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In New York, there was 24 hours of continuous meditation on October 11, from 12 midnight to 12 midnight the next day, at Aspiration-Ground in Queens, the place where he meditated with his students and where his remains were laid to rest. Throughout the day, soulful music performances from groups from all around the world filled the air.

On October 13 there were two notable events - the Sri Chinmoy Heart-Garden Race took place in Flushing Meadows. The race takes place on the same track as the annual Self Transcendence Six and Ten Day Races and is named after the Sri Chinmoy Heart-Garden, which was inaugurated in 2006.

That evening there was also a Peace Concert - an event which sought to recreate the intensely meditative atmosphere of Sri Chinmoy's concerts.  It features rare footage taken from the almost 800 peace concerts that Sri Chinmoy performed around the world, interspersed with live performances of his songs by his students.

Related Links

• Tributes to Sri Chinmoy given upon his passing - at srichinmoy.org
• Photo of Sri Chinmoy by Shraddha Howard

The World Harmony Run seeks to unite people in a celebration of what we all have in common. The closing ceremony took place amidst a vibrant display in the main square by many community groups including dance, martial arts, and cultural groups. One of the most interesting displays was a giant rocking horse, where to make it rock you have to work in unison.

The ceremony ended with a release of balloons, symbolising everyone's hopes and dreams for a better world.

Related links

• Full story at worldharmonyrun.org, with lots of pictures!

The next event, a 12-Hour Cycling Relay, happened on August 5, 2012, in Sofia, Bulgaria, and was organized by Hrishikesh. Four participants totalled 366 km. The most successful participant was Radko Popinski who cycled 140km. On the same day there was another cycling event, The Self-Transcendence Triathlon on Divljan lake in Serbia, organized by the Sri Chinmoy Marathon Team Nish. Besides Serbian sportsmen, the event attracted quite a few participants from Bulgaria. A total of 19 athletes competed in two disciplines: the Olympian (1.5km/40km/10km) and sprint triathlon (0.7km/20km/5km). The winner in the Olympic category was Igor Jovanovic from Nish, Serbia; in the sprint category the winner was Branimir Djuricic from Jagodina, Serbia.

The fourth event was the 27-Hour Cycling Relay on 11/12 August, 2012. The main cycling took place in Zurich, Switzerland, from 7:00 am on 11th August until 10:00 am on 12th August. During the same 27 hours cyclists joined in Geneva, Basel, Winterthur, Baden, as well as in Subotica, Serbia. 42 participants achieved all together 1986.5 km, with the longest distance being absolved by Nikhad Pavlovic

(263.98km).

And finally a Cycling Week in October 2012 was dedicated to the 5th anniversary of Sri Chinmoy’s mahasamadhi. Cyclists could join any day and anywhere starting on October 5th and finishing at midnight, October 11th. Thirty-five cycling-lovers took part in seven different countries: Switzerland, Italy, USA, Germany, Bosnia & Hercegovina, Serbia and Bulgaria with a total distance of 1515 km.

Sri Chinmoy Completed in two 24 hour cycle races in the 1970s.

• Sri Chinmoy Cycling Challenge at Sri Chinmoy Races

An interesting and very encouraging development in the Sri Chinmoy Centre in Auckland, New Zealand, has been our growing involvement in offering free meditation workshops to large businesses and institutions – hospitals, banks, television studios, insurance companies, manufacturing warehouses, even beauty salons! An offer in our usual ‘Learn Meditation’ flier to provide an instructor who will introduce the ABCs of meditation and stress management ‘at your place of work’, and in any suitable lunchtime or morning session, is attracting a growing response.

In one Auckland medical centre I was asked by the director how they could maintain this new skill and incorporate meditation into the very stressful lives of their employees. I suggested, without much hope that this would happen, that they set aside a dedicated meditation room or ‘peace’ room and meet several times weekly. The suggestion was enthusiastically welcomed and I have since learnt that this program is now very much alive. I gave them some of Sri Chinmoy’s music, his main book on meditation and a clutch of my favorite incense – new friendships forged!

At an international beauty clinic where we gave a one hour lunchtime workshop, the fifteen women were so pleased with their feeling of an uncharacteristic inner peace that they presented me with a large box of beauty products! – hair restoratives (the only item of real interest!), expensive skin tonics,  a slew of shampoos and revitalizers. My popularity among the women members of our Centre shot up overnight when I distributed these the following day.

Last week I was invited to introduce meditation to a group of lawyers on the 35th floor of a corporate tower. We all enjoyed ourselves, we were all inspired!  Human beings have their fundamental spirituality in common, even where our choice of lifestyle or profession takes us into such divergent worlds of experience.

