within.
Fly, fly, breathlessly fly
Without.
The God-doubting mind
Everywhere spies.
The God-searching heart
In the vast blue sky flies.
My prayer-life
Is
My God-addition.
My meditation-heart
Is
My God-multiplication.
The rising sun
Beautifies me.
The setting sun
Purifies me.
Published in My Christmas-New Year-Vacation Aspiration-Prayers, part 61