1974

2 JANUARY

Mayor Luis Antonio Morales presented Sri Chinmoy with the Key to the City of Ponce, Puerto Rico. 

3 JANUARY

Bob Dylan and The Band began a two-month US concert tour.

9 JANUARY

Sri Chinmoy embarked on a 50-state university lecture tour of the US, lecturing in 11 states in the month of January.   The entire 50 lectures, delivered over the next 10 months, were published as Fifty Freedom-Boats To One Golden Shore.

JANUARY

Sri Chinmoy’s meditations were broadcast daily on 13 radio stations across the United State.  

31 JANUARY

Ian Thompson (GBR) set a new marathon record of 2:09:12.0.

2 FEBRUARY

Sri Chinmoy wrote 208 poems in 22 hours  as part of a new 1,000-poem series called The Golden Boat.

4 FEBRUARY

Mao Tse-tung proclaimed a new ‘Cultural Revolution’ in China.

13 FEBRUARY

Alexander Solzhenitsyn was exiled from the USSR.

22 FEBRUARY

Pakistan officially recognised Bangladesh.

28 FEBRUARY

The US and Egypt re-established diplomatic relations after a 7-year break.

1 MARCH

A grand jury in Washington DC concluded that President Nixon was involved in the Watergate cover-up.

2 MARCH

Roberta Flack won a Grammy Award for her song ‘Killing Me Softly’.

4 MARCH

The first issue of People Magazine appeared.

8 MARCH

Charles de Gaulle Airport opened outside of Paris.

16-29 MARCH

Sri Chinmoy offered 16 lectures at universities in Canada, later published as My Maple Leaves.

17 MARCH

Arab oil ministers, with the exception of Libya, announced the end of the oil embargo on the US.

MARCH

The Mahavishnu Orchestra released their album ‘Apocalypse’ inspired by Sri Chinmoy’s poem of the same name.

2 APRIL

French President Georges Pompidou died in Paris at age 62.

4 APRIL

The Mayor of Mt Vernon, New York, August P. Patrillo, presented Sri Chinmoy with the Key to the City.

5 APRIL

The Mayor of Kingston, New York, Francis R. Koenig, presented Sri Chinmoy with the Key to the City.

6 APRIL

ABBA won the Eurovision Song Contest in Brighton, England.

10 APRIL

Golda Meir announced her resignation as Prime Minister of Israel. She was replaced by Yitzhak Rabin.

13 APRIL

The tenth anniversary of Sri Chinmoy’s arrival in the West.  He celebrated by cooking 10 separate dishes for 400 of his students. 

29 APRIL

Sri Chinmoy wrote 360 poems in 24 hours.  They were later published as The Goal is Won.

1 MAY

The US Federal Hourly Minimum Wage was set at $2.00 per hour.

7 MAY

West German Chancellor Willy Brandt resigned.

8 MAY

In Canada the government of Pierre Trudeau fell.

8 MAY

Mayor Catherine C. Reynolds of West Hartfield, Connecticut, proclaimed the day ‘Sri Chinmoy Day’ in honour of Sri Chinmoy’s visit.

8 MAY

Mayor Frank J. Longo Sr. of Bristol, Connecticut, proclaimed the day ‘Bristol-India Day’ in honour of Sri Chinmoy’s visit and presented him with the Key to the City.

18 MAY

India became the 6th nation to explode an atomic bomb.

19 MAY

Valerie Giscard d’Estaingwon the French presidential elections.

27 MAY

President d’Estaing of France nominated Jacques Chirac to serve as Prime Minister.

31 MAY

Israel and Syria signed an agreement on the Golan Heights.

3 JUNE

The last American forces left Laos.

12 JUNE

The Governor of Puerto Rico, Rafael Hernández Colón, presented Sri Chinmoy with a plaque honouring his service to the island.

24 JUNE–21 JULY

Sri Chinmoy gave 21 lectures at universities and other venues in England, Scotland, Ireland, Italy, Switzerland, Sweden, France, Wales and Iceland.  During his tour, he also wrote 1,000 poems, later published as Europe-Blossoms.

27 JUNE

President Nixon arrived in Moscow for his 3rd summit meeting.

27 JUNE

In Chile, General Augusto Pinochet proclaimed himself ‘Supreme Chief of the Nation’.

29 JUNE

The Russian ballet dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov defected in Toronto.

JUNE

Edward C. Berberich of the US recited Pi to 1,505 decimal places from memory.

1 JULY

Sri Chinmoy met with the President of Ireland, Erskine Childers, in Dublin. 

