Sri Chinmoy
Born in East Bengal, India (now Bangladesh) in 1931, Sri Chinmoy spent his teens and early adulthood in a south Indian ashram, or spiritual community. For 20 years he prayed and meditated several hours a day, while also taking an active part in ashram life until an inner command brought him to the West in 1964.
Over the next four decades, he established more than 150 meditation Centres worldwide and served as spiritual guide to thousands of aspiring seekers. He taught a philosophy of continual self-transcendence, encouraging his students to combine inner spirituality with a dynamic outer lifestyle encompassing everything from dedicated service to sports, and dedicated himself to promoting global harmony.
Although Sri Chinmoy left the physical on October 11, 2007, at the age of seventy-six, his extraordinary life and consciousness continue to uplift and illumine spiritual seekers everywhere. His work continues through the worldwide Sri Chinmoy Centre.
Sri Chinmoy’s Service in the West
Sri Chinmoy sought to combine the spirituality of the East with the dynamism of the West, and show through his personal example how spirituality can be brought into every aspect of outer life. To this end, he made prolific and eye-opening contributions in the fields of literature, poetry, art, music and athletics.
World Peace Run
Founded by Sri Chinmoy, the World Peace Run is a grassroots initiative to promote greater understanding and friendship. As a symbol of harmony, runners carry a flaming torch, traveling through over 80 nations around the globe. More on World Peace Run
Kind Words from World Leaders
During his 43 years of service in the West, Sri Chinmoy met many world leaders and received many kind words of encouragement for his service to humanity. More Kind Words
Interfaith Activities
Sri Chinmoy dedicated his life to building bridges between different faiths. This stemmed from his belief that “Each religion is an unfailing path leading to the eternal truth and is a proper manifestation of that Truth.” More on Interfaith Activities
Sports
Sri Chinmoy was a keen sportsman since his early ashram days. In the later part of his life, Sri Chinmoy sought to pursue physical transcendence through weightlifting, showing that age is only in the mind and not in the heart. More on Sri Chinmoy’s sporting activities…
Music
To Sri Chinmoy, music and spirituality were inseparable. Sri Chinmoy composed thousands of songs and felt that through illumining music we can bring the qualities of the heart to the fore. During the course of his travels, Sri Chinmoy frequently offered free music concerts, himself performing on a number of musical instruments including esraj, flute, piano, harmonium and cello. These performances almost exclusively utilized his own musical compositions. More on songs and music of Sri Chinmoy…
Writings
Sri Chinmoy wrote on many aspects of the spiritual life. His most expressive medium was poetry, and he has written hundreds of thousands of haiku-like meditative aphorisms. Sri Chinmoy has also written essays, plays and talks. More on writings of Sri Chinmoy
Art
Sri Chinmoy has created a beautiful collection of spiritual art. He termed his art Jharna-Kala, meaning ‘Fountain-Art’, or art flowing from the inner Source that meditation enabled him to tap into. More on Sri Chinmoy’s art…
Humanitarian Aid
Sri Chinmoy was the founder of the Oneness – Heart Tears and Smiles Humanitarian programme. This is a humanitarian service coordinated by the international Sri Chinmoy Centre, connecting the lives and hearts of people in over 150 nations. More on Humanitarian Aid…
Interwoven throughout the tapestry of his creative life has always been a profound appreciation and reverence for world-unity, be it expressed through his millions of soul-bird drawings or his analogies to the inspiration-bird throughout his poetry, prose and music.
The theme is recurrent throughout all of his creative endeavours, be it through art, poetry, music, lecture, cultural performance, teaching meditation, sponsoring sporting events, or his many decades of dedication to the United Nations as a vehicle for harmony in the world. That theme is harmony, harmony within and harmony without. Harmony throughout a Oneness-World.
External Sites about Sri Chinmoy
Sri Chinmoy.org – Official complete Source about Sri Chinmoy
Sri Chinmoy Library – Online resource of Sri Chinmoy’s published books. There are currently over 1,100 books which can be searched
Sri Chinmoy Centre – Information from Sri Chinmoy Centres around the world
Yoga of Sri Chinmoy – Writings of Sri Chinmoy arranged into different categories.
Sri Chinmoy TV – Videos featuring activities of Sri Chinmoy and members of Sri Chinmoy Centres.
Life of Sri Chinmoy – Site presenting biographical sketches about Sri Chinmoy from early years in India to his later mission in the West. Also includes short stories by Sri Chinmoy recounting experiences in different aspects of his life.
Radio Sri Chinmoy – Meditative and spiritual music free to listen to and download