Category: Sri Chinmoy

(United Nations, New York) Leaders from six different religions offer the opening silence at the Celebration of the Life of Sri Chinmoy.
(For more details: see photo caption at bottom)

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Celebration of the Life of Sri Chinmoy at the United Nations

New York – More than 700 UN leaders, ambassadors and luminaries from many walks of life and faiths gathered inside the United Nations Tuesday afternoon to celebrate the life and work of Sri Chinmoy, the world harmony leader, spiritual teacher and humanitarian who died at age 76 on October 11^th in New York City. He dedicated his life to sowing the seeds of peace and harmony inside the hearts and lives of people throughout the globe.

The UN programme, which was held in one of the main meeting halls, was a soul-stirring tribute to Sri Chinmoy’s 37 years of leading the twice-weekly Peace Meditation at the United Nations, which he founded at the invitation of the third UN Secretary-General U Thant in 1970. Leaders from six major faiths—Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, Judaism and Indigenous religious traditions—opened the ceremony with a minute of silence, including the Very Rev. James Parks Morton, head of the Interfaith Center of New York and Dean Emeritus of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, and Pir Zia Inayat Khan, head of the Sufi Order International.

Many UN ambassadors and officials as well as Aye Aye Thant, daughter of the third UN Secretary-General and President of the U Thant Institute, also paid tribute to

Sri Chinmoy’s work, starting with keynote speaker Ambassador Anwarul Chowdhury, longtime Under-Secretary-General at the United Nations, plus a dear friend of Sri Chinmoy and fellow Bengali:

“In Sri Chinmoy, the world has lost a great man of peace. President Nelson Mandela wrote in his tribute, and I quote, ‘Today, the world is a lesser place as I recall his lifetime of service to humanity in the great cause of world peace.’ The outpouring of messages from all parts of the globe reflects this loss so sincerely

“Sri Chinmoy is a man of the highest spiritual stature, and internationally recognised as the true global Ambassador of Peace. The universal nature of his philosophy embraced and encouraged people of all backgrounds, faiths and nationalities to work together for peace. He is the finest example of a person who has a true vision of peace and one who has untiringly and selflessly inspired peace all over the world.”

Mr. Vijay Nambiar, Chef de Cabinet to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, spoke during the ceremony, stating: “I am sure I represent the Secretary-General when I express my profound respect and gratitude to Sri Chinmoy for his contribution to the building up of inner peace in the United Nations as in the world at large.”

Lord Malloch Brown, former UN Deputy Secretary-General and now Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office for the United Kingdom, wrote that “Sri Chinmoy reached out to so many in the UN. In the UN we felt the force of his love for us. However difficult the moment, he never lost faith in the UN and those who worked in it. He brought courage and support to so many individuals in our organization but also his voice and prayer to those who led it. A man of the spiritual life, he understood the need for the UN in the material world if the two were ever to find justice and harmony.”

UN Ambassadors and officials over the years have participated in a number of programmes organized by Sri Chinmoy, including the World Harmony Run, the world’s largest relay for peace involving millions of participants in 140 nations since 1987. Many UN delegations have been involved in the work of Sri Chinmoy’s humanitarian relief organization, The Oneness-Heart-Tears and Smiles, which has collected and distributed millions of dollars of medical supplies throughout Asia and Africa.

Sri Chinmoy also brought his wide-ranging cultural activities to the UN. Over the years he gave dozens of free Peace Concerts there, and exhibited his colourful paintings and selections from his millions of “Dream-Freedom-Peace-Bird” drawings.

Among the tributes received from world leaders, President Mikhail Gorbachev wrote: “This is a loss for the whole world. Through many years of his selfless work for the sake of peace, Sri Chinmoy has gained recognition and love in the farthest corners of our planet…In our hearts he will forever remain a man who dedicated his whole life to peace.” President Bill Clinton wrote: “Throughout his many years, Sri Chinmoy enriched the lives of countless others and served as a model of generosity and discipline to those he met, fostering an atmosphere of compassion, harmony, and unity. Sri Chinmoy was a leader, humanitarian, artist, athlete, and public servant who will be sorely missed. His legacy of kindness, reflection, and resolve will endure for many years to come.”

Sri Chinmoy was born on August 27, 1931 in a small village in east India. Orphaned at the age of 11, Sri Chinmoy then lived with his six brothers and sisters at a spiritual community in southern India, where he spent the next 20 years in intense prayer and meditation. Heeding an inner call, he travelled to the United States in 1964 and made New York City his home.

