Note: Paramahamsa Hariharananda was known by three different names, each corresponding to a distinct stage of his spiritual evolution: Rabindranath Bhattacharya (birth name), Brahmachari Robinarayan (novitiate name), and Swami Hariharananda Giri, a.k.a. Paramahamsa Hariharananda (monastic name). He also had been given several nicknames by various saints, such as Sannyasi Thakur (given by his father), Narayan of Karar Ashram (given by his cousin Sitaram Das Omkarnath), Sahib Baba (given by Sri Anandamoyee Ma), etc. To his thousands of devotees however, he was simply known as Baba, "Father".

1710’s: Probable birth of Nanga Baba, a.k.a. Digambara Paramahamsa (identified by some as Totapuri, the guru of Ramakrishna Paramahamsa).

1828, Sept. 30: Birth of Shyamacharan Lahiri Mahasaya, the father of modern Kriya Yoga, in Ghurni, Nadia, Bengal, of Gouramohan Lahiri and Muktakeshi Devi.

1855, May 10: Birth of Priyanath Karar (later to be known as Swami Shriyukteshwar Giri)

1861: Lahiri Mahasaya receives Kriya Yoga initiation from Mahavatar Babaji Maharaj in the Dronagiri mountain, near Ranikhet in the Himalayas.

1861: Birth of Rabindranath Tagore (a.k.a. Rabi Thakur) in Bengal. India’s greatest poet, writer, educator, philosopher, artist, playwright, reformer and philanthropist.

1875, Dec. 17: Birth of Shrimat Bijoy Krishna Chattopadhyaya in the Hoogly district of Bengal. A disciple of Trailinga Swami of Benares, he was known as “Howrah Thakur” because he lived in the Howrah suburb of Kolkata.

1877, Jan. 20: Birth of Sanyal Mahasaya in Sadhan Para, Nadia, Bengal, on the banks of the Ganga.

1883, Aug. 19: Priyanath Karar receives initiation in Kriya Yoga from his guru Shri Lahiri Mahasaya in Benares.

1884, March: Birth of Venkataraman Shastry (later known as Swami Bharati Krishna Tirtha, the Shankaracharya of Puri) in Tirunelveli, Chennai.

1893: The first Parliament of the World's Religions convenes in Chicago. There, Swami Vivekananda, the prominent disciple of Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, makes an electrifying speech which launches the spread of Yoga and Vedanta in the West.

1893, Jan. 5: Birth of Mukunda Lal Ghosh (later known as Paramahamsa Yogananda) in Gorakhpur, of Bhagabati Charan Ghosh and Gyana Prabha Devi.

1893: Sanyal Mahasaya receives Kriya Yoga initiation from Lahiri Mahasaya in Benares.

1894, January: Priyanath Karar attends the famous Kumbha Mela (the world’s greatest religious gathering which occurs ever four years) in Allahabad where he meets Babaji Maharaj. Babaji prophesizes that Pryanath will later become a Swami, and requests him to write a book, known today as “The Holy Science” (Kaivalya Darshan). He also tells him, “Some years hence I shall send you a disciple whom you can train for yoga dissemination to the West”—a reference to the future Paramahamsa Yogananda—“The vibrations there of many spiritually seeking souls come flood-like to me. I perceive potential saints in America and Europe, waiting to be awakened.”

1895: Lahiri Mahasaya empowers Sanyal Mahasaya to initiate others into Kriya Yoga, making him, at age 18, the youngest yogacharya of the lineage.

1895, Sept. 26: Mahasamadhi of Lahiri Mahasaya in Benares.

1895, Nov. 17: Birth of Manmohan Mazumdar (later known as Swami Satyananda Giri) in Malkha Nagar, Bengal, the eldest son of Mohini Mohan Mazumdar and Taravasini Devi.

1896: Birth of Sri Anandamoyee Ma in East Bengal (present Bangladesh).

1902: Sanyal Mahasaya attains Self-realization.

1902-1909: Sanyal Mahasaya serves as director of the Brahmacharya Vidyalaya (later to become the famous Shantiniketan University) founded by Rabindranath Tagore, his close friend.

1903, March 22 (Vernal Equinox day): Swami Shriyukteshwar founds the Karar Ashram in Puri, Orissa, obtaining a 99-year lease from the Municipality of Puri.

