A Meeting with the Secretary-General Waldheim – 1978 Oct 24 - Historical Repository for Sri Chinmoy: The Peace Meditation at the United Nations

A Meeting with the Secretary-General Waldheim – 1978 Oct 24

Filed under Significant events & meetings | Tributes and Expressions of appreciation

On 24 October 1978 Sri Chinmoy met privately with Secretary-General Waldheim to present him with a copy of his book, A Soulful Tribute to the Secretary-General: The Pilot Supreme of the United Nations.

Following is Sri Chinmoy’s account of their meeting.

I was standing at the door and Mr. Mayrhofer was behind me . He knocked at the door, although it was open. The Secretary-General was standing near his desk, sorting some papers. He came walking towards us and said, “Please come in.”

I gave him some flowers and he said, “How beautiful these flowers are !”

I said to him, “These flowers signify gratitude. I am offering you my heart of gratitude.”

We were standing together and I gave him a copy of my book about him. I showed him the inscription that I had written in it and he read it carefully:

____________________________________________________________

“Dear Secretary-General,

The Pilot Supreme of the U.N. Boat, I wish to offer you my heart’s prayerful and soulful gratitude for saving the Meditation Group from an imminent peril.

Our gratitude-hearts shall always treasure your unparalleled Compassion.

Yours in the Pilot Supreme, Sri Chinmoy
October 24, 1978″

_____________________________________________________________

“It was so thoughtful of you to write about me,” he said.

“I have already seen the book. It is very thoughtful and meaningful.

You have brought forward quite a few important things which I have been trying to place before the world.”

I said to him, “This is not a book. This is my soulful appreciation, admiration and adoration.”

“It is very kind of you to say so,” he replied.

At that point I gave him a plaque, which was inscribed with his portrait and two songs that I had written, the words for which came from his writings.

‘These are your words,” I told him, “and I have set tune to them.”

He was so moved; his face was beaming with joy.

“Was it done with a needle?” he asked.
“A special needle, ” I replied.
He asked , “Who has done it?”

I answered, “A student of mine who is a member of the Meditation Group.”

“I see ,” he said. “It is so beautiful, so beautifully done.”

Then he asked me to sit down.

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He continued, “As you know, we have many more members at the United Nations and, at the same time, we are having many more problems. But I feel that we are succeeding to a great extent, al though people are criticising us. They see our shortcomings; they do not want to see our achievements.”

I said, “It is so deplorable that the critics point out what you have not done, but they do not want to point out what you have already done, what you are doing and what you are going to do . You have achieved so much . They either try to minimise your achievements or ignore the very fact tha t you have achieved something momentous.”

“It is precisely so, ” he said. “I am sure you are well aware of the U.N. situation and you read my speeches. Every day we encounter problems. Sometimes they are very serious, but we try to
solve them in spite of our imperfections.”

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I said to him, “I deeply admire your recent bold stand on the U.S. aid proposal. The U.S. wanted to cut down its aid and wanted to know how you spent it. Your statement was that we didn’t want to be dictated to. If they gave, it was to be unconditional, without any ties. ”

“Exactly so,” he replied. “Anything we give has to be unconditional. The receiver must get full opportunity to use a gift in his own way. Otherwise, it is not a help, it is not charity. Somebody
needs help . That is why he asks me for it. And if I help him, then the help should be without any conditions.” [*1]

“I am so happy to hear that,” I said. “I am so happy that your bold and stoic heart did not surrender to their proposal.”

He said, ‘There are times when we can not make any compromise. Only we have to do what we feel is best.”
“It is absolutely true, ” I agreed .

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He continued, “The U.N. has a far sighted vision and no doubt we are imperfect instruments, but we are trying for perfection. The world has to bear with our imperfections; then the world has to see what we have done and not what we have not done.”

I said, “What you have done is infinitely more than what yo u have not done. There will always be some critics who, in spite of knowing well your tremendous achievements, will want to find fault with you. In a certain sense, critics strengthen us and encourage us to bring to the fore more of our capacities, determination and will. Then we get more capacity and opportunity to change their critical minds.”

