If you give from your heart,
Then your offering will be
Not only unimaginable
But also indisputable.
Sri Chinmoy, Twenty-Seven Thousand Aspiration-Plants, part 51, Agni Press, 1984
Sri Chinmoy met with President Mikhail Gorbachev on numerous occasions and exchanged letters over a long period of correspondence.
Sri Chinmoy stated that he deeply admired President Gorbachev for his role in liberating countries of the former Eastern Bloc.
Among the world figures of our time, there are many whom I admire, but first and foremost is President Gorbachev…. He was the main instrument to liberate Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Poland and so many other countries in the Eastern Bloc. 1
The first meeting between President Gorbachev and Sri Chinmoy took place on 29 May 1990 at the Canadian Governor-General's Residence in Ottawa. At his first meeting with Sri Chinmoy, President Gorbachev warmly spoke to him:
"I have heard so much about you and your work. We must work together for world peace."
Sri Chinmoy offered a copy of a song he had composed in President Gorbachev's honour and spoke of the President's work.
"You are the master-key of the global heart. You have liberated the world from bondage-night, and you have brought to the fore the inner freedom which we need so desperately. Before, people were in darkness, and now you have brought light to them." 2
In July 1991, Sri Chinmoy met President Gorbachev during a private meeting at the London economic summit. President Gorbachev accepted a book honouring his achievements, entitled Gorbachev: The Master-Key Of The Universal Heart.
In 1994, Sri Chinmoy awarded President Gorbachev the U Thant Peace Award. In the above picture, President Gorbachev is holding the Sri Chinmoy Oneness-Home Peace Run torch with his wife Raisa Maximovna.
Sri Chinmoy wrote two books honouring President Gorbachev.
These are two extracts from the book Gorbachev: The Master-Key Of The Universal Heart:
Before you became
The pilot of the world-peace-boat,
This world of ours
Was sinking deeper and deeper into despair.
And now, what do we see?
A most powerful hope-light-dance!
Long live, long live,
The fondness-child of Stavropol!
Freedom-grower, Freedom-giver, Freedom-delight!
The liberator-sun of the world's division-night.
Love-peace-fountain, Mikhail,
Earth and Heaven's oneness-thrill.
Gorbachev, Gorbachev, all-where the peace-blossom-tree.
The master-key of the global heart,
bondage-world free.
Sri Chinmoy answers, part 11, Agni Press in 1999↩︎
Gorbachev: The master-key of the universal heart , Agni Press in 1990.↩︎