On This Day

 

    JANUARY • FEBRUARY • MARCH • APRIL • MAY • JUNE • JULY • AUGUST • SEPTEMBER • OCTOBER • NOVEMBER • DECEMBER 


January 1st, 2011, saw the launch of a special feature on the front page of Sri Chinmoy Reflections — On This Day — a day by day account of Sri Chinmoy’s achievements. The accompanying pages expand the theme further by linking specific dates and events to video, audio and literary resources from this and many other related web sites, enabling the reader to explore, in a systematic way, the vast catalogue of information about Sri Chinmoy’s life.

 
  •  MAY  
     
     
     
    Meeting with conductor
    Zubin Mehta    		 At Jharna-Kala gallery
    with Raisa Gorbachev    		 Display of painting
    dedicated to the UN    		 Peace Concert
    in Mongolia
  •  MAY  
     
     
     
    With Precess Diana at
    Kensington Palace    		 Opening of the
    New York Games    		 Peace Concert at the
    United Nations    		 Playing balalaika in
    Davos, Switzerland
  •  MAY  
     
     
     
    Peace Concert at the
    Royal Albert Hall    		 First meeting with
    President Gorbachev    		 Holding the Peace Torch
    with Pope John Paul    		 Lifting the worl'd's
    smallest horse
  •  JUNE  
     
     
     
    First long-distance run
    in San Francisco    		 A 50-metre race
    in Califormnia    		 Playing esraj in concert
    at Woodstock, NY    		 Holding the Peace Torch
    with Juan Samaranch
  •  JUNE  
     
     
     
    A meeting with
    Mother Teresa    		 Holding the Peace Torch
    with Kurt Waldheim    		 Meeting with Indian President Moraji Desai With Irish President
    Eamon de Valera
  •  JUNE  
     
     
     
    In concert at
    Bonn, Germany    		 First meeting with
    President Mandela    		 Playing piano
    in Paris, France    		 Playing organ
    in London, UK
  •  JUNE  
     
     
     
    Concert, playing golden flute, in Canberra Playing harpsichord
    in Cambridge, UK    		 Peace Concert
    in Melbourne    		 Lifting the worl'd's
    tallest horse
  •  JULY  
     
     
     
    With Erskine Childers,
    President of Ireland    		 Meditating at
    Thousand Island Park    		 Peace Concert
    in Sydney    		 Parliament of World’s
    Religions, Barcelona
  •  JULY  
     
     
     
    With New Zealand PM
    David Lange    		 Peace Concert
    at Mt. Fuji, Japan    		 Peace Concert
    at Kamakura, Japan    		 UN Silver Medallion
    from Kurt Waldheim
  •  JULY  
     
     
     
    Meeting with
    President Gorbachev    		 Peace Concert at the
    Jefferson Memorial    		 National Day of Prayer
    at the United Nations    		 TV interview with 
    Joe Franklin
  •  AUGUST  
     
     
     
    Jharna-Kala exhibit at
    Newark Airport    		 U Thant Peace Award to
    Hinduism Today founder    		 Birthday parade up
    Madison Ave., New York    		 Sri Chinmoy Day
    in New York City
  •  AUGUST  
     
     
     
    Finishing the
    47 Mile Race    		 Painting 50 special
    Jharna-Kalas for the UN    		 Playing 74 pianos
    at Peace Concert    		 Composing and singing 
    70 new Bengali songs
  •  SEPTEMBER  
     
     
     
    Playing tennis with
    Monica Seles    		 Playing the organ at
    Riverside Church, NY     		 Painting a 13' x 25'
    Jharna-Kala canvas    		 Meeting with Maestro 
    Leonard Bernstein
  •  SEPTEMBER  
     
     
     
    With Rob de Castella
    at Deeks Drive    		 After lifting two
    Sumo wrestlers    		 Peace Concert
    in Hamburg    		 Meditating with
    Muhammad Ali
  •  OCTOBER  
     
     
     
    With Mother Teresa
    holding the Peace Torch    		 Peace Concert
    in Budapest    		 Meeting with
    Pablo Casals    		 U Thant Island
    near the United Nations
     
  •  OCTOBER  
     
     
     
    Peace Concert at
    Royal Albert Hall    		 Performing a
    203-pound wrist curl    		 Meeting with
    Coretta Scott King    		 Meditating with the
    President of India
  •  NOVEMBER  
     
     
     
    Lifting six firemen
    in New York    		 Meeting with
    Jesse Owens    		 Double dumbbell lift
    of 740 lbs.    		 Passing the relay baton
    to Carl Lewis
  •  NOVEMBER  
     
     
     
    Meeting
    President Bill Clinton    		 16,031 paintings
    in 24 hours    		 First artwork created
    in the West – a rose    		 Meditating at the 7th
    World Veterans Games
  •  DECEMBER  
     
     
     
    Peace Concert
    in Melbourne    		 Lifting own bodyweight
    on TV in Australia    		 Peace Concert
    in Hawaii    		 Playing piano
    at Carnegie Hall
  •  DECEMBER  
     
     
     