1 JULY

Juan D. Peron, President of Argentina, died. He was succeeded by his third wife, Isabel.

8 JULY

Pierre Trudeau’s liberal party won the Canadian parliamentary elections.

15 JULY

Greek troops and the Greek Cypriot National Guard staged a military coup in Cyprus and Archbishop-President Makarios was compelled to flee.

20 JULY

Turkey invaded Cyprus.

22 JULY

Sri Chinmoy met with the President of Iceland, Dr. Kristjan Eldjarn, in Reykjavik. 

30 JULY

The Prime Ministers of Greece and Turkey, plus the British Foreign Secretary, signed a peace agreement to settle the Cyprus crisis.

JULY

UNICEF selected three quotations by Sri Chinmoy for its 1975 calendar. 

7 AUGUST

French stuntman Philippe Petit walked a tightrope strung between the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York.

8 AUGUST

President Nixon announced he would resign his office at 12pm on August 9 following damaging revelations in the Watergate scandal.

9 AUGUST

President Nixon’s resignation took effect. Gerald R. Ford was sworn in as the 38th US President.

14 AUGUST

The Turkish army mounted a 2nd full-scale offensive in Cyprus, despite peace talks in Geneva. 37% of Cyprus came under Turkish military occupation.

27 AUGUST

On the occasion of his 43rd birthday,   Sri Chinmoy performed the first act of his play The Son about Jesus Christ. 

4 SEPTEMBER

The US and the German Democratic Republic established diplomatic relations.

8 SEPTEMBER

President Ford pardoned former President Nixon.

12 SEPTEMBER

Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia was deposed by the military.

2 OCTOBER

Brazilian soccer legend Pelé came out of retirement.

9 OCTOBER

Czech-born businessman Oskar Schindler, credited with saving 1,200 Jews during the Holocaust, died in Frankfurt.

13 OCTOBER

Ed Sullivan, longtime television host, died in New York City at age 72.

27 OCTOBER

Chantal Langlace of France set a new female marathon record of 2:46:24.

29 OCTOBER

Sri Chinmoy completed his 50-state lecture tour of the US with a lecture in Alaska. 

30 OCTOBER

Muhammad Ali and George Foreman held their ‘Rumble in the Jungle’ boxing match in Zaire. Ali knocked out Foreman in the 8th round.

OCTOBER

Sri Chinmoy’s book The Inner Promise was published by Simon & Schuster, New York.

10 NOVEMBER

Sri Chinmoy completed his 200th book since 1970. 

12 NOVEMBER

South Africa was suspended from the UN General Assembly over its racial policies.

13 NOVEMBER

Yasser Arafat addressed the UN General Assembly.

15-21 NOVEMBER

Sri Chinmoy offered 4 public meditations in Eastern Canada. 

18 NOVEMBER

Sri Chinmoy planted an oak tree at Federal Parkland, Ottawa, Canada as an offering to the soul of Canada. 

19 NOVEMBER

Sri Chinmoy commenced his artistic expression. He called his creations Jharna-Kala, meaning ‘fountain-art’ in Bengali.

22 NOVEMBER

The UN General Assembly recognised Palestine’s right to sovereignty and national independence.

23-24 NOVEMBER

US President Gerald Ford attended a summit in Vladivostok , USSR with Soviet President Brezhnev. They reached a tentative agreement to limit the number of nuclear weapons.

25 NOVEMBER

The Irish Republican Army was outlawed in Britain after a spate of violent attacks.

25 NOVEMBER

U Thant (b. 1909) Burmese diplomat and former UN Secretary-General died in New York at age 66.

26 NOVEMBER

Sri Chinmoy observed the passing of former UN Secretary-General U Thant with a special meditation at the UN Church Center Chapel. 

28 NOVEMBER

Sri Chinmoy composed O My America, America’s spiritual theme song. 

1 DECEMBER

Jackie Hansen of the USA set a new women’s world record in the marathon of 2:43:54.

10 DECEMBER

Sri Chinmoy completed his first 1,000 paintings and drawings.

11 DECEMBER

In Chile, General Pinochet took the title President of the Republic.

19 DECEMBER

Nelson A. Rockefeller was sworn in as the 41st Vice-President of the US.

28 DECEMBER

The first exhibit of Sri Chinmoy’s art Jharna-Kala was held in Hollis, Queens, New York. 

31 DECEMBER

Sri Chinmoy offered a 7-hour performance of 100 of his new Bengali songs.