Oneness-World Peace-Blossoms: (f) Meditation at UN 25, Presidents GA, Ambassodors, Officials + others

Filed under Tributes and Expressions of appreciation | UN Anniversaries

Statements and tributes from the international community on the occasion of the
twenty-fifth anniversary of

Sri Chinmoy: The Peace Meditation at The United Nations.

This is Part (f) Statements by Presidents of the General Assembly, Ambassadors, Officials and other Participants.

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“Since meeting with you and becoming further familiar with your important creative initiatives in global peace, I have become deeply impressed with your work. As you know, the United Nations foremost values include preservation of world peace and stability, and peaceful resolution of conflicts. As such, I feel fortunate to know that you are labouring on goals that we at the United Nations hold so dear.”

Stoyan Ganev

President of the Forty-seventh Session of the United Nations General Assembly

and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Bulgaria

Shown at a meeting in his private offices on 5 October 1992

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“As I leave New York, I shall always cherish the memories of my association with you.”

Salim A. Salim

President of the Thirty-fourth Session of the United Nations General Assembly

and Permanent Representative of the United Republic of Tanzania

Shown receiving a Human Rights Award on 10 December 1979

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[On being awarded the Gandhi Peace Award, along with Sri Chinmoy ]

“ I accept this award, humbled that you have chosen me along with such an esteemed spiritual leader as Sri Chinmoy.”

Coretta Scott King

President, Martin Luther King, Jr. Center

for Nonviolent Social Change

28 October i 994

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“Your contributions and cooperation in achieving what the Charter of the United Nations asks us to do are most needed and welcome in our turbulent time.”

Vladimir Petrovsky

Director-General of the United Nations

Office al Geneva

15 June 1991

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“You are a great person. You are an artist, and your paintings convey many messages of our deepest spiritual nature, as do your poetry, your biographical sketches of the great men of your time, and your words of inspiration with which you encouraged the late President Ranasinghe Premadasa of my country, and even people with much greater responsibilities, like Mikhail Gorbachev. I know very well because they hold you very dear in their hearts for the inspiration you gave, the love you gave, and above all, for your being by them in the hours of their difficulties.

“You are one of the rarest gifts that humankind of the 20th century has. May I wish that your services would continue forever.”

Ananda Guruge

Ambassador of Sri Lanka to the United States

from a statement at the Parliament of the World’s Religions on 29 August 1993

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“At the United Nations we are continually striving to ensure international peace and security. It is this same ideal that Sri Chinmoy pursues in his own way. He is an ambassador of world peace.

“While international peace is primarily the concern of politicians, statesmen and diplomats, peace within us is of wider concern. It is of concern to us all. It is this-peace in the hearts and minds of human beings-that Sri Chinmoy seeks to encourage. Sri Chinmoy’s meditation sessions and other valuable services at the United Nations have inspired many to gain peace in their own lives. He has shown that peace begins in the human heart.”

Stanley Kalpage

Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the United Nations

Remarks as host of Sri Chinmoy’s Peace Concert

at the United Nations on 15 June 1994

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“ UN delegates and staff members should read the deep spiritual insights of the United Nations Guru, Sri Chinmoy. The young people who are looking to oriental sages and spiritual seers for enlightenment should also turn to him who has come from India to interpret the spiritual journey for the United Nations.”

Robert Muller

Chancellor, University for Peace

and former United Nations

Assistant Secretary-General

From his book My Testament to the UN, 1994

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“You have been our ambassador of peace and inner goodness for a quarter of a century. How fortunate we are to have you in our midst. Yet, you are truly a citizen of the world.”

Daniel P. Moynihan

Ul1ited States Senator from New York

From a letter dated 21 April 1989

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“ From ages past, from the Vedic vision of life, from Lord Buddha, to Christ, to Mahatma Gandhi in our own time, through many saints and savants, the twentieth century spirit of spirituality in man has been expressed. You personify that spirit in that great tradition. We are deeply indebted to you, and I am personally very grateful to you.”

L.M. Singhvi

High Commissioner of India

to the United Kingdom

28 October 1994

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“Sri Chinmoy is India’s silently eloquent cultural ambassador and a priceless gift to the West. I pay my reverential homage to one of the foremost, gentle, effective and life-transforming apostles of peace in the contemporary world.”

