Video by Utpal Marshall
On March 3rd 1979, Sri Chinmoy completed his first marathon in Chico California in a time of 4:31:34. Each year since then, his students in New York and around the world have honoured him by running the 26-mile distance.

Video by Utpal Marshall
On March 3rd 1979, Sri Chinmoy completed his first marathon in Chico California in a time of 4:31:34. Each year since then, his students in New York and around the world have honoured him by running the 26-mile distance.
Sri Chinmoy is interviewed on a Connecticut television programme in Hartford, CT, USA.
Sri Chinmoy is invited to be a Visiting Lecturer by the University of Washington in Seattle, WA, USA. Sri Chinmoy delivers a lecture, entitled ‘What Is Art?’, to the faculty and student body of the School of Art.
Sri Chinmoy offers a concert at the University of Washington in Seattle, WA, USA.
Sri Chinmoy offers a concert at St. Joseph’s Church in Seattle, WA, USA.
Sri Chinmoy offers an esraj performance and delivers a lecture at the University of Toronto in Toronto, ON, Canada.
Sri Chinmoy is the guest of honour at Rabindranath Tagore’s Birthday Celebrations sponsored by the Tagore Society of New York at the United Nations in New York.
Sri Chinmoy achieves a lift of 220 lbs. using only his right arm in Jamaica, NY, USA.
Sri Chinmoy offers a Peace Concert at Preston High School in the Bronx, NY, USA.
Queen Elizabeth II held the Peace Torch during Britain’s V.E. Day 50th Anniversary Celebrations at Hyde Park, London, UK.
Sri Chinmoy presents the U Thant Peace Award to Humayun Rasheed Chowdhury, Speaker of the Parliament of Bangladesh, at the United Nations in New York.
A dedication ceremony for Canada as a Sri Chinmoy Peace-Blossom Nation is held in Ottawa, ON, Canada.
At a special ceremony to honour the President of Macedonia Boris Trajkovski, Sri Chinmoy offers an esraj concert and presents him with the U Thant Peace Award, as well as lifting him as part of the ‘Lifting Up the World with a Oneness-Heart’ programme. This is the first time a head of state has been honoured at Aspiration-Ground in Jamaica, NY, USA.
Sri Chinmoy receives the Mother Teresa Award from President Trajkovski of Macedonia, in Jamaica, NY, USA.
Sri Chinmoy pays a visit to St. Charles Borromeo School, Harlem, New York, USA, where he lifts school children and their principal. The ‘Lifting Up the World with a Oneness-Heart’ ceremony was organised by Sri Chinmoy’s long-time student Pravin Mimms.
Sri Chinmoy lifts Robert Muller, former UN Assistant Secretary-General; Chancellor, UN University for Peace, in Jamaica, NY, USA.
with Sri Chinmoy
First interviewer: I've heard about meditation, but I really don't know too much about it. This morning our guest is Sri Chinmoy, who is an expert in the area of meditation. He has lectured at many universities and written several books on the subject, and he also conducts twice-weekly meditations at the United Nations. It's nice to have you here this morning, Sri Chinmoy.
Sri Chinmoy: I am so happy to be here.
First interviewer: I think my first question is that I want to know more about meditation. Is it a mental exercise or is it like self-hypnosis? Is it an alternative to religion? Do people meditate instead of going to church?
Sri Chinmoy: Meditation is not a mental exercise, it is not self-hypnosis and it is not a form of religion. Meditation is an inner study for self-discovery. We meditate in order to empty our mind and in order to empty our heart. When we empty our mind we receive God the Peace. When we empty our heart we receive God the Love. Peace and Love are the two most important things in our life.
First interviewer: I think a lot of people are going to be wondering how you go about meditating. How do you do it? I think the results you are talking about sound good, but most of us don't really know how to meditate.
Sri Chinmoy: I wish to meditate for a few seconds. Then I shall explain how to meditate. [Sri Chinmoy meditates for a moment.] You just observed as I meditated for a couple of seconds. While I was meditating, I felt Peace and Delight all through my body. It was like a stream of Peace, Light and Delight flowing from the crown of my head to the soles of my feet.
