Biography - Sri Chinmoy and Bangladesh

Sri Chinmoy was a poet, a song writer, a playright, a musician, an artist, a sportsman and a humanitarian—but first and foremost he was a man of peace.

Sri Chinmoy’s philosophy may be summed up in his words:
“There shall come a time when this world of ours will be flooded with peace. Who is going to bring about this radical change? It will be you and I and we all together. Our oneness-hearts will spread peace throughout the length and breadth of the world.”
 

After making his home in America in 1964, he established a wide range of cultural, humanitarian and educational programmes related to peace. These global peace initiatives have involved millions of citizens from all nationalities, faiths and cultures, especially youth. He worked to build friendships between individuals and between nations. His differentareas of creative action forged pathways for peace that stands as an emblem of real hope for a world in crisis.

In more than 1,600 published books, Sri Chinmoy has conveyed his philosophy of peace and world unity through lectures, plays, poems, stories and answers to hundreds of questions posed during his 43 years of dedicated service to humanity. Many of these works have been translated into Russian, German, French, Spanish, Japanese, Mongolian, Korean and a variety of other languages—including, in Bangla, The Wings of Joy and The Divine Hero.

In his paintings, Sri Chinmoy lets his art flow from his heart in a pouring forth of creative energy—Jharna-Kala. Here the heart’s spontaneity is the key. Free of thought and calculation, Sri Chinmoy says, “When I paint, I see a line of light and I follow it with my brush.”

It is through his songs that this global man of peace pays tribute to his Bangladeshi roots: the majority of his songs are written in his native Bangla tongue. The tunes echo the melodies and rhythms he heard in his childhood village near Chittagong, while the lyrics observe the classic metre and rhymes his brother Chitta taught him. Sri Chinmoy has promoted Bangla among the discourse of nations as the language of uplifting inspiration and peace.

The Sri Chinmoy Centres International began collecting food and clothing for the starving people of Russia in 1990. At the request of President Gorbachev, they began sending medicines and equipment to help treat children with leukemia. Since that time, the Sri Chinmoy Centres worldwide have been collecting and sending large quantities of humanitarian assistance to needy people in 136 countries on 6 continents including Indonesia ,Angola and Bangladesh.

In literature, art and music; in promoting Bangla and in his humanitarian service, Sri Chinmoy has brought a message of peace to the world and honour to his homeland.

From Bengali Village to the World Stage

     Chinmoy Kumar Ghose was born in the village of Shakpura, near Chittagong in 1931. Following the deaths of their parents in 1944, the family of seven siblings moved to the Sri Aurobindo Ashram in Pondicherry, South India. For the next twenty years he followed a contemplative spiritual life of meditation, service and sports.In 1964, heeding an inner command, he travelled to New York, where worked for three years at the Indian Consulate.
     He became a man of action — an author, publishing 1,600 books; a musician, performing over 700 Peace Concerts internationally; a composer of more than 21,000 songs, the majority of them in his mother tongue, Bengali; a lecturer, giving talks at Harvard, Oxford, Cambridge and other renowed universities; an artist whose work ‘Jharna-Kala’ has been exhibited worldwide, including at the Louvre in Paris.
     As a self-described ‘student of peace’ who combined Eastern spirituality and Western dynamism, Sri Chinmoy garnered international renown. At the request of U Thant, third Secretary-General of the United Nations, Sri Chinmoy established a meditation programme for delegates and staff members at UN headquarters in New York. He treasured friendships with President Mikhail Gorbachev, Mother Teresa, President Nelson Mandela, Archbishop Desmond Tutu and other luminaries. He travelled widely, opening meditation Centres in 70 countries.
      He was an avid sportsman - in running, tennis and weightlifting; he founded the Peace Run, a biennial Olympic-style relay in which runners pass a flaming peace torch from hand to hand as they travel to six continents bearing the message of universal oneness. He also founded the International Sri Chinmoy Marathon Team, an organization which sponsors some 500 athletic events annually, from track and field competitions to the world’s longest certified running race of 3,100 miles.
    Sri Chinmoy established the Oneness-Heart-Tears and Smiles humanitarian organisation, which supplies food, medical and educational equipment and other urgent support to members of the world family in need. Sri Chinmoy passed away on 11th October 2007.

