Sri Chinmoy

Sri Chinmoy was a spiritual poet, musician, artist, and self-described “student of peace.” He arose from the great tradition of Bengali poets, and wrote prolifically in both English and Bengali. A central theme of Sri Chinmoy’s poetry is self-transcendence and the relationship of the heart and the mind. Many of his poems in Bengali are lyrical and are set to music; he also translated his own poems into English. Others, written directly in English, range from devotional to observant. 

His publications sometimes combined poetry and prose, and include The Inner Promise (Simon & Schuster, 1974), The Wings of Joy (Atria Books, 1997), Sri Chinmoy Kavya (Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, 1991, and Vani Prakashan, 2015), and The Garden of Love-Light Poems (Agni Press and Balaka Prokashan, 2016).

Sri Chinmoy was born Chinmoy Kumar Ghose in Bengal, then British India, and made his home in New York City beginning in 1964. He often recited his poetry during peace concerts and during the meditations he led at the United Nations for 37 years. Sri Chinmoy offered some dedicated poetry readings, including at New York’s Public Theater’s “Poets at the Public” series in 1982, at Stockholm’s Musikaliska Akademien in 1990, and at a United Nations program celebrating the UN Year of Dialogue among Civilizations, which also included writers Mei-mei Berssenbrugge, Yusef Komunyakaa, and Joyce Carol Oates in 2001. 

Biography written by Nayana Hein.