A Comparative Timeline of World Events and the Life of Sri Chinmoy

 

                             

 

1975

1 JANUARY

Communist troops in Cambodia launched an offensive which in 117 days collapsed the Khmer Republic.

 
 

3 JANUARY

Sri Chinmoy met with C.V. Narasimhan, United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Inter-Agency Affairs.  

 

20 JANUARY

The Senate of Puerto Rico unanimously passed a proclamation to honour Sri Chinmoy's visit to the Senate floor.

 

23 JANUARY

Sri Chinmoy received a certificate of merit from North American Mentor poetry magazine. 

JANUARY

Bob Dylan released 'Blood on the Tracks' album.

 
 

3 FEBRUARY

Sri Chinmoy completed 4,000 paintings.

 

9 FEBRUARY

Sri Chinmoy offered his first 7-hour meditation.

11 FEBRUARY

Margaret Thatcher was elected leader of the Tory party in England.

 
 

19 FEBRUARY

Sri Chinmoy completed 7,000 paintings.

24 FEBRUARY

In Nepal, Birendra was crowned king. He came to the throne on 31 January 1972.

 
 

26 FEBRUARY

Sri Chinmoy painted 1,000 paintings in 21 hours to complete his 10,000 paintings since he began on 19 November 1974.

8 MARCH

The UN began observing International Women’s Day.

 

10 MARCH

The Shinkansen (Bullet Train) opened between Osaka and Fukuoka.

 
 

21 MARCH

Sri Chinmoy offered a meditation and lecture at Earth Day ceremonies in Battery Park, New York.

25 MARCH

King Faisal of Saudi Arabia was assassinated.

 
 

25 MARCH

Sri Chinmoy offered a tribute to the Prophet Mohammed at the United Nations.

 

28 MARCH

A new American flag was flown over the Capitol Building in Washington, DC in honour of Sri Chinmoy’s 11th year in the West. The flag was then sent to Senator Lowell Weicker, Jr. of Connecticut who presented it to Sri Chinmoy.

 

31 MARCH

Opening of an exhibition of Sri Chinmoy’s paintings on Wooster St in Soho, NY.

 

MARCH

The Sri Chinmoy Centre was accredited as a non-governmental organisation (NGO) at the United Nations. Sri Chinmoy served as its representative to the UN.

5 APRIL

Death of Chiang Kai-shek (b. 1887), President of the Republic of China.

 
 

11 APRIL

Sri Chinmoy created 11 large paintings (4’x8’) dedicated to the soul of America.

 

12 APRIL

Sri Chinmoy’s paintings for America were displayed at Columbia University.

13 APRIL

Civil War erupted in Beirut, Lebanon.

 
 

16 APRIL-9 JUNE

Sri Chinmoy offered 7 lectures at Harvard Divinity School.

17 APRIL

The government of Cambodia surrendered to the Khmer Rouge, led by Pol Pot. He ruled Cambodia until 1979. An estimated 1.7 million people were killed under Khmer Rouge.

 

17 APRIL

Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan (b. 1888), Indian philosopher and president, died. He had been awarded the 1975 Templeton Prize for progress in Religion.

 

21 APRIL

Bill Rodgers (USA) won the Boston Marathon in 2:09:55, breaking the American Record.

 
 

28 APRIL

Sri Chinmoy met with American artist Peter Max.

 

28 APRIL

Sri Chinmoy painted a 9’x16’ canvas.

29 APRIL

The last US forces pulled out of Vietnam.

 

30 APRIL

The Fall of Saigon. The Vietnam War ended as Communist forces seized Saigon. South Vietnam surrendered unconditionally. Saigon was renamed Ho Chi Minh City.

 
 

3 MAY

Sri Chinmoy gave a talk at Naval Air Station, Willow Grove, Pennsylvania, on The Quintessence of Patriotism.

 

6 MAY

Sri Chinmoy left for a two-week stay with his family in Pondicherry, South India.

7 MAY

President Ford declared an end to the ‘Vietnam Era’.

 

16 MAY

India annexed the principality of Sikkim.

 
 

16 MAY

Mayor Longo of Bristol, Connecticut, named a new variety of chrysanthemum ‘The Honorable Sri Chinmoy’.

 

19 MAY - 17 JUNE

Exhibition of Sri Chinmoy’s paintings at the Musee del Arte, Ponce, Puerto Rico.

 

22 MAY

Sri Chinmoy offered a programme dedicated to the Buddha, at the United Nations.

 

25 MAY

Sri Chinmoy offered the opening meditation at the International Conference on Transpersonal Psychology in Iceland.