Second interviewer: How would you describe what you saw in your mind's eye? Were you seeing some sort of a landscape scene?
Sri Chinmoy: Actually I was not seeing anything. I was growing into something, and that something was flowing Peace, Light and Bliss. I was becoming part and parcel of it.
First interviewer: Do you have to actually clear your mind of everything?
Sri Chinmoy: Yes, you have to clear your mind and not allow any thought whatsoever to enter into the mind. If a thought does enter into the mind, then we cannot grow into the divine Reality.
First interviewer: But I think that's really hard for people, because particularly in everyday life, there are so many things that are acting upon you. How do you go about actually clearing the mind and not thinking about something you have to do that day or a problem you have?
Sri Chinmoy: Meditation should be a regular practice. We study regularly in order to pass our examination or achieve something. If we practise daily, it is quite possible to meditate well. But to start with, we should read a few spiritual books to inspire ourselves and go to a spiritual Master who can increase our aspiration. We should try to live a regular, self-disciplined life.
First interviewer: So one can actually go to a class to learn?
Sri Chinmoy: Yes.
Second interviewer: What are some of the exercises? What can you learn from reading a book about how to empty your mind and heart? How would the readings inspire you to be able to do this?
Sri Chinmoy: If you read a spiritual book, it will mention techniques for emptying your mind and illumining your mind. But as regards physical exercises, I feel they are not absolutely necessary. These preliminary exercises help us to a certain extent, but they are not indispensable. When we sit and make our mind calm, quiet and tranquil, we feel that we are in a position to have a free access to our inner reality. When we have a free access to our inner reality, we hear the Message of God. God is constantly speaking to us. He is trying to guide us all the time, but it is we who do not hear His Message.
Second interviewer: When we are getting ready to meditate, doesn't the environment have to be just right? Do you have to be in a quiet place alone or can you do it with a bunch of people around?
Sri Chinmoy: It depends on your capacity. In the beginning it is impossible to meditate when there are people around who are making noise or who are not aspiring. But there comes a time when you become an expert in meditation. Then, no matter what is happening around you, you will not be affected at all.
Second interviewer: We are talking with the distinguished authority on Yoga and meditation, Sri Chinmoy. Sir, what about the housewife who is at home with three screaming children in the morning or most of the day? Or the business executive who is just running from here to there for appointments all day long? How can they sit down and take a few moments to meditate? How can you get them to calm down from their daily activities?
Sri Chinmoy: Housewives and business executives can easily meditate, provided they know what is most important in life and provided they are willing to do the first thing first. Early in the morning before they enter into the hustle and bustle of life, if they offer a few seconds to God, then they can easily meditate. God is for everyone. He is not the sole monopoly of one individual who is ready to aspire all the time. Just because God is omnipresent, He is in everybody. God is not denied to a housewife or a business executive; only they have to feel a conscious necessity for God.
Second interviewer: In the midst of daily life, how is a housewife going to sit down and take time out? Is there some simple thing she can do to relieve the tension?
Sri Chinmoy: Yes, while she is talking to her children, while she is trying to discipline their life, if she can feel the presence of the living God inside them, then there will be a spontaneous flow of divine love from her. And at that time her children will feel that their mother has something special to offer. So when she consciously observes God or feels the presence of God, she will be in a position to deal with her children in a divine way; and that is her meditation.
First interviewer: I've read about classes that you can go to and some seem very expensive, something like $300 for a class. Do you feel there is commercialism in meditation?
Sri Chinmoy: It depends on the individual teacher. I have no idea what others do. In my case, I always say that my fee is aspiration or an inner cry, plus regularity.
I have been teaching meditation for the last seven or eight years, and we have about forty-five meditation Centres all over the world. If one has an inner cry and at the same time is willing to come to the Centre regularly and devotedly, then he has paid his fees.
Second interviewer: You mentioned the presence of God a number of times, and that would lead to another question: Is this God compatible with every religion that anybody might belong to?
