Biography of Sri Chinmoy

Sri Chinmoy was born in India in 1931. At the age of 12 he went to live in the Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Pondicherry in South India. Here he had the opportunity to spend many hours in meditation. And at an early age he experienced the rare state of spiritual consciousness known as Samadhi. He spent the next 20 years in the ashram and as well as meditation he took part in athletics, music and wrote many poems. In the 1960s he felt an inner command to come to the West and so on April 13th 1964 he arrived in New York, US where he has resided ever since.

To his students Sri Chinmoy advocates a balanced life of meditation, prayer and selfless service. Sri Chinmoy encourages others to excel in all aspects of life, he suggests by living in the heart and following a fruitful inner life we can attain continual self transcendence in both physical and spiritual activities.

Sri Chinmoy himself is very active in many diverse fields. These include:

• Music. Sri Chinmoy has composed over 18,000 songs and given 777 free concerts. He has dedicated these concerts to promoting and advancing world harmony.

• Sport. Sri Chinmoy has been a keen sportsman since his early ashram days. Since arriving in the West he has completed several marathons and ultra marathons. In recent years he has taken up weightlifting demonstrating how it is possible to transcend the limitations of age and of the mind. His lifts have been striking in their difficulty. The Sri Chinmoy Marathon Team has also become one of the world’s leading organisers of multi day events. Sponsoring the worlds longest certified race – The 3100 Mile Race.

• Art. Sri Chinmoy began painting in the 1970s, he paints spontaneously using the expressive capacities of the heart. His output has been prolific producing many 1000s of paintings and over 13 million Soul Bird drawings.

• Poetry. Poetry is one of Sri Chinmoy’s favourite mediums for expressing the spiritual experiences and spiritual concepts. His poetry strikes a profound chord with those seeking to glimpse the realms beyond the mind. His short instructional aphorisms give guidance to aspiring seekers in an easy to read accessible way.

• Literature. Sri Chinmoy has written over 1,500 books. They can be viewed at Sri Chinmoy Library.

Sri Chinmoy has dedicated his life to the pursuit of world harmony and created many new initiatives to foster this ideal. These include the World Harmony Run which seeks to spread friendship and harmony through a global relay torch run.

Links

• Sri Chinmoy.org - Official site of Sri Chinmoy
• Life of Sri Chinmoy - Site about life of Sri Chinmoy with stories from his early life.
• Sri Chinmoy TV - watch videos about Sri Chinmoy's activities and also about the Sri Chinmoy Centre