5 JUNE

The Suez Canal re-opened for the first time after the Six-Day War.

 
 

15 JUNE

Sri Chinmoy offered his first 13-hour meditation on the occasion of Father’s Day.

25 JUNE

Prime Minister Indira Gandhi declared a state of emergency in India.

 

25 JUNE

Mozambique became an independent state, ending nearly five centuries of Portuguese rule.

 
 

27 JUNE

Sri Chinmoy completed 27,000 paintings.

5 JULY

Arthur Ashe became the first African-American to win a Wimbledon singles title as he defeated Jimmy Connors.

 
 

8 JULY

At the invitation of Sufi leader Pir Vilayat Khan, Sri Chinmoy led a meditation session at a Sufi retreat in Willow, New York.

11 JULY

Archaeologists in China unearthed an army of 8,000 life-size terracotta warriors created more than 2,000 years earlier for the Emperor Qin Shi Huangdi. A farmer had uncovered the first of the figures in 1974.

 

17 JULY

A US Apollo Spaceship docked with a Soviet Soyuz Spacecraft in orbit in the first superpower linkup of its kind.

 

24 JULY

President Ford proclaimed this day as a National Day of Prayer.

 
 

24 JULY

Sri Chinmoy meditated on stage with religious leaders from various faiths at the National Day of Prayer observance held at the Church Center for the United Nations.

JULY

Zakir Hussain and John McLaughlin co-founded the Indian jazz band Shakti.

 

JULY

President Ford appointed Daniel Patrick Moynihan as ambassador to the UN.

 

11-17 AUGUST

The first World Masters Track & Field Games was held in Toronto, Canada.

 

15 AUGUST

President Mujibar Rahman of Bangladesh was killed during a military coup.

 

27 AUGUST

Haile Selassie I (b. 1882), Ethiopian emperor, died.

 
 

27 AUGUST

On the occasion of his 44th birthday, Sri Chinmoy performed on 27 different musical instruments.

29 AUGUST

Eamon de Valera (b. 1882), third President of Ireland, died.

 

5 SEPTEMBER

Czech tennis star Martina Navratilova asked for political asylum in New York City.

 
 

12 SEPTEMBER

Sri Chinmoy completed 44,000 paintings.

16 SEPTEMBER

Papua New Guinea gained independence from Australia.

 
 

28 SEPTEMBER

The first public Sri Chinmoy Race was held: 7 miles in Stamford, Connecticut.

1 OCTOBER

‘Thrilla in Manila’ - Muhammad Ali defeated Joe Frazier for the heavyweight boxing title.

 
 

3 OCTOBER

Sri Chinmoy completed his 100,000th painting since he began on 19 November 1974.

11 OCTOBER

NBC aired the first episode of Saturday Night Live.

 
 

13 OCTOBER

Mayor Joseph Alioto of San Francisco proclaimed the day Sri Chinmoy Day in honour of Sri Chinmoy’s visit.

 

24 OCTOBER

Sri Chinmoy conducted the opening meditation at the Fifth World Spiritual Summit held in NY in honour of UN Day. Also in attendance was Mother Teresa.

 

1 NOVEMBER

Sri Chinmoy wrote 843 poems in 24 hours, published in a single volume called Transcendence-Perfection.

11 NOVEMBER

The Governor-General of Australia dissolved the elected government of Prime Minister Gough Whitlam.

 
 

16 NOVEMBER

Sri Chinmoy completed 16,031 paintings in a 24-hour period.

22 NOVEMBER

Juan Carlos 1 was declared the King of Spain following the death of Francisco Franco.

 
 

22 NOVEMBER

Sri Chinmoy spontaneously set to music and sang 200 Bengali poems (published as Pole-Star Promise-Light, Parts 1-4).

28 NOVEMBER

East Timor proclaimed independence from Portugal.

 

29 NOVEMBER

The name ‘Micro-soft’ was used in a letter by Bill Gates for the first time.

 

7 DECEMBER

Indonesia invaded East Timor. Some 600,000 were left dead after a prolonged war.

 
 

18 DECEMBER

Paul O’Dwyer, New York City Council president, presented Sri Chinmoy with the Bronze Medal of the City of New York.

 

20 DECEMBER

Sri Chinmoy spontaneously set to music and sang 99 English poems from his volume Transcendence-Perfection.

During 1975

Smallpox was eradicated in India and Bangladesh.

 

During 1975

The world population passed the 4 billion mark.

 
 

During 1975

An entry for Sri Chinmoy (under ‘Ghose, Chinmoy’) appeared in The New Columbia Encyclopedia.