Celebrating 50 Years with 50 Talks

During his nearly four decades of service at United Nations Headquarters in New York, Sri Chinmoy offered many talks on meditation, spirituality and the inner and outer role of the United Nations. Following are just a few excerpts from his illumining lectures, which continue to offer great insight, wisdom and hope for a peaceful oneness-world.

This selection of 50 talks is presented in honour of the 50th anniversary of Sri Chinmoy: The Peace Meditation at the United Nations on 14 April 2020, and the 75th anniversary of the United Nations on 24 October 2020. The talks originally appeared in various books over the years, and were compiled under the title The Garland of Nation-Souls published in 1995.1 Online references from the original publications are listed at the end of each talk, for ease of reference to the orig- inal unabridged text. Some of the wording has been taken from the 1995 printed version, which will be available on SriChinmoyLibrary.com in the future.

 

 Talks Offered by Sri Chinmoy at the United Nations

 

Publications for the Fiftieth Anniversary of
Sri Chinmoy: The Peace Meditation at the United Nations

The Vision of the United Nations: A Oneness-World-Family*

PART 2 – 50 Talks offered by Sri Chinmoy at the UN

This publication is a companion volume to The Vision of the United Nations: A Oneness-World-Family, Part 1, which contains excerpts from 50 questions answered by Sri Chinmoy at the United Nations. The booklet was first printed in 2019 and reprinted in 2020, also in honour of the 50th anniversary of the Peace Meditation Group.

Author’s Preface

If we say that the United Nations is the result of the twentieth century awakening, then we are mistaken. The United Nations is the outgrowth of the inner awakening of human beings from time immemorial. It is the joint aspiration of the hoary past, the immediate past, the present and the fast-approaching future that will bring about the union of the world-soul and the world-goal. The human beings who are now here on earth can tangibly see and feel what the United Nations on the outer plane can do.

Each individual nation has aspiration of its own. Again, each individual nation has human beings who aspire for a better, more illumining and more fulfilling world. These seekers have expressed their aspiration in and through var- ious fields: spirituality, religion, philosophy, science, music, art, poetry and so forth. The United Nations is not only for the delegates and the representatives of the various nations. It is for all those who have aspired and do aspire and will always aspire.

Right now fear, doubt, conflict, tension and disharmony are reigning supreme. But 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 – you and your brothers and sisters. You and your oneness-heart will spread peace throughout the length and breadth of the world. Peace is unity. Peace is oneness, within and without.

– Sri Chinmoy

[From pages 4 and 28 of this publication]

 

Talks Offered at the United Nations……………………………………..pages 1-74

1. What Is the United Nations Really Doing for Humanity?…………….. 1
2. The World-Aim and the World-Goal……………………………………… 4
3. The Inner Message of the United Nations………………………………….. 5
4. The United Nations as an Instrument of Human Unification……….. 6
5. The Garland of Nation-Souls…………………………………………………… 7
6. The United Nations: Leader of the World-Family……………………… 8
7. Each Nation in Its Place Is Great……………………………………………. 10
8. The General Assembly……………………………………………………………. 11
9. No Nation Is Unwanted…………………………………………………………. 12
10. The United Nations Dedication…………………………………………… 13
11. Philosophy, Religion and Yoga……………………………………………. 14
12. The Inner Role of the United Nations, Part 1………………………….. 15
13. Tribute to Dag Hammarskjöld…………………………………………….. 19
14. U Thant: A Life of Humility and a Heart of Nobility………………. 21
15. The United Nations and World Union……………………………………. 22
16. Inner Flames at the United Nations…………………………………….. 24
17. The Inner Role of the United Nations, Part 2………………………….. 26
18. Peace: The United Nations Soulful Promise…………………………… 28
19. Inauguration Meditation, 14 April 1970……………………………… 29
20. Peace Is Our How Can We Have It?………………………… 30
21. Meditation……………………………………………………………………………… 31
22. Meditation: Discovery and Invention…………………………………. 34
23. Can Meditation Enhance Leadership?……………………………………. 36
24. Mediation and Meditation…………………………………………………… 38
25. Does Meditation Really Accomplish Anything?…………………….. 40

 

