To Russia with Love - a flying visit from Sri Chinmoy

Recently, Sri Chinmoy was in the beautiful city of St Petersburg, and as ever he managed to fit a whirlwind of activities into one short trip. Among the highlights of the trip was a concert of meditative music he gave for the general public, in which he invited his friend Purushottama Boris Grebenshikov, the Russian music legend to play a couple of songs. Purushottama combines music inspired by cultures all around the globe with exquisitely poetical lyrics reflecting on life and its true meaning, and was recently seen in New York playing a concert at the United Nations to honour the work and ideals of the global body.

Sri Chinmoy also gave a concert in a children's hospital that specialized in treating leukemia. The Oneness-Heart Tears and Smiles humanitarian organisation founded by Sri Chinmoy in 1990 has been a leading supplier of leukemia equipment and medicines to Russia, and has been credited with being a factor in the marked improvement of the way leukemia is treated in that country. Incidentally, the first mission of the Oneness Heart Tears and Smiles was to respond with aid to the Russian winter food crisis of 1990; it has now gone on to deliver valuable humanitarian aid in over 24 countries. You can read more about the organisation's work in Russia here...

It was also a chance for Sri Chinmoy to meet and meditate with his students from the former Soviet Union. More than a third of Sri Chinmoy's students come from these countries, and Sri Chinmoy has long admired the one-pointed aspiration and determination of spiritual seekers and of the Russian soul in general, a view fondly reflected in the name he was inspired to give this group of countries - the Oneness Dream-Boat Shore. "Russia is like a flower, a beautiful flower full of fragrance.", reflects Sri Chinmoy. "For a number of years, the flower was unable to offer its beauty and fragrance because of man's mind-made rules. Some Russians made rules which came from the mind, not from the heart....Now the heart-power has again come forward, and the mind-power, which is full of doubt and other negative forces, has surrendered. Russia the flower, Russia the soul, is coming to the fore. Now that Russia is fully awakened spiritually, the entire world will derive tremendous blessings and be able to make very, very fast progress."

Ashrita Furman was in St.Petersburg with Sri Chinmoy, and also found time to break another Guinness record, and plenty more incidents besides: read more on Ashrita's blog...