Chinmoy Kumar Ghose

Chinmoy Kumar Ghose (27 August 1931 – 11 October 2007), better known as Sri Chinmoy, was an Indian spiritual leader who taught meditation in the United States after moving to New York City in 1964. Chinmoy established his first meditation center in Queens, New York, and eventually had seven thousand students in 60 countries. He was an author, artist, poet, and musician; he also held public events such as concerts and meditations on the theme of inner peace. Chinmoy advocated a spiritual path to God through prayer and meditation. He advocated athleticism including distance running, swimming, and weightlifting. He organized marathons and other races, and was an active runner and, following a knee injury, weightlifter. Some ex-members have accused Chinmoy of running a cult.

Chinmoy was the youngest of seven children, born in Shakpura, Boalkhali Upazila, in the Chittagong District of East Bengal, British India (now in Bangladesh). He lost his father to illness in 1943, and his mother a few months later. Chinmoy began his practice of meditation at the age of 11. In 1944, the 12-year-old Chinmoy joined his brothers and sisters at the Sri Aurobindo Ashram in Pondicherry, where his elder brothers Hriday and Chitta had already established a presence. It was Chitta that gave Chinmoy his name which means "full of divine consciousness".

In the ashram he spent the next 20 years in spiritual practice, including meditation, study in Bengali and English literature, athletics, and work in the ashram's cottage industries. Chinmoy claimed that for about eight years, he was the personal secretary to the General Secretary of the ashram, Nolini Kanta Gupta. Chinmoy translated his writings from Bengali into English.

According to Sri Chinmoy, in 1964 he was prompted to move to the United States in response to a "message from within" to be of service to people in the West searching for spiritual fulfillment. With the help of Sam Spanier, Eric Hughes, and other American sponsors connected with the Sri Aurobindo Ashram, he emigrated to New York City.

He applied for a job as junior clerk at the Indian consulate, despite his lack of formal education. He received support and encouragement from his colleagues and bosses and was invited to give talks on Hinduism. He started to give talks at universities and later, at the United Nations.

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Sri Chinmoy continued giving lectures and talks at universities around the U.S. on spiritual topics. In 1974, he gave lectures in 50 states at 50 universities, and these lectures were published as a six-part book series entitled 50 Freedom-Boats to One Golden Shore (1974). In the 1970s and 1980s he traveled around Europe, Asia, and Australia lecturing at universities, resulting in the publication of The Oneness of the Eastern Heart and the Western Mind. Chinmoy has also published books, essays, spiritual poetry, plays, and commentaries on the Vedas.

In 1966 Chinmoy opened a Sri Chinmoy Center in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Up until the late 1970s the main Sri Chinmoy study centers were in New York, Florida and the West Indies. Over the next few decades Sri Chinmoy Centers were opened and established in multiple cities in the US, Europe, Australasia, South Africa and South America totaling 350 centers worldwide. In 1973, the New York Times wrote that Sri Chinmoy was "revered in India as one of the few holy men to have reached Nirvikalpa Samadhi, the absolute highest level of consciousness".

During the 1970s Chinmoy began playing and composing on the flute and esraj. In 1984, he started giving free 'Peace Concerts' around the world. The largest concert was in Montreal, for 19,000 people.

Chinmoy died from a heart attack while at his home in Jamaica, Queens, New York on 11 October 2007. Mikhail Gorbachev wrote that his death was a loss for the whole world and that he will remain a man who dedicated his whole life to peace.

Sri Chinmoy taught that spiritual progress could be made by following a path of love, devotion, and surrender. He described divine love as self-offering and self-expansion. This practice of love and devotion to God is known as Bhakti Yoga. His path was not one of earthly renunciation or asceticism, but a middle path where the seeker has the opportunity to renounce or transform, the negative qualities which stand in the way of union with the Divine. Chinmoy taught that meditation on the heart brings the light of the soul forward to reach the highest reality as soon as possible.

Chinmoy stated: "We are all seekers, and our goal is the same: to achieve inner peace, light and joy, to become inseparably one with our Source, and to lead lives full of true satisfaction."

An integral element of Sri Chinmoy's teachings is the understanding of 'self-transcendence'. Self-transcendence is the practice of having a new goal and going beyond our previous capacities and limits which inevitably gives us joy. Self-transcendence is the goal of making progress in life by becoming a better human being rather than competing with the rest of the world. Chinmoy believed that we are unlimited in spirit.

Sri Chinmoy's philosophy he explains is the acceptance of life. By sharing goodwill and inspiration to others and serving mankind the world can be transformed and peace can be achieved.

He asked his disciples to adopt a vegetarian diet, abstain from recreational drugs including alcohol, and lead a pure and celibate lifestyle. Although influenced by Hinduism, his path catered to an international community of seekers from diverse backgrounds.

