Category: News

Inspiring News #139: Stunning English Channel Crossing Victories

Posted on by Yatkara

Celebrating Outstanding English Channel Crossing Achievements

In the past weeks, members of the Sri Chinmoy Marathon Team have once again demonstrated extraordinary endurance and determination in the waters of the English Channel. Two successful solo crossings and an earlier all-women relay have added inspiring new chapters to the team’s long history of open-water swimming. These achievements highlight the spirit of self-transcendence that defines the team’s approach to sport.

Abhejali’s Historic Breaststroke Crossing

On 28–29 July, Abhejali Bernardová completed her third solo crossing of the English Channel, this time swimming breaststroke. She finished in 17 hours and 38 minutes. Abhejali is only the fifth woman and the 18th person overall to complete a breaststroke crossing of the Channel. Even more remarkably, she is the only person in the world to have swum the English Channel in both freestyle and breaststroke. Supported by a dedicated crew including Dhavala, Shyamala and Nina from the Czech Republic, her achievement stands as a landmark in open-water swimming history.

Jayasalini’s Unique Double Achievement

One week later, on 7 August, Jayasalini Olga Abramovskikh crossed the English Channel in 18 hours and 27 minutes. With this swim, she became the only person in the world to have completed both the “Everest of long-distance running” — the Sri Chinmoy Self-Transcendence 3100 Mile Race (which she finished in 2014) — and the “Everest of open-water swimming,” the English Channel. Her pilot Eddie, who had previously guided Vijaya’s successful swim, knows the team well and provided excellent support.

The Sri Chinmoy Peace Dreamers Relay

Earlier in the season, on 14 June, three accomplished women ultra-athletes from the team — Abhejali Bernardová, Jayasalini Olga Abramovskikh and Vasanti Niemz (age 69) — completed a three-person relay across the English Channel. They named their team the Sri Chinmoy Peace Dreamers and dedicated the swim to peace. The relay took place in water temperatures of around 15°C and was guided by the experienced pilot Simon Ellis and Marilyn Critchlow on the boat High Hopes.

The three swimmers rotated hourly, facing the challenge of getting back into cold water after only short rests. Despite some seasickness, they made steady progress, aided by favourable winds and currents. After approximately 13–14 hours, they reached the French shore at La Courte Dune near Cap Gris-Nez. In the dark, with some bioluminescence in the water, they lit a Sri Chinmoy Oneness-Home Peace Run torch on the beach and offered a peace prayer together.

Honouring Gertrude Ederle’s Centenary

The relay was inspired in part by the centenary of Gertrude Ederle’s historic 1926 crossing. One hundred years earlier, on 6 August 1926, the 19-year-old American Olympic champion became the first woman to swim the English Channel solo. Two days after their own successful relay, the three women visited the Gertrude Ederle memorial at Kingsdown and took a short commemorative swim near the site.

A Long Tradition of Channel Swims

For the Sri Chinmoy Marathon Team, this was the fifth successful English Channel relay and the fourth all-women relay (following relays in 1989, 2009, 2014 and now 2026). Full details and a list of all team swims can be found here:

Channel Swimming Records – Sri Chinmoy Marathon Team

The Spirit Behind the Swims

Throughout the relay the swimmers carried a Peace Run torch on board and meditated briefly with it before each rotation. Their motto and theme song came from Sri Chinmoy:

Only the Peace-Dreamers, Peace-Lovers and Peace-Servers can transform the world.

The English Channel has long been called the Everest of open-water swimming. These recent successes by Abhejali, Jayasalini and the Peace Dreamers relay show that with preparation, teamwork, inner determination and a higher purpose, even the most demanding challenges can be met.

Looking Ahead

Both Abhejali and Jayasalini, as well as Vasanti, continue to inspire with their ongoing ultra-distance projects. Abhejali’s breaststroke crossing and Jayasalini’s unique double achievement will surely encourage many others to explore their own limits — in the water, on the road, and in daily life.

