The Sri Chinmoy Oneness-Home Peace Run is a global torch relay that offers everyone in the world a chance to express their longing for peace.
Since its founding in 1987, the Run has visited almost every country on earth – over 150 nations and territories – and touched the lives of millions of people.
How it works How we're organised Contact Us
We are all sisters and brothers in a world‐family. The goal of the Peace Run is to expedite humanity’s efforts to make our world a oneness‐home for all people. We run together to create a world founded on peace.
The Peace Run does not seek to raise money or highlight any political cause. Our simple goal is to create a feeling of goodwill among peoples of all nations.
How does it work?
The Peace Run is a worldwide relay run. Runners carry a torch – the Peace Torch. The torch is passed from hand to hand, from person to person, as we travel from nation to nation.
Running with the Peace Torch is a unique experience. It awakens the experience of peace as a tangible reality - a reality that is dynamic, fulfilling and achievable. Hundreds of thousands of individuals, from schoolchildren to heads of state, have shared the joy of this experience.
Founder - Sri Chinmoy
Many people, out of their boundless compassion and affection, call me a man of peace.... I take myself as a student of peace, not as a man of peace — and 'peace-maker' is far beyond my concept. Only a student can learn. If I remain a student of peace, I will be the happiest and the proudest person. Only a student can learn. For him is the ocean of knowledge and the ocean of peace, the ocean of peace.
Sri Chinmoy
Sri Chinmoy's work for peace spanned five decades and earned him appreciation from luminaries such as President Mikhail Gorbachev, President Nelson Mandela and Mother Teresa.
In 1970, with the encouragement of then United Nations Secretary General U Thant, Sri Chinmoy began a twice-weekly series of talks and reflections on peace at the United Nations in New York, which he continued until his passing in 2007.
Sri Chinmoy was an athlete, a poet, a music-lover, a philosopher and an artist – and he showed that all of these could play a powerful role in the pursuit of peace. Over the years, he provided the visionary spark for numerous imaginative grassroots initiatives to bring people together. The Peace Run – the largest of these initiatives – was founded in 1987.
Our Peace Run team
The Sri Chinmoy Oneness-Home Peace Run is co-ordinated entirely by volunteers. The international Peace Run relay teams are made up of runners from all walks of life, who take time off from their jobs or studies to join the team for a few weeks.
How we are structured
The headquarters of the Peace Run is in New York, but our events around the world are independently co-ordinated by Peace Run committees in each country. The Peace Run is funded through a combination of financial donations, grants and in-kind donations.
In the United States, the Sri Chinmoy Oneness-Home Peace Run Inc., is a 501(c)(3) non-profit entity incorporated in the State of New York.
We have Peace Run committees in many US states and cities, who help to coordinate events in their respective areas. When we organise a Peace Run event, it is mostly in partnership with schools, community groups, sporting organizations, city and state government departments. We encourage communities to take the ideals of the Peace Run, and use them to create their own special event.
The Sri Chinmoy Oneness-Home Peace Run is a global relay that connects individuals and organisations around the globe in a sincere and dynamic commitment to Peace in our world. Since its inception in 1987 the flaming peace torch has been carried through over 150 nations and touched the lives of millions of people.
The Peace Run does not seek to raise money or highlight any political cause, but simply strives to create goodwill among peoples of all nations.
By passing the torch from one person to another, the relay offers people from all nations the opportunity to express their hopes and dreams for a better, brighter future. Athletes, schoolchildren, national and regional representatives and people from all walks of life hold the torch to express their commitment to Peace in our world. Together we can make a difference!
The Peace Run is organized by an international network of volunteers inspired by Sri Chinmoy’s vision of a peaceful world. Coordinators in each country partner locally with schools, community groups, sporting organizations, city and state government departments to bring the run to the community as a service encouraging international friendship and understanding.
The Peace Run relay teams in each participating country are made up of volunteer runners, who have dedicated their time and energy to bring the Run to communities around the globe.
Since the inception of the Peace Run in 1987, hundreds of thousands of people around the globe, including athletes, schoolchildren and enthusiastic individuals, have held the Peace Torch and expressed their commitment to Peace.
In the United Kingdom highlights include:
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The lighting of the beacon in Hyde Park in 1995 by Her Majesty the Queen, using the Peace Torch to light the first of many beacons to commemorate 50 years of Peace on the anniversary of VE Day in Hyde Park, London in 1995.
The final ceremony of the Peace Run held at the British Museum in October 2006.- A lighting of beacons at A Moments Peace, a ceremony held at UCL during the Olympics in 2012. The event was hosted by Olympic athlete Carl Lewis and Baroness Shreela Flather during the London Olympics 2012 and featured special guests from all around the world.
Other highlights
Pope Francis holds the Peace Torch in Rome