Sri Chinmoy: Yes, every religion speaks about God. Yoga is another name for spirituality. Meditation also talks about God.
First interviewer: I remember reading in the paper one day about certain scientific studies in terms of the physical effects that meditation has on the body. What are some of these?
Sri Chinmoy: If we meditate well, then we feel peace inside ourselves. We feel that all the time there is illumining guidance within ourselves or a beckoning hand which is all the time leading us towards our destination, which is satisfaction-life.
First interviewer: So meditation can also decrease blood pressure and do other things?
Sri Chinmoy: These things can be done by the Will of God. When we meditate, we identify ourselves consciously with God's adamantine Will. So if we are in need of something, then naturally our God, who is all Love and all Compassion, will do the needful within us.
Second interviewer: Peace and love are wonderful things to have and we should all have them. But what do you do if you are trying to express a feeling of peace and love but people around you are running here and there, backstabbing and what-not in the everyday business world, let us say? How can this really help the situation?
Sri Chinmoy: In this world we feel that everything is contagious. If we can increase the number of people who are in the world of love and peace, then naturally we will be able to inspire and influence others. You are a good soul. If you work with a bad human being, then your inner good qualities will try to inspire that person. When we see a saint, immediately we feel the good qualities of the saint coming forward in ourselves and inspiring us. So if you have peace and love, then either today or tomorrow your peace and love will spread, because the very nature of peace is to spread and the very nature of love is to spread.
Second interviewer: I think, though, that a lot of people will look upon somebody who is meditating and so on as kind of weird, bizarre or mystical. How do you counter that feeling?
Sri Chinmoy: Right now let them cherish this false notion. But a day will come when we are in a position to offer or reveal our inner qualities and then they will be able to recognise their folly. So let them assess us in their own way. Let us offer to the world at large what we have to offer. A day will come when they will be able to recognise their mistake.
First interviewer: Thank you very much for coming today, Sri Chinmoy. I think people will now want to at least try meditation and see if it works for themselves.
Published in Aspiration and God's Hour
The President of the Republic of Macedonia, Boris Trajkovski, visited Sri Chinmoy and his students at Aspiration-Ground on May 8.
Sri Chinmoy welcomed the Macedonian leader with an esraj performance, and afterwards lifted him into the air as part of his ‘Lifting Up the World with a Oneness-Heart’ program.
The spiritual leader then presented President Trajkovski with the U Thant Peace Award for his “signal contributions to the entire peace-starving humanity.”
The Master hailed him as “a supremely choice son of your beloved Motherland,” as well as “the resplendent rising sun of Macedonia.”
The President called the U Thant Peace Award the highest honor he has received since becoming President of his nation.
“It comes, he said, “at a moment of destiny and great importance to my country,” as a gesture of the support of the entire “spiritual peace-loving world.”
He went on to pledge that “as long as I live, I will ... work for peace, happiness and love among people.”
Macedonian President Trajkovski visits Sri Chinmoy at Aspiration-Ground.
Published in Anahata Nada, Volume 33, March-July 2002
Runners in the Sri Chinmoy Oneness-Home Peace Run from England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales, each carrying a flaming Peace Torch, converged on London’s Hyde Park for Britain’s V.E. Day celebrations.
As some 200,000 spectators watched on, the four Peace Torches were used to light a fifth Torch, which Sir Winston Churchill’s great-granddaughter presented to Queen Elizabeth II. Her Majesty, in turn, used it to light a 40-foot-high beacon commemorating the 50th anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe.
by Sri Chinmoy
Running is a serious part of our manifestation. I wish to say that the races we hold or participate in have a very special place in our manifestation. And this manifestation is nothing short of our aspiration. So even those who do not or cannot run in the races should have a considerable interest in our efforts, which are our self-giving to the Supreme. This is especially true of the races in which the disciples and I run; they are absolutely necessary in our life of dedication.
