‘The Goal Is Won’ – poetry recitals

Last modified February 1, 2017

In this recording, Sri Chinmoy recites his poetry from a book The Goal Is Won (1974). The original 360 poems were written during a 24 hour period, starting from midnight April 28th, 1974.

These audio recordings were made in 1978 and 1983, when Sri Chinmoy selected a few poems to soulfully recite.

Jacket notes from CD

  1. For the 1st 41 poems – “The following 41 poems from The Goal Is Won were recorded on June 16th and June 18th, 1978, at an unknown location, evidently outdoors. These recordings were made for “Dial-A-Meditation”, a telephone service provided by the Sri Chinmoy Centre in the 1970s and 1980s.”
  2.  For the rest of these poems – “To celebrate the ninth anniversary of The Goal Is Won,  Sri Chinmoy read out the following 40 poems to his disciples at Progress-Promise in New York, on April 29th, 1983.”

Notes from Anahata Nada – 1974

Anahata Nada, Vol. 1, No. 6 – May 27, 1974.
Literary Triumph: 360 Poems In A Day
Jamaica, N.Y. – In an unprecedented literary achievement, Sri Chinmoy has written 360 poems during a single 24-hour period.

Original cover for "The Goal is Won"

Original cover for “The Goal is Won”

Using his yogic powers of concentration developed during 20 years of meditation in an Indian ashram, Sri Chinmoy accomplished the feat “just for the joy of it.” He said he wanted to show the remarkable limits of human capacity when guided by inner willpower and the soul’s Light. Beginning at the stroke of midnight April 28th, Sri Chinmoy wrote continuously around the clock at the gruelling pace of one poem every four minutes. This easily topped his previous record of February 2nd. when he wrote 208 poems in a little over 22 hours.

That time a small group joined Sri Chinmoy midway during his task to type up his manuscripts and prepare them for printing.

But this time disciples worked alongside him right from the beginning, and the entire book was typed, proofread, printed, collated and bound by the next day.

The following evening, during a large outdoor celebration honouring the book, Sri Chinmoy explained why he titled the book The Goal Is Won. “About 20 years ago the sprinter in your Guru won the race,” he said, referring to the time he became decathlon champion in his Indian ashram. “And yesterday the poet in your Guru again won the race.”

He went on to say how he often uses the symbolism of the Dream-boat and the Golden Shore. “Our first series of poems was entitled The Golden Boat. But this book now has touched the shore.”

Related pages

Artist: Sri Chinmoy
Name: The Goal Is Won
Composer: Sri Chinmoy
Release Year: 2014
Duration: 34:42
Tracks uploaded and published: Kamalakanta Nieves and Tejvan Pettinger
Format: Advanced Audio Coding

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