At the heart of everything the Sri Chinmoy Centre does is a single aim – to work towards a world where inner peace and happiness is available each and every individual.
Our teacher, Sri Chinmoy, has shown us through his own example that each and every field of human betterment - art, poetry, music, athletics - can all play a vital role in pursuit of this goal. And so in the same vein, the Sri Chinmoy Centre offers a diverse variety of spiritual, cultural, musical, athletic and humanitarian events and activities in towns and cities around the world.
The philosophy of the Sri Chinmoy Centre is simple yet unique - to improve the world around us we must first improve ourselves. Rather than political, economic or scientific solutions to the world's problems, the Centre works from the premise that it is within the individual that the solution to all our problems exists. Only when each person has a measure of peace, light and joy, can we have a world where outer harmony and brotherhood are predominant.
The cornerstone of the Sri Chinmoy Centre's activities is meditation. Meditation transforms the experience of spirituality from a theoretical knowledge to a living immersion, bringing to the fore the peace, joy, light and love that is locked away deep inside all of us. The Sri Chinmoy Centre offers free lessons in meditation around all four corners of the globe, and provides a peaceful haven where its members meet to practice. See more on meditation...
We aim to show that, far from the traditional 'yogi in a cave' stereotype often associated with meditation paths, inner contemplation and outer action can and indeed must go together. As Sri Chinmoy eloquently puts it:
"We try to synthesize and harmonise the outer life and the inner life. The outer life is like a beautiful flower and the inner life is its fragrance. If there is no fragrance, then we cannot appreciate the flower. Again, if there is no flower, how can there be any fragrance? So the inner life and the outer life must go together."
Excerpt from The Outer Running And The Inner Running by Sri Chinmoy
More links:
- About the Centre, part 2
- Sri Chinmoy Centre members - videos and links to members' personal websites on srichinmoycentre.org