Sri Chinmoy

Sri Chinmoy, born Chinmoy Kumar Ghose on 27 August 1931 in Shakpura, in the Chittagong District of East Bengal, British India, was an Indian spiritual leader who taught meditation in the United States after moving to New York City in 1964. He became known as a teacher of prayer and meditation, an author, poet, artist, musician, and organizer of public events centered on inner peace. From a first meditation center in Queens, New York, his work grew to include seven thousand students in 60 countries.

His early life was marked by loss and discipline. The youngest of seven children, he lost his father to illness in 1943 and his mother a few months later. He began meditating at age 11, and in 1944 joined his brothers and sisters at the Sri Aurobindo Ashram in Pondicherry. There, over the next 20 years, he practiced meditation, studied Bengali and English literature, took part in athletics, and worked in the ashram’s cottage industries. His brother Chitta gave him the name Chinmoy, meaning “full of divine consciousness.” Chinmoy later said he served for about eight years as personal secretary to Nolini Kanta Gupta, the ashram’s General Secretary, and translated Gupta’s writings from Bengali into English.

In 1964, Sri Chinmoy said he moved to the United States in response to a “message from within” to serve people in the West seeking spiritual fulfillment. With help from American sponsors connected with the Sri Aurobindo Ashram, he emigrated to New York City and found work as a junior clerk at the Indian consulate. Encouraged by colleagues and superiors, he began giving talks on Hinduism, first at universities and later at the United Nations. In 1974, he lectured in all 50 states at 50 universities; those talks were published as the six-part series 50 Freedom-Boats to One Golden Shore. His later university lectures in Europe, Asia, and Australia led to The Oneness of the Eastern Heart and the Western Mind. He also published books, essays, spiritual poetry, plays, and commentaries on the Vedas.

Chinmoy’s teaching linked spiritual practice with creativity and physical effort. In the 1970s he began playing and composing on the flute and esraj, and in 1984 he started giving free “Peace Concerts” around the world, with his largest concert in Montreal for 19,000 people. He attracted followers including Carlos Santana, John McLaughlin, Narada Michael Walden, Roberta Flack, Clarence Clemons, Premik Russell Tubbs, and Boris Grebenshchikov. His path forbade recreational drugs, including alcohol, and encouraged music and poetry as expressions of thankfulness to the Divine. Some ex-members have accused Chinmoy of running a cult.

He also advocated “self-transcendence,” applying the idea to distance running, swimming, weightlifting, and other athletic efforts. He organized marathons and races, was an active runner, and after a knee injury became a weightlifter. In 1987 he inaugurated the Sri Chinmoy Oneness Home Peace Run, a relay-style run for peace through many countries. Chinmoy died on 11 October 2007. His words continue to interest readers because they come from a life that joined meditation, study, art, music, and demanding physical practice, all directed toward prayer, inner peace, and service.