NEW YORK (TIP): Dr. Martin Luther King’s spirit of brotherhood, his life and his ongoing legacy were honored January 14 at a program hosted by the Sri Chinmoy Centre at its Headquarters in New York City. Featured at the program was a new arrangement of the song “I Have a Dream”, with words extracted from Dr. King’s historic 1963 speech, melody by Sri Chinmoy, and a new piano arrangement. Recognized as a beacon of light and world leader, Dr. King received the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1964. The song first premiered at a program held at the United Nations in 1977, with Coretta Scott King as guest of honor and keynote speaker.
In her closing remarks at that program, Coretta Scott King thanked Sri Chinmoy and the Peace Meditation Group, as well as the many ambassadors and UN officials who paid tribute to her husband: “Your words have been, indeed, an inspiration to me. And to have heard what has been said by representatives of nations around the world, who have understood Martin Luther King, Jr.’s message and his great life commitment, certainly inspires me personally to continue in the struggle, which we are all a part of here….I feel that I am also a citizen of the world, as Martin Luther King, Jr. was a citizen of the world.”

Coretta Scott King and Sri Chinmoy were later honored in 1994 by the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, India’s foremost and most respected cultural institution as the first two recipients of the Mahatma Gandhi Universal Harmony Award for their contributions to universal peace and harmony. At this award ceremony, hosted at the  Hilton Hotel in New York City, Sri Chinmoy and Coretta Scott King had the honor to meet with Ramaswami Venkataraman, former President of India, who took part in the ceremony of conferment by the Bhavan along with other tidings from respected top dignitaries and Bhavanites of India such as S. Ramakrishnan, C. Subramaniam, Vice president Palkhivala, Vice president N. Gandhi.

A poem dedicated to Dr. King by Dr. Gerald Deas, respected doctor and public health advocate, delighted the audience, and Dr. Ganapati John Coleman offered a thorough history of Dr. King, the civil rights movement, and influences by Mahatma Gandhi. Ranjana Ghose, President of the Board of Directors of the Sri Chinmoy Centre, inspired the audience to follow in the footsteps of Dr. and Mrs. King and Sri Chinmoy, and to work towards a better world. Noting an often overlooked but essential factor to achieve success, she quoted Sri Chinmoy, “ The first step towards world transformation, is self transformation.”