Skip to content

Runners pass the peace torch in Yorkton

Sri Chinmoy, a popular Indian meditation teacher who is credited to a large degree with bringing eastern spirituality to western traditions had a vision that peace was actually an achievable goal for humanity.
Taylor Morrison
Taylor Morrison, the City’s recreation services manager leads the Sri Chinmoy peace runners into Gloria Hayden Community Centre Friday.

Sri Chinmoy, a popular Indian meditation teacher who is credited to a large degree with bringing eastern spirituality to western traditions had a vision that peace was actually an achievable goal for humanity.

He also believed that athletics was a powerful instrument toward achieving that goal. An avid runner, Chinmoy founded in 1987 what he called the World Harmony Run, now the Sri Chinmoy Oneness-Home Peace Run. It is a torch relay with the stated purpose of promoting international friendship and understanding.

“By passing the torch from one person to the next, the relay offers people from many nations the opportunity to express their hopes and dreams for a better, brighter future,” the website states. “People from all walks of life hold the symbolic torch to wish for a peaceful world. Passing the torch from one person to the next unites us together in our common aspiration to offer something positive to our world— together we can make a difference!”

On July 8, an international group of runners traversing North American this summer stopped in Yorkton to spread their message of peace.

Some 25 children in the City of Yorkton’s S-Cape summer program taking place at Gloria Hayden Community Centre welcomed the runners and had an opportunity to pass the torch.