Final Reflections

These English Channel crossings are more than athletic accomplishments. They are living expressions of self-transcendence, teamwork and a sincere dedication to peace. The Sri Chinmoy Marathon Team continues to show that when the heart is strong and the goal is clear, the seemingly impossible becomes possible.

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For more information about sports events, visit the official website: www.srichinmoyraces.org.
To learn more about Sri Chinmoy, please visit: www.srichinmoy.org.

Video #361: Spiritual Growth Signs | Spirit Matters #44

Posted on by Yatkara

Introduction to Spiritual Growth Signs

Your spiritual awakening is only the beginning. Without clear signs that you are actually growing, it is easy to wonder whether your meditation practice is making any real difference. In this episode of Spirit Matters, Abhinabha and Vajin unpack seven practical Spiritual Growth Signs that appear in daily life — not just in books or peak experiences. If you do not have a spiritual teacher guiding you directly, this conversation offers honest, grounded wisdom to help you know whether you are on the right track.

Why Spiritual Progress Needs Clear Markers

Many seekers feel stuck or uncertain after an awakening experience. The mind keeps saying nothing is happening, while subtle but important changes are already taking place. Real spiritual growth is not measured by how many hours you sit in meditation or how elevated you feel during peak moments. It is measured by how you react, how you treat others, and how much lighter your inner world becomes over time. This episode focuses on those lived, practical signs.

Sign 1: Breaking the Autopilot Loop

One of the clearest Spiritual Growth Signs is the ability to interrupt automatic reactions. Instead of living on autopilot and repeating the same emotional patterns for years, you begin to notice the moment of choice. This is where your future stops repeating your past. The tiny pause between stimulus and response becomes a doorway to freedom. Without this pause, we continue throwing emotional grenades we never intended to throw.

Sign 2: Dropping the Dead Weight of Negativity

As real growth begins, jealousy, chronic worry and fear start to lose their grip. They do not disappear overnight, but their intensity softens. You find yourself carrying less emotional weight. This lightening of the inner load is one of the most reliable indicators that consciousness is expanding. The episode explores how this process unfolds naturally when the spiritual life is lived sincerely.

Sign 3: Choosing Your Response

Spiritual progress shows itself in the capacity to choose rather than react. You begin to catch yourself before speaking words you will later regret. This ability to pause and respond from a calmer place protects relationships, preserves peace of mind, and builds quiet self-respect. Over time, these small choices rewrite the personality itself.

Sign 4: The Return of Freshness to Ordinary Days

When spiritual growth is alive, ordinary days start to feel new again. The world looks fresher, more alive, more interesting. Losing this sense of newness is often the first quiet warning that the inner life is beginning to dry out. The hosts discuss why travel sometimes feels spiritual and how the same quality of freshness can be cultivated at home through a living practice.

Sign 5: Taking Radical Responsibility

A major shift occurs when we stop blaming others and reclaim authorship of our own lives. Victimhood gives way to agency. Instead of feeling trapped in a story written by someone else, we begin creating a more beautiful present — and therefore a more beautiful past. This willingness to take full responsibility is both challenging and liberating.

Sign 6: Becoming Less Impulsive

Another clear sign is a growing ability to interrupt the chain of reaction. Old patterns become visible. You see the same old personality habits rising, and you choose differently. These repeated small choices gradually reshape who you are. The episode offers practical insight into how this process works in ordinary conversations and daily decisions.

Sign 7: Faith Moving from the Soul into the Mind

One of the most beautiful Spiritual Growth Signs is the quiet increase of faith. Doubt loses its dominance. Faith that once lived only as a deep soul feeling begins to settle into the mind. The inner life gains more room to breathe. This does not mean the end of questions, but it does mean that questions no longer control the atmosphere of the heart.

The Balance Scale of Consciousness

Throughout the conversation, Abhinabha and Vajin return to a helpful image: the balance scale of consciousness. On one side is the desire life; on the other, the aspiration life. Real progress is felt when the scale slowly tips toward aspiration — when the pull of the soul becomes stronger than the pull of old habits and fears.