    Presenting 300 books to
    New York Mayor Beame    		 Meeting with the
    President of Mexico    		 Peace Concert
    in Kathmandu    		 Flying in a Sri Chinmoy Peace Plane in Malta
  •  JANUARY  
     
     
     
    Playing esraj in concert
    in Bermuda    		 Meeting President Premadasa in Sri Lanka At Victoria Falls, a
    Sri Chinmoy Peace Falls    		 Running 100 metres at
    Masters Games in Fiji
  •  JANUARY  
     
     
     
    Playing esraj at the
    Great Wall of China    		 Playing his golden flute
    in Japan    		 An Honorary Doctorate
    in the Philippines    		 Sri Chinmoy Peace Airport in the Canary Islands
  •  JANUARY  
     
     
     
    Playing ‘Chinmoy Beena’
    in Cairns, Australia    		 Meeting with President Nelson Mandela Meeting with champion boxer Muhammad Ali  Lifting over 7,000 lbs.
    with one arm
  •  FEBRUARY  
     
     
     
    Running a marathon 
    in New Hampshire, USA    		 Meeting with
    Yehudi Menuhin    		 Playing the organ
    in Nürnberg    		 Lifting 650 lbs.
    with each arm
  •  FEBRUARY  
     
     
     
    Lifting an elephant
    in Thailand    		 Giving his first public
    piano performance    		 Sri Chinmoy Peace Mile
    near the Berlin Wall    		 With UN Secretary-General U Thant
  •  MARCH  
     
     
     
    Meditating at the US Congress in Washington Planting a Peace Tree
    in Kamakura, Japan    		 Playing Western flute
    in Melbourne    		 With Pope Paul VI
    at the Vatican
  •  MARCH  
     
     
     
    Meeting with Archbishop Desmond Tutu Second public musical recital in New York First one million Soul-Birds exhibit in Ottawa Playing the harp
    in concert in Zurich
  •  APRIL  
     
     
     
    At the completion of
    two million Soul-Birds    		 A vertical standing jump onto a 30" platform 

    Meeting with Sufi leader
    Pir Vilayat Khan

    		 Interview on ‘Newsline’
    in Westchester
  •  APRIL  
     
     
     
    Lifting own body weight
    150 times    		 Opening the 2006
    World Harmony Run    		 Having just lifted
    a hot air balloon    		 Niagara Falls, a
    Sri Chinmoy Peace Falls
  •  APRIL  
     
     
     
    Named ‘Messenger
    of the Millennium’    		 Holding the Peace Torch
    with Paula Radcliffe    		 Competing in the annual
    12-hour walk    		 With UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan


Many years ago at Aspiration-Ground there was a large blackboard that displayed the scores of tennis matches Sri Chinmoy had played. Each morning, before Sri Chinmoy arrived at the court, the board would be cleaned and the date of the new day would be written in chalk at the top. Then, in yearly order, a list of different activities Sri Chinmoy had accomplished, or had participated in, would follow. Every day a new list would appear, and very rarely would there be a day without something to report.

Just before starting play of his usual round of morning tennis, Sri Chinmoy could be seen walking slowly across towards the blackboard to carefully study the list, and many times he would comment on what had been written. No doubt it brought back many fond memories for him.

Since his arrival in the West in 1964, many disparate lists have been compiled – running times and athletic highlights; poems written and songs composed; concerts performed and lectures delivered; weights hoisted and people lifted; paintings completed and drawings sketched; meditations, meetings, peace initiatives and prayers – viewed altogether, they represent an impressive chronology of achievement that reads more like the combined biographies of several highly talented people rather than one individual.

It is by the dedicated efforts of many who have meticulously recorded these events, which form the narrative of Sri Chinmoy’s remarkable life, that we are able to look back across the decades to take in this grand overview. We are grateful to all those who have collected and preserved this information over the years.

It is hoped that this section will, in some small way, carry on this inspirational tradition.
 

— Animesh Harrington

 

 

The information in the following pages has been compiled from many sources – Sri Chinmoy Library, Sri Chinmoy Songs, Sri Chinmoy TV and Radio Sri Chinmoy; Sri Chinmoy Centre newsletters, magazines, periodicals1; and informational booklets2; newspaper and magazine articles, radio and TV interviews; yearly calendars and index cards; as well as analog and digital recordings.

 

 

Endnotes:
1 AUM (monthly magazine)
Jharna-Kala (art quarterly magazine)
Meditation at the United Nations (monthly bulletin)
Anahata Nada (monthly newsletter)

2  A Galaxy of Luminaries, Agni Press, New York, 1978
Sri Chinmoy: The Student of Peace (second edition), Aum Publications, New York
Sri Chinmoy: Emissary of Oneness-Peace
Sri Chinmoy A Global Man of Peace
Sri Chinmoy Dreamer of World Peace, Agni Press, New York, 1998 & 2000 
Sri Chinmoy A Oneness-World-Dreamer
Oneness-World Peace-Blossoms, Sri Chinmoy: The Peace Meditation at the United Nations, 25th Anniversary
500 Compassion-Blessing-Blossoms