1903-1936: Tenure of the first president (sadhu sabhapati) of Karar Ashram, Swami Shriyukteshwar Giri.

1906: Priyanath Karar receives sannyas initiation from Swami Krishna Dayal Giri of Bodhgaya, and receives the name Swami Shriyukteshwar Giri.

1907: Swami Kebalananda Giri, the saintly disciple of Lahiri Mahasaya and Mukunda’s Sanskrit tutor, initiates Mukunda and his friend Manmohan into Kriya Yoga.

1907, May (month of jyestha) 27: Birth of Rabindranath Bhattacharya (later known as Paramahamsa Hariharananda), the tenth child of Haripada and Nabin Kali Bhattacharya in Habibpur, Nadia, Bengal. The nine previous children were four sons (Bholanath, Pareshnath, Shailendranath, and Bhupendranath—Bolanath and Shailen became doctors, and Paresh and Bhupen attorneys), and five daughters (Umasashi, Sudhir Bala Devi, Gouribala Devi, Shibakali Devi and unknown name). Afterwards another daughter will be born to them, Triptimoyee Devi. In this family there was a tradition that in every fourth generation one member of the family would become a monk. His father, who had divined his special destiny through astrology, used to call him Sannyasi Thakur—“Lord monk.”

1909: Manmohan and Mukunda meet Swami Shriyukteshwar in Serampore, Bengal.

1910: Sanyal Mahasaya visits Puri for the first time. In time, he, his wife Kali Dasi Devi, and their two sons (Kashipati and Girijapati, both of whom will become leading Yogacharyas) and four daughters will make it their permanent abode. He founds his Gurudham ashram there, a few hundred yards from the Karar Ashram.

1910’s: Nanga Baba moves to Puri and lives on a sand hill on the outskirts of the city in Girnari Banta. Gradually a small ashram will be built around him—the Advaita Brahma Ashram.

1911: Manmohan and Mukunda take the solemn pledge to lead a life of complete renunciation.

1911: Manmohan meets Mahendranath Gupta (a.k.a. “M.”), the saintly disciple of Ramakrishna and author of the classic Gospel of Ramakrishna, who made a profound impression on him.

1913: Rabindranath Tagore receives the Nobel Prize of Literature for his collection of mystical poems Gitanjali. He is the first Indian to receive a Nobel Prize.

1915, June: Mukunda receives his B.A. degree from Kolkata University, having thus complied with the wish of his guru Swami Shriyukteshwar.

1915, July: Swami Shriyukteshwar initiates Mukunda into sannyas in his Serampore ashram and gives him the name Swami Yogananda Giri.

1918: Sacred thread ceremony, vow of brahmacharya, and mantra initiation of Rabindranath Bhattacharya from his own father.

1918: Manmohan graduates from Kolkata University with a B.A. degree, having thus complied with the wish of his guru Swami Shriyukteshwar.

1919, March: Swami Shriyukteshwar initiates Manmohan into sannyas and gives him the name Swami Satyananda Giri.

1919: Rabindranath Bhattacharya is initiated into jñana yoga by Shrimat Bijoy Krishna Chattopadhyaya at age 12, after visiting him a couple of times in the company of his brother Pareshnath and a brother-in-law, both disciples of his.

1920, October: Paramahamsa Yogananda is invited to address the International Congress of Religious Liberals in Boston, Massachusetts, which marks the introduction of Kriya Yoga to the West. His speech on “The Science of Religion” was so well received and so widely reprinted, that he spent the next three years in Boston... and a total of fifteencontinuous years in the West.

Shortly before Yogananda’s epochal departure to the West, Babaji prophesied, “Kriya Yoga, the scientific technique of God-realization, will ultimately spread in all lands. It will aid in harmonizing the nations through man's personal, transcendental perception of the Infinite Father.”

1920: Swami Shriyukteshwar appoints Swami Satyananda acharya of the Karar Ashram

1921: Swami Shriyukteshwar hands over Karar Ashram to a Trust.

1921-1925: Swami Bharati Krishna Tirtha is the Shankaracharya of Dwaraka.

1924: A teenager, later known as Swami Narayan Giri (affectionately nicknamed Prabhuji, “Dear Lord”), comes to serve Swami Shriyukteshwar and will remain his personal attendant until the master’s death in 1936.