I like to remind people how special they are to even have an interest or curiosity in meditation – a very significant time in our evolution, as though the soul is stirring after a long time of forgetfulness.

I do like this outreach program very much – the consequences are immeasurable but profound, the ripples of positive change spreading out into time and space and  touching countless, multiplying lives with the perennial message of awakening.

By: Jogyata Dallas

• Meditation Auckland.co.nz

Among the performers were Agnikana's Group from Czech Republic, Mandu and Visuddhi Trummer from Austria, Pavaka Ritchot from Canada and a final performance conducted by Sahadeva Torpy from London.

Related links

• More photographs from concert
• Mongolian Sri Chinmoy Centre site

"In sports we need energy, strength and dynamism. When we meditate, we make our mind calm and quiet. If inside us there is peace, then we will derive tremendous strength from our inner life. That is to say, if I have a peaceful moment, even for one second, that peace will come to me as solid strength in my sports, whether I am running or jumping or throwing. That strength is almost indomitable strength, whereas if we are restless, we do not have strength like that." [1]

Sri Chinmoy himself was an active sportsman. In his early life, he was the decathlon champion of the ashram where he grew up. Later in life, he took up weightlifting - demonstrating that the power of meditation can help us to transcend our capacities.

The new compilation of writings by Sri Chinmoy includes a foreward by 3-time duathlon World Champion, Olivier Bernhard. He begins

The book is published by Goldenshore.de. It contains inspiring anecdotes with great athletes such as Carl Lewis (a long time friend of Sri Chinmoy) It also includes practical tips how you can improve your own sporting practise through incorporating techniques of concentration and meditation. There is also a section on self-transcendence for older people. With his weightlifting, Sri Chinmoy wished to show that age need not be a barrier.

"There is no age limit. When we pray and meditate, we go far beyond the domain of the mind, the physical mind that doubts our capacities." (p.174, Sport and Meditation)

[1] Sri Chinmoy, Run And Smile, Smile And Run, Agni Press, 2000.

Sri Ramakrishna (Thakur) is one of the greatest spiritual figures of modern times. He taught the essential unity of all religions - illustrating, though his own sadhana, that each religion could take you to God.

Swami Vivekananda (Naren) become the living embodiment of Sri Ramakrishna's vision. In 1893, he travelled to America and captivated the audience at his address of the World Parliament of Religions, in Chicago.

THAKUR (to himself) : The synthesis of all religions, the union of East and West, self-dedication, self-sacrifice: these are all big, big words, big theories, big ideas, big ideals. But where are they, Mother? Mother, you are talking to me about all these things. These are such high ideals. But where are your dedicated soldiers? Mother, you never tell me lies. Where are they? Where are your chosen children? O chosen children of my Mother Kali, my heart is crying for you. Come. Come. Do Mother’s work. You have to fulfil the Mother. You have to manifest the Mother on earth.

Excerpt from Play

THAKUR (Sri Ramakrishna) (with all affection and love) : Ah, Naren, you have come. You have come to me after such a long time. I have been talking to worldly people for so long. I have become practically deaf from hearing the complaints and unaspiring chatter of ordinary people. People are throwing all their worldly desires into me. Now I have nobody I can speak to about my inner life. I have nobody to tell what is going on in my heart. Naren, tell me, when are you going to come again?

NAREN (Swami Vivekananda): The moment I get an opportunity I will be back again. Why do you think of me so much? Why do you speak to others all the time about Naren, Naren, Naren? Don’t you know the story in the Puranas about King Bharata who always thought of his deer? Then, in the following incarnation, he became a deer.

THAKUR: You are right. But what can I do? I can’t keep my mind away from you. All the time I think of you. When I don’t see you I feel miserable. (Closes his eyes and speaks to Mother Kali.) Mother, listen to what Naren is telling me. (After a few moments he opens his eyes and speaks to Naren.) I will not listen to you. You are not saying the right thing. Mother says that I see you as Narayan, I see you as the incarnation of God. The day I don t see you as the incarnation of God, I will not even look at your face.

NAREN: If that is true, then why have you ignored me for such a long time? I have come to you and you have avoided me, ignored me mercilessly. You have shown me such contempt the past few times.

THAKUR: Mother, Mother, listen to this fellow! (To Naren.) Can I avoid you? Can I ignore you? Can I show contempt to you? Impossible! You do not know; you cannot fathom my inner workings Naren, tell me one thing. Granted, I have not been nice to you. I have been very unkind, very rude to you. So why do you keep coming to me?

NAREN: I come here to listen to you. I adore you. I worship you. I want to see you, Thakur, even if you are unkind to me. I love your presence. I love your meditative mood. I love your trance. I love everything you do because I love you.

