October 21
Sri Chinmoy receives an honorary proclamation in Santa Cruz, CA, USA.
Sri Chinmoy offers a silent meditation at a special ceremony to launch the New York City Marathon at Lincoln Center’s Damrosch Amphitheatre in New York, NY, USA. There he meets with ultra-runner Ted Corbitt and presents an award to Fred Lebow, President and Founder of the New York Road Runners Club. As part of the programme, a song composed by Sri Chinmoy entitled ‘Marathon’ is sung by his students.
Sri Chinmoy first meets with Emil Zatopek, 1952 triple Olympic gold medallist for 5 km, 10 km and marathon, at the start of the New York City Marathon on Staten Island, NY, USA. Before the race, Sri Chinmoy also met with ultramarathon champion Don Ritchie.
Sri Chinmoy runs the New York City Marathon in a time of 4:48:53 in New York, NY, USA.
Sri Chinmoy lifts a small house and lifts animals on a seated calf raise in Jamaica, NY, USA.
Sri Chinmoy offers a meditation and lifted 8 US government employees at the Pentagon in Washington, DC, USA.
Sri Chinmoy lifts 12 people, including Charles Smith, 1988 US Olympic bronze medallist in basketball, at the Old Post Office Pavilion in Washington, DC, USA.
Sri Chinmoy meets with Shigeto Kanayama, Director of the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, and Hiroshi Nishida, Concertmaster, in Jamaica, NY, USA.
Sri Chinmoy holds the opening meditation at an interfaith celebration in honour of the United Nation’s 50th anniversary at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in Manhattan, New York, NY, USA.
Sri Chinmoy completes the first 10,000 poems of Seventy-Seven Thousand Service-Trees in 9 months, in Jamaica, NY, USA.
Sri Chinmoy offers a Peace Concert to an audience of 8,000, which he dedicates to Raisa Maximovna Gorbacheva, at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, MN, USA. At the concert, Sri Chinmoy recites 30 poems on the theme ‘Here and Now’, later published in a book of the same name.
Sri Chinmoy offers a Peace Concert, in honour of Karen Karagezian of the Gorbachev Foundation, at Public School 86 in Jamaica, NY, USA.
About On This Day
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 websites, enabling the reader to explore, in a systematic way, the vast catalogue of information about Sri Chinmoy’s life.
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.
Bibliography:
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