Question: In your recent concert, you wanted people to be conscious of Mikhail Gorbachev and you dedicated the concert to him. I was wondering why you did that, since he is no longer serving in the same capacity as he was before.

Sri Chinmoy: I am a great admirer of President Gorbachev. President Gorbachev does not have to remain President. He has done so much for humanity. No human being has done as much as he has already done. Politically, let us say, he is now serving God in a different way. Spiritually, so many Eastern European countries have received liberation, freedom and light only because of him. According to me, he is the greatest man living on earth. Just because he is no longer the President of his country in a political sense, I cannot say that all of his divine qualities have disappeared — no! Right now he is not the leader, the emperor, let us say. But all the good qualities of the emperor he has when he speaks.

In my case, my adoration for him, my love for him, will never diminish, because I have met Gorbachev the man and not Gorbachev the politician. A politician will stay in office for five years or ten years and then he disappears. But as a man, a universal man, President Gorbachev has done so much for mankind. Whether he is President or not, in the heart of humanity he will always remain unparalleled.