Testing Spirituality in the Real World

True growth is tested not in the meditation room alone, but in the marketplace of daily life. How do we respond when someone criticises us? How do we handle disappointment or delay? The episode emphasises that spirituality, which cannot survive ordinary human friction is still incomplete. Real progress requires getting our hands dirty in the world while keeping the heart clean.

Happiness as a Reliable Indicator

Sri Chinmoy taught that progress is happiness. The hosts explore what this means in practice. Outer pleasure comes and goes, but a quieter, more stable inner joy begins to appear as consciousness expands. Even when outer circumstances remain difficult, this deeper happiness can be felt as a background presence.

Previous Episodes in the Spirit Matters Series

This episode continues the rich tradition of practical spirituality offered by Spirit Matters. Explore more transformative conversations:

Final Reflections

Spiritual growth is often quieter and more ordinary than we expect. It shows up in the ability to pause, in the lightening of old emotional burdens, in the return of freshness to daily life, and in a slowly deepening faith. This episode of Spirit Matters offers a clear and compassionate map of these changes. For anyone who has wondered whether their practice is actually working, these seven Spiritual Growth Signs can serve as honest and encouraging companions on the path.

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For more information about events, visit the official website: www.srichinmoycentre.org.
To learn more about Sri Chinmoy, please visit: www.srichinmoy.org.

Inspiring News #138: New World of Peace Concert at Skirball Center, New York

Posted on by Yatkara

A New World of Peace 2026 Tour - NYC

A Special Evening of Music and Peace

On Tuesday, August 25, at 7:30 pm, something quietly beautiful took place at the Skirball Center for the Performing Arts on LaGuardia Place in New York. The concert A New World of Peace brought Sri Chinmoy’s music and poetry to life in a way that felt both intimate and expansive. For those who were there, it was more than a performance — it was a gentle invitation to pause, breathe, and remember the possibility of a more peaceful world.

What Is “A New World of Peace”?

A New World of Peace is a carefully crafted presentation of Sri Chinmoy’s songs and writings, arranged and conducted by Sahadeva Torpy. It is not a typical concert. The music moves slowly and deeply, weaving together moments of quiet intensity with passages of quiet joy. Poetry is spoken, instruments speak, and silence itself becomes part of the experience. The official website describes it as “a sacred journey,” and that feels exactly right.

Links and Further Listening

Music That Speaks to the Heart

Sri Chinmoy composed thousands of songs during his lifetime. Many of them carry simple, luminous messages about peace, gratitude, love, and the longing for a better world. In this concert, those songs are given new life through the voices and instruments of an international ensemble. Musicians from different countries come together under Sahadeva’s direction, creating a sound that feels both universal and personal.

You can feel the care that has gone into every arrangement. You can sense the sincerity of the performers. And somehow, in that atmosphere, the idea of a “new world of peace” stops feeling like an abstract ideal and starts feeling possible.

An Ideal Venue in the Heart of New York

The Skirball Center for the Performing Arts, right next to Washington Square, proved to be a wonderful home for the evening. The hall has a warm, welcoming quality. Its acoustics allow the softer moments of the music to carry clearly, while still giving space for the fuller, more expansive passages. Being in the middle of New York City — with all its energy and movement — made the quiet atmosphere inside the hall feel even more special.

Themes That Stay With You

Throughout the programme, certain themes returned again and again: the beauty of Mother Earth, the longing for oneness, the quiet strength of peace. Sri Chinmoy once said that the seed of peace must first be sown in the heart. This concert felt like a gentle watering of that seed. Many people left the hall carrying a little more stillness than they arrived with — and that, perhaps, is the real success of an evening like this.

Continuing a Living Tradition

Between 1984 and 2007, Sri Chinmoy himself offered 777 public peace concerts around the world. After his passing, dedicated musicians have continued to share his music in new and creative ways. A New World of Peace is one of the most thoughtful and beautiful of these offerings. It keeps the spirit of those original peace concerts alive while speaking in a language that feels fresh and relevant today.

A Quiet Gift to the City

In a city as busy and intense as New York, an evening devoted entirely to peace and inner reflection feels like a quiet gift. The August 25 performance of A New World of Peace offered exactly that. It reminded everyone present that music can still open doors that words alone cannot, and that the longing for a more harmonious world is alive and well in many hearts.