One unique aspect of his philosophy was that “the physical and the spiritual must go together.” A champion sprinter and decathlete in his youth, and later a marathon runner, Sri Chinmoy astounded sports heroes and luminaries through a weightlifting career which he began in 1985, at the age of 54. Sri Chinmoy credited God’s Grace which gave him inner peace for the ability to lift thousands, sometimes even tens of thousands of pounds. From cars to elephants to planes, Sri Chinmoy lifted almost every object imaginable in various styles of strongman lifts. “I have learned from Sri Chinmoy that the size of the arm does not make the man; the size of the heart makes the man,” said five-time Mr. Universe and Best Built Man of the 20th Century, Bill Pearl. “Nobody on earth has done what Sri Chinmoy has done.”

Over 7,000 people continue to follow his philosophy through more than 300 Sri Chinmoy Centres worldwide that teach meditation and organise many of the global activities initiated and guided by Sri Chinmoy.

Related Links

• Programme from: A Celebration of the Life of Sri Chinmoy (Pdf document)
• A list of Tributes to Sri Chinmoy
• Press Release on the Passing of Sri Chinmoy
• Media Photos at Sri Chinmoy.org

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(United Nations, New York) Leaders from six different religions—Buddhism, Christianity, Indigenous religious traditions, Hinduism, Islam and Judaism—offer the opening moment of silence at the Celebration of the Life of Sri Chinmoy.

From left to right are

• The Ven. Ashin Indaka, Chief Monk of the Mahasi Meditation Retreat Center Association
• The Very Rev. James Parks Morton, Founder of the Interfaith Center of New York and Dean Emeritus of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine
• Nana Boakyewa Yiadom I, Queen of Adamorobe, Aburi-Akuapem (Ghana)
• Swami Amarnathananda, Head Monk of the Bharat Sevashram Sangha of North America
• Pir Zia Inayat-Khan, President of the Sufi Order International
• Maggid Yitzhak Buxbaum, Director, Jewish Spirit.

Photo by Dhanu Alaimo

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Sri Chinmoy wrote many poems and articles about the role of the mind and heart.

“Two instruments: mind and heart. The mind is division: world-division and self-division. World-division is nothing short of world-poverty. Self-division is the beginning of self-destruction. The heart is acceptance: acceptance of the inner life and acceptance of the outer life. The inner life is aspiration. The outer life is dedication.”

– Sri Chinmoy

Excerpt from My Rose Petals, Part 5 by Sri Chinmoy “Two Instruments: Mind and Heart”

In this interview, Sri Chinmoy explains the difference between the mind-jungle and heart-garden.

This is a short video of an interview between Sri Chinmoy and Dr Russell Barber, former Religion and Ethics Editor at NBC-TV.Millennium interview Video’s produced by Shambhu Ltd

Some photo albums have appeared on the Sri Chinmoy Centre site remembering aspects of Sri Chinmoy’s life in different ways:

This picture is taken from a lovely photo album called ‘Beautiful Sri Chinmoy’ by Jowan Gauthier which is exactly that – beautiful pictures taken of Sri Chinmoy from his trip to St. Petersburg and his visit to Mongolia which took place in May of this Year. There is also a photo album by Projjwal Pohland, who accompanied Sri Chinmoy on his last trip abroad to St. Petersburg and shares with us some beautiful photographs.

Continue reading “Photographic memories of our teacher”

Two recent prayer-poems written by Sri Chinmoy have recently come to light on the Sri Chinmoy Inspiration Group which seem especially poignant now given the Master’s passing.

Every Saturday morning whenever he was in New York, Sri Chinmoy would arrive at the 2 mile race held by his students to give out the prizes, which (in keeping with the participation-rather-than-winning focus of the races) usually consisted of a banana for each of the first three male and female finishers. Before giving the prizes, he would spontaneously compose a race prayer – sometimes this prayer would even be set to music! Sri Chinmoy composed his final race prayer on the morning of September 29th – here we can see how in the eye of a spiritual Master, the body’s trials and tribulations pale in comparison the soul’s delight:

The fever of the body
Comes and goes.
May my God-love-heart fever
Remain forever and forever.

The fever of the body
Is torture unbearable.
My God-love-heart fever
Is rapture unimaginable.

(unofficial version, not yet published)

The second poem came to light during a meditation function held by Sri Chinmoy’s students in New York yesterday evening. For the past two years, Sri Chinmoy had been composing a series of rhyming couplets, one for every day of the year, in a collection ‘My God-Hunger Cry’. This collection was not released in book form like most of Sri Chinmoy’s output, but rather in sheets containing a week’s worth of poems. Last night, the final sheet was made available during the meditation function, containing prayer-poems Sri Chinmoy had written for the week ending November 1; the following was the last poem on the sheet.

