By: Vidagdha Bennett
On August 4th, an act occurred whose very essence seemed to nullify the most basic laws of physics and science. Standing alone and unaided, Sri Chinmoy lifted a dumbbell weighing 7,040 pounds clear of the power rack on which it rested and then supported it with his left arm.
Sri Chinmoy performed this phenomenal feat after just five and a half months of lifting with his weaker left arm. He had begun on February 21st, by lifting a dumbbell weighing 170 pounds. Progressing rapidly through to 400 pounds on July 25th and 700 pounds on July 29th, he seemed determined to match each and every mark that he had set two years previously with his right arm – and to condense the timeframe for these lifts of exceptional weight into a matter of days instead of months.
On August 1st, Sri Chinmoy lifted a 1,007-pound weight; on August 3rd, a dumbbell weighing 3,070 pounds and, finally, on August 4th, the massive 7,040-pound dumbbell. This was to be the pinnacle of his powerlifting and the perfect complement to the lift he had performed on January 30th, 1987, when he lifted a dumbbell weighing 7,063 pounds with his right arm.
In both cases, a single dumbbell was mounted with 68 one hundred pound iron plates and suspended from a power rack. The rigid structure of the dumbbell was maintained by means of a steel truss, which was bolted to the bar and whose weight was added to the weight of the plates to give the final total. Again, each of the iron plates had been weighed separately before being mounted on the bar to account for any slight variations either under or over the standard 100 pounds. Both in 1987 and again in 1988, these giant dumbbells were constructed by Australian metalworker, Unmilan Howard, who had designed many of Sri Chinmoy’s innovative pieces of equipment.
What is a miracle, if not an act born out of time, an opening through which the Infinite can penetrate our finite world? It is, by its very nature, beyond our limited comprehension. But how difficult it is, in this scientific age, to dare to admit that there can be truth in anything that is not logically plausible. We steadfastly refuse to accept what we cannot explain and we are blind to what we do not wish to see.
Sri Chinmoy is, by his own testimony, not a weightlifter and his achievements are clearly not consonant with his age or background. His only aspiration is to be an instrument of God, seeking to restore mankind’s faith in the spiritual life after generations of growing disillusion. On August 3rd, the day prior to his momentous lift, Sri Chinmoy had said:
Whatever I have done in this lifetime, whatever I am doing, whatever I shall be doing in the near or distant future, as long as I am on earth, I am only an act, an expression, of my Lord Supreme’s unconditional Compassion.
By: Vidagdha Bennett
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