Sri Chinmoy taught a range of techniques for meditation, those for calming and bringing silence to the mind, purifying the thoughts of the mind and meditating on the spiritual heart. Chinmoy explains that by keeping your mind calm and quiet for ten or fifteen minutes, a new experience can begin to dawn within you and this practice of stilling the mind is the root of all spiritual progress.

Sri Chinmoy recommended meditation during the quiet atmosphere of the early morning, before starting daily activities. As the traditional hour of God, between three and four a.m., known as the Brahma Muhurta, may not suit the western lifestyle of keeping late hours, Sri Chinmoy recommended for those newer to meditation to ideally meditate before seven a.m. Sri Chinmoy taught that both prayer and meditation are important, but there is a difference in the result. Prayer is a process of rising up to God and speaking to Him, and meditation is a practice of stilling the mind so that the God-presence can envelop us and commune with us. He also taught that reading spiritual writings or singing profound songs was useful to prepare for meditation or to remain in a meditative mood after practicing meditation. Chinmoy believed that running and physical fitness were a help to the inner spiritual life as well as to the outer life of activity, and encouraged his followers to run daily. Sri Chinmoy regarded the benefits of running as keeping the body fit and clearing the mind; he felt it can also be a form of external meditation.

In 1970, Sri Chinmoy began giving twice-weekly non-denominational peace meditations at the United Nations for UN delegates, staff, and NGO representatives. In 1976, he stated, "The ideas of the United Nations are universal peace and universal brotherhood, and the ideals of the United Nations are a oneness-world-family and a oneness-heart."

After directing the peace meditations, which had been attended by many UN employees and diplomats, for 37 years, more than 700 UN officials, ambassadors, members of the U.S. Congress, and representatives of various religions, paid tributes to Chinmoy following his death during a posthumous celebration at the UN headquarters in New York. During the ceremony at the UN, Daw Aye Aye Thant, the daughter of former UN Secretary-General U Thant, said in her speech:

In a letter to Sri Chinmoy in April 1972, my father wrote, 'You have indeed instilled in the minds of hundreds of people here the moral and spiritual values which both of us cherish very dearly. I shall always cherish the memorable occasion of our meetings at the United Nations." ... I feel fortunate to have known Sri Chinmoy and to have been in his presence many times, and to have known many members of the Group.

An integral part of Sri Chinmoy's teaching is the respect for other paths and religions. Sri Chinmoy wrote:

True religion has a universal quality. It does not find fault with other religions. ... Forgiveness, compassion, tolerance, brotherhood and the feeling of oneness are the signs of a true religion.

Sri Chinmoy's efforts to promote inter-faith harmony resulted in him being invited to open the Parliament of the World's Religions in Chicago (1993) and Barcelona (2004) with a silent meditation. During the 2004 Opening Meditation, he said: "During my opening meditation I am praying for the oneness of all religions."

Sri Chinmoy said that although he was brought up in the Hindu tradition, he felt that his religion was the "Love of God".

Sri Chinmoy began painting in 1974 during a visit to Ottawa, Canada. He called his artwork "Jharna Kala", which in Bengali means "Fountain Art". Chinmoy's artwork is inspired by the themes of universal oneness and universal peace.

His abstract paintings are a mixture of acrylics and pen drawings. Sri Chinmoy used variety of sponges, brushes and colors to paint in a mystical style with vigour, strong movement and rhythm. Sri Chinmoy has said that when he paints he finds flow of creativity from the stillness of his meditation that allows him to follow an inner inspiration or 'streak of light' to follow.

In December 1991 Chinmoy started a new series of art-work entitled "Dream-Freedom-Peace-Birds" or 'Soul Birds'. The bird drawings are often simple zen like sketches that have either one bird or in some paintings hundreds of birds in one large drawing. The soul bird drawings, Sri Chinmoy stated, symbolize humanity's heart cry for freedom.

His art has been displayed in the UNESCO offices in Paris, London's Victoria and Albert Museum, the Mall Gallery in London, the Museum of Modern Art in St. Petersburg, John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, and the United Nations Headquarters.

According to his followers, Sri Chinmoy composed thousands of short musical compositions, written with lyrics primarily in Bengali and English. Many of these have been published online under a Creative Commons license at Sri Chinmoy Songs (lyrics and sheet music) and Radio Sri Chinmoy (audio). He released two albums in Jamaica on the Studio One subsidiary label Port-O-Jam. In 1976, Sri Chinmoy released a meditative album on Folkways Records entitled Music for Meditation.

Sri Chinmoy also gave hundreds of peace concerts, many of them free. He gave concerts in venues around the world, including London's Royal Albert Hall, New York's Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall, Tokyo's Nippon Budokan, the Eiffel Tower in Paris, and the Sydney Opera House. Sri Chinmoy played a number of different instruments at his concerts including the flute, esraj, piano, cello and other Eastern and Western instruments.