“Alas, my whole body has started to decay.
But I am so happy that every day
My Lord is getting younger day by day.”

 

Thank you to Meriem Ait-Ouyahia and Arpan De Angelo for posting these two poems on the Inspiration Group. Photograph by Kedar Misani on Sri Chinmoy Galleries.

Bhagavan Sri Chinmoy:
Avatar of the era;
Yogi of the highest magnitude;
Sovereign of the Eternal Now.
I bow to You in deep reverence.

Bhagavan Sri Chinmoy:
God of Gods.
Thou who art not the body,
But the manifestation, of a divine power on Earth.
Oh God-man of the ever-transcending beyond.
I bow to You in deep reverence.

Bhagavan Sri Chinmoy:
Mother, Father, Friend and Advocate.
You came to the west in 1964.
At the request of Your Beloved Lord Supreme.
You taught:-The Spirituality of the East,
And the dynamism of the West, must go together;
That Matter has to be,
The conscious expression of the Spirit.
I bow to you in deep reverence.

Bhagavan Sri Chinmoy:
Seer-athlete; poet; artist; musician; weightlifter supreme!
Writer of over 1500 books!
Composer of innumerable devotional songs!
Painter of over 150,000 paintings!
Lifter of over 7000lbs with either hand!
Creator of Soul-birds, Peace-Blossoms, Oneness-Home
Peace Runs, World harmony Runs and Eternal flames,
I bow to You in deep reverence.

Bhagavan Sri Chinmoy:
You taught the ideal of Self-transcendence…….
Going beyond, beyond, into the ever-transcending beyond……
Love, Devotion and Surrender incarnate.
Who placed everything,
At the feet of Your beloved Lord Supreme, saying:-
“In My case, everything is 100% God’s Grace and
God’s compassion”.
I bow to You in Deep reverence.

Oh Mother India, land of Himalayan Souls.
Birthplace of Yoga Maya and Shashi Kumar Ghose,
Parents of ‘Madal’, Chinmoy Kumar Ghose,
Seventh and final son, born August 27th 1931;
Attained Mahasamadhi October 11th, 2007,
I bow to you in deep reverence.

1992. Revised Oct 25, 2007—-Manatita—-

A collection of tributes and poems related to the mahasamadhi of Sri Chinmoy

A very beautiful recording of Sri Chinmoy singing the word ‘gratitude’ over and over again, spontaneously putting music to the words as he sang, was played during Sri Chinmoy’s memorial ceremony, and again when his body was finally laid to rest. The recording took place on 13 April 1986, 22 years to the day Sri Chinmoy first arrived in America. Prachar Stegemann recalls the occasion:

“Guru was seated at our then-meeting place ‘Progress-Promise,’ painting Jharna Kalas on a table in front of him. He spontaneously started humming, then singing the word ‘Gratitude’ over and over. After a short while, Dhanu brought a microphone and placed it in front of Guru while he continued to sing and paint. From time to time you can hear the rapid sounds of the sponges Guru was using to paint with striking the paper.”

“When the cassette was produced and ready for sale, Guru refused to charge any money for it. He simply gave it away to all…”

These recollections appeared on the Sri Chinmoy Inspiration Group, where students of Sri Chinmoy have recently penned many beautiful memories of their teacher and of the week-long vigil following his passing.

Listen to this recording on Radio Sri Chinmoy….

(Photo of gratitude-flower: Sharani Robins)

Sri Chinmoy – Peace activist and spiritual teacher, who advocated running. Obituary at Scotsman

“…Sri Chinmoy, the Indian spiritual guru who had been nominated by Archbishop Desmond Tutu and seconded by former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev for this year’s Nobel Peace Prize, devoted his life to bringing different faiths together, and promoting the concept of a healthy body in a healthy mind… “

Sri Chinmoy Obituary at Independent

“…Popular mythology tends to imagine a guru – in the word’s original and proper Hindu sense of spiritual adviser or teacher – as a placid and mostly sedentary figure. Not so Sri Chinmoy, who wove vigorous exercise into a meditational system that preached peace and inner harmony and gained him thousands of disciples worldwide, as well as admirers ranging from the last Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, to the Olympic champion Carl Lewis and the soul and jazz singer Roberta Flack…”

Related Links

• A Collection of Memorial Articles
• World Leaders mourn Sri Chinmoy’s death at Hindustan Times
• Aspects of an Eternal Journey – Photographic tribute at Sri Chinmoy TV

Photo of Sri Chinmoy, by Kedar, training with 50lb dumbell.