26. Experiencing Concentration and Meditation…………………………. 41
27. The Voice of Silence………………………………………………………………. 43
28. The Inner Call………………………………………………………………………… 45
29. Self-Giving and Happiness………………………………………………….. 46
30. The Right to Happiness: A Human Right?……………………………… 48
31. Spirituality: The Fount of World Peace…………………………………… 49
32. Spirituality: The Union of Vision and Aspiration…………………… 50
33. Is the Spiritual Life an Escape from Reality?…………………………… 51
34. Transcendence and Immanence………………………………………….. 52
35. Beyond the World of Reason…………………………………………………… 53
36. The Past, the Present and the Golden Future………………………….. 55
37. How Secure Are We?……………………………………………………………. 56
38. Simplicity, Sincerity and Purity…………………………………………… 57
39. The Face of Truth………………………………………………………………….. 59
40. The Court of Divine Justice………………………………………………….. 61
41. The Song Universal………………………………………………………………. 62
42. Human Art, Divine Art, Supreme Art……………………………………. 64
43. The Divine Mission……………………………………………………………….. 65
44. United Nations Day……………………………………………………………… 66
45. On a Birthday………………………………………………………………………… 67
46. Humanity’s Promise…………………………………………………………….. 68
47. The Answer to World-Despair…………………………………………….. 69
48. We Must Not Give Up!…………………………………………………………….. 70
49. They Say and We Say……………………………………………………………….. 71
50. To the End I Will Love the United Nations……………………………….. 72

Highlighted Excerpts…………………………………………………………………. 73

 

 

Selected Talks

 The talks appearing in this booklet have been condensed from the original. For ease of reference to the original unabridged text, references to the online versions are listed after each talk. The full text can be accessed on SriChinmoyLibrary.com by adding the abbreviated reference, e.g., /xx-##, provided at the end of each talk.

For PDF format of the 50th anniversary publication of 50 Selected Talks, open or download:

to add updated link

For JPG images of individual pages. click on Image page below

Cover and introduction pages

Page 1 to 10

Page 11 to 20

Page 21 to 30

Page 31 to 40

Page 41 to 50

Page 51 to 60

Page 61 to 70

Page 71 to 76 and Back Cover

 

 

Sri Chinmoy: The Peace Meditation at the United Nations

Celebrating 50 Years  14 April 1970 – 14 April 2020

About Sri Chinmoy: The Peace Meditation at the United Nations

Sri Chinmoy: The Peace Meditation at the United Nations is an association of UN delegates, staff, accredited press correspondents and NGO representatives that holds ongoing meditations and special programmes for peace at UN Headquarters in New York. The regular weekly meditation sessions on UN premises have a profound and significant history. Many participants continue to find in the meetings a silent respite, in a demanding work environment. Those holding valid UN grounds passes are welcome to join in these sessions, as well as our meditation classes and other programmes in support of the highest goals of the United Nations.

About Sri Chinmoy

Born in Bengal, India (now Bangladesh) in 1931, Sri Chinmoy came to New York in 1964 to dedicate himself to the cause of world peace. In 1970, at the invitation of UN Secretary-General U Thant, he began leading twice-weekly peace meditations for delegates and staff, much in the spirit of the minute of silence observed by the UN General Assembly at the opening and closing of each session. Until his passing in 2007, Sri Chinmoy offered his multifaceted inspiration to the UN Community through meditations, concerts, lectures, art exhibits and other programmes for peace. Members of the meditation group, known as Sri Chinmoy: The Peace Meditation at the United Nations, endeavour to continue these activities to this day. (They periodically also participate in activities held in cooperation with UN Member States, UN offices and community organizations that promote similar ideals.)

 

In addition to Sri Chinmoy’s service at the UN, he founded the international Sri Chinmoy Centre, a Non-Governmental Organization formally associated with the UN Department of Global Communications. Promoting a culture of peace,  this world-wide Centre strives to serve the world in accordance with his timeless teachings (for more information, please visit SriChinmoy.org).

 

 

Copyright ©2021 Sri Chinmoy Centre

All material in this book is available under a Creative Commons Works 3.0 License (non-commercial, with attribution, non-derivative).

We appreciate your quoting Sri Chinmoy’s words. Please do remember to acknowledge the author.

Front cover: Sri Chinmoy in front of the flags outside UN Headquarters in New York, 8 March 1977. Photo by Bhashwar Hart.

Inside back cover photo by Vijaya Claxton. Back cover photo by Ranjana K. Ghose.

Other photos by Sri Chinmoy Centre photographers, unless otherwise indicated.

Bird drawing on page x by Sri Chinmoy.

Printed at The Manifestation-Glow 84-71 Parsons Blvd.

Jamaica Hills, New York 11432 14 April 2020

 

For the unabridged version of these selected talks please visit SriChinmoyLibrary.com.

For more information please visit SriChinmoy.org.

For more information on the

weekly meditations and other activities please contact

Sri Chinmoy: The Peace Meditation at the United Nations

P.O. Box #4225 (Grand Central)

New York, NY 10163, USA

or

+ 1 347-558-6300 (for voice or text)

 

This information is presented as a service and does not necessarily represent

the official views of the United Nations or its Agencies.

March 2021 Reprint