According to the Sri Chinmoy Centre, Sri Chinmoy published over 1,300 books including 120,000 poems. Many of these poems are aphorisms – a short but complete spiritual poem or verse, such as "We are all truly unlimited, if we only dare to try and have faith." Chinmoy also published some volumes of longer more classical style poetry. In 2001, Chinmoy recited his poetry at the United Nations, as part of a UN sponsored event of promoting "Dialogue Among Civilizations Through Poetry".

Sri Chinmoy's writing has been praised by many, including Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who wrote: "These sweet gems of wisdom written by my dear friend Sri Chinmoy are timeless truths full of encouragement, love and goodness. These chapters fill us with indomitable hope and enthusiasm for life."

In 1977 the Sri Chinmoy Marathon Team was founded; it holds running, swimming, and cycling events worldwide, from fun runs to ultramarathons. Its precursor was the 1976 Liberty Torch Run, a relay in which 33 runners marked America's bicentennial by covering 8,800 miles in 7 weeks through 50 states. This concept was expanded in 1987 to become the Sri Chinmoy Oneness-Home Peace Run. The Peace Run is generally held every two years, and the first was launched in April 1987 at the World Trade Center in New York City.

In 1985 Sri Chinmoy, with the then Mayor of Oxford, inaugurated the first "Sri Chinmoy Peace Mile", which is a measured mile in Cutteslowe Park, Oxford giving joggers something against which to measure their progress. There are now numerous "Peace Miles" around the world.

Many of Sri Chinmoy's followers run daily for health and physical fitness. Sri Chinmoy himself continued to enter races until his 60s when a knee injury hampered his ability to run; afterwards he turned his attention to tennis and weightlifting.

Sri Chinmoy also founded the Self-Transcendence 6- & 10-day Races, which run concurrently in Queens each April, and the Self-Transcendence 3100 Mile Race, described by The New York Times as the "Mount Everest of ultramarathons".

The Self-Transcendence Marathon is a marathon around the shores of Rockland Lake State Park, located in Congers, New York, north of New York City. Inaugurated in 2002, the event attracts around 900 international runners. The Marathon takes place in the last week of August.

Sri Chinmoy began weightlifting in 1985, at the age of 54. His weightlifting included an array of objects and machinery designed to challenge his strength and ability. His message to the public in his weightlifting endeavours was that anything is possible if one is able to put aside the limitations of the mind. Bill Pearl, former Mr. Universe, acted as Master of Ceremonies at many of Chinmoy's strength exhibitions. Introducing one of Chinmoy's weightlifting exhibitions in 1999, Bill Pearl wrote: "Today you are going to see some amazing feats of strength that I myself – and I have been in the industry for fifty-five years – would not even attempt to perform." Chinmoy said his motivation for lifting was to inspire others, especially those of an older generation.

In a program created in 1998 known as 'Lifting up the world with a Oneness Heart', Sri Chinmoy lifted well- known people while they stood on a platform overhead. Sri Chinmoy stated: 'I lift them up to show my appreciation for their achievements,' Among some of the 7000 people he lifted include: Nelson Mandela, Desmond Tutu, Muhammad Ali, Sting, Eddie Murphy, Susan Sarandon, Roberta Flack, Yoko Ono, Jeff Goldblum, Richard Gere, and Helen Hunt. Twenty Nobel laureates and a team of sumo wrestlers were also lifted.

In April 2011, a documentary film about Sri Chinmoy's weightlifting titled Challenging Impossibility was featured at the Tribeca Film Festival.

Terry Todd, a former powerlifter and latterly professor of kinesiology at the University of Texas, concluded that Sri Chinmoy misrepresented the type and weight of some of the lifts he claimed to have completed.

Visva Sama Duta, meaning "Ambassador of Universal Peace", title conferred by the Asgiriya Order of Buddhist Monks in 1990. The first non-Buddhist in Sri Lankan history to receive such an honorary degree.

Mahatma Gandhi Universal Harmony Award received jointly with Coretta Scott King, widow of Martin Luther King Jr., from the American branch of the Indian cultural institute Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan in 1994.

Fred Lebow Award, in the name of the founder of the New York City Marathon, presented by NYC Marathon Director Allan Steinfeld and Umberto Silvestri, President of the Rome Marathon in 1996.

Hindu of the Year (1997) and Hindu Renaissance Award presented by the international magazine Hinduism Today in 1997, honouring him for teaching a yoga which combines aspects of ancient Hinduism in a modern setting.

Pilgrim of Peace prize from the 'International Center of Assisi for Peace among Peoples' in 1998.