1924: Paramahamsa Yogananda begins a national tour of all major American cities. “During the decade of 1920-1930 my yoga classes were attended by tens of thousands of Americans,” he wrote.

1925: Paramahamsa Yogananda founds the Self-Realization Fellowship (SRF) in Los Angeles.

1925-1928 (?): Rabindranath Bhattacharya receives his college education in Bardwan, Bengal, where his brother Shailen was a medical doctor.

1925-1960: Swami Bharati Krishna Tirtha is the Shankaracharya of Puri, until his death.

1928-1930 (?): Rabindranath Bhattacharya takes a Textile Technology course and graduates as a Textile Engineer.

Late 1920s: Rabindranath Bhattacharya receives his first Kriya Yoga initiation from Swami Paramananda.

1930-1937 (?): Rabindranath Bhattacharya works in a reputed textile company.

1930’s: Rabindranath Bhattacharya has a brief encounter with Mahatma Gandhi in a train in Bardwan, Bengal.

1932: Rabindranath Bhattacharya meets Swami Shriyukteshwar at his ancestral residence “Priyadham” in Serampore, Bengal, and receives initiation into Kriya Yoga from him.

1932-1982: Sri Anandamoyee Ma travels all over India. More than twenty-five ashrams were built during her mission, especially in the holy cities.

1935-1936: Paramahamsa Yogananda returns to India for a short visit.

1935: Rabindranath Bhattacharya meets Paramahamsa Yogananda in Kolkata, where he witnesses his samadhi stage, and receives initiation in Second Kriya from him.

1936, March 9: Mahasamadhi of Swami Shriyukteshwar, in the arms of his faitful servant Swami Narayan Giri, in his Karar Ashram in Puri.

1936: Swami Satyananda becomes acting President of Karar Ashram in the absence of Paramahamsa Yogananda. Paramahamsa Yogananda initiates Br. Sudhir into sannyas and gives him the name Swami Sevananda Giri, and installs him as Swami in charge (acharya) of the Karar Ashram.

1936-1952: Tenure of the second president (sadhu sabhapati) of Karar Ashram, Paramahamsa Yogananda.

1936: Paramahamsa Yogananda visits Mahatma Gandhi in his ashram in Wardha, and, at his request, initiates him into Kriya Yoga.

1937, June: Taking a medical leave of absence from work, Rabindranath Bhattacharya sets off for Puri. He arrives on a full moon, and that night has the vision of his departed guru Shriyukteshwarji walking in the gardens of the Karar Ashram. He extends his leave of absence and spends a year and a half in a rented house next door to the Karar Ashram, which he frequents daily. He joins the Officers’ Club and becomes acquainted with the high society of Puri.

1937: Rabindranath Bhattacharya visits Sri Anandamoyee Ma in her seaside ashram in Puri. She lovingly calls him her “Sahib Baba” because of his Western clothes and fair complexion.

1938, Nov.: Rabindranath Bhattacharya joins the Karar Ashram permanently and begins his monastic life under the name Brahmachari Robinarayan or Br. Rabin. He will remain there quasi-permanently for thirty-six years, until 1974.

1938-1948: Period of intense sadhana, seclusion, and mostly silence of Br. Robinarayan in Karar Ashram.

1938 or 39: Sri Anandamoyee Ma comes to visit Br. Robinarayan in the Karar Ashram.

1940’s: Br. Robinarayan visits Nanga Baba several times in his ashram on the outskirts of Puri.

1940: Br. Robinarayan attains khechari, bhramari and shambhavi stages of realization.

1941: Br. Robinarayan receives Third Kriya initiation from Swami Satyananda Giri

1941: Death of Rabindranath Tagore. Br. Robinarayan has a prophetic dream about his passing away, and the interpretation of his mystical songs.

1941-1943: Swami Satyananda Giri, in poor health, spends most of his time in South India, including a lengthy stay with Ramana Maharshi in his Ramanashram in Tiruvanamallai, Tamil Nadu.

1942: Br. Robinarayan returns home in Habibpur for a few days as a brahmachari. On the way he visits Sri Krishna Bijoy Chattopadhyaya in Howrah (Kolkata).

1943: Swami Satyananda is forced to return to Bengal as his brother monks had started an organization called “Sevayatan” in Jhargram, Bengal, and had unanimously elected him to preside it.

