My dearly cherished and my unforgettable moments with the Vice-President Irina, the beloved daughter of President Gorbachev

Then the President’s beloved daughter, Irina, came and greeted me. Immediately she started calling me Guru. She was so soulful. Almost with tears in her eyes, she showed me into her office. Her office room is bright, charming, dignified and artistic in every way. Next to her father, at this young age, being the Vice-President of the Foundation, Irina is shouldering, most diligently and most adequately, all the responsibilities of the Foundation. She was so happy to welcome me to the Foundation. She kept using the English word “dream, dream, dream.”

Last year I had sent Irina a most beautiful statue of an angel blowing a trumpet. Over the angel’s heart I had put her mother’s picture. Irina took me to one corner of her office and showed me the angel, which was kept in this special corner. I said, “This is the one I gave you!”

Irina said, “Yes!” Then she showed me five more things that I had given the Gorbachev family over the years. She was telling me, “You gave this glass piece a few years ago. You gave all this.” She said that she keeps those things in her main office permanently.

Then we sat down. Irina was at her desk, and I sat in front of her desk, facing her. I saw on her desk the vase that I gave her last year. On one side of the vase is a photograph of Raisa Maximovna, and on the other side is a photograph of President Gorbachev. It looks so beautiful. She said, “I keep it here, right in front of me. Your gifts are always here. And there are a few personal things from you that we keep at home.”

We meditated a little in silence, and Irina was looking at me intently. Afterwards we had a long talk, and I highly appreciated and admired her work.

At 3:00 there was supposed to be a conference. The subject matter was, “Perestroika: is it of the future or of the past?” Just before it was supposed to start, a message came to Irina from the President: “I will be late. You open the conference. Please take Sri Chinmoy with you.”

President Gorbachev's daughter read the message out to me, and together we went to the meeting.