Dear listeners, it is with great joy and pride that we bring you soulful performances from our August 2026 Celebrations. This is part 1. It includes ten performances from Paree’s Group to Kanala and Vedic Fire.
August Celebrations 2026, Part 1
Last modified September 6, 2026
Sri Chinmoy was born on August 27, 1931, in India. At the age of 11 he entered an Ashram (spiritual community) and practiced prayer, meditation, sports, art, music, literature and poetry, in a style of Yoga called Integral Yoga, which included creative endeavors and physical fitness along with the practice of prayer and meditation. At this time he achieved a state of inner illumination, which is called God-realisation. In 1963 he received an inner message to come to the West and share, with aspiring seekers, the fruits of his spiritual practice.
In 1964 he came to America, and in 1966 his first meditation centre was established in Puerto Rico. Thus began his mission in the West, to serve the Divine in humanity through prayer, meditation, sports and fitness, music, art and literature.
In the field of music, Sri Chinmoy composed over 22,000 songs, and offered more than 800 free concerts throughout his life, sharing with others the fruits of his prayer-life and meditation-life through music, the universal language.
His disciples formed musical groups, and interpret Sri Chinmoy’s songs in a very soulful and beautiful style. It is what we call “soulful music”, music that stems from the aspiration of the soul, the inner urge to merge with the Divine and manifest the Divine here on Earth.
This music is very conducive to meditation, and we hope that it serves as an inspiration to all truth-seekers and God-lovers alike.
SRI CHINMOY ON SOULFUL MUSIC
Music
God has created this universe; the universe has come out of God. God will always hold the world with His inner Music. But His inner Music, His transcendental Music, is unfortunately not the music that we hear today. Jazz and rock and roll are not His Music; they are a degraded form of proper music.
God is the Supreme Musician. The music that God originally created is the music of the soul. He played for the soul and the soul wanted to play for Him. This music came from the soul and wanted to express and fulfil itself through the heart. Here is where the problem arose. When the soul started to play its music in the heart, the lower vital did not allow the heart to listen. Gradually, the vital became more powerful than the pure heart.
The music of the vital destroys our subtle nerves and like a hungry tiger wants to devour the heart’s divine qualities. Here in this world when we think of music, the vital immediately comes to the fore. But the lower vital music will not always reign supreme on earth. The world also has a soul. Today the vital is nourished and the soul is starving, but when there are more aspiring people on earth than unaspiring, naturally the inner soul-elevating music will replace the music of the impure, unlit and obscure vital.
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The music of moksha, liberation, tells the seeker that Sky-Peace is all.
The music of siddhi, realisation, tells the seeker that Sun-Bliss is all.
Sri Chinmoy, God the Supreme Musician, Sri Chinmoy Lighthouse, New York, 1970
Question: Can music and aspiration co-exist?
Sri Chinmoy: Music and aspiration can and do exist together. Of course, here we are talking only about spiritual music. Spiritual music is the illumining and fulfilling language of the universal soul. Aspiration is the inner cry; music is the outer smile. When we sow the seed of inner cry, we reap the fruit of outer smile. Soulful music and soulful aspiration are not only true friends but eternal friends. Music spreads the height of aspiration; aspiration increases the length of music.
Sri Chinmoy, Aspiration-Tree, Aum Publications, New York, 1976
Question: I should like an elaboration on the link between music and spirituality as you see it.
Sri Chinmoy: Music and spirituality go together. God Himself is the Supreme Musician and each human being is a note in His cosmic Game. God is playing His cosmic Role in mankind through music. Through His music, God is offering to His children the message of unity in multiplicity and also the message of multiplicity in unity. When we play soulful music, we elevate our consciousness most rapidly. Soulful music is a form of aspiration, a form of meditation. But if we play undivine music, then it destroys our aspiring consciousness. All those who are seekers of the infinite Truth will naturally play soulful music; and when they play soulful music, they have to know that they are consciously running towards their destined goal.
Sri Chinmoy, Sri Chinmoy Speaks, part 5, Agni Press, New York, 1976
Music is the fragrance
Of the soul.
Music is the perfection
Of the aspiring heart.
Sri Chinmoy, Twenty-Seven Thousand Aspiration-Plants, part 261, Agni Press, New York, 1998
God-Music embraced and treasured is the perfection of my soul. Heaven-music revealed and manifested on earth is the perfection of my heart. Earth-music perfected, divinised and transformed is the music of my life.
Sri Chinmoy, God the Supreme Musician, Sri Chinmoy Lighthouse, New York, 1970
Artist: Sri Chinmoy Disciples
Name: August Celebrations 2026, Part 1
Release Year: 2026
Duration: 1 hour, 32 minutes
Acknowledgements: Sri Chinmoy
Tracks uploaded and published: Kamalakanta Nieves and Tejvan Pettinger
Format: Advanced Audio Coding