Interfaith Harmony

Sri Chinmoy revered and studied every religion; he wrote biographical plays about Sri Krishna, Lord Buddha and the Christ, and a collection of stories about Emperor Akbar; from 1975 he hosted interfaith programmes for the UN community and sponsored several annual Interfaith Prayer Breakfast for the Opening of the General Assembly.
     In recognition of his work in this field, Sri Chinmoy was twice invited to offer the opening meditation at the Parliament of the World’s Religions: in Chicago, USA, in 1993 and in Barcelona, Spain, in 2004. He was also invited to offer the opening meditation at an annual United Nations Interfaith programme attended by the Secretary-General. Sri Chinmoy held prayerful meetings with religious leaders of many faiths including Popes Paul VI and John Paul II; Mother Teresa; the Dalai Lama; the late head of Sufism in the West, Pir Vilayat Khan; and his son, the current leader, Pir Zia Inayat Khan and Rabbi Jack Bemporad.
     Sri Chinmoy has led meditations for peace at the American Congress, and the Parliaments of Great Britain, Canada, Australia and Norway.

"All religions are in essence one, inseparable. Each religion is an unfailing path leading to the eternal Truth and is a proper manifestation of that Truth." - Sri Chinmoy
 

Meetings with World Leaders

Sri Chinmoy had dialogues on world peace and spiritual values with leaders and luminaries from diverse fields of endeavour, including heads of state and ambassadors from many countries, United Nations leaders, spiritual figures from all faiths, university leaders, creative and performing artists and athletes. These leaders have also participated in Sri Chinmoy’s global peace initiatives, such as the Sri Chinmoy Peace-Blossoms and the Peace Run.

Clockwise from top left: Sri Chinmoy with Mother Teresa; Sri Chinmoy’s first meeting with President Gorbachev took place in Canada; Sri Chinmoy met Sheikh Hasina in 1991 at the United Nations in New York; Archbishop Desmond Tutu was a close friend, President Mandela with Sri Chinmoy in Pretoria, South Afrrica; Sri Chinmoy was Princess Diana’s guest at Kensington Palace in London.

Musician and Composer

Sri Chinmoy saw music as a universal language of the heart, a potent force that dissolves all barriers, uniting humanity into one world-family. Through his music, he drew tens of thousands of people together in an experience of inner and outer harmony.
     Sri Chinmoy offered 777 free Peace Concerts in North and South America, Europe,Asia and Africa, at such famous concert halls as London’s Royal Albert Hall, Paris’ Carrousel du Louvre, New York’s Carnegie Hall, Moscow’s Russia Hall and Tokyo’s Budokan Hall.
     He performed his own meditative compositions on many instruments, including the esraj, flute, cello, piano and harmonium. Of the 21,000 songs he wrote, 13,000 are in his mother tongue, Bengali. These songs are now being sung, performed instrumentally and recorded by his students and admirers in countries throughout the world.
     In December 2009 and again in February 2012, Shurer Dhara of Bangladesh, headed by Rezwana Choudhury Bannya, and the international Gandharva Loka Orchestra presented concerts of music by Tagore and Sri Chinmoy at the Bangabandhu International Conference Centre in Dhaka. These free concerts were filled to capacity, and the music was broadcast on live television to an audience of millions.