THAKUR: My son, I have been testing you. I wanted to see what would happen if I didn’t show you affection and love—whether you would stay with me or not. It is only you who can bear such indifference and contempt from me. Had it been somebody else, he would not have come to my place anymore. Nobody else would have stayed with me. Whoever got that kind of treatment from me would have hated me to the end of his life.

NAREN: It is all due to your compassion, to your love, that I stayed. You know that my anger is of the quickest. But you gave me shelter in your heart. You brought me into your soul and made me your true son.

• Photos from the play (in Czech)
• Drink, Drink My Mother's Nectar at Sri Chinmoy Library

Ten MEPs (Members of European Parliament) from Ireland, Finland, Estonia, Slovenia, Luxemburg, Austria and Denmark participated in the program which took place inside the Parliament building. The MEPs held the Peace Torch and gave glowing speeches praising the initiative of running for peace. The ceremony was hosted by Angelika Werthmann, MEP from Austria.

One MEP told the runners, "You are the living embodiment of the motto of the European Parliament, 'unity in diversity'." It was the sixth visit of the World Harmony Run to the European Parliament since 2006.

A photo exhibition with photographs from the Run in Europe was presented together with the ceremony. The photo's will be displayed in the European Parliament for the rest of the year.

The concert, which was free for members of the public, was part of the 81st birthday celebrations for Sri Chinmoy. Over 1,000 people visited New York from all other the world to take part in events of meditation, music and sport.

photos: Jaitra

This recording includes every 1,000th song from the first song (Tamasa Rate Nayan Pate)  to the 13,000th  song  (Shakpura Shakpura).

Sri Chinmoy writes that soulful singing can significantly help a seeker to go deep within.

But when we want to get something very, very deep, something that will help us to climb up high, higher, highest, soulful singing is the right thing.

Many, many times I have seen that when people sing very prayerfully and soulfully—not the songs that are fast and lively and give joy to our vital—but songs like Jiban debata or Bhulite diyona, Mother-Earth or the soul of that particular place receives light. Afterwards, that light spreads like a fountain from any part of the world where people are singing soulfully.

My Heart - Melody

For the 3100 mile race, Grahak averaged 71.363 miles /114.848 kilometers per day. He becomes the third man in history to average over 70 miles for the duration of the race. The 35 year old has run the race four times now, with each one faster than his previous effort.

Grahak at 2000 miles

photo Jowan

Grahak with Sri Chinmoy, the founder of the race, in the 2007 edition.

• Grahak's blog - an insight into the pain and experiences of the race
• Blog post at Perfection Journey.org
• 3100 Mile Race results at Sri Chinmoy Races

World Harmony RunnersWorld Harmony Runners light the peace flames.A Moment's Peace.

To inaugurate this project, many special guests came to offer their good will and aspirations for creating a peaceful world. Present at the ceremony were several mayors of London Boroughs and many former Olympians who came to take part in this unique event.

The theme of this project was passing on the baton of peace from generation to generation. The ceremony honoured the lives of great peace dreamers of our time, including Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Nelson Mandela, Dr Martin Luther King Jr, Jesse Owens, Muhammad Ali, and Sri Chinmoy.

The special guests included.

Dr Bernice A.King - CEO of the King Center and daughter of Dr Martin Luther King Jr and Coretta Scott King

Reverend Mpho A Tutu - Founder and Executive Director of the Tutu Institute for Prayer & Pilgrimage and daughter of Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

Khaliah Ali - Philanthropist and daughter of Muhammad Ali

Marlene Owens Ranking - Managing Director of the Jesse Owens Foundation and daughter of Olympic legend Jesse Owens

Sibongile Mkhabela - CEO 0f the Nelson Mandela Children's Fund.

All the speakers offered heart felt words on their common aspiration for creating a better and more peaceful world.

The statue was offered to the City of London from three former Olympians - Carl Lewis,  Tegla Loroupe and Tatyana Lebedeva.

Other Guest speakers included Bob Beamon, CEO of the Art of the Olympians Foundation, and immortal Long Jump record holder

Dr Davidson Hepburn, President of the General Conference of UNESCO, and Eric Petersen, public speaker and author of Light and Liberty.

As well as speeches, the ceremony also included musical performances by the London Youth Gospel Choir, The City Academy, Hackney and Boris Purushottama Grebenshikov.

The ceremony also marked the opening of a Jharna Kala Art Exhibition - a display of Sri Chinmoy's art at University College London.

