Part I — Compassion-Father, Champion-Brother, Perfection-Friend
Sri Chinmoy has met with Pope Paul VI at the Vatican on three separate occasions. Those meetings left the Indian spiritual Master deeply moved, and he was inspired to write a soulful book about the Pontiff. The first part of this brochure includes excerpts from Sri Chinmoy's book. The second part contains reminiscences of those meetings by Sri Chinmoy and his assistant.O Compassion-Father, O Champion-Brother, O Perfection-Friend, your mind is divinely great; your heart is supremely good. Your greatness-mind is illumining humanity's hope. Your goodness-heart is fulfilling humanity's promise. Humanity's hope is to see satisfaction in each human being. Humanity's promise is to reveal the Kingdom of Heaven here on earth. Because you love untiringly, O Holy Father, humanity's hope, I feel that before long humanity's hope will succeed and proceed. Because you bless unreservedly, O Holy Father, humanity's promise, I feel that before long humanity's promise will proceed and succeed.
Pope Paul at once blesses two lions: humanity's confidence-lion and humanity's assurance-lion. To the confidence-lion he says, "Start. I shall be with you at your journey's start." To the assurance-lion he says, "Run soulfully. I shall be at your journey's close to receive you and garland you."
On 4 October 1965 the Holy Father delivered an immortal speech at the United Nations which was nothing short of his own life-giving Wisdom-Light. He offered papal support unreservedly to the United Nations' cause and told the United Nations that disarmament and cooperation are of paramount importance in extinguishing the poverty-flames and misery-flames of the world. The relationship between the Church and the United Nations he elucidates in a simple and powerful manner: "The Church considers the United Nations to be the fruit of a civilisation to which the Catholic religion… gave the vital principles. It considers it an instrument of brotherhood between nations which the Holy See has always desired and promoted…. The convergence of so many peoples, of so many races, so many States in a single organisation intended to avert the evils of war and to favour the good things of peace is a fact which the Holy See considers as corresponding to its concept of humanity and included within the area of its spiritual mission to the world."
The Holy Father's blessingful appreciation of the United Nations may be imprinted in gold letters on the tablet of the United Nations' heart: "Thanks to you, glory to you, who for twenty years have laboured for peace and have even given illustrious victims to this holy cause. Thanks to you and glory to you for the conflicts you have prevented and for those you have settled. The results of your efforts for peace, up to these last days, even if not yet decisive, deserve that we venture to interpret the feelings of the whole world and in its name express to you both congratulations and gratitude."
With regard to man's duty, his dignity and his religious freedom, the Holy Father observed at the United Nations: "We feel that you [the United Nations staff] are the interpreters of what is highest in human wisdom."
The Pope calls the United Nations a school that teaches man peace. According to him, each individual here is at once a pupil and a teacher in the art of building peace. Him to quote, “…the world looks to you as to the architects, the builders of peace.”
