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.
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.
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.
