Sri Chinmoy:
The Peace Meditation at the United Nations

Unlimited and unconditional is God’s Compassion. Thoughtful and fruitful is the dedication of the United Nations.

God’s Compassion is ignored by humanity. The dedication of the United Nations is quite often misunderstood and at times suspected by humanity. Why does this happen? It happens precisely because ignorance still lords it over us.

God’s Compassion is inner Protection unseen. God’s Protection is illumination visible everywhere. Dedication is the soul’s promise to God and to mankind. These promises the soul has made to humanity and to Divinity perhaps hundreds or thousands of years; but the promise the soul has made to humanity and to Divinity must be fulfilled.

The promise the soul has made to humanity is very simple: It will kindle the flame of aspiration in the heart of humanity. It will make the earth-consciousness a perfect instrument so that it can receive God’s Light from above in infinite measure. It will make the heart of earth feel Heaven’s Light, Heaven’s Delight and Heaven’s Existence. Finally, it will make of earth the divine clarion: Light, the Voice of Heaven.

The soul has also made a promise to Divinity that it will manifest God the Absolute, God the Omniscient, God the Omnipotent and God the Omnipresent on earth. The soul has promised God that, with the help of the physical, the vital and the mental-in short, with the help of the entire being-it will manifest Him here on earth. Here on earth the soul will offer the perfection of dedication to God.

Dedication is delight, the delight of the heart. When we dedicate ourselves to something or to someone, our very dedication expands our consciousness, and we feel that our inseparable oneness with God is something real and fulfilling. Each time we dedicate something of ours, we expand our love for God and our love for mankind. Our very reality, our earthbound reality, is then transformed into a heavenward journey.

Dedication to the Self is union. It is in union that life becomes meaningful and fruitful. A life without the feeling of union is confusion and frustration. Today’s dedication is bound to be transformed into tomorrow’s Perfection. When Perfection dawns we can foresee clearly all our divine wishes, we can feed all our divine aspiration and finally, we can fulfil all our divine needs. Human dedication has the key to open God’s Palace. God’s Compassion shows man where his infinite Treasure lies within himself.

A child of God was blessed with a vision. This child was our President Wilson. He had the vision of the League of Nations; now we see the United Nations.

There was once a tiny plant; now the plant has grown into a big banyan tree: the United Nations.

Needless to say, the world is still not perfect. Since the world is not perfect, the world opinion cannot be perfect. Since we are imperfect, we consciously or unconsciously, willingly or unwillingly, indulge in criticism, and we see too much conflict in our thoughts, ideas, plans, ideals and missions. There are many on earth who find fault with the activities and the dedicated services of the United Nations. But from the spiritual point of view, I wish to say that each action and each dedicated service is not a mere experiment, but an experience of God in and through the United Nations. Each nation may for its own reasons want to be united with the rest of the nations; but the United Nations means the usefulness of the united notions, united thoughts and united feelings, and the expansion of oneness. In the United Nations unity can be fulfilled through manifested multiplicity. This is what we see and feel in the heart of the United Nations. We have been seeing the desire for supremacy in man since the dawn of civilization. Each human being wants to be an inch higher than the rest; each human being wants to surpass the rest. But from the spiritual point of view, we can surpass only when we become one: one nation, one soul. One nation can surpass all the other nations only by becoming one with them in their suffering, in their joy and in their achievements. When we become one, we really surpass. What do we surpass? We surpass not only the capacity of our own achievements and of others’ achievements, but also the capacity of limited feelings. Real supremacy comes when we grow into vastness. If we become the vastness of Self, then who or what can be superior to us? From the spiritual point of view, the United Nations is struggling and striving for something meaningful and fruitful. What it needs, it has: the Divine Compassion. The Compassion of God has been unceasingly descending upon the United Nations.

It is not in vain or without any purpose that the United Nations has come into existence. God’s Vision has to be manifested here on earth. The suffering nations need a place for consolation; the sacrificing nations need a place for appreciation. Here in the United Nations we see the message of fulfilment. Now it is up to the world. The world, the sleeping, unaspiring, unawakened world is not yet receiving the Light of the United Nations. There are many things that the world could get from the dedication of the United Nations; but if the world is not receptive, it is not the fault of the United Nations. God is all Compassion, He is all-giving; but if we don’t want to receive His Light the way He wants to offer it, that is not His fault. The heart of this place is dedication, the soul of this place is concern, the body of this place is for the illumining expansion of human consciousness.

We sow the seed; the seed germinates. First we see a tiny plant, then we see a huge tree. When we go deep within, we see that a seed was sown here in the earth-consciousness, and that seed had boundless potentiality. God’s Light is here for humanity to receive on a practical level, in an earthly manner. God’s Light is here to illumine us. Consciously and unconsciously the world is receiving this Light from the United Nations; but the United Nations is not being recognized, and this fact is deplorable. The human beings who have become instruments to offer the Light that the soul of the United Nations has, may not be fully aware of what they are doing. When they see imperfections in others, when they see their limited capacity, at times they feel frustrated. But the Divine in each individual, in each delegate, in each representative from each individual nation, is all-wise. It has chosen the right place, the right instrument: the United Nations.

Here we meet, not for mere consolation when the world is in conflict, when two parties are at daggers drawn. No. Here we meet, not for mere justification, not for mere glorification, but for the feeling of universal oneness and for the manifestation of God’s Perfection on earth in a practical manner.

At the United Nations we see the oneness of mental philosophy and psychic religion. All philosophies and all religions are running towards the same Goal. Each religion teaches us to be nice, kind, honest and devoted. Philosophy teaches us how to see the Truth, and religion helps us in applying the Truth in our outer life. Here at the United Nations all major religions meet. Here the outer wealth of desire and the inner wealth of aspiration meet. Each one is offering its might. From the spiritual point of view, in the soul’s region, the contribution of each nation is sublime.

The United Nations is the chosen instrument of God. To be a chosen instrument of God means to be a divine messenger carrying the Banner of God’s inner Vision and Outer Manifestation.

One day the world will not only treasure and cherish the soul of the United Nations,

but also claim the soul of the United Nations as its very own with enormous pride,

for this soul is all-loving, all-nourishing and all-fulfilling.

– Sri Chinmoy, Dag Hammarskjöld Auditorium. United Nations, New York. March 2, 1972. Appears in The Garland Of Nation-Souls, Agni Press, 1972.