Sri Chinmoy:
The Peace Meditation at the United Nations

On the morning of his championship fight with Earnie Shavers on 29 September, Muhammad Ali met with Sri Chinmoy and members of the Meditation Group for an hour of prayer, meditation and discussion.

Sri Chinmoy garlanded the champion

and presented him with a trophy, saying, “A long with this is my heart. My heart is inside this. ”

Later, some thirty Meditation Group singers sang a song which Sri Chinmoy had composed in the fighter’s honour, and the group meditated together in silence for about twenty minutes.

Afterwards, Ali told Sri Chinmoy , “I was so deeply absorbed, I couldn’t do anything.”

As the group was leaving, he added, “This really got my spirits high . It might end in one round now. God bless you.”

Following is a short excerpt from the conversation.

Sri Chinmoy: Yesterday it was our strong desire to honour you at the United Nations. Unfortunately, you could not be at the United Nations.

We pray and meditate twice a week. On Tuesdays and Fridays we pray together with the delegates and staff. There I was going to offer you my deepest gratitude for what you are doing-not only for the black Muslims but also for mankind. You are changing the face and fat e of mankind. Your very name encourages and inspires. As soon as people
hear ‘Muhammad Ali.’ they are inspired. They get tremendous joy . They get such dynamism to be brave and face ignorance. Your very name does that. That’s why I am so grateful to you, so proud of you.

Muhammad Ali: My goal is to be like you one day- to be peaceful and out of this sport, working for humanity and for God. I was telling Jeremiah that after we finish boxing I want to learn how to get out of this life and use my popularity and my intelligence for humanity-to help people in whatever way I can. I don’t know how, but I want to do something-bring people together, work for God and help people. I know there is something I am supposed to do, but I don’t know really exactly what its purpose is ; but it’s something. There are so many people who are great; but only God, Allah, is really great. Therefore, I want to get out of this brashness, this image. We’ve got to stop that “I’m the greatest” thing and forget it. I am just a humble servant and I have a lot to learn . I need people like yourself to teach me what to say and what to do and how to approach certain things. So I don’t want to talk that “I am the greatest” attitude and preach it. Do you understand what I mean? I don’t want that.

Sri Chinmoy: You don’t have to say that you are the greatest, but your heart of oneness with all humanity makes you the greatest.

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The next day at the Meditation Group meeting at U.N. Headquarters Sri Chinmoy spoke about the meeting with Muhammad Ali. Sri Chinmoy referred to the two photographs of Muhammad Ali which had appeared in that morning’s New York Times. One photograph shows Ali and Sri Chinmoy meditating together the morning of the world championship fight with Earnie Shavers; the other photograph shows Ali in the ring with Shavers.

Sri Chinmoy: I wish to say a few words about the world-champion, Muhammad Ali. Yesterday was a most significant day both for the members of the Meditation Group and for the champion, Muhammad Ali (Pointing to the two photographs ) This is Muhammad Ali in his physical consciousness and this is Muhammad Ali in his soulful consciousness.

Each individual has two aspects: the physical aspect and the spiritual aspect. This moment he expresses himself or reveals his capacities through physical means; the next moment he expresses his reality’s divinity through spiritual means. In this picture we see Muhammad Ali in a devoted, soulful, cheerful and powerful consciousness. Right beside it is another picture which brings forward his other aspect: physical strength. We believe in evolution. From the stone life we go to the plant life, then to the animal life, then to the human life and finally to the divine life, where we are striving for perfection. From the physical and vital consciousness, slowly and steadily we have to evolve to the psyc hic consciousness, the supreme consciousness.

The physical, the vital, the mind and the heart are all members of the same family. They must be amalgamated; they must be illumined and perfected. What can achieve this perfection? It is our inner cry, our aspiration. And what carries the greatest
responsibility for elevating the consciousness of human beings all over the world ? What place carries the utmost responsibility for elevating, illumining, perfecting, and fulfilling the length and breadth of the world? The answer is the United ·Nations. The United Nations carries the heaviest burden of human problems and the United Nations is responsible for bringing light in to these problems.

Who is giving us the capacities, the inexhaustible capacities, that are needed to bring these qualities forward and illumine our imperfections?  It is the soul of he United Nations. The deeper reality in the United Nations is blessing us at every moment. If we think that we are glorifying the United Nations by working here, then we are making a mistake. It is the United Nations, the soul of the United Nations that has blessed us by giving us the golden opportunity to be of service to it.

Millions of people will see what we are doing. The heart of each individual who sees this picture in The New York Times will definitely feel that the United Nations is the only answer for humanity’s oneness and divinity’s satisfaction in human life, which is aspiring to be totally transformed and illumined. So this meeting with Muhammad Ali is a supreme achievement for the United Nations which each member of the United Nations can embody and treasure, and this achievement is nothing short of a supreme gift from the soul of the United Nations.

 

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