Published in Run and Become, Become and Run, part 14
Today our Pravin has given me boundless joy, boundless joy and boundless pride. His students are so well disciplined, so good, to say the least! And their principal is super-super-super-excellent. After I had lifted her, she gave the students a speech. You should have heard her speech. I could not believe it! It was all about Sri Chinmoy’s philosophy! Of course, perhaps I have borrowed from Christianity, since the Christ lived before me. Then she thanked me profusely. She said it was such an honour to be lifted. She was telling me, “When you lifted me, I felt so light! And I have such peace!” This was the principal. The atmosphere was simply divinely beautiful. The rooms and halls were so clean, tidy and spacious.
A few months ago, I went to another children’s school. Alas, that one was most discouraging. The children were unruly, and they misbehaved. The location was a very, very dangerous place. Pravin’s school gave me abundant joy, satisfaction and pride.
At one point today, I saw Sakhshat talking to the children. I heard only the words “Sri Chinmoy, Sri Chinmoy.” Perhaps every sentence he started with “Sri Chinmoy.” The children were listening so carefully. There was no laughing. Usually, when people give talks to children, they giggle, they push each other and they do not pay any attention. But these children were listening to him. Very, very seriously they were listening. From time to time I saw Pravin also talking to them. They were behaving extremely well.
Published in Only Gratitude-Tears
A lecture by Sri Chinmoy
at the University of Washington in Seattle, WA
Sri Chinmoy was invited as a Visiting Lecturer by the School of Art, University of Washington.
What is art? Art is simplicity in the body, purity in the vital, clarity in the mind, beauty in the heart and immortality in the soul.
Art is at once evolution and revolution. Evolution is a slow, steady and unerring flight towards the ever-transcending Beyond. Revolution is a dauntless, sleepless and priceless fight against ignorance-supremacy.
Art can be a striking idea, a soaring ideal, an illumining dream, a fulfilling reality and, finally, an everlasting victory.
Art conceives and achieves. Today art conceives a tearing cry. Tomorrow art achieves a beaming smile.
What does the artist do? The artist watches the outer life. He discovers the inner life. He liberates the human life. He manifests the divine life. He fulfils the supreme Life. The outer life is a searching hope. The inner life is a daring promise. The human life is an uncertain experiment. The divine life is a certain experience. The supreme Life is an abiding realisation.
The seeker-artist has his sacred art-secrets. During his artwork, if he prays to God in silence, he feels God’s Presence above him; if he meditates, he feels God’s Presence in the inmost recesses of his heart. If he takes his art as the living expression of his dedicated service, then he feels God’s Presence with him all the time; sleeplessly he feels God’s Presence within and without. If, while doing his artwork, he can love God and can feel that God the Creator and God the Creation are both in his art—like the obverse and reverse of the same coin—then he sees and feels unmistakably that God is all for him, him alone. And if the seeker-artist becomes the perfect prototype of God by virtue of his art, then he tells the world that he is only for God the Truth, God the Supreme Artist, who is his own Eternity’s Silence-Height and his own Infinity’s Sound-Delight.
Art and thought are two neighbouring worlds. The artist has an easy access to the thought-world. A wise artist simplifies his complicating thoughts. A foolish artist multiplies his teeming thoughts. A soulful artist immortalises his illumining thoughts.
Art is human, art is divine. The artist, in his human art, wants nothing but success. He wants the rest of the world to be far behind him. He wants the rest of the world to extol him to the skies for his grandiose achievements. The artist, in his divine art, wants nothing but progress. He wants to make progress with the entire humanity. He wants to march along the road of progress with every human being in a oneness-smile. He does not want even one individual soul to lag behind. He wants all to run fast, faster, fastest towards the Destined Goal. Success is a short and sinking breath, whereas progress is a long and enduring breath. The human in us cries for success. The divine in us cries for progress. It is our progress—slow, steady and unerring—that can make us see and feel at every moment the Kingdom of Heaven’s Delight within us.
Art is beauty. Beauty is divinity. Divinity is reality. Reality comes to us in two forms. Or you can say that we approach reality in two ways — with either our desire-bound life or our aspiration-free life. Each individual has both aspects, but when the individual grows into a seeker, he shuns the desire-life and accepts and welcomes the aspiration-life. In his desire-life, what he wanted was the love of power. Now, in his aspiration-life, what he wants is the power of love. The power of love transforms, illumines and immortalises the seeker. But the love of power destroys his inner capacities and his genuine longing for truth, beauty, light and delight.