Looking Ahead

As the ensemble continues to share this programme in different cities, more people will have the chance to experience it. Each performance is slightly different, shaped by the musicians present and the atmosphere of the hall. Yet the core remains the same: a sincere offering of Sri Chinmoy’s vision of peace through the universal language of music.

Final Thoughts

The concert at the Skirball Center on August 25 was a simple, sincere, and deeply moving evening. It did not try to impress with volume or spectacle. Instead, it invited the audience into a quieter space — a space where the heart could listen, and where the possibility of a new world of peace felt close and real. For those who were able to attend, it was a gift that lingered long after the final notes had faded.

Explore More 

For more information about events, visit the official website: www.srichinmoycentre.org.
To learn more about Sri Chinmoy, please visit: www.srichinmoy.org.

Inspiring News #137: Beautiful Sri Chinmoy 95 Years Concert in Moscow

Posted on by Yatkara

Sri Chinmoy 95 Years Concert in Moscow

Introduction to the Sri Chinmoy 95 Years Concert

On 28 August 2026, the Jubilee concert Sri Chinmoy 95 Years was held in Moscow, Russia, celebrating the life and musical legacy of Sri Chinmoy. The event took place at the Big Hall of the Folklore Center “Moscow” and brought together music lovers, disciples and friends of Sri Chinmoy’s vision of peace and oneness. Around 250 people attended, creating a warm and appreciative atmosphere filled with soulful music.

Organised by the Embassy of India and Local Partners

The concert was organised by the Jawaharlal Nehru Cultural Centre (JNCC), Embassy of India, Moscow, in collaboration with the Regional Public Organisation “Cultural and Sports Center ‘Inspiration’.” This partnership reflected the long-standing cultural friendship between India and Russia and the shared appreciation for spiritual and artistic traditions. The evening began with a warm welcome from Mr. Anoop Kumar Srivastava, Director of the Jawaharlal Nehru Cultural Centre.

Performances of Sri Chinmoy’s Music

The works of Sri Chinmoy were performed by disciples representing the classical musical traditions of both India and Russia. Sarod maestro Vijay Shankar Mishra offered beautiful interpretations of Sri Chinmoy’s compositions on the sarod, while the Ananda Loka Orchestra brought a rich ensemble sound that blended Eastern and Western musical elements. The combination of these two musical streams created a powerful and meditative atmosphere that touched the hearts of everyone present.

A Celebration of Sri Chinmoy’s Musical Legacy

Sri Chinmoy composed thousands of songs during his lifetime, many of which carry profound spiritual messages of peace, love, gratitude and self-transcendence. The Sri Chinmoy 95 Years concert was a living tribute to this vast musical legacy. Each performance invited the audience to experience the inner peace and inspiration that Sri Chinmoy’s music is known for. The evening was not only a cultural event but also a heartfelt offering of gratitude for the light Sri Chinmoy brought to the world.

Atmosphere of Oneness and Appreciation

Around 250 people filled the hall, making the evening a beautiful gathering of music and appreciation. Guests from different backgrounds came together in a shared experience of harmony. The organisers expressed deep gratitude to all the disciples and supporters throughout the world whose generous financial support helped make this concert possible. The event was felt as a sincere expression of Sri Chinmoy’s vision of a oneness-heart-family, showing once again that music can bring people together beyond all boundaries.

Sri Chinmoy 95 Years Concert in Moscow

Photos and Videos from the Concert

Photos and videos taken by visitors are available here:

The Significance of Celebrating Sri Chinmoy’s 95th Year

Celebrating the 95th anniversary of Sri Chinmoy’s birth is an opportunity to remember not only his music but also his lifelong dedication to peace, meditation and the upliftment of the human spirit. Through concerts such as this one, his message continues to reach new audiences and to inspire those who already feel a connection to his path. Events like the Sri Chinmoy 95 Years concert keep the flame of his vision alive in different parts of the world.

