During his lifetime (1931-2007), Sri Chinmoy traveled throughout the globe. In 1964, he moved to America. Tireless in his activities — these are just a snippet of events he engaged in while visiting different states in America, gathered here specifically in commemoration for the 250th anniversary of America.

Some of the key America projects organized by Sri Chinmoy and his students were:

  • Lecture Series at Universities and other venues
    • Over 270 talks were given by Sri Chinmoy at over 124 American universities from the years 1968-2000 (https://www.srichinmoylibrary.com/oeh-384e3 : note this link includes other countries, scroll down to United States of America). Additionally, hundreds of other talks were given at venues other than Universities.
  • Music and Peace Concerts
    • An avid musician and composer, Sri Chinmoy offered over 775 ‘Peace Concerts‘ thoughout the globe — which included over 400 in America. These Peace Concerts were not intended as ‘entertainment’ but as a conscious invocation of peace, and were always offered absolutely free to the public. They would typically generally include:
      • leading the audience in a silent meditation to invoke peace;
      • Sri Chinmoy singing his devotional compositions and meditatively performing on musical instruments ( the harmonium, flute, esraj — and often any other instrument he was inspired by at the time including cello, piano, and various stringed and wind instruments from around the world);
      • a capella choir performances from his students;
      • poetry he had written that day;
      • and —in the earlier days— sometimes included a talk and even a Q&A session
    • Sri Chinmoy composed melodies for the names of each of the 50-states in America. While these one-word melodies are not counted among his nearly 23,000 lyrical compositions, they have a unique, mantric-like, special significance for those who may want to invoke the simpler but deeper quality of each state’s soul. (To explore a broader range and more typical compositions of Sri Chinmoy’s music, visit the SriChinmoySongs.com —or ‘Radio Sri Chinmoy’ )
  • Writings
    • Sri Chinmoy’s writings —both prose and poetry— is extensive. An online collection, the Sri Chinmoy Library is a good place to start exploring this huge body of work. On a different site, here is a small collection of excerpts from Sri Chinmoy’s writings on America.
  • Artwork
    • In his youth in India, Sri Chinmoy would often draw sketches and he continued to do so through his life. In 1974, when he was 43 years old and living in America, he took up painting and drawing with great enthusiasm and abundance. See here for more details about his artwork.
  • Sports
    • Sports always played an important part of Sri Chinmoy’s life and philosophy. He believed that through ‘self-transcendence’ athletic activities could empower one’s own life — and well as bring communities and people together. See here for more details about his athletic endeavors. Some of the more encompassing multi-state events are:
      • Sri Chinmoy Oneness-Home Peace Run (aka Harmony Run), a bi-annual (sometimes annual) event since 1987
      • 1976-today. An track athlete in his youth, Sri Chinmoy took up middle-, long-, and track- events again in his middle-age. The Sri Chinmoy Marathon Team (SCMT) was founded in 1976 and has offered thousands of local running events throughout the states and the globe.
      • Liberty Torch Relay, 1976. A non-stop, round-the-clock, relay run through all 50 states (8,800 miles). Taking the SCMT runners 46 days, summer of 1976.
      • June 21-27, 1979. Empire State Bicycle Relay. About 100 SCMT cyclists participated, pairing up in teams of two they rode 1,500 miles covering the length and breadth of New York State through more than 300 towns and cities across the state in 7-days.
      • October 1980. Salutations to America: A 13-State, 1,300 Mile Non-Stop Relay Run,  The relay, comprised of 15 runners from the SCMT, began in Concord, New Hampshire and continued through each of the 13 original states of the US and completed its journey seven days later in Atlanta, Georgia.
      • U.S.A. Bicycle Relay, 1980. Cyclists from the SCMT traversed 18 states in 22-days in a transcontinental bicycle relay (later entitled “America’s Oneness-Aspiration Bicycle Relay”) to honour their spiritual teacher’s contributions to sports in the U.S.A. After inaugurating their journey’s start in N.Y., Sri Chinmoy again met them in Washington, D.C. where the cyclists were joined by Sri Chinmoy on his bike and were led by police escorts to arrive at the West Steps of the Capitol for a 11 a.m. ceremony from many state representatives, led by Rep. Joseph P. Addabbo (D-N.Y.).
      • 1988-2004. “Lifting Up the World with a Oneness-Heart” — a unique programme during which an honoree would climb a flight of stairs, then standing on a platform they would be hoisted several inches by Sri Chinmoy in a weightlifting feat. Over 8,300 individuals were honored in this way—from ordinary citizens to others’ who had achieved great acclaim. The aim? Always trying new ways to be inspired and to inspire — and having spent over 3 decades interacting with others through traditional spiritual methods by offering hundreds of talks; hundreds of concerts; thousands of public meditations — Sri Chinmoy, then in his late 50s until his mid-70s, found weightlifting as a new and intriguing physical challenge. This interactive programme invited people to spend time being recognized for their acts of goodness or service. While he continued offering meditations and concerts to the public, at these events there was a direct-exchange between Sri Chinmoy and the liftee; and as he said, “We exchange our good qualities. That is called a ‘oneness-heart’.”
      • Sri Chinmoy Peace Ride in 2025. Two members of the SCMT rode from Seattle to New York briefly stopping along the way to engage with the people in the 11 states they traversed.

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Events organized by the 50 States:

**Note: This section is current in DRAFT form and in the process of research. My aim is to have a page for each of the 50 states, if the name of the state does not have a link, please check back :D.**

Alabama (AL)   /   Alaska (AK)
   /   Arizona (AZ)
   /   Arkansas (AR)   /   
California (CA)   /   
Colorado
 (CO)   /   
Connecticut (CT
)   /   Delaware (DE)   /   
Florida (FL)
   /   Georgia (GA)   /   
Hawaii (HI)   /   
Idaho (ID)
   /   Illinois (IL)
   /   IN   /   
IA   /   
KS
   /   KY
   /   Louisiana (LA)   /   
ME
   /   Maryland (MD)
   /   MA   /   
MI   /   
MN   /   
Mississippi (MS)
   /   MO   /   
MT
   /   NE   /   
NV   /   
NH
   /   New Jersey (NJ)   /   
NM
   /   New York (NY)
   /   North Carolina (NC)   /   
ND
   /   OH
   /   OK   /   
Oregon (OR)
   /   Pennsylvania (PA)   /   
RI   /   
South Carolina (SC)
   /   SD
   /   Tennessee (TN)
   /   TX   /   
UT
   /   VT
   /   Virginia (VA
)   /   WA
   /   WV
   /   WI
   /   WY

Additionally: Washington, DC

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This page was initially setup with the 2026 Peace Run in mind: so the same links above are listed below in the order of the states that the Peace Run will go through is:

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Go to the Peace Run page on devotionsongs.com or the Peace Run’s official page   //  //   Return to page about  the 50-state songs //  // Go to Devotionsongs.com home

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AlabamaAlaskaArizonaArkansas
California
Colorado
Connecticut
Delaware
Florida
Georgia
Hawaii
Idaho
Illinois
Indiana
Iowa
Kansas
Kentucky
Louisiana
Maine
Maryland
Massachusetts
Michigan
Minnesota
Mississippi
Missouri
Montana
Nebraska
Nevada
New Hampshire
New Jersey
New Mexico
New York
North Carolina
North Dakota
Ohio
Oklahoma
Oregon
Pennsylvania
Rhode Island
South Carolina
South Dakota
Tennessee
Texas
Utah
Vermont
Virginia
Washington
West Virginia
Wisconsin
Wyoming