Contact the Sri Chinmoy Centre

Before sending a message, check if there are local contact details for a Sri Chinmoy Centre in your country (see the list below). If you don't see your country, then please use this form and we'll make sure it gets to the right person.

For copyright and media requests, you can also use this form.

form.antibot { display: none !important; } You must have JavaScript enabled to use this form.

Local contacts: Australia • Bangladesh বাংলাদেশ • Bosnia and Herzegovina • Brazil Brasil • Bulgaria България • Canada • Czech Republic Česko • Croatia Hrvatska • Estonia • France • Finland Suomi • Georgia საქართველო • Great Britain • Ghana • Greece Ελλάδα • Hungary • Iceland Ísland • India • Indonesia • Ireland • Italy Italia • Japan 日本 • Kenya • Macedonia • Mongolia Монгол • Nepal नेपाल • Netherlands Nederland • New Zealand • Portugal • Puerto Rico • Russia Россия • Serbia • Singapore • Slovenia Slovenija • Slovakia Slovensko • South Africa • United States

• German-speaking countries/Deutschsprachige Länder Germany, Austria and Switzerland
• Spanish-speaking countries/Países de habla hispana Spain, Central and South America

» » »

Aspects of Sri Chinmoy's philosophy

The Sri Chinmoy Centre firmly bases itself upon the practice of a living spirituality, where the peace, love, joy and light contained within the spiritual heart is, through regular meditation and prayer, applied to our everyday lives.

In Sri Chinmoy's words:

"Our philosophy does not negate either the outer life or the inner life. Most human beings negate the inner life. They feel that the inner life is not important as long as they can exist on earth. Again, there are a few who think that the outer life is not necessary. They feel that the best thing is to enter into the Himalayan caves and lead a life of solitude, since the outer life is so painful and full of misunderstanding.

We do not believe in living either a life of solitude or an ordinary human life - the so-called modern life that depends on machines and not on the inner reality, the soul. We try to synthesize and harmonise the outer life and the inner life. The outer life is like a beautiful flower and the inner life is its fragrance. If there is no fragrance, then we cannot appreciate the flower. Again, if there is no flower, how can there be any fragrance? So the inner life and the outer life must go together.

The body is like a temple and the soul or inner reality is like the shrine inside the body-temple. If the temple does not have a shrine, then we cannot appreciate the temple. Again, if we do not keep the temple in good condition, then how can we take proper care of the shrine? We have to keep the body fit, and for this, running is of considerable help. If we are physically fit, then we will be more inspired to get up early in the morning to meditate. True, the inspiration to meditate comes from within, but if we are healthy, then it will be much easier for us to get up at five or six o'clock to pray and meditate. In this way the inner life is being helped by the outer life. Again, if we are inspired to get up early to meditate, then we will also be able to go out and run. Here we see that the outer life is being helped by the inner life."