Sri Chinmoy:
The Peace Meditation at the United Nations

Diplomats and U.N. staff joined members of Sri Chinmoy Meditation at the United Nations in a celebration of U.N. Charter Day on 27 June 1979, in the Dag Hammarskjold Auditorium.

H.E. Dr. Jorge E. Illueca, Permanent Representative of Panama, and

Mr. Donald Keys, President of Planetary Citizens, offered some brief remarks, followed by readings about the Charter.

As a “thank you ” to Ambassador Illueca for his illumining talk and for his continued support of the Meditation Group,

the Peace Meditation choir performed a new song, “Panama,” composed by Sri Chinmoy, praising the  beauty and inner qualities of the country.

Below is a transcript of the programme.

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H.E. Dr. Jorge E. Illueca, Permanent Representative of Panama to the United Nations:

Revered Sri Chinmoy, ladies and gentlemen, there is 2 nothing more rewarding to our spirits than to join Sri Chinmoy Meditation at the United Nations to commemorate, in an atmosphere of peace, love and oneness, the 34th anniversary of the signing of the U.N. Charter in San Francisco on June 26, 1945. The United Nations was conceived as a peace-loving family of nations, dedicated to saving succeeding generations from the scourge of war.

That goal can only be achieved by creating the conditions of respect for fundamental human rights and promoting social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom. Sri Chinmoy, with his deep sense of universality, believes that inner reflection and meditation can bring us in touch with the founding spirit of the United Nations and inspire renewed dedication to its ideals. We realise through his teachings that, as stated by Ambassador Rikhi Jaipal of India,

“The most important human right is the right to be human.”

On this anniversary of the founding of the United Nations, we must reaffirm our faith in the principles and purposes of the Charter. The collective power of the United Nations as the best hope of mankind should be used to stop the armaments race and instead promote peace based on social and economic development of the human race.

To Sri Chinmoy, the United Nations Day signifies

“a day of universal hope, a day of universal promise, a day of universal peace and a day of universal oneness.”

We see the United Nations through his eyes as a church of mankind, dedicated to worshipping the aspirations of men, women and children of all races, nationalities and political and religious beliefs, for a better life.

The United Nations appears to us as a divine tool to fight hunger, poverty, oppression and injustice, so that every human being may have the chance to have full wealth, freedom and justice on this earth.

As such, the United Nations should become a sanctuary of moral and spiritual values as a better foundation of peace.

Thank you.

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Mr. Donald Keys, President, Planetary Citizens: Ambassador Illueca,

Sri Chinmoy, friends, a fulness-cry and oneness-sky is what the Charter of the United Nations is. The League of Nations was a half-cry, and in the Charter we have the first fulness -cry. The Charter, as we know, opens with the words, “We the peoples of the United Nations…,” giving recognition both to the precious uniqueness of the individual and the divine meaning of the oneness of the United Nations, giving recognition to the values which permeate t he Charter, but which may not be so explicit in it.The Charter is a document of planetary dimensions, seeking a new stage in human growth and unfoldment. It is also a document which is far from fulfilled in its implementation. Many aspects of it are still in early stages of development and elaboration. Some of the aspects have found elaboration in such universal documents of vast spiritual magnitude as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights or the Declaration on Friendly Relations among States. New elaborations of the Charter will be forthcoming from the Law of the Sea Conference.

The embryonic notations in the Charter about the economic and social responsibilities of the United Nations have been fulfilled far beyond anything that was glimpsed at its founding. The more difficult aspects of the Charter, having to do with the maintenance of international peace and security, with peace-making and peace-keeping, being the most difficult, have still to find their full measure of implementation in our world.

It is not by chance that we have had two lights of great spiritual magnitude as Secretaries-General of the United Nations. Dag Hammarskjold was the first, as we learn from his memoirs, Markings. It was not by chance that he brought to focus here a major symbol of planetary unity in the meditation room of the United Nations.

It was not by chance that a humble Buddhist, U Thant, served us so loyally also, until his death.

Nor is it by any means by chance that we have with us a spiritual mentor and teacher now at the United Nations, Sri Chinmoy.

The United Nations is the hope of the world. The Charter is its guiding document. It is the focus for the oneness and therefore, for the eventual spiritualisation of our human odyssey.

 

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PANAMA

Panama, Panama, Panama!

O heart-feeding panorama!

The world’s sleepless attention,

Your Panama-beauty’s perfection.

Small in body, large in heart,

To smash the pride of ignorance-dart.

For all, your Panama Canal-soul.

All long for its possession-goal.

–  Words and music  by Sri Chlnmoy.

 

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see pdf of report in Periodical Bulletin “Meditation at the UN” Aug 1980 (page-images 10 to 14)

scpmaun-1980-08-27-vol-08-n-08-aug-ocr-opt.pdf

(see also Gallery 2 for scanned Page-images 10 to 14 in JPG format)

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Note on: Charter of the United Nations

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Gallery 1: Photos from event

 

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Gallery 2: 

Scanned Page-images 10 to 14 in JPG format from “Meditation at the UN” Aug 1980