UN Community at Jharna Kala Gallery 11 Sep 1978

Filed under Art Exhibits | MG Members in other events | Tributes and Expressions of appreciation

1978-09sep-11-UN-Jharna-Kala-Gallery-Eliot-Richardson-USA-Amb-crp

On 11 September Sri Chinmoy met with Ambassador Elliot Richardson, United States Representative to the United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea. The two discussed their work at the United Nations and Sri Chinmoy presented Ambassador Richardson with an original Jharna-Kala painting. An excerpt from their conversation follows .

Sep 11 activities were part of events during the month of September 1978, when Sri Chinmoy Meditation at the United Nations hosted a number of receptions at the Jharna-Kala Art Gallery. The colourful exhibition of more than 2,000 paintings by Sri Chinmoy, were on display in NY City Grand Central Station from August until November.

Sri Chinmoy: The sea represents consciousness and vastness. It reminds us of our own Infinity which we embody within ourselves. In the inner life , we give utmost importance to consciousness, and we try to keep it as high as possible through prayer and meditation.

Ambassador Richardson: Those are very inspired words. I shall certainly remember them in my own efforts at the Conference. . . .
You express with great eloquence the universal spirit of the United Nations. Whatever may be its problems, it constitutes the best hope we have for creating a more peaceful world order.

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Afterwards, Ambassador Richardson sent Sri Chinmoy a copy of his book The Creative Balance, with the following inscription: “To Sri Chinmoy – Artist, Musician, Thinker, Articulator of ideas, Communicator of insights, with the sincere admiration, respect and gratitude of a fellow laborer in the vineyard of peace.”

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During the evening of 11 September the Meditation Group hosted a reception at the gallery for members of the United Nations community. The guests enjoyed a programme of vocal and instrumental music featuring the newly composed “Four Universals*,” a series of songs by Sri Chinmoy, followed by a delicious vegetarian buffet dinner. Below is a comment about Sri Chinmoy’s art by Ambassador Zenon Rossides of Cyprus.

Ambassador Rossides of Cyprus writing comment

“Most works of modern art are form without spirit. The artists just put the form up there. But here it is the spiritual element which is the source. Everything is run by the spirit, which has a different quality than is produced by the brain. These paintings are like poetry, not like prose, with musical balance. Balance is justice with peace. There is this balance with the colours and again the balance with the shapes. There is also a blending of colours that shows harmony.

“Sri Chinmoy’s art expresses his own vision. This is not something taught. It is the way progressive life goes. The blending of colours and balance which the art gives are spirituality.

‘There is an atmosphere in this gallery that keeps you happy. So it is the spirit in it and the spirit behind it which creates this atmosphere.”