Sumangali Morhall | Auspicious Good Fortune

On July 28th, renowned Olympians, peace leaders, artists and musicians came together in London to celebrate the Olympic spirit of peace and universal friendship, by unveiling the “World Peace Dreamer” statue – a bronze sculpture of Sri Chinmoy holding an Olympic-style peace torch.

Lately, as my father would say, I’ve been flat out like a lizard drinking, and it had probably better be a chameleon, considering the variety of circumstances I’ve found myself in.

I consider myself something of an expert on leafleting. Indeed I went pro at the age of eleven, door-to-door with my brother, earning tuppence a house. It was the first job I ever had, and I took it very seriously. Nowadays I don’t get paid at all per leaflet, but I have just the same feelings of dignity and satisfaction.

I still go at least twice a year to visit the place where Sri Chinmoy spent most of his time – once in April and once in August. Some things are naturally different since his passing in 2007, but some things are still the same.

Ashrita Furman has been in the UK news quite a bit this week, leading up to his next record breaking attempt in Brazil: to jump rope 900 times in an hour. Underwater. In an aquarium tank. Full of manatees.

I am to spend the weekend here in Wales with around 50 others. I travelled 5 hours to make a wish for peace; many have come much further than me, and some making a good part of the way on foot.

In 1985 I first went to Burma (as it was still known then). Twenty-seven years later, a very different ‘me’ is returning to a very different country, but the things that matter are still the same.

Last week I had the good fortune to be involved in breaking a Guinness Record: the world’s longest flower garland. The previous record was 1.6 miles in Tahiti. This was 2.15 miles: an unbroken circle of carnation blooms around Meadow Lake, Flushing Meadow, New York.

The inspirational short film Challenging Impossibility, a documentary on Sri Chinmoy‘s weightlifting, received an overwhelmingly positive response at the Tribeca Film Festival 2011.

“To buy a spiritual book takes ten seconds. To read that book takes a few hours. To absorb that book takes a few years. And to live the truths thereof may take not only a whole lifetime, but a few incarnations.” – Sri Chinmoy