1943-45: Br. Robinarayan trains under Shrimat Sanyal Mahasaya who initiates him into Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Kriya.

1944: A mysterious yogi comes to meet Br. Robinarayan in his ashram in Puri, and teaches him the secret of samadhi.

1946-47: Br. Robinarayan attains different stages of samadhi.

1947, Dec. 17: Mahasamadhi of Shrimat Bijoy Krishna Chattopadhyaya.

1948: Br. Robinarayan attains nirvikalpa samadhi. From that time onward, he will suffer from low blood pressure, occasionally critically.

1948, Jan. 30: Assassination of Mahatma Gandhi by a Hindu fanatic.

1949: Br. Robinarayan obtains the vision (darshan) of Mahavatar Babaji Maharaj in his own room.

1950: Paramahamsa Yogananda appoints Br. Robinarayan acharya of the Karar Ashram, replacing Swami Sevananda who is transferred to the Yuktashram in Bhisindipur, Bengal.

Early 1950’s: Sanyal Mahasaya leaves Puri secretly to become a monk. Br. Robinarayan, taking his guru’s wife with him, traces him in Varanasi, and convinces him to return to his family duties in Puri.

1951: Paramahamsa Yogananda empowers Br. Robinarayan to initiate others into Kriya Yoga.

1951: Br. Robinarayan supervises, with the help of Sanandalal Gosh (Yogananda’s younger brother), the construction of Shriyukteshwar’s temple in the Karar Ashram.

1952, March 7: Mahasamadhi of Paramahamsa Yogananda in Los Angeles, California, U.S.A. Yoganandaji's beloved and realized disciple, Mr. James Lynn (a.k.a. Rajarsi Janakananda) becomes the second president of Self-Realization Fellowship.

1952-1971: Tenure of the third president (sadhu sabhapati) of Karar Ashram, Swami Satyananda Giri.

1955: Mahasamadhi of Rajarsi Janakananda. Sri Daya Mata, Yogananda's long-time secretary, becomes the third president of Self-Realization Fellowship.

Mid-1950’s: Br. Robinarayan bestows the vision of the Divine Mother to his family members in Habibpur on the eighth day (mahashtami) of the Durga Puja. Subsequently, his parents take Kriya Yoga initiation from him and become his disciples.

1956: Death of Haripada Bhattacharya (Br. Robinarayan’s father) in Habibpur, shortly after receiving Fourth Kriya from his guru-son. His widowed mother comes to live with her son in the Karar Ashram.

1958, Sept. 27: Br. Robinarayan obtains the vision of Mother Kali who blesses his mission.

1958: Swami Bharati Krishna Tirtha becomes the first and, to this date, the only Shankaracharya to go to the West, where he visit the U.S.A. and England.

1959, May 27 (13th day of the month of vaisakh): Br. Robinarayan is initiated into sannyas by the Shankaracharya of Puri, Swami Bharati Krishna Tirtha, who gives him the name Swami Hariharananda Giri.

1959, Nov. 7: Death of Kali Dasi Devi, Sanyal Mahasaya’s wife.

1960-1973: Swami Hariharananda tours India, spreading the teachings of Kriya Yoga and demonstrating his breathless, pulseless stage of nirvikalpa samadhi.

1960: Swami Hariharananda meets Swami Sivananda Saraswati, founder of the Divine Life Society, at his ashram in Rishikesh, and demonstrates to him his breathless, pulseless stage (nirvikalpa samadhi).

1960, Feb. 2: Mahasamadhi of Swami Bharati Krishna Tirtha (Shankaracharya of Puri and sannyas guru of Swami Hariharananda Giri) in Mumbai.

1960: Swami Hariharananda attempts to visits Babaji in his cave near Ranikhet, but turns back after he heard the voice of Babaji telling him that he was useless for him to go there, and that he was always with him.

1962, Jan. 18: Mahasamadhi of Sanyal Mahasaya at his main ashram in Bhagalpur, Bihar, at age 85.

1962, Aug. 24: Mahasamadhi of Nanga Baba in his Puri ashram at the presumed age of 250.

1964: Death of Nabin Kali Bhattacharya (Swami Hariharananda’s mother).

