Sri Chinmoy:
The Peace Meditation at the United Nations

On 5 April 1991, Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan, Head of the Sufi Order in the West,

received the U Thant Peace Award

in recognition of his efforts to bring about peace, harmony and religious understanding among all peoples.

Following are excerpts from the award ceremony, which took place at United Nations Headquarters.

Sri Chinmoy: My heart’s oneness-brother, I am supremely blessed by your most gracious presence here. My students, my friends and the members of the Peace Meditation at the United Nations are all being blessed by your divinity’s transcendental heights. In offering this award, we are being spiritually blessed and divinely honoured by you.

Sri Chinmoy presents the award, which reads: The Peace Meditation at the United Nations is deeply honoured to present the U Thant Peace Award to the Venerable Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan, Head of the Sufi Order in the West, for his:

• Lifetime devotion to the cause of world peace and unity;

• Exceptional and exemplary synthesis of the highest achievements of Eastern mysticism and Western intellectual pursuit;

• Sustained commitment to the integrated perfection of the individual;

• Encouragement of harmony through the creative arts·,

• Illumining manifestation of the message of oneness among the great world religions.

 

Pir Vilayat Khan: Sri Chinmoy, ladies and gentlemen, dear ones, I can’t tell you how very deeply moved I am by this token of friendship coming from the heart and from the soul of a very, very dear friend of mine. I must say that since I first set my gaze upon Sri Chinmoy, since that moment of encounter, he has always remained prevalent in my heart and soul. He has been a source of inspiration, especially during the trials of life. There are moments when one needs to be able to feel one has a friend somewhere who is sharing the same kind of responsibilities as one is oneself. That deeper friendship is much more than friendship. It is a real sharing at the soul level between those of us who are dedicated to conveying spiritual teaching to our fellow beings. It is so very deep that it is very difficult to describe.

My father Hazrat Inayat Khan said, “There is no friendship as great as that between people who are united in a spiritual ideal.” It is, I would say, the guarantee of world peace. The participation of the spiritual ideal in the social and political fields in the world has never been seen quite as clearly as it needs to be. The impact of religion upon people throughout the world is so considerable. I am not competent, of course, to speak about economic and political issues, but religion is something that goes deep into the heart of the people. When they feel that their leaders or those who have taken some responsibility in guiding their lives have found unity among themselves, then of course they will follow suit.

So we have to set the example. Therefore, whatever there is between Sri Chinmoy and me is so very important in its implications in the world today.

Of course, this is only possible amongst spiritual leaders who are really universal, and I consider Sri Chinmoy to have reached beyond frontiers of the particular “ism” or institution, and to have become a cosmic teacher . I feel the same thing with His Holiness the Dalai Lama, who always calls me “my cosmic spiritual brother. ”

Those are the deep interconnections that are going to germinate and reach further and further. Need I say just how difficult it is to establish a basis for peace in the world today? We must not underestimate, of course, the spiritual aspect. I am thinking again of a friend of mine who is both a Catholic priest and a Hindu, who said that to be a teacher in our time, one has to have one’s roots in one’s tradition and the branches of one’s tree reaching out and mingling with those of other beings. I think this is what is happening today. It is a great wonder that it is taking place at this time.

On the one hand , there is so much decadence and violence in the world, while on the other hand there seems to be a deeper unity taking place at some level. We hope that eventually it will have its repercussions.

I have had the great privilege of visiting some of the illumined souls in the world, particularly in India, in the Himalayas. I must say that the beauty and power of those beings is something so absolutely unique. Sometimes I used to wonder whether it is possible to develop those qualities living in the kind of world in which we live, until I heard again the words of my father, who said, “When I came to the West, I wanted to prove that one can develop spirituality in the middle of life. ” That is the challenge before us, the big responsibility: to live in the world, and at the same time never forget the Presence of God.

This is what I feel so strongly in Sri Chinmoy. I think the deep link between us is that God is always present. And that makes all the difference.

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Note: The U Thant Peace Award is a periodic presentation by the Peace Meditation Group to acknowledge and encourage work for peace. The late United Nations Secretary-General U Thant, a life-long practitioner of meditation, encouraged the early efforts of Sri Chinmoy and the Peace Meditation Group to bring forward the spiritual ideals upon which the United Nations was founded. The U Thant Peace Award is given in honour of this contemplative world leader’s exemplary devotion to peace, in both his personal and political life.

 

Later that month, on 30 April 1991, Pir Vilayat Khan returned to the UN to share some spiritual songs with Sri Chinmoy and members of the Peace Meditation Group during a meeting at the United Nations.

Link to Photos of 30 Apr 1991 and Gallery:

          Pir Vilayat Khan at UN shares spiritual songs Apr 1991

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Article appeared in : Meditation at the United Nations – 1992 Jan – Mar, Periodic Bulletin

Gallery:

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Gallery 2 RZ