The life-size, bronze statue stands on a shallow plinth. Sri
Chinmoy is standing erect, wearing robes that cover his feet. His left arm is
bent at the elbow and his left hand is resting on his chest. His right arm is
extended forward and in his right hand is held the Peace Torch.
To the left of the statue is a plaque that tells
us:
World Peace Dreamer
This statue
depicts the founder of the World Harmony Run,
Sri Chimnoy (1931 - 2007),
holding aloft the Peace Torch.
Unveiled on 28th July 2012, it is the gift
of three great Olympians -
Carl Lewis, Tegla Loroupe and Tatyana Lebedeva -
to the City of London
on the occasion of the 30th Olympiad. It embodies the
Olympic ideals
of oneness, friendship and self-transcendence and honours
the
heroic Peace Dreamers of yesterday, today and tomorrow.
Hold the torch and share your dreams for
peace
A Moment's Peace
The unveiling of this
statue marks the beginning of a project entitled
'A Moment's Peace'. Men,
women and children of all nations, faiths and cultures
are invited to hold
the Peace Torch, to create their own Moment of Peace and to
share their
hopes and aspirations for peace with everyone in the world
family.
"A moment's truth
Can and shall make
the world beautiful.
A moment's peace
Can and shall save the world.
A
moment's love
Can and shall make the world perfect."
- Sri
Chinmoy
The Sri Chimnoy website [visit link] tells
us:
"Born Chinmoy Kumar Ghose in the small village of
Shakpura in East Bengal (now Bangladesh) in 1931, Sri Chinmoy was the youngest
of seven children. In 1944, after both his parents had passed away, 12 year-old
Chinmoy entered the Sri Aurobindo Ashram, a spiritual community near Pondicherry
in South India. Here he spent the next 20 years in spiritual practice -
including long hours of meditation, practising athletics, writing poetry, essays
and spiritual songs.
In his early teens, Chinmoy had many profound inner
experiences, and in subsequent years achieved very advanced states of
meditation. In 1964, he moved to New York City to share his inner wealth with
sincere seekers in the West.
Sri Chinmoy sees aspiration - the heart's ceaseless
yearning for ever higher and deeper realities - as the spiritual force behind
all great advances in religion, culture, sports and science. By living in the
heart and aspiring for continual self-transcendence, men and women can bring
forward the best in themselves and find their path to true satisfaction. In his
words:
'Our goal is to go from
bright to brighter to
brightest, from high to higher to highest. And
even
in the highest, there is no end to our
progress, for God Himself is inside
each of us
and God at every moment is transcending His
own
Reality.'
Sri Chinmoy serves as spiritual guide to students in
some 60 countries around the world, encouraging a balanced lifestyle that
incorporates the inner disciplines of prayer and meditation with the dynamism of
contemporary life.
Sri Chinmoy's life was an expression of boundless
creativity. His vast output spans the domains of music, poetry, painting,
literature and sports. His contributions in each of these fields have been
striking and far-reaching.
Sri Chinmoy frequently travelled throughout the world to
offer free concerts, lectures and public meditations, to meet with his students,
and to meet and discuss spirituality with world and community leaders. Sri
Chinmoy did not charge a fee for his spiritual guidance, concerts, lectures and
public meditations.
Sri Chinmoy entered Mahasamadhi - the mystic process
through which spiritual Masters leave the body, on the morning of 11 October
2007."