Sri Chinmoy embodied the spirit of peace which the world so badly needs. He did this through his poetry, his paintings, his teaching, but above all through his life and spiritual presence. Through the World Harmony Run he helped people make friends across the differences of religion, race, language, colour and culture. He enabled many of us to see these differences not as barriers but as enriching for us all. His dedicated service to the Oneness of humanity should be lifted up and remembered as an example to us all.

I treasure the inspiring memory of meeting him and share the sadness of so many people that he is no longer with us in body, although still present in spirit. I also express the sympathy and good wishes of members of the World Congress of Faiths.

Rev Dr Marcus Braybrooke,
President of the World Congress of Faiths

~

“His Holiness Sri Sri Ravi Shankar and the Art of Living family are with you in this moment of grief. Sri Chinmoy’s philosophy of peace and his work of bringing people from all faiths together will continue to inspire the world.”

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

The Art of Living

~

How deeply moved are are to hear of our dear Sri Chinmoy’s departure to the Siva Loka, where he now reigns in his golden body of light, free from the limits and discomforts of the mortal sheath. In Guru’s poem, Nirvana, he wrote, “No mind, no form, I only exist; Now ceased all will and thought. The final end of Nature’s dance, I am It whom I have sought.”

For Bodhinatha and all of Gurudeva’s mathavasis at Kauai Aadheenam in Hawaii, he was a unique inspiration, living proof of the Divine possibilities within mankind. He was one of the few who spoke of God-Realization from his own experience in much the same profound manner as our Gurudeva. How he exuded love. How he showed the way of goodness and gentleness. How he lived so we might all live more perfectly, serve more selflessly. Our several encounters with him both in Kauai and New York were precious moments of joy. We are deeply appreciative to you for faciltiating these gifted moments.

Palaniswami
On Behalf of the Monks
of Kauai’s Hindu Monastery in Hawaii
founded in 1970 by Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami (1927-2001)

~

Guru Sri Chinmoy was the God man of All God men…He
lived and breathed for the Supreme every time All the
Time….He will be missed, His energy phenomenal. His
promise of love, devotion and Surrender the
best….Only we His Disciples will understand the
gravity of this loss, for we were with him on a daily
basis….We wish all God Lovers to pause and reflect
on the Heart love of the Good and Great Man Guru Sri
Chinmoy…There Will Be no More Like Him…We must
cherish his existence every day all day till the end
of time with a smile of love and heart of cries and a
life of Devotion to God…Eternally we will miss you
Guru, Love Your Narada Michael Walden

Narada Michael Walden

~

Shocked by the news of Sri Chinmoy having left our world so unexpectedly, we feel proud to have known this great guru, loyal friend and enduring supporter of our common efforts. We trust his positive influence on world affairs will be continued in his remembrance. Our feelings of sorrow are with his followers, who will miss him dearly.

Dunya Verwey, Comprehensive Dialogue among Civilizations (Netherlands)

Jurn Buisman, Maecenas World Patrimony Foundation

~

Representing Ananda Marga of UK, I wish to say that we send our deepest consolation to the devotees of Sri Chinmoy.

He was a man, as I understand, who gave his life to helping people to find a spiritual path and to encourage and help people to find not only inner peace, but to reach out to find their fullest potential and to work to make this world a better place to live for everyone.

I am sure that his good teachings and example will stay in people’s hearts for a long time.

Dada Jyotirupananda Anandamarg.org
Continue reading “Selected Tributes to Sri Chinmoy III”

Media Articles

• Spiritual Leader Sri Chinmoy passes away at India Post
• Sri Chinmoy – spiritual leader and activist at Independent(1)
• Indian Philosopher dead at 76

Tributes at Sri Chinmoy.org

• Tributes at Sri Chinmoy.org
• Tributes from spiritual and religious figures

Other Articles

• Sri Chinmoy – a Lover of God enters mahasamadhi at Mystic Saint
• So Long Sri Chinmoy -some reminisces on Sri Chinmoy
• Poetic Tributes to Sri Chinmoy -by Michael Howard
• Farewell Sri Chinmoy – by Sumangali
• Tribute to Sri Chinmoy – by Rathin Boulton
• A Tribute to Sri Chinmoy by Christopher Willis

See also Tributes to Sri Chinmoy – other media articles
Continue reading “Recent Tributes”