Peace Concert dedicated to Mother Teresa at the United Nations⁵

Ms. Vijaya Catherine Claxton, Master of Ceremonies: Welcome to this tribute to Mother Teresa. We thank H.E. Ambassador Anwarul Karim Chowdhury, Permanent Representative of Bangladesh to the United Nations, for giving us this opportunity to share our appreciation of this humble and powerful woman. Ambassador Chowdhury, who is Ambassador of Bangladesh, Sri Chinmoy, who was born in Bangladesh, and Mother Teresa, who spoke fluent Bengali and who started her Missionaries of Charity in that part of the world, are bound together in a common love of humanity and peace.

Ambassador Chowdhury has long been an advocate for a better world through his service as Director of UNICEF’s Executive Board and his participation in a wide range of multilateral conferences. He now serves his country as Ambassador and Chairman of the very important Fifth Committee of the General Assembly. We invite Ambassador Chowdhury to share with us his thoughts to begin the programme.

H.E. Ambassador Anwarul Karim Chowdhury, Permanent Representative of Bangladesh to the United Nations: Good afternoon, distinguished ladies and gentlemen, and my respects to Sri Chinmoy. I met Mother Teresa only once, and that, too, very briefly. So I feel very inadequate to say anything about her. But it has been very rewarding for me, in my moments of difficulties, to be uplifted by her spirits, by her idealism, by her support for the downtrodden. Through her service to humanity, to the vulnerable, Mother Teresa has shown what commitment and dedication can accomplish. When we think of her, we think of purity and selflessness. Concern for the have-nots: that is Mother Teresa. Saintliness: that is Mother Teresa.

She is a reminder to us that goodness is still acclaimed in this world and that we are not yet totally given to stark materialism. Mother Teresa is a constant reminder to each of us to make our best effort every day to become a better human being. I thank you all for joining us for this remarkable Peace Concert by Sri Chinmoy, who in his life has tried to emulate Mother Teresa.

[Sri Chinmoy bows to the different photos of Mother Teresa that adorn the stage. When he sees the picture of the Spiritual Summit Conference, sponsored by the Temple of Understanding, held at United Nations headquarters on 24 October 1975, he comments:]

Here is Mother Teresa [pointing to her picture]. In 1975 she came and blessed this auditorium. She was seated right here [indicating a place on the stage]. I was extremely fortunate to have the opportunity to prayerfully offer her a rose. There were about 20 religious leaders, and after a brief meditation, I offered each of them a rose.

Mother Teresa’s successor, Sister Nirmala, offered a most prayerful, soulful and fruitful prayer-message [at Mother Teresa’s funeral]: “God loved the world so much that He sent to us Jesus Christ, and Jesus Christ loved us so much that He sent to us Mother Teresa.” This is a momentous utterance that I have prayerfully set to music.

[Sri Chinmoy sings, accompanying himself on the harmonium.]

[Sri Chinmoy then reads some excerpts from his second book about Mother Teresa.]

Sri Chinmoy: I spoke to her on the phone from New York nine days before she left the world, on my birthday, the 27th of August. (He reads the conversation, in which she offered him her birthday blessings.)

[The Peace Meditation choir sings three songs by Sri Chinmoy dedicated to Mother Teresa, including one song written to her words. Members of the choir then recite aphorisms about Mother Teresa from Sri Chinmoy’s book.]

[Members of the audience are invited to offer their personal tributes or reflections on Mother Teresa.]

Ms. Soraya Emami: I have been doing charity work since I was 15 years old. I always wanted to go and work closely with Mother Teresa, but because I was born a Muslim I was afraid that would create a problem.

Last year I received a call from Mother Teresa at seven o’clock in the morning, California time, and she told me, “My child, you are more than welcome to come and work with me.” When I went to Calcutta and spent three months working with her and with the beautiful Sisters, I experienced the joy of fulfilment and working wholeheartedly, which I had never experienced before.

The first thing I told her was, “Mother, I want to make sure I am accepted completely.”

And she told me, “Anybody who wants to work with me, if you believe in God and have faith, that is all I need from you. I would rather that a good Muslim or a good Jew work with me than a Christian with no faith.”

I never felt more welcome in all my years in this kind of work as during the time I worked with Mother. I will never forget the five o’clock in the morning early meditation and prayer with her all those times. I carry with me the medallion she put over my head and the blessings she offered me the day I was leaving Calcutta last November. That is going to be the most valuable thing I leave for my children. Thank you, Mother, for making me the person I am today. Thank you.

[Sri Chinmoy offers a gift of prasad, with Mother Teresa’s picture, to all present.]