Kennedy: The Universal Heart – programme and concert – SUMMARY excerpts 1977 Nov

Filed under media coverage Text & Photos | Tributes and Expressions of appreciation

On 22 November 1977 the Meditation Group held a programme and concert in soulful remembrance of the late President of the United States, John F. Kennedy, marking fourteen years since the day of his assassination.

The programme, part of which was televised live by WNBC-TV, included tributes by Ambassador Kennedy of Ireland and Ambassador Rossides of Cyprus, as well as several songs about President Kennedy written by Sri Chinmoy.

 Brief SUMMARY excerpts from the speeches follow. They appeared in the 1977 Devoted Report tot he Secretary General.

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Sri Chinmoy: President Kennedy, prince of  high idealism, freedom incarnate, lover of humanity, distributor of God’s Light , dreamer of man’s oneness-family in God’s Existence-Reality, to you our gratitude-heart bows.

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H. E. Mr. Zenon Rossides, Permanent Representative of Cyprus: He was loved by the people because of his spiritual element – not because of what he did, but because of what he was, what his mind was. People feel when there is a spiritual element present, and they are attracted by it.

They are attracted and they have confidence because of it. The spirit in man is what gives value to the human being, a value that makes him different from other creatures on this planet. Kennedy was endowed with this spirituality.

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H. E. Dr. Eamonn Kennedy, Permanent Representative of Ireland: No one is really gone from us as long as his hopes live on in all our hearts. No one has really left us as long as the ideals he lived and worked for are shared by ordinary, decent people in every land. The hopes John F. Kennedy kindled for the deprived and the downtrodden, not only here but abroad, march on.

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Ms . Patricia Reilly, Representative of ACTION:  To thousands of people, particularly overseas, it will always be Kennedy’s Peace Corps. It has been called the living memorial to his memory, for through the Peace Corps he touched the lives of people in the developing world in a very personal way. They saw in the sponsor of the Peace Corps a man who empathised with their condition and did something tangible about it.

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Mr. Donald Keys, Registrar of Planetary Citizens: No such great person as John Kennedy leaves this world in such a way without the occurrence of something which we do not yet fully understand. Somehow what he was and what he is becomes universalised and, in a rarified essence, qualitatively becomes the property of us all . We are grateful for John Kennedy’s time among us. We are grateful that John Kennedy came. We are grateful for the heritage of John Fitzgerald Kennedy which lives among us .

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Mr. Jeff Kamen of WPIX-TV: I am here because I owe a great debt to John Fitzgerald Kennedy, like countless young Americans do. It really wasn’t until his inaugural address that it even occurred to me, as a person, that I owed something to someone other than myself. Somehow, while I was sitting there with those earphones on my head, taking in the President’s speech to excerpt it for transmission to the outside radio stations for which I worked, something triggered inside me-something good, something decent, something profound. Those are important times. With the Grace of God we all have those moments. John Kennedy gave me one, my first one.

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Statement received from Mrs. Lillian Carter: I’m really happy about that [the 22 November 1977 commemorative programme ]. I think it’s the greatest thing you can do-to pay tribute to the greatest President we’ve had so far-up to Jimmy.  I really think it’s a wonderful thing to do. You couldn’t have picked a better man to pay tribute to than Kennedy .

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Statement receiived from Senator Edward M. Kennedy: I appreciate very much your kind invitation to attend the special tribute to President Kennedy on November 22nd. Although I would like to join you this evening, previous commitments in Boston will make it impossible for me to accept. My family is deeply touched by your remembrance of President Kennedy. With best wishes and my thanks for the book of poetry by Sri Chinmoy.

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Statement received from His Eminence, Cardinal Terence J. Cooke, Archbishop of New Yo rk : All Americans recall John F. Kennedy as a man of peace and justice. His concern for minority Americans should prompt us to renew our own zeal for those of God’s family who are less fortunate. The Catholics of New York remember President Kennedy in their thoughts and pray that he may enjoy the eternal Peace which eludes us all on earth.

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Statement received from Ms. Betty Williams of Ireland (who was awarded the 19 76 Nobel Peace Prize with Ms . Mairead Corrigan) : Sorry I can’t be with you . It is no t because I don’t want to, but the pressure of work does not allow it. To all those who work for humanity I send my regards and a simple message: Love and Peace.

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The United Nations has a mind, a heart and a soul.

Its mind tries to offer flowing Peace.
Its heart tries to offer glowing Love.
Its soul tries to offer fulfilling Oneness. [*1]

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(President Kennedy and Secretary General U Thant at the UN – 1963 Sep 20 – UN Photo)

Reference Note:

[*1]  excerpt from talk “The Inner Message Of The United Nations“, by Sri Chinmoy in Dag Hammarskjold Auditorium on January 4, 1973. Talk appears  in, The Tears Of Nation-Hearts, Agni Press, 1974.

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