Before honouring Dr. Goodall, Sri Chinmoy asked: May I take blessings from you and from your monkey? (He then touched the stuffed animal, as have so many thousands of people around the world.)
Sri Chinmoy offered Dr. Goodall the “Lifting Up the World with a Oneness-Heart” Award, presenting her with a medallion and plaque that had her picture etched in glass.
Jane Goodall (after being lifted): After all these great political leaders, I don’t deserve this honour.
A recording was played in which Sri Chinmoy recited a poem she wrote when she was 19, saying that she was inspired by the Vedic seers of the hoary past when she composed this. The Singers then performed several songs Sri Chinmoy had composed in her honour, including one to her words. These songs appear at the end of this section, including music Sri Chinmoy set to the words of her poem written when she was 19.
Jane Goodall: First of all, I feel quite overwhelmed by this ceremony, “Lifting Up the World with a Oneness-Heart,” and by feeling somehow spiritually connected to the amazing people who stood there and were lifted before me. I feel very grateful, very humble and very happy to be here. The sun is almost shining, and we had the beautiful singing.
I wanted to share a message which I believe was sent to me by God just two weeks ago, through the animals that I love. Ever since 9/11 – when I was here in New York with Mary Lewis [Vice President of the Jane Goodall Institute and Assistant to Jane Goodall] and suffered with the city through the aftermath of the attack on the World Trade Towers – I have been trying to travel around America with words of hope – hope for the future. For me, that hope derived from my childhood when we went through World War II and it seemed that England would be invaded, but somehow, although we were quite unprepared, we were not invaded; and although we knew people who were killed, somehow coming through that war. And hope from travelling around in other parts of the world where terrorist acts are not exactly accepted, but at least a part of life – and telling Americans, “Do not go around in fear. Do not let people make you afraid. Carry on with what you are doing.”
Then two weeks ago I was in a wonderful place in Nebraska on the Platte River, where I had gone to see the migration of the sandhill cranes and the snow geese, the most amazing migration on land in the world, with millions and millions and millions of birds. And on this day, 2,000 of these sandhill cranes came right outside the cabin, and for one and a half hours they did their beautiful dance with their wings outstretched, leaping up into the air, throwing up little pieces of grass and clods of earth.
The message that came to me was that, although it looks dark, although the days ahead are grim, there will indeed be peace at the end because cranes are the sign of peace. And that evening, going to where one of the main roosts was, maybe as many as 10 million birds came down onto the river, and gradually the river and the sandbanks were coated with a gray mantle of feathers, with white patches of the snow geese. On that river, in one month, they have to get enough body fat to fly to Siberia and to Alaska; they don’t stop again.
So here was another message, that even though we have damaged the environment, even though the Platte River is lower than it has ever been, even though there are pesticides out there on that land, there is still enough food for these amazing birds to go on this journey. The message was loud and clear, and it was a call to action. We must not let the people who are bombarding us with all these messages about fear and hate win. We must stand strong. We must go on protecting the beautiful world that God has given us so that when peace comes, we are ready for it. When peace comes, as it will, we must be ready for it.
Mahatma Gandhi said that if you look back through human history, you find that every evil regime is overcome by good. Just a few weeks ago as I was travelling around, a lady gave me a little bell, and she said, “If you are talking about peace and hope for the future, you must ring this little bell.” This little bell is made from metal from a defused landmine from the killing fields of Pol Pot, one of the most evil and brutal regimes in human history. But Pol Pot is dead; the Khmer Rouge is disbanded. The Cambodians are trying to put their lives back together again. So this little bell is a symbol of hope, a symbol of peace and a symbol of the fact that we must be ready for peace when it comes.
I truly thank you for honouring me in this way, and for all of the singing. I just feel very, very uplifted and very spiritually refreshed, and given a whole lot of extra energy for these hard days of travelling around trying to give hopeless people hope again, because without hope, we may as well give up. Without hope, we sink into apathy – and without hope in apathy, the evil forces that seem to be abroad will win – and we won’t let them.
Sri Chinmoy: Our dearest sister, we are extremely, extremely grateful to you for this blessingful message that you have so kindly offered to us. We shall cherish your blessingful presence here in the inmost recesses of our heart. We shall always think of you as a supreme messenger of peace. We shall feel your presence as a supreme messenger of peace and hope, peace and hope, peace and hope. With hope we are still alive, and with hope we shall be able to fulfil our promise, the promise of a oneness-world. Once more our heart is all gratitude to you, all gratitude to you.
Nationals wearing banners from 45 countries then salute Dr. Goodall.
Sri Chinmoy then accompanied Dr. Goodall to see the Pilgrim-Museum. When Dr. Goodall emerged from the museum, she delighted everyone with her imitation of a chimpanzee greeting call, explaining that she had performed this in Parliaments and other distinguished places around the world.
Sri Chinmoy: You were everything to the chimpanzees, their mother – everything.
Jane Goodall: They opened the door to a magic world for me.
Sri Chinmoy then accompanied Dr. Goodall to her car, to thunderous applause from the audience.
After Dr. Goodall left, Sri Chinmoy commented:
Inside the museum we had our real heart to heart talk. I admire her indomitable spirit. She has written many nice things in our guest book, plus she has presented me with one of her books. There she said she is so full of admiration for all that I am doing for mankind. These are her comments she has given in writing. She is very cosmopolitan in her views; she says she is a global human being, not a Briton anymore.
Today is a historical day for us, definitely, such a global figure! Instead of an hour, her visit was more than two hours. After playing the recording with my recitation of the poem she wrote at the age of 19 while attending a Theosophy course, I said, “You were inspired by the Vedic seers of the hoary past when you composed this particular poem.”
I said that definitely she was inspired by the Vedic seers of the hoary past. Both the “soul” and the “Eternal I” are prophetic utterances of the Vedic seers. Specially when I hear “Eternal I,” immediately it carries me to the Vedic era. When we say “Eternal I,” it may be just hopeful thinking, but when they say “Eternal I” in Sanskrit, it immediately reverberates in the depths of my heart, this message of the Eternal I.
She has such height and depth, but when I was talking to her, at that time she was eager to listen. She was listening very attentively and with real sincerity or admiration. She gave her full attention and receptivity. Even when I was saying casual things, she was paying such sincere attention.
(While looking at beautiful pictures on display of Dr. Goodall interacting with the chimpanzees):
How sweet they are! One picture shows her sincere and serious spirituality. In another photo she is all affection, and another one shows her feeling of oneness. Here her sincerity is so deep. Her far-flung vision, inner vision, is projected in her eyes. This is really her height of inner strength and outer hope. This picture is very deep and very high, very deep and very high.
(About the stuffed monkey Dr. Goodall brings with her when she travels):
It seems to me that it was a gift from a blind man to her. She said, “This is a miracle. If a blind man can give you this, then you can easily conquer the world.” So I mentioned that incident, and told her, “You have already conquered the world.”
She was saying that better days are coming ahead. When she came out of the museum, at that time the sun again appeared. She reminds me of Raisa Maximovna – hope, hope – and Raisa Maximovna’s immortal book, Hope.
Following are two songs Sri Chinmoy wrote in honour of Dr. Goodall, as well as two songs with music set to her immortal words.From:Sri Chinmoy,Only One Reality Sri Chinmoy, Agni Press, 2025
Sourced from https://srichinmoylibrary.com/oor