The UN’s ACTNOW climate initiative is all about highlighting the steps that each one of us, as individuals, can take to preserve a livable climate.
We invite people to show us their climate action and inspire others. Because, when we pull together, we have much more power to influence change.
Nanette Braun, UN Chief of Campaigns.
One such step – and one that was very dear to Oneness-Heart Tears and Smiles founder Sri Chinmoy’s heart – is planting trees.
Sri Chinmoy led “Sri Chinmoy: the Peace Meditation at the United Nations,” in New York City for 37 years until his passing in 2007. He embraced the highest ideals of the United Nations, thus the universal goals of the UN have motivated all our projects. For Sri Chinmoy, trees embodied the qualities of humility and service that we need to make a better world together.
Each individual has a special role to play in the protection of our small planet. It is the illumination of the individual mind and spirit that will precede the awakening of a new collective awareness. The change in individual attitudes will be the precursor of a change in institutional policies, and the result will be a greater respect and love for our planet Earth
Sri Chinmoy
On August 9, 2022 in Ulaanbaatar, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres spoke of Mongolia’s most significant campaign to plant one billion trees.
He stated “Your generation has an important task to make peace with nature. And what we are going to do today, must be a gesture of that new attitude to make peace with nature…So one billion trees in Mongolia will make an enormous
difference in relation to climate change, in relation to biodiversity, in relation to desertification. It will be the symbol of reconciliation between humanity and nature because only with harmony between humanity and nature will there be a future for this planet.”
Inspiring Artwork
In partnership with the Jharna-Kala Art Foundation, the Oneness-Heart-Tears and Smiles Humanitarian Service team is offering, free of charge to various airports, banners and posters with Sri Chinmoy’s Artwork titled “Plant a Tree for World Harmony” as well as another with the title, “Save Earth.”
We envision banners suspended from the ceiling of airports or on walls, both colorful and symbolic of one solution to help prevent climate change. The participating airports would be taking a proactive positive step to inspire world travelers. It is our hope that some airports will also partner with local schools to invite students to plant trees at the airport or in their local communities.
The banner on the left is jointly signed by Sri Chinmoy and President Mikhail Gorbachev:
“To me, nature is sacred.
Mikhail Gorbachev
Trees are my temples and forests
are my cathedrals.”
Banners can also be made from poem messages from Listen to Nature, a recently published book of Sri Chinmoy’s writings. Airports may make their own choice of poem messages from our
Inspirational Thoughts of the Day on Environmental Protection by Sri Chinmoy. The poems will then be printed as posters or banners as each airport manager wishes.
Listen to Nature—
She speaks
Only for your good.
God does not want me
Just to feel sad
For the earth-planet.
He wants me to do something
To serve her
And make her smile and smile.
My heart adores
The simplicity-beauty
Of Mother Earth.
Mother Earth
My heart breaks into
Millions of pieces
The moment I think of
Your insufferable agonies.
Nature, unlike human beings,
Obeys God implicitly.
Nature compassionately takes
Very little from us.
But we are always eager to devour
Not only everything from nature,
But also nature itself.
Science says:
“I can.”
Nature says:
”I eternally am.”
Unity in multiplicity
Has always been the plan
Of Mother Nature.
If peace is not
In Nature’s beauty
Then where is it, where?
Every self-giving effort
Of every human being
Is needed to change
The fate of this world.
Mother Earth asks us
To follow her
And give everything
Cheerfully and unreservedly.
Nature’s beauty helps us
To be as vast as possible
As peaceful as possible
And as pure as possible.
Nature’s beauty
Teaches optimism
To the aspiring heart.
Nature embodies the cosmic energy
That leads us to the ultimate Source
While fulfilling us and satisfying us.
Silence embraces
Nature’s beauty
Most powerfully.
Science is revolution.
Nature is evolution.
Science is always in a hurry.
Nature has Eternity
At her disposal.
The best way to appreciate Nature’s beauty
Is to sit and meditate with Nature.
I am responsible
Not only for my own life,
But for the earth-planet as well.
Do not underestimate
The blessing-gifts
Of Mother Earth.
Mother Earth
Has to be treated
With utmost humility.
Mother Earth,
Your beauty is unimaginable!
You are far beyond the appreciation
Of my heart and my life.
Nature willingly
Wants to offer us
Its hidden ecstasy.
Nature’s last message to mankind:
Do not mistreat me!
If you mistreat me,
You will be a deplorable loser
In the battlefield of life.
The rising sun and the setting sun
Inspire my heart to become one
With Mother Nature.
The mysteries
Of Mother Nature
None can explain.
The sweet whispers
Of Mother Nature
Awaken and enlighten me.
Listen to Nature: Living in Harmony with the Earth is available from Amazon and Heart-Light Publications
in N. America, Blue Beyond Books in the UK, and Golden Shore Verlag in the EU.
Sri Chinmoy’s art at airports
It has been our experience that airports have a unique opportunity to inspire people to reflect on peace, harmony as well as the current environmental challenges. Sri Chinmoy’s Art has been
exhibited in America, Europe, and Asia in airports for the past 22 years to
inspire world peace and harmony.