1965: Sri Daya Mata goes to India and visits Swami Hariharananda at the Karar Ashram in Puri.

1971, Aug. 2: Mahasamadhi of Swami Satyananda Giri at his ashram in Jhargram, Bengal.

1971-1983: Tenure of the fourth president (sadhu sabhapati) of Karar Ashram, Swami Hariharananda Giri.

1974, June 3: Swami Hariharananda goes to the West for the first time. He visits Paris, Zurich, Belgium, London, and Germany. He later went to Curaçao and Colombia, then North America.

1974, July: Swami Hariharananda receives a subtle message from his guru Shriyukteshwarji to immediately return to Puri, as there was some trouble in the Karar Ashram.

1975, May 24: Second visit to the West of Swami Hariharananda. He visits Curaçao, Bogotá, New York, Washington D.C., Zurich, and Germany.

1975, Aug. 7: Swami Hariharananda returns to India.

1976: Incorporation of Kriya Yoga Ashram in Washington, D.C. on behalf of Swami Hariharananda.

1977: Publication of Swami Hariharananda’s Kriya Yoga book in English.

1977, June 2: Swami Hariharananda goes to the West for the third time. He visits Germany, Belgium, Holland, London, Curaçao (where he initiates the governor and his family among many others), and Bogotá. This was to be his last visit in these three countries (England, Curaçao, and Colombia). Then he went to New York, Washington D.C. (where President Jimmy Carter had expressed the desire to meet him. The meeting however could not happen, due to last-minute pressing engagements on the President’s part. President Carter did talk over the phone for a few minutes with Swami Hariharananda about Kriya Yoga), Stuttgart, and Germany.

1977, Dec. 2: Swami Hariharananda returns to India after a six-month stay in the West.

1977-1996: Swami Hariharananda continues to travel around the world and visits many other countries, including the former USSR and Canada.

1979: Swami Hariharananda resides for a few months in a rented house functioning as a Kriya Yoga ashram in Schordorf, near Stuttgart, Germany.

1982: Last meeting between Paramahamsa Hariharananda and Sri Anandamoyee Ma in Patna.

1982: Mahasamadhi of Sri Anandamoyee Ma in her Dehradun ashram. Her body was cremated in Kankhal, Haridwar, on the banks of the Holy Ganga.

1982, Dec. 6: Mahasamadhi of Thakur Shri Sitaram Das Omkarnath, cousin and dear friend of Swami Hariharananda. He lovingly referred to the latter as his “Narayan of Karar Ashram”.

1985, Oct.: Mahasamadhi of Swami Narayan Giri, personal attendant of Swami Shriyukteshwar and close friend of Paramahamsa Hariharananda.

1988: Publication of Paramahamsa Hariharananda’s Each Human Body is a Bhagavad Gita in English.

1988: Paramahamsa Hariharananda resides in a temporary Kriya Yoga ashram in Orlando, Florida.

1991, Sept.: Paramahamsa Hariharananda receives cataract surgery in New York. After, he will often comment that his eyes are now “smaller.”

1991, Oct.: Paramahamsa Hariharananda goes from Rockville to Holland, and then on to several European cities.

1993, Aug. 5: Paramahamsa Hariharananda inaugurates the Kriya Yoga Centrum in Sterksel, Holland, his first permanent ashram in the West.

1993, Sept.: Paramahamsa Hariharananda, who had been invited to address the Centenary of the World Parliament of Religions in Chicago, cancels his appearance at the last minute due to health reasons.

1994, April 25: Paramahamsa Hariharananda initiates Swami Prajñanananda, Swami Shuddhananda, and Swami Swarupananda into monkhood (sannyas) in Kolkata.

1994, May 7-14: First International Kriya Yoga Seminar, presided by Paramahamsa Hariharananda in Spietz, Switzerland, in the foothills of the Alps.

1994, June 10: Paramahamsa Hariharananda inaugurates the Kriya Yoga ashram in Boerne, Texas, his first permanent ashram in the U.S.A. During the inauguration ceremony, he enters into the nirvikalpa samadhi state in front of over a hundred disciples. This event was captured on film—the only existing footage of this ecstatic state of fusion with the Divine.

1994: Paramahamsa Hariharananda starts a Kriya Yoga ashram in a rented garden house in Suttingergasse, Vienna, Austria.