“I strongly feel that we have succeeded more than we have failed,” he said.

“It is absolutely true,” I agreed. “The things that you have achieved far surpass the things that you have not already achieved.”

“Please do not use ‘you, you’,” he said. “I am only an instrument, a member of the United Nations.”

I said, “You are the Supreme Pilot of the U.N. Boat. It is you who embody the hope, promise, success and progress of the United Nations. Therefore, it is you who deserve all our appreciation, admiration and adoration.”

“Since there is a Boat, there has to be a boatman,” he replied . “Fortunately or unfortunately I happen to be the boatman.”

I said, “We are so happy and proud to have you as our boatman. The entire world, too, is extremely happy.”

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A secretary came and gave him a note saying that somebody else was waiting . He said, “Let him wait. I can spend a couple of minutes here.”

I said to him, “We observed U.N. Day today. Ambassador Rossides was there. He asked me to convey his greetings to you.”

“My dear friend Rossides?” he said . “Among your supporters, he is your best. I have always had high regard for him. Please tell him that I am sending him my greetings, too . Please tell the
members of your Meditation Group that I am very pleased with them. Their dedicated service to the United Nations I sincerely appreciate and I wish you all continuous success in your great and good endeavours.”

I said, “Once more I wish to offer you our most soulful gratitude for saving us and also for granting us the opportunity to offer you our yearly Devoted Report.”

Then he very affectionately shook hands with me and we parted.

Shraddha

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Shraddha

The United Nations is at once the body and the soul of God’s unique Vision.

Those of us who serve the body and the soul of God’s Vision will be blessed divinely, supremely, unreservedly and infinitely

– but only when we feel the necessity of seeing in ourselves a child’s heart, feeling in ourselves a child’s life.

The dreamer in us is a child. He dreams of God’s infinite Peace, Light and Bliss.

And today’s dream-life of his will tomorrow grow into reality – experience and reality-satisfaction. [*2]

Reference Notes:

[*1] These comments of the Secretary-General and Sri Chinmoy were in the context of ongoing discussions as to equitable and practical treatment of assessed contributions from member states. (i.e. Not a separate way to report expenditure to some countries but a transparent processing of contributions received from all countries.). Chapter IV, Article 17 of the Charter of the United Nations gives the General Assembly responsibility for approving the budget. In order to change the GA authority for the budget the Charter of the UN would need to be amended. The discussion begun in the early days of the UN’s continues on:

A. Scale for Assessing Member States’ Dues and Importance of ‘Capacity to Pay’ Principle;

B. Reporting on expenditures and audits.

After discussions” The regular budget of the United Nations is apportioned among Member States according to the scale of assessments approved by the General Assembly on the recommendation of the Committee on Contributions. The scale generally covers three years (list of symbols).” Before the end of the time period a new agreement is reached or it is decided to keep the existing formula for an extended period. As example of discussion see General Assembly document GA/AB/3998 of 03 Oct 2011. http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2011/gaab3998.doc.htm

Similarly there is agreement on the level of reporting and auditing that will take place of expenditures related to the assessed payments. The information is available to all contributors, for details see: UN Regular budget: http://www.un.org/depts/dhl/resguide/specrb.html#finan. This includes links for more on: Programme budget; Programme Performance; Financial statements; Auditors report and Scale of assessments

Addition reporting arrangements are sometimes established for voluntary contributions above the assessed amount that countries are required to give. for some background on “Core” and “Non-Core funding”) see also “Report of the Secretary-General” – Advanced Unedited Version (18 May 2011) – “Analysis of funding for operational activities for development of the United Nations system for 2009” http://www.un.org/en/ecosoc/docs/adv2011/11_draft_funding_report.pdf (put link to final when issued)

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[*2] Excerpt from talk “Simplicity, Sincerity And Purity, by Sri Chinmoy at United Nations Development Programme — Alcoa Building, 866 UN Plaza on 19 November 1974. Talk appears in,Union-Vision, Agni Press, 1975.