Top left: 5,000 people attend Sri Chinmoy’s Peace Concert at the Royal Albert Hall, London; bottom right: Shurer Dhara and the Gandharva Loka Orchestra perform songs by Rabindranath Tagore and Sri Chinmoy at the Bangabandhu Centre in Dhaka

Sri Chinmoy’s Bengali Songs

Sri Chinmoy wrote both words and music for more than 21,000 songs. Of these, 13,600 are in his native language, Bengali—perhaps the greatest body of songs composed by a single writer in any language.
     In his songs Sri Chinmoy identifies with every aspect of the human condition: sorrow and loss; love and longing; seeking and despair; victory and joy; comradeship and patriotism; sublime bliss and oneness with the Divine.
      Many of the songs are a single verse, yet another is 200 lines long!
     The melodies have echoes of Bengali folk and classical music, but also have a universal appeal; they dance, they march, they charm, they uplift, faster than lightning or soulfully slow. At times they strictly follow classic Bengali metre and rhyme; at other times they have a freer structure.
      Sri Chinmoy’s students in 70 countries perform his Bengali songs in concerts all over the world. These non-Bengalis have learned beautiful songs in Bangla and have been sharing them with audiences everywhere for over 40 years. Bangla itself, with its unique beauty, its poetic expressivity, its musicality is receiving wider circulation and appreciation.
      Since Sri Chinmoy’s poems are inspirational, and his musical compositions are uplifting, through his songs the Bangla language has become a vehicle for spreading the message of peace globally, and for reinforcingthe reputation of the Bangladeshi people as champions of a culture of peace.

Poet, Writer and Lecturer

Sri Chinmoy began to write poetry in his teens. Before long he was also writing aphorisms, philosophical essays, plays, and short stories. His words convey the richness anddiversity of the quest for peace and self-understanding.
     1,600 books by Sri Chinmoy have been published including Meditation, The Wings of Joy and The Jewels of Happiness which have had wide international popularity. Publishers include Simon and Schuster and Herder and Herder of New York. His books have been translated into 30 languages to date, The Wings of Joy and The Divine Hero, The Garden of Love-Light and Meditation have been published in Bengali.
     Much of his work comes from the spoken word: answers to thousands of questions on every topic from meditation, to sport, to surmounting difficulties, to the meaning of dreams, to advice for daily living; and from lectures at universities.
     Sri Chinmoy has been invited to deliver lectures at Harvard, Yale, Oxford, Cambridge and Tokyo. He received the Gold Medal in Literature from the International Academy of Lutèce, France, and Honorary Doctorates from distinguished universities in recognition of his work for world peace.

“Our age can rejoice in having free access to the Himalayan resource of the spiritual wisdom of Sri Chinmoy.” PROFESSOR JOHN McALEER, Boston College

“Sri Chinmoy listens with the heart, writes with the head, and journeys with the soul.” MONSIGNOR THOMAS HARTMAN, New York

“Privileged are those who have an encounter with that message of peace, love and universal brotherhood which has come to us through the sages of the past, through the saints of India and, in our own time, through a man like Mahatma Gandhi. Sri Chinmoy carries the same spark within himself.” LAKHAN MEHROTRA, Indian Diplomat, author

Jharna-Kala Art

Sri Chinmoy expressed the vast inner realities of meditation through the art of painting and drawing. Beginning in November 1974, he created thousands of acrylic paintings, which he called Jharna-Kala, to signify art flowing from the Source of creation.
    He began drawing peace-birds in December 1991, selecting the theme of the bird as a universal symbol of humanity’s peace and freedom.
    Sri Chinmoy’s paintings have been exhibited at the Art College in Chittagong and the Art Gallery at Dhaka University. They have also been shown at the Carrousel de Louvre, Paris; the Parliament buildings of Australia and New Zealand; the United Nations headquarters in New York and the National Gallery, Canada.
     Princess Diana and Raisa Maximovna Gorbacheva received paintings by Sri Chinmoy for their private collections.

“Sri Chinmoy’s paintings are a meeting with the nobility of the human soul.” RAISA MAXIMOVNA GORBACHEVA, wife of President Mikhail Gorbachev

“These soul-birds, symbols of freedom, joy and love, will undoubtedly inspire countless individuals and remain as a lasting tribute to peace and harmony.” JEAN CHRÉTIEN, former Prime Minister of Canada