Recently, members of the Sri Chinmoy Centre participated in a European ‘Songs of the Soul’ Concert tour at venues in Poland, Germany, Czech Republic, Austria and Slovakia.
A variety of groups performed arrangements of songs composed by Sri Chinmoy
The concerts played to packed venues in the different cities. More photos and details can be found at: Songs of the Soul
In a recent interview, Ashrita Furman, a student of Sri Chinmoy, explains how the practise of meditation helped him in his spiritual journey and setting a wide range of Guinness World Records.
When Ashrita was young, he admits he was not good at sport, in fact he mentions he was ‘a bit of nerd’. But, after practising meditation for several years, Sri Chinmoy saw Ashrita had the potential to aim for a big mileage in a 24 hour cycle race. To Ashrita’s surprise he was able to ride 405 miles in 24 hours, with little training – displaying to himself how techniques of meditation and mantra can help us to transcend our previous limitations.
View this video at Sri Chinmoy TV for more inspirational words from the man with the most Guinness world records.
Video produced by Parimal Repka, Hungary Sri Chinmoy Centre.
Related
On 9th October, a two mile race was organised to celebrate the 5th anniversary of the dedication of the Sri Chinmoy Heart-Garden in Flushing Meadows Park, Queens, New York.
The Sri Chinmoy Heart-Garden was dedicated by the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation to Sri Chinmoy, on October 11, 2006. Exactly one year later Sri Chinmoy passed away, leaving a vibrant legacy of world service and creativity in many fields.
The Heart-Garden Two-Mile Race, first held in October 2009, is an annual event organised by Sri Chinmoy Marathon Team to celebrate the legacy and vision for world peace offered by Sri Chinmoy.
Everything that is beautiful,
Inspiring and aspiring
Can easily be found
Inside our heart-garden.
Related
The latest edition of Meditation Silence offers some practical suggestions by Sri Chinmoy for starting a daily meditation routine.
I meditate
So that I can inundate
My entire being
With the omnipotent
Power of peace.
Vajin Armstrong, of Christchurch Sri Chinmoy Centre, finished 8th in the Commonwealth 55Km trail race championship held in Llandudno, Wales. He finished the 55KM race in a time of 03:43:13.
Aged 31, Vajin works as a manager of a Gandharva Loka music store. But, in his spare time he is able to train for marathons and ultra distance races. Previously Vajin won his first 47 mile ultra race in a time of 5 hours 27 minutes. In 2010 he finished 1st in New Zealand’s Kepler Challenge (60km trail race) .
Vajin wrote of his experience racing in the Commonwealth ultra races.
“It has been a inspiring and uplifting experience, and a true demonstration of the power of sport to bring people together in a spirit of oneness and understanding. Spending time surrounded by fellow athletes who all share your love of the mountains and are all aspiring to transcend themselves was a wonderful experience.”
Related
Members of the Sri Chinmoy Centre frequently give free meditation classes in cities around the world, our online meditation guide can give a few insights into the practise of meditation.
An online meditation guide can be found here: Online Meditation Guide
….Begin by thinking of meditation as a journey – your own abiding happiness is the goal. If you are ready to begin this journey, then the guidelines in the following pages will greatly help you – and now is the best time to start….
Sri Chinmoy writes that meditation is the tool to try and reach a higher state of consciousness – A realm beyond the domain of thought.
” When we meditate, we do not think at all. The aim of meditation is to free ourselves from all thought. Thought is like a dot on a blackboard. Whether it is good or bad, it is there. Only if there is no thought whatsoever can we grow into the highest reality.”
– Sri Chinmoy 1
On 11 July 2011,, Abhejali Bernardováb from the Czech Republic became the 27th member of the Sri Chinmoy Marathon Team to successfully swim the English channel. ( making a total of 42 successful crossing). She completed the swim in a time of 14 hours and 37 minutes.
This video gives an insight into the experience of swimming the English channel, one of the toughest endurance tests in swimming. It is said fewer people have swum the channel than have climbed Mount Everest.
Intrinsic to a successful channel swim is a good support crew who need to help feed and guide the swimmer through the potentially dangerous lanes of the English channel. Abhejali was assisted by support crew Jayalata Dadkovicova, Ritadyumna Tobolkova, Lenka Svecova, Jana Bernardova (Abhejali’s sister) from Czech Republic and Dhavala Stott from Scotland, on the Seafarer II boat piloted by Chris Osmond.
[jwplayer file=”http://www.srichinmoy.tv/wp-content/uploads/media/abhejalis-channel-swim-2632/abhejali-channel-swim.m4v” image=”http://www.srichinmoy.tv/wp-content/uploads/media/abhejalis-channel-swim-2632/abhejali.jpg” width=”480″ height=”270″] Source: Sri Chinmoy TV
On September 2nd, Boris Purushottama Grebenshikov offered a concert of music in honour of Sri Chinmoy’s 80th birth anniversary. Purushottama was accompanied by tabla virtuoso Samir Chatterjee and a host of international musicians from the Sri Chinmoy Centre. The musicians played to an appreciative capacity crowd in the Skirball Center.
After concert. Backdrop, picture of Sri Chinmoy
International musicians from Sri Chinmoy Centre performing with Purushottama
In July 2011 twelve singers from around the world visited Iceland to perform Sri Chinmoy’s songs at a variety of churches throughout the country. The 12 male singers sang Sri Chinmoy’s songs acapella to audiences across Iceland. These performances capture the simplicity, soulfulness and purity of Sri Chinmoy’s music. In the video, the performers talk a little about the experience of singing in this concert tour.
[jwplayer file=”http://www.srichinmoy.tv/wp-content/uploads/media/iceland-song-tour-2889/Songs-Iceland-sctv.mp4″ image=”http://www.srichinmoy.tv/wp-content/uploads/featured-images/iceland-song-tour-2889.png” width=”450″] Source: Sri Chinmoy TV
Sri Chinmoy visited Iceland on a number of occasions.
In this photo, Sri Chinmoy participates in Iceland being declared a Sri Chinmoy Peace-Blossom nation.
12 male singers from different Sri Chinmoy Centres sang at several concerts around Iceland.
August 27th, 2011 was the 80th anniversary of Sri Chinmoy’s birthday.
To mark the occasion, Ashrita Furman and 170 members of the Sri Chinmoy Marathon Team created a new Guinness World Record for the world’s largest garland of flowers.
Using 80,000 carnations, the team created a 2.15 mile garland of flowers around a lake in Flushing Meadows, New York.
Ashrita Furman spoke of the event:
“My friends and I have a tradition to express our gratitude to Sri Chinmoy as he inspires us to discover inner peace, joy and strength through meditation. On the occasion of Sri Chinmoy’s 80th birthday anniversary we wanted to do something special. The huge garland expresses the deep gratitude we feel. There was an great feeling of oneness and harmony because people from 35 countries were connected by the garland in a circle symbolising planet earth.â€
The 2011 edition of the Self-Transcendence 3100 race recently finished, with the ten runners completing a total of 29,517 miles.
There were eight runners who finished the 3100 mile race in the allotted time frame of 54 days. The total mileage of the 10 runners (29,517) is equivalent to running around the world + another 4,500 miles.
Sarvagata finishes his first race in first place, with a very impressive time of 44 days, 13:38:52
The race continues whatever the weather. (Photo Alakananda)