Music as a Bridge Between Cultures

The collaboration between Indian classical musicians and the Russian Ananda Loka Orchestra beautifully illustrated how music can serve as a bridge between cultures. Sri Chinmoy often spoke of the universal language of the heart, and this concert was a living example of that ideal. The blend of sarod and orchestral arrangements created a unique sound that spoke to both Eastern and Western sensibilities.

Gratitude to Organisers and Supporters

Special thanks go to the Jawaharlal Nehru Cultural Centre of the Embassy of India in Moscow and to the Regional Public Organisation “Cultural and Sports Center ‘Inspiration’” for their dedicated work in organising the event. Equal gratitude is extended to all the musicians who offered their talent and devotion, and to the many supporters around the world whose contributions made the evening possible. Their collective effort created a memorable celebration of Sri Chinmoy’s musical gift.

Previous Celebrations of Sri Chinmoy’s Music

Concerts of Sri Chinmoy’s music have been held in many countries over the years, including peace concerts offered by Sri Chinmoy himself between 1984 and 2007. In recent years, groups of disciples have continued this tradition by organising performances in Europe, Asia, America and other parts of the world. 

Final Reflections

The Jubilee concert held on 28 August 2026 in Moscow was a beautiful and meaningful celebration of Sri Chinmoy’s life and musical legacy. Through the dedicated performances of Vijay Shankar Mishra and the Ananda Loka Orchestra, and through the warm collaboration of the organisers and audience, the evening became a living expression of gratitude, harmony and cultural friendship. It stands as another shining example of how Sri Chinmoy’s vision continues to inspire people across nations.

Explore More 

For more information about events, visit the official website: www.srichinmoycentre.org.
To learn more about Sri Chinmoy, please visit: www.srichinmoy.org.

Inspiring News #136: Harmony in the Heart of Philadelphia

Posted on by Yatkara

Harmony in the Heart of Philadelphia

As I entered the quiet streets of Philadelphia’s historic Old City on April 17, I felt as if time had stopped. Sri Chinmoy held Philadelphia in deep reverence, often referring to it as “the spiritual capital of America.” He considered the city to be a place of extraordinary spiritual significance, one that gave him a sense of divine reality and inner fulfillment. 

I was heading to Christ Church, a place that is itself a tangible expression of American history. This 1744 church was the spiritual home of the Founding Fathers of the United States, and it was here, in pew 58, that George Washington regularly sat. Walking down the same aisle as America’s first presidents and realizing that this space commemorates the birth of the Declaration of Independence lent incredible weight to the upcoming concert by the acapella Paree’s Group.

The evening began with the captivating voice of Prema Jackson, a radio announcer from San Francisco. Her opening words were not just a formal welcome; she spoke of music as a universal language that can calm the storms in the human heart. Her speech set the stage for the first notes that immediately resounded throughout the space. Paree’s Group, an international ensemble of women from more than fifteen countries, led by Paree Atkin, presented a selection of songs focused on peace. Songs such as “America, the Renaissance-World-Friend” and harmonizing songs with the theme of Peace were performed, which, in a cappella arrangements without instrumental accompaniment, had an unearthly effect in the acoustics of the church. During the concert, we could hear verses about peace that intertwined with the music. Poetry such as: “Peace in the heart means peace in the world,” added a deep meditative dimension to the entire performance. 

Director and speaker Sanjay Rawal

Director and speaker Sanjay Rawal also added to the atmosphere with his observations. In his introduction, he cited historical milestones in the United States and reminded us that the ideals of freedom and brotherhood upon which America was founded are a living process that requires inner peace for each individual. His words about the true history of America being written not only in books but in the hearts of people striving for harmony perfectly framed the choir’s performance.

Sri Chinmoy visited the historic Christ Church in Philadelphia on January 10, 1976, as part of the 360-mile Liberty-Torch run between New York and Washington, D.C. After a fifty-year absence, the flaming torch returned to this site in 2026.

~ Ashish

Explore More 

For more information about events, visit the official website: www.srichinmoycentre.org.
To learn more about Sri Chinmoy, please visit: www.srichinmoy.org.