May 31
Sri Chinmoy is interviewed live on radio WPFA-FM in San Francisco, CA, USA. Listen to Sri Chinmoy’s interview...
Sri Chinmoy reads a selection of his new poems at the Sri Chinmoy Centre in San Francisco, CA, USA. They are later published in his book, The Dance of Life, part 12.
Sri Chinmoy delivers a lecture, entitled ‘What is the United Nations really doing for Humanity?’ in Conference Room 14 at the United Nations, in New York.
Sri Chinmoy celebrates the completion of his ‘Thirteen Thousand God’s Dream-Souls’ soul-bird drawings (30 May) with an outdoor exhibition at Aspiration-Ground in Jamaica, NY, USA, where the complete collection is on display. At the event, Sri Chinmoy also creates commemorative Soul-Bird drawings and performs 13 new Soul-Bird songs for each series of 1,000 drawings.
Sri Chinmoy has his fourth audience with Pope John Paul II, just before his weekly mass for 15,000 people in St Peter’s Square, Vatican City. Sri Chinmoy requests the Pope to bless the ‘Peace Torch’ and explains to the Holy Father that it will be carried by runners and schoolchildren in 70 countries. The Pope gives his special blessing and then, speaking in Italian, addresses the assembled crowd about the ‘Peace Run’. More: Meetings with Pope John Paul II at Sri Chinmoy.org
Sri Chinmoy offers the opening meditation at the California Senior Masters Games in Sacramento, CA, USA. Sri Chinmoy participates in five events over that weekend — basketball free throw, softball throw, ergometer, 50 meters and 100 meters. Also, during his visit to Sacramento, he is awarded a medal for his service to world peace by the Games organiser, Pam Rhodes.
Sri Chinmoy offers a Peace Concert in honour of India’s 50th Anniversary of Independence — the 34th in a series of 50 concerts during 1997 — at Public School 86 in Jamaica, NY, USA.
Sri Chinmoy lifts members of a karate school at Aspiration-Ground in Jamaica, New York, NY, USA.
Sri Chinmoy begins playing the sitar in Jamaica, NY, USA.
Sri Chinmoy offers a lecture, entitled ‘Freedom’, at the invitation of the university's Centre of Public Information, at the Lomonosov Moscow State University in Moscow, Russia. Following the lecture, Sri Chinmoy is presented with a Letter of Gratitude by the Chairman of the Board of the Centre of Public Information, Professor V.Y. Paschenko.
Sri Chinmoy offers a Peace Concert, with an organ performance, dedicated to Raisa Maximovna Gorbachev, and delivers a lecture, entitled ‘Music’ in the Great Concert Hall of the Gnesin Russian Academy of Music in Moscow, Russia. Before the lecture, Sri Chinmoy receives the Academy’s Medal of Honour from Professor D.K. Kimarskaya of the History of Music Department.
Sri Chinmoy attends the opening of an exhibition of his Jharna-Kala paintings, hosted by the Indian Ambassador to Russia, in the Jawaharlal Nehru Cultural Centre at the Indian Embassy in Moscow, Russia.
Sri Chinmoy lifts Thumbelina, the world’s smallest horse, approximately 17 inches high and weighing only 59 pounds, at Aspiration-Ground in Jamaica, NY, USA. Read more ...
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