Photos: Ashish Zubaty

• A Moment's Peace 2012
• Student of Peace - about Sri Chinmoy and his peace activities

Footnotes

[1] Sri Chinmoy, The Garland of Nation-Souls, p10 New York: Agni Press, 1974

Ashrita busy at breaking one of his 100+ Guinness Book records

Legendary marathon runner Ron Hill paid a special visit to the London shop to congratulate the staff with their anniversary. "Run & Become" also received special accolades from Barefoot Ted, the barefoot runner made famous by his appearance in Christopher McDougall's bestseller 'Born to Run'.

Ron Hill poses with Run & Become owners Shankara and Dipika

"I can tell you with great confidence that the exuberance and aura of good energy that I feel around the people of Run and Become is something I haven't forgotten and am thankful to have had the opportunity to be exposed to." -Barefoot Ted

Ashrita and Barefoot Ted met and inspired each other by swapping record ideas. Ashrita says he is able to break world records by using prayer, meditation and visualization.

Ashrita (left) and Barefoot Ted

Yannis Kouros competing in the 12 Hour Race

Dutch ultrarunner Jos Akkermans broke the Dutch national record in his age category (over 60) by logging 177.186 kilometres in the 24 hour race.

Jos Akkermans on his way to a new Dutch record

Another ultrarunning legend, Madhupran Wolfgang Schwerk, world-record holder of the 3100 Mile Race (the longest certified race in the world) just missed the world record in the 100 miles during the 24 hour race. He completed the 24 hours by running 204.76 kilometres, placing second.

Madhupran Wolfgang Schwerk in the 24 Hour Race

• 12 and 24 hour Berlin Self-transcendence race at Sri Chinmoy Races (in German)

"I have the deepest admiration for those who participate in triathlons. Swimming reminds us of our spiritual life. Right now we are swimming in the sea of ignorance, but we are praying to our Beloved Supreme and meditating on Him to be able to swim in the sea of Light and Delight. When we are running, we are reminded of our birthless and deathless journey along Eternity's Road. Then, while we are cycling, we are reminding ourselves of evolution, of how the world is evolving in cycles" (

-Sri Chinmoy [Q. on Triathlons]

• UK Triathlon at Sri Chinmoy Races

In this universal spirit of religion, Sri Chinmoy wrote that:

I am deeply proud to be here at the Universalist Church, for my heart voices forth the truth that the religion which is universal is the core of all religions, and the realisation of the universal religion is not the monopoly of any particular man. Any individual, irrespective of caste, creed and nationality, can have the realisation of this universal religion if he has dynamic imagination, creative inspiration and fulfilling aspiration to assimilate the spirit of all religions. (Yoga and the Spiritual Life)

These talks touch on the mysteries of the spiritual life and present a clear and inspiring goal for seekers to follow.

Excerpt from Talk on 'Satistfaction'

Like us, the soul also deals with life. In the case of the soul, there is the universal life and the transcendental Life. When the soul-bird comes down into the world-arena, it spreads its wings and becomes inseparably one with the universal life. At the end of its earthly sojourn, when the soul returns to its own region, it enters into the transcendental Life. Life is nothing short of God's Dream, and this Dream is birthless and deathless. This birthless and deathless Dream God fulfils in and through His all-embracing and all-fulfilling reality: man.

- Satisfaction, from Everest-Aspiration, Part 1

"Meditation and music cannot be separated. When we cry from the inmost recesses of our heart for Peace, Light and Bliss, that is the best type of meditation. We cannot meditate twenty-four hours a day, but we can meditate, say, for two hours a day. Then we can play music or we can listen to music for a couple of hours a day. Next to meditation is music. But it has to be soulful music, the music that stirs and elevates our aspiring consciousness. When we play soulful music, psychic music, then immediately we are transported to the highest realm of consciousness. When we play music soulfully, we go high, higher, highest."

Sri Chinmoy, God The Supreme Musician, Agni Press, 1976.

The mantras were recorded by British music group Ananda

• Meditation Mantras

The runners cover the 3100 Mile distance by running around a small loop of less than one mile. The athletes run continuously for up to 18 hours a day from the start of the race, to the finish 52 days later.

Video of Interviews with Runners

"We do it to push our own limits, to realize that we can do more ourselves and help to inspire others to do more, to realize they have more within themselves they can achieve,”

Bipin Larkin, the race director.

Spirit of A Runner

During the 2008 edition, filmmaker Jessie Beers-Altman, made an in-depth documentary about the 3100 Mile Race. The video follows  13-time finisher Suprabha Beckjord as she sought to complete the 2008 edition of the race. Spirit of a Runner challenges our definition of possibility, as it explores the enduring capacity of the human heart. Watch online at 3100 Mile Race

• The Race on ABC News
• Latest Results of race