This CD includes some of Sri Chinmoy’s significant contributions to the UN. It includes a 35 minute interview and also a talk to the Meditation Group.
United Nations: Torchbearer of Ultimate Truth
Last modified July 31, 2026
At the invitation of then UN Secretary-General U Thant, spiritual Master Sri Chinmoy began conducting twice-weekly meditations for delegates and staff at UN headquarters in New York on April 14, 1970. This CD contains recordings of Sri Chinmoy speaking about spiritual aspects of the United Nations.
“I feel that the United Nations is not a mere building: it is not an ordinary earthly building, but it is a heavenly building where truth, light, peace and bliss can be found, a place that will be flooded with light, peace and bliss. It is a torchbearer of ultimate truth — and the ultimate truth is the universal peace.”
— Sri Chinmoy, July 30th, 1974
Inside spread (track notes)
1. Sri Chinmoy recites the credo of Sri Chinmoy: The Peace Meditation at the United Nations during a meeting of the Peace Meditation Group, July 28th, 1970. Recorded in the Peace Room of the Church Center for the United Nations, located across the street from the UN Secretariat Building in New York.
2. Sri Chinmoy is interviewed at the United Nations by Jay Richard Turner, July 30th, 1974. Turner’s radio programme “On the Path to Higher Consciousness” aired weekly on WBUR-FM, a public radio station affiliated with Boston University.
3. Part of a radio interview Sri Chinmoy gave while on a visit to Glasgow, Scotland, June 30th, 1974.
4. Sri Chinmoy answers questions from members of his Meditation Group, April 16th, 1976. Recorded in room 550 of the UN Secretariat Building in New York. A transcript of this meeting was printed in Meditation at the United Nations, Volume 4, No. 5, May 27th, 1976 and subsequently published in My Meditation Service at the United Nations for 25 Years, in 1995.
5. Sri Chinmoy welcomes former UN Secretary-General U Thant to the premiere of Sri Chinmoy’s play “Siddhartha becomes the Buddha,” based on incidents in the life of the Lord Buddha, May 25th, 1973. The play was performed by his disciples on an outdoor stage built for the occasion at the Old Mill Farm in Harrison, New York. Sri Chinmoy dedicated the performance to U Thant, who attended with his daughter, son-in-law and young grandson. A short documentary film of this event was made, and in 1977 an account of the proceedings was printed in U Thant: Divinity’s Smile, Humanity’s Cry. The plays were published by Sky Publishers in 1973.
6. Sri Chinmoy spontaneously sets to music “We Believe,” the words of the credo of Sri Chinmoy: The Peace Meditation at the United Nations, August 27th, 1976. Recorded during Sri Chinmoy’s 45th birthday celebration at Public School 86 in Jamaica, New York. This song was published in Chandelier, Part 1 in 1980, and most recently in Songs of Peace: Songs and Poems by Sri Chinmoy dedicated to the United Nations in 2017.
(Photo caption, right): Sri Chinmoy and members of his Meditation Group in the Dag Hammarskjöld Library Auditorium at the United Nations in New York, February 18th, 1977.