Early February 1996: Paramahamsa Hariharananda orders the sale of the Texas ashram and enjoins the purchase of a property in South Florida.

1996, February 25: Paramahamsa Hariharananda initiates Swami Brahmananda and Swami Arupananda into monkhood (sannyas) in Kolkata, India.

1996, March 22: Paramahamsa Hariharananda attends the 94th Karar Ashram’s Foundation Day function for the last time. Thousands of devotees came to meet him on this occasion.

1996, April 25-28: Second International Kriya Yoga Seminar, presided by Paramahamsa Hariharananda in New York. On this occasion, he empowers eight new yogacharyas (all of them householders) to initiate and teach Kriya Yoga. This day marked a turning point for the Kriya Yoga activities in the West.

1996, Sept 19: Paramahamsa Hariharananda initiates Swami Vidyadhishananda into monkhood (sannyas) in Vienna, Austria.

1996, Sept. 24: Paramahamsa Hariharananda arrives in South Florida and settles for the winter in a rented garden house in Ft. Lauderdale—the precursor of the permanent Mother Center for the U.S.A.

1996, October: Due to some trouble in the organization in India, and despite his poor health, Baba abruptly decides to return to India—Kolkata and Rourkela. No one could guess at that time that he will never to return to India again in his living form. During that time we moved the ashram to the house of Indira Ma in Margate, Florida.

1996, December: Baba returns from India to Florida, and settles in the small house of a devotee in Margate. These were the blissful days in the "Littlest Ashram in the World."

1997, March: Third International Kriya Yoga Seminar, presided by Paramahamsa Hariharananda at the Florida International University in Miami, Florida.

1997, May 21: Paramahamsa Hariharananda initiates Yogi Sarveshwarananda into monkhood (sannyas) in Vienna, Austria. He was the first Western disciple to be made a sannyasi in the order.

1977, Sept. 22: Paramahamsa Hariharananda inaugurates the Kriya Yoga Ashram (later renamed Kriya Yoga Institute) in Homestead, Florida, which serves as his final residence and the Mother Center for the Americas.

1998, May: Baba flies to Paris, France to hold a week-long program. He had not been back in Paris in twelve years. It was also to be Baba’s last trip to Europe.

1998: Sept. 6: Baba inaugurates the Kriya Yoga Zentrum in Tattendorf, in the suburbs of Vienna, Austria, which serves as the Headquarters for Europe.

1998, end of September: Paramahamsa Hariharananda returns to the Miami ashram, never to travel again.

1998, October: Baba sends Swami Prajñanananda and Yogi Sarveshwarananda to Bogotá, Colombia, where he had not been in twenty-one years. They continued on to Lima, Peru, and Brasilia, Brazil.

2000, February: Baba starts giving monthly telephone guided meditations to reach his disciples all over Europe, South America, the U.S.A. and in some parts of India. It went on until March 2002, ending with a special Easter discourse and meditation.

2000, September 22: Paramahamsa Hariharananda initiates Swami Mangalananda into monkhood (sannyas) in Homestead, Florida. She was the first and only female monk initiated by Baba. This was also the last time that Baba initiated someone into sannyas.

2002, February 18: Roy Eugene Davis, a long-time disciple of Paramahamsa Yogananda and empowered yogacharya, comes to visit Baba in the Homestead ashram.

2002, October 27: Baba plants his last tree in the garden of his beloved personal physician, Dr. Barkett… as a surprise!

2002, November 16: Baba comes out to the garden for the last time.

2002, November 25: Baba is taken to the South Baptist Hospital—his last trip outside of the ashram.

2002, December 3: Mahasamadhi of Paramahamsa Hariharananda at 6:48 p.m. at the Baptist Hospital of Miami, Florida, U.S.A. His body is taken back to the ashram the same night.

2002, December 4: Vedic funerary rites are performed by a visiting Indian priest, a disciple, at 10 a.m. in Baba’s room.

2002, December 14: Baba’s body arrives at 2 p.m. in Bhubaneshwar, the state capital of Orissa in India, and is bestowed state honors.

2002, December 15: Paramahamsa Hariharananda’s body is interred at 2 p.m. in his Balighai ashram near Puri in Orissa, India.

2005, September 29: Foundation of “Hariharananda Mission West” in the U.S.A