Sri Chinmoy lifts 10 prominent Australians, including Mt. Everest climbers Greg Mortimer (far left) and Lincoln Hall (2nd from left), at the Town Hall in Sydney, Australia.
Among the people Sri Chinmoy lifts are three TV reporters, from Channel 9, Channel 10 and SBS. Here are some of their questions:
Question: Sri Chinmoy, how can athletes use your philosophy to help them?
Sri Chinmoy: The outer life and the inner life always go together. The outer running inspires us to dive deep within. Again, the inner running, which is prayer and meditation, tells us to keep the body in perfect shape. If the body is not fit, if the body is not in perfect condition, we shall not be able to wake up early in the morning and pray and meditate. So the outer life and the inner life go together. They are like the obverse and reverse of the same coin. We need them both in our day-to-day life for our inner and outer satisfaction.
Question: What do you draw upon to be able to lift people as you did here tonight?
Sri Chinmoy: I draw upon cosmic energy, universal energy. I meditate for a few seconds or a minute before I lift and from deep within I draw cosmic energy.
Question: How long does it take to develop that skill?
Sri Chinmoy: It depends entirely on God's Grace. Some seekers have developed it in ten or twelve years, while others may take a lifetime. It depends on the receptivity of the individual.
Question: What do you think the implications are, besides sporting excellence?
Sri Chinmoy: Being a Truth-seeker and God-lover, I feel that if we can pray and meditate daily, punctually and soulfully, then we are bound to acquire boundless energy. This boundless energy we get in order to help us with our prayer, in order to expedite our capacity.
Question: What do you think about the state of sport in the world at present with the current focus on drugs and corruption?
Sri Chinmoy: It is a very, very sad experience that the world is getting from some unfortunate, unaspiring athletes. We should not do anything that will destroy our lives sooner than the soonest. God gave us the body. Now we have to be strong in every way because inside the body is the soul. If we do not keep the temple pure, then how are we going to prepare the shrine? In this case, the body is the temple and the soul is the shrine. Some athletes are unfortunately showing the world the way towards the wrong destination. Their destination is destruction.
Question: You must be very tired after lifting all that weight?
Sri Chinmoy: I am not tired at all. I will be able to lift quite a few more people.
Question: Are you happy?
Sri Chinmoy: I get joy in serving mankind. All of us are serving mankind in a special way. Even now, you are taping this programme and thousands of people will be inspired from our conversation. You are asking me most significant questions and I am trying to answer your questions according to my inner awakening. So undoubtedly, this conversation of ours is going to help people who are longing for truth, light and bliss.
Question: Forgive me to say, but you do not look like a weightlifter.
Sri Chinmoy: True, very true! In my case, it is all God's Grace. I do not have the body of a weightlifter. Previously I was a runner. I never thought of lifting. But now God's Compassion has asked me to do quite a few things for His Manifestation in and through weightlifting.
Question: Can other people, if they meditate, lift like you do?
Sri Chinmoy: Definitely! If it is the Will of God, then anybody can easily be a weightlifter.
Question: How often do you meditate? Is it all the time?
Sri Chinmoy: I meditate for quite a few hours during the night. I have a few thousand students all over the world and I meditate mostly on them. Since my childhood I have been meditating and now my own meditation has become spontaneous. Even when I am in the hustle and bustle of life, I feel deep within that meditation is going on.
Question: What do you feel while you are lifting?
Sri Chinmoy: While I am lifting, I feel that divine Compassion from God is flowing in and through me and I try to become a perfect instrument. God is acting in and through me and I am trying to become a perfect instrument of His. While I am lifting, I feel that I am not the doer; I am only an instrument. An inner force, inner power, is operating in and through me and I try to bring it to the fore.
Question: Many people find your weightlifting feats incredible.
Sri Chinmoy: My own human mind finds it difficult to believe! Again, I know that I am not the doer. Infinite energy is acting in and through me. In this way, I can silence the mind.
Question: How long have you been weightlifting?
Sri Chinmoy: My weightlifting career started four years ago, but I have been lifting up human beings only for one year.
Question: You are also a runner, of course.
Sri Chinmoy: I started as a sprinter. Then I became a long distance runner. As a sprinter, according to our Indian standard, I was something, but not according to the world standard. Here, in the West, I have run 22 marathons and two ultra-marathons. Then I gave up because my right knee was injured. I could no longer run. I wanted to do something to keep my body fit and so I began weightlifting.
Question: Your runs are triumphant all over the world!
Sri Chinmoy: I encourage the inner running and the outer running. They must go together. When you have a good thought, a good inner feeling, that feeling is your inner running. Then, when you express that feeling outwardly, when you share your good thought with others, that is your outer running. The outer running always starts from deep within.
Question: I am attempting a 30-kilometre run soon. What advice can you give me?
Sri Chinmoy: When I used to run long distance, I used to break each run into fragments. I did not think of the entire distance, which in your case is 30 kilometres. Whatever the distance is, try to imagine that you are not going to run such a long distance. If you are supposed to run a mile, feel that you are going to run a quarter. You can tell the mind, "I am not such a fool that I will run a long distance, oh no! Just a quarter of a mile." Then, after you have covered a quarter of a mile, you will find that you have more energy.
Like that, it is always good to fool the mind, to discipline the mind. Otherwise, the mind will put so much added pressure on us. Before we even begin, the mind will give us so many worries and anxieties.
But if we can play a trick on the mind, if we can wisely tell the mind that what we are doing is within our capacity, we can relieve the burden of the mind. Then we will have no anxieties or worries.
Published in Conversations with Sri Chinmoy