Sri Chinmoy
Sri Chinmoy is a spiritual teacher and world harmony leader, who dedicated his life to serving humanity through his prayers and meditations, as well as his musical, artistic and literary works, and sports initiatives.
Sri Chinmoy was born in 1931 in East Bengal. At the age of 12 he joined a spiritual community in South India, spending his time in deep meditation, service, and sporting activities, and attaining a very high level of spiritual realisation.
In 1964 he received, through his meditation, an inner calling to bring his spirituality to the west. He has since lived in Queens, New York, and now has over 300 meditation centres all over the world.
His teachings give a very practical approach to meditation and the spiritual life, demonstrating how meditation need not be restricted to the Himalayan caves, but can be woven into western and modern life.
From 1970 to his passing in 2007, Sri Chinmoy has held weekly meditations at the United Nations. Although well into his 70s he still travels around the world offering free concerts, of which he has given over 700 since 1984.
An accomplished athlete in his youth, Sri Chinmoy practised weightlifting until the age of 76, in the hope of inspiring others to transcend their physical boundaries. He is the inspiration behind the World Harmony Run as well as many races worldwide, from 1 mile to the longest foot race in the world: the Self-Transcendence 3100-mile Race.
Sri Chinmoy was a prolific writer throughout his life. From short meditative aphorisms to in-depth spiritual questions and answers, plays and ancient instructive stories retold for the modern world, he has published around 1500 books in several languages.
Music played a very significant part in Sri Chinmoy's life. He played many musical instruments, and wrote over 13000 songs, in English and his native Bengali.
Sri Chinmoy passed away on October 11th, 2007, leaving behind a legacy of spiritual teaching and creative works of inspiration. To find out more about Sri Chinmoy you can browse the links page, visit SriChinmoy.org, or read further articles on this site: