Sri Chinmoy, born as Chinmoy Kumar Ghose, is one of the most publicly known people fighting for peace. Born on August 1931, Chinmoy enjoyed a life of harmony. Newspapers all around the world wrote about him, how he founded sports events, and his veganism when being a vegan was still an unknown topic. Born in India, he moved to New York City in 1964. He established the first meditation center in Queens, New York, and eventually had 7,000 students in 60 different countries in the world. Chinmoy was a prolific author, artist, poet, and musician. He held public events and mediations on the theme of inner peace. But in 2014, there were women coming out and speaking on the sexual abuse they endured.
The Peace Run
Chinmoy is most famous for his Peace Run. He founded the run in 1987, with a goal of being a run for international friendship. The forerunner to the first race was The Liberty Torch Run, a relay to mark America’s bicentennial in 1976. The run was known as the “World Harmony Run” from 2005 to 2013.
So far, the Peace Run has taken place in more than 100 different countries. The aim of the run is to promote understanding and harmonious relationship between the people of all nations, cultures, and faiths. Famous participants include Nelson Mandela, Mother Teresa, and Mikhail Gorbachev, who also held the peace torch. Carl Lewis, the Nine time Olympian is a spokesman for the peace run. The official theme song, “Oneness-Home” was recorded by Whitney Houston.
Relay teams in each country are made up of runners from all walks of life. Coordinators partner locally with schools, sporting organizations, city and state departments, and community groups. Every year, the Run makes its way through the 5 main continents of America, Asia, Africa, Europe, and Australasia.
Sri’s Athleticism Life
Sri Chinmoy was mostly a poet and spokesman, but he also led an active sports life. He started running in 1977, as the first Chinmoy Marathon Team was founded. The team held running, swimming, and cycling events worldwide, from simple runs, to ultramarathons.
Chinmoy inspired many of his followers to run daily for health and physical fitness. He himself continued to enter races until he was 60 years old. Even then, it wasn’t until a knee injury stopped him from running. He then turned his attention to other sports, like tennis and weightlifting.
The Indian guru began weightlifting in 1985, at the age of 54. He included creative array of objects and machinery in order to challenge his strength and ability. Once, in the program known as “Lifting up the world with a Oneness Heart”, Chinmoy lifted people of inspiration while they stood on a platform overhead. He lifted Nelson Mandela, Sting, Eddie Murphy, Roberta Flack, Yoko Ono, Richard Gere, Helen Hunt, Desmond Tutu, Muhammad Ali, Susan Sarandon, and many more.
Sex Scandal
Several years after his death in 2007, the media found an another angle of his life. Women all around the world started coming out and blaming him for sexual abuse.
The media tried hard to cover up these stories, but they were told by real women, many of whom were ready to publicly testify.
Quotes by Shinmoy
– World-peace Can be achieved When the power of love Replaces The love of power
– No price is too great to pay for inner peace
– If we can invoke Peace and then offer it to somebody else, we will see how Peace expands from one to two persons, and gradually to the world at large
– Hatred is a disguised form of love. You can only hate someone whom you really wish to love, because if you were totally indifferent to that person, you could not even get up enough energy to hate him
– What is meditation? Meditation is our conscious awareness of something vast and infinite within us. Meditation grants us Peace, Light and Bliss
