Reception at Jharna-Kala Gallery 26- DETAILS + PHOTOS

U.N. EVENING AT THE JHARNA-KALA GALLERY

On 26 September 1977 the Meditation Group at the United Nations hosted a concert and dinner for U. N. delegates and staff at the colourful Jharna-Kala Gallery exhibiting Sri Chinmoy’s paintings in the heart of Grand Central Station.

Before the concert, the artist presented Colonel Trimble, Chief of U. N. Security, with the newly published Salute to the United Nations Security and Safety Service, a compilation by the Meditation Group of informative talks and personal interviews with Security staff (profits to be donated to the Security Benevolent Fund) .

Sri Chinmoy also painted a special painting for Deputy Under-Secretary-General Robert Muller, and spoke with guests informally after the concert.

See Also a shorter excerpt of event: Reception at the Jharna-Kala Gallery for the UN Community -SUMMARY

Following are a few comments about the gallery and the evening by some of the guests.

Excerpt from a letter dated 28 September 1977:

Dear Sri Chinmoy,

I have learned a great new lesson of life during that evening, when I read the following in a pamphlet available at the exhibit: “The art of Sri Chinmoy has its genesis in meditation and it expresses his conviction that the highest spiritual truths can and must be concretely and convincingly offered to the world at large through every possible medium. ”

What a great lesson, a deep truth this is, so different from the concept of art developed In the West, specialized and not always related to the soul.

The book “Salute to the United Nations Security and Safety Service” is a great achievement. I am so glad that many cherished memories could thus be preserved and that happiness is given to the members of the Force who must be proud to show the book to their families and friends.

Endless thanks are due to you and to the devoted young people of the Meditation Group for all their efforts for the United Nations. Let us hope that many more will join our ranks.

With my warmest feelings of gratitude, Robert Muller

Sri Chinmoy paints for Deputy Under-Secretary General Mr. Robert Muller at the Jharna-Kala Gallery, New York (upper left). Sri Chinmoy dedicates the finished painting to Mr. Robert Muller (upper right)

Sri Chinmoy [presenting the U.N. Security tribute book to Col. Trimble]: You have been serving the United Nations for so many years. Your selfless service at the United Nations – what you have done and what you will do – will always be recorded within our gratitude-hearts. In our case we pray and meditate and then we try to manifest our prayer and meditation – in our own small way-through the same kind of selfless, dedicated service that you have been rendering to the United Nations.

Col. Trimble: Since the Meditation Group started on this project, I have been fortunate to talk to quite a number of members, and I am delighted with the quality of people that you have, how dedicated and devoted they are to the Meditation Group and to its ends. And I consider myself privileged to have worked with them.

Sri Chinmoy : I am extremely grateful to you for your encouragement. We are trying to be of service to the United Nations. The world is full of problems and the United Nations is the only answer to all these problems. It is our only hope, and our hope will one day be fulfilled. We feel that the United Nations is the Dream of God, the Supreme, so we are trying to serve the United Nations with our souls’ dedication.

Sri Chinmoy presents A Salute to the United Nations Security and Safety Service to Chief of U. N. Security} Colonel Trimble (photo by Lloyd Hart) .

Sri Chinmoy [To Mr. Roy Moyer] : I am so grateful that you have come tonight. My art is my very humble offering to the seekers. I am all admiration and gratitude for the service that you have been offering to the United Nations.

Mr. Roy Moyer of UNICEF Greeting Cards: I perform a very humble function.

Sri Chinmoy: On the contrary, you are serving the world at large. Each greeting card is like a new creation . T he world gets from you this new creation .

Mr. Roy Moyer : We have two very beautiful slides of yours, but being very greedy I thought perhaps I could entice you to maybe make something special for us, a series of greeting cards, something appropriate to celebrate the Festival of . Lights, a series on light.

Sri Chinmoy: I cannot do anything on my “Own. I did not paint these and I cannot do it. It is my Inner Pilot that acts through me according to my receptivity. If I can receive His Light, I will do it.

Sri Chinmoy with Mr. Roy Moyer, Chief of Art and Design, UNICEF Greeting Cards (photo by • Lloyd Hart ).

Mr. David Rowe, Political Advisor to the U. S. Mission, with Sri Chinmoy (photo by Richard Howard) .

Mr. David Rowe [commenting on a particular painting]: My favorites are the mauve coloured paintings. In this one the lines and the movement a re symbolic of the images that I associate with love : love is circular and this is the interlocking of circles which extends to brotherhood. T he painting is the colour of rest and quiet and reflection. [A bout another painting ] My reaction to red is not exactly positive. Red is energy and strength, in a way, but it also is symbolic of less controlled aspects of human energy. When I see it encased, it is controlled and I feel very reassured. 12