S. Ramakrishnan

Executive Secretary and Director-General

Bharatiya Vidya BiJavan

Excerpt from his foreword to the book Poems of Sri Chinmoy

24 March 1991

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“We have been very fortunate in the United Nations to have in our midst a man of peace like Chinmoy for almost a quarter of a century now. This man is one of the most remarkable human beings I have ever met, and I have met many remarkable human beings, I might say. You heard what he could do by way of music. He has that gift, the gift of introducing or inducing transcendental meditation amongst his listeners and his followers. For that we are truly blessed. Let us thank the Lord that it has been possible for us to have in our midst such a remarkable man as Sri Chinmoy.”

C V. Narasimhan

United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Chef de Cabinet to three Secretaries-General

From remarks as guest of honour at a Peace Concert at the United Nations on 6 December 1993

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“We are following with great admiration your hard work on behalf of the strengthening of peace and

the principles of freedom. “Dream-Freedom Peace-Birds” is another confirmation of your commitment to the greatest human ideals, which freedom and peace are. Let God bless you for the benefit of the whole mankind.”

Tudor Pantiru

Permanent Representative of Moldova to the United Nations

6 January 1994

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“What Sri Chinmoy is trying to establish is peace, and peace is the foundation for freedom. Without peace, freedom is always endangered. In Sanskrit or Bengali we have a word for freedom that is mukti. Mukti means not just political freedom but also spiritual freedom. Freedom that is limited to political freedom is incomplete or crippled; in fact, it is not freedom. To be free you have to achieve spiritual freedom.”

Jayaraj Acharya

Permanent Representative of Nepal to the United Nations

6 June 1993

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“Spending an evening with you is a rare privilege, a spiritually enriching experience. Not only will we not forget it, but I am sure it will nourish us for a long time.

Karel Kovanda

Permanent Representative of the Czech Republic to the United Nations

1 December 1993

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“You are bringing us calmness, happiness and faith in the world of kindness. I hope that the vision which you share will prevail in Russia.”

Aleksandr Razvin

Deputy Permanent Representative of the USSR to the United Nations

3 December 1991

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“We at the United Nations, the representatives of various countries, are deeply appreciative of the efforts that Sri Chinmoy and the Peace Meditation at the United Nations have been making, not only to bring about peace among nations, but also to bring about peace within individuals. I think that is a service which all of us very gratefully acknowledge. I wish Sri Chinmoy and all others in the Peace Meditation to be in a position to continue this very, very great work that they are doing here at the United Nations. Bangladesh is particularly proud of this work, since it is the country which is the birthplace of Sri Chinmoy.”

Anwarul Karim Chowdhury

Deputy Permanent Representative of Bangladesh to the United Nations

3 June 1986

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“Mahayogi Sri Chinmoy [is] the foremost mystic and spiritual poet of the 20th century. Sri Chinmoy has been tirelessly striving to create international peace and has been accepted as peace ambassador by the world community. Sri Chinmoy lives, breathes, teaches and meditates for peace and peace alone.”

P. Jayaraman

Executive Director, Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, USA

Introduction to Poems of Sri Chinmoy

a book with Dr. Jayaraman’s Hindi translations

27 August 1991

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Inscription in Andrew Young’s book, The Way Out of No Way:

“To Sri Chinmoy, Thanks for your spirit and leadership.”

Andrew Young

Co-chairman of the 1996 Olympics

and former Permanent Representative of the United States to the

United Nations

22 March 1995

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Inscription in Elliot Richardson’s book, The Creative Balance:

“To Sri Chinmoy-Artist, Musician, Thinker, Articulator of ideas, Communicator of insights-with the sincere admiration, respect and gratitude of a fellow laborer in the vineyard of peace,”

Elliot Richardson

United States Ambassador-at-Large

and Special Ambassador to the United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea

September 1978

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“Father had always cherished the time he spent with you, for he found in you love and tranquility. He shared with you the importance of morality and spirituality in this complex and troubled world, and he was always inspired by your humility and dedication for the enlightenment of the inner self.”

Aye Aye Myint-U

Daughter of United Nations Secretary-General U Thant

from a letter dated 15 January 1977

From: “Oneness-World Peace-Blossoms: Sri Chinmoy: The Peace Meditation at the United Nations 25th Anniversary” , printed in 1995.

(a) Contents and Alphabetical Name Index

(b) Statements by the Secretaries-General.. …………. 1
(c) Messages from the Vatican .……………………… 1 3

(d) Statements by recipients the U Thant Peace Award …. 1 7
(e) Statements by Government leaders ……………… 33
(f) Statements by Presidents of the General Assembly, Ambassadors, Officials and other participants …..

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