Latest news and features

Songs of the Soul - a concert dedicated to Maestro Sri Chinmoy

On August 25th, a variety of illustrious performers offered a concert of music dedicated to the musical spirit of Sri Chinmoy.

The concert featured music from:

A study by Stanford University Medical Center found that elderly joggers were half as likely to die prematurely from conditions like cancer than non-runners. They also found that runners were more likely to lead healthy lifestyles and suffer less disabilities.

According to lead author Professor James Fries:

If you had to pick one thing to make people healthier as they age, it would be aerobic exercise

Asprihanal Aalto, from Finland won the 2008 3100 mile Self Transcendence Race. Finishing in a time of 44 days 2 hours 42 minutes and 15 seconds. This was his 5th victory and 8th time of finishing.

5 other runners have also finished including:

Pranab Vladovic, Grahak Cunningham,Pranjal Milovnik, Smarana Puntigam and Petr Spacil

In the next few days other runners are expected to finish.

Temple Song Hearts are an international group of musicians who perform the music of Sri Chinmoy. Founded in 1998, they have offered concerts in many cities throughout Europe.

You can visit their new website here - Temple Song Hearts

Sri Chinmoy lifting pyramid of 15 men

June 26 was the 23rd Anniversary of the beginning of Sri Chinmoy's serious weight lifting and the 20th Anniversary of the `Lifting Up The World' program. There was a function in New York to commemorate this significant anniversary.

Arpan kindly wrote a function report, which you can read here - Weightlifting anniversary

Hitaloka performing

An all-night celebration of the life of Sri Chinmoy at the Hidden Gardens in Glasgow.

On the longest day of the year, the Sri Chinmoy Centres in Great Britain celebrated the life of Sri Chinmoy in a festival of readings, musical performances and a puppet show about incidents in the life of Akbar and Birbal.

The event was organised by Adarsha and friends and was held at the beautiful location of the Hidden Gardens, in the heart of Glasgow.  Janaka Alan Spence, started the program with a beautiful introduction and recitation of Sri Chinmoy's poems.

Ananda performing

Other groups performed including Hitaloka, Ananda and Shindu. Despite the unfavourable weather, many also stayed up all night singing bhajans to welcome the dawn on the shortest night of the year.

The 2008 edition of the 3100 Mile Self Transcendence Race is underway in Queens, New York. This year 14 runners began the epic race.

After 11 days, all runners have now passed the 600 mile mark. You can follow the Mileage at - Race Results 2008

The current leader of the race is Asprihanal Aalto who has completed 779 miles

Follow the race at the 3100 Mile Blog

• 3100 Mile Site
• Photo Race Gallery
• Videos of Race by Utpal

"O Supreme, my Father-Son,

Now that we two are one

And won by each other won,

Nothing remains undone."

- Sri Chinmoy

Excerpt from: My Flute

Father's Day (June 15th) was celebrated in different Sri Chinmoy Centres around the world.

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On April 27th, the Australian World Harmony Run team began an epic journey around the entire coast of Australia. The World Harmony Run team from 16 different countries will be running in relay more than 15,000 km in over 100 days. They plan to finish by mid-August. You can follow the Australian harmony run here:

Australian Harmony Run team meeting with local schoolchildren

The team have met with a wide range of people and stunning scenery along the way. People from all walks of life have joined in supporting the message of the Run - to promote harmony and friendship amongst people.

Meeting the local mayor

Oneness Heart Tears and Smiles is a humanitarian programme founded by Sri Chinmoy. To date, it has distributed humanitarian aid to nearly 150 countries around the world. There is now a new website, which in the future, will host recent programmes and initiatives.

To Sri Chinmoy charitable and humanitarian projects were always an expression of a oneness heart which seeks to identify with others.

“With our loving hearts, we identify and become one with what others are. This power that loves can solve world problems. This power is full of self-giving, not with a sense of sacrifice, but with the feeling of serving all humanity as our own brothers and sisters. Through both our loving silence and devoted service, we contribute to the betterment of the entire world.”

Songs of The Soul Concert, April 15th 2008.

Songs of the Soul was a concert dedicated to inspired interpretations of the music of Maestro Sri Chinmoy. The evening of soulful music included sets from Philip Glass, Roberta Flack, Steve Gorn, Samir Chatterjee and many others

Songs of The Soul Concert

The Sri Chinmoy Centre choir performing.

Inspiration Sun is a new monthly magazine produced by the Sri Chinmoy Centre. - 'Worldwide News and Inspirations from the Sri Chinmoy Centre' There is a diverse range of articles from interviews with long standing students of Sri Chinmoy, to a humorous look on life.

The editor in chief is Projjwal. He has a team of helpers including: Layout and design: Martin Leitner (Austria), Copy Editor:Drubha Hein (USA)

If you went to the recent Boris Purushottama Grebenshikov Concert at the Royal Albert Hall, you are welcome to leave a message here

Recently, we published some photos and review of the concert here

Boris Purushottama Grebenshikov and members of the International Orchestra.

In 2007, Sri Chinmoy wanted to offer his dear friend Boris Purushottama Grebenshikov the opportunity to play at the Royal Albert Hall. Organised by the UK Sri Chinmoy Centres the concert was a great success and, with the encouragement of Sri Chinmoy, a repeat concert was scheduled for 2008.

Since Sri Chinmoy's mahasamadhi in October 2007, Purushottama, wished to dedicate this year's concert to his dear friend and teacher - Sri Chinmoy

For this years concert, Boris Purushottama Grebenshikov, was joined by a range of international music stars including: Flautist Brian Finnegan, bodhrán player John Joe Kelly, Sitar player Sheema Mukherjee, and Sarangi player Maria Pomianowska. (See: listing of musicians)

The musicians kindly gave up a big chunk of their time to come together and perform this special concert. Very few of the musicians had played together before; but, they were able to achieve a remarkable degree of musical harmony and intuition in the short space of 2 weeks they had to practice. Even more remarkable was how well the divergent musical styles and traditions merged together, giving a unique performance. The musical styles varied from the classical Indian tradition of Arpan Patel's harmonium and singing, to the Irish folk music of Brian Finnigan.

Mount Snowdon, the tallest mountain in Wales, was dedicated as a peace blossom mountain in a ceremony coinciding with the arrival of the World Harmony Run.

The runners were met at the bottom of Mount Snowdon by Mrs Owen of Gwynedd County Council, and Lord Elis Thomas the presiding officer of the Welsh Parliament. The runners then set off up the slopes of Mount Snowdon with others following in a train. There was a light hearted race with the runners trying to beat the train to the top ( which they succeeded in doing)

View from the Top of the Mount Snowdon

On a recent visit to Europe, Ashrita succeeded in breaking two Guinness World Records, despite gaining 7 pounds, (courtesy of Italian ice cream.)

Ashrita's first record was for the most jumps on a pogo stick in one minute. Ashrita  managed to break the record, completing 256 valid jumps in one minute, adding an extra 12 jumps to the previous record of 234. (This works out at over 4 jumps per second). The record was set to the backdrop of the famous coliseum in Rome.