Shortly after beginning his art journey in 1974, Sri Chinmoy completed over 100,000 paintings. In 1975, at an early art exhibition in the UN Plaza, New York, Sri Chinmoy performed several songs, accompanied with the harmonium.
Sri Chinmoy Sings at Jharna-Kala Gallery
Last modified September 5, 2017
The songs include classical Sanskri chants and also his own compositions.This recording was made at the Jharna Kala Gallery on August 15th 1975. 7 July – 17 August.
Extracts from publications of the time
„August 15 (Friday) – At the Jharna-Kala Gallery Sri Chinmoy gave a recital for over an hour of his own songs in Sanskrit and Bengali and one or two in English. The performance was taped and may be released as a record.“
– Chinmoy Family Magazine 1975 (June-September)
Bank Hold Art Shows At U.N. Plaza
The European-American Bank office at the north end of U.N. Plaza, between 48th and 49th Streets, is currently presenting a one man art show of the fountain art of U.N. Meditation Group spiritual founder Sri Chinmoy. He paints under the initials C.K.G. calling his paintings Jharna-Kala, which is Bengali for fountain art. A native of Bengali, India he now lives in the United States and is head of a religious group with more than 50 centers throughout the world. At the same time a further exhibit of Sri Chinmoy’s work is being shown at the Jharna Kala Gallery, 220 Mercer St.
– August 11, 1975, Diplomatic World
Swirls and Twirls – Guru Art
by Sarama Minoli
One is liable to miss the small but impressive exhibition of paintings by Sri Chinmoy Kumar Ghose on the main floor of Klapper Library. The display offers just a tiny sampling from among the 100,000 paintings during the past year.
Sri Chinmoy, until now better known as a spiritual Master and leader of the United Nation Meditation Group, began painting of Nov. 19, 1974 and in a a joyous outpouring of Yogic power, completed his one-hundred-thousandth painting on Oct.3 of this year.
The name given to this flood of creativity is Jharna Kala “Fountain Art”. Seven thousand of the works exhibited at a gallery in Manhattan during July and August, encompassed a sweeping panorama of style, color and form, including wall-sized canvasses and inch-square miniatures, acrylics, finger paintings, watercolors, line drawings, bold abstracts, and whimsical birds.
Perhaps the outstanding feature of the paintings is their quality of rhythmic movement and purest light often seeming to come from a veritable explosion about the surface of the paper.
Born in India in 1931. Sri Chinmoy entered an ashram at the age of 12 and spend the next 20 years in intense meditation and spiritual discipline. Never doing anything in moderation, he wrote thousands of poems in his native Bengali and since coming to the United States about 10 years ago has written thousands more in English along with hundreds od songs, plays, stories, essays, and aphorisms published to date in over 250 volumes.
In his ”spare time” Chinmoy lectures at mayor universities the world over. He also conducts meditations twice a week for United Nations delegates and staff and directs the spiritual activities of some 50 Sri Chinmoy Centres around the world. All of his accomplishments are aimed at inspiring his followers to develop their own fullest capacities through meditation.
– Phoenix, Tuesday October 28, 1975
Photos from art exhibition
Jharna Kala paintings
The artist viewing his paintings.
Display view from Mercer street.
Artist: Sri Chinmoy
Name: Sri Chinmoy Sings at Jharna-Kala Gallery
Release year: 1975 (MC)
Duration: 0:59:10
Acknowledgements: Sri Chinmoy
Tracks uploaded: Ashish Zubaty | Tejvan Pettinger
Format: Advanced Audio Coding
Photos: by Sarama Minoli, copyright Sri Chinmoy Centre
Original album cover of the tape from 1975.