Self-offering is the greatest of all arts. Self-offering is at once universal oneness-discovery and transcendental fulness-mastery. He who serves, he who offers himself unreservedly and unconditionally, deserves everything the world has and is, nay, everything that God Himself has and is. When he serves, what he offers to the world at large is perfection-joy, and what he deserves is nothing short of satisfaction-peace. Joy awakens the sleeping human in us. Peace fulfils the hungry human in us.
The human artist, the divine artist and the Supreme Artist. The human artist quite often does not have a specific goal or a high lofty ideal. The divine artist sees the goal within and without, but at times it is not within his easy reach; it is sometimes difficult for him to manifest the goal that he sees all around him. He can discover the goal deep within him, but he finds it difficult to bring it to the fore and manifest it due to lack of receptivity on the part of the receivers. The supreme Artist is an ocean of wisdom. Infinity’s wisdom is always at his disposal. He has all the answers—provided, of course, we ask him the right questions. When we dive deep within, we discover that there is and can be only one question in the entire universe, and that question is: “Have you?” The immediate answer is: “Not only do I have but I eternally am. Not only do I have the Reality Supreme, but I eternally am that Reality Supreme. I eternally am man the ascending cry and God the descending Smile.” This is all the Supreme Artist is: man the ascending cry and God the descending Smile. He has also discovered the supreme Truth that man is the evolving God and God is the perfect man.
Art is, after all, talent. Talent is something that our mind has to explain, our heart has to attain and our soul has to ascertain. If we do not have any talents, then let us try to consecrate ourselves. In the near or distant future, our consecration will grow into talents.
Published in The Oneness of the Eastern Heart and the Western Mind, part 3
by Sri Chinmoy
in New York
Dear ones, once a week we have our compulsory meditation. On that day, can you not meditate for half an hour or an hour more? Sometimes I come to the meeting late. Some of you feel, “Since Guru is coming late, we can also come late.” Spirituality is not cleverness. Spirituality is soulfulness. Cleverness and soulfulness are not the same thing; they can never be the same thing.
I was brought up in a spiritual community. I was also a disciple. Even now, I am a disciple of my Absolute Lord Beloved Supreme. It happened that the Mother of our spiritual community would give a time when she would appear. Sometimes she would come late — one hour, two hours, three hours or even four hours after the time she had given. Still, people waited and waited. Of course, there were a few unfortunate disciples who would go away; but the majority waited and waited.
A few years ago, I heard a story about a young spiritual Master who was supposed to visit a particular state. Alas, the plane was delayed. For eight hours, while waiting for him to arrive, his disciples chanted and chanted most soulfully and devotedly. I was so moved when I heard this story.
Many times I have seen that at our Aspiration-Ground weekend functions during the day, there may be only twenty or thirty disciples, but when it is time for prasad, the number becomes seventy or eighty. Where do they come from? They fly in like birds from here, there and everywhere! I fully understand that some are working at Divine Enterprises and other places. If those people arrive at the last moment, I will not mind. But there may be many who are not working or doing something very, very important. Perhaps they are only enjoying lethargy.
Being near your Master is infinitely more valuable than any other kind of activity. Satsang is a Sanskrit word. Other spiritual Masters have given tremendous importance to satsang. It means to be in the company of a spiritual Master or a holy man. With my students I have acted like a grandfather, not like a father. It is all my fault! A father is strict with his children, but a grandfather can never be strict. Again, something unusual has happened: some of my spiritual grandchildren are more devoted and more self-giving than their parents.
Some individuals are working very hard for manifestation, specially with regard to my weightlifting activities. For that you will definitely get my inner gratitude. But some of you feel that because you work very hard for manifestation, you can do anything you want to do in other aspects of your life. If you do not believe in self-discipline, then I cannot be of outer help to you. Inwardly I will offer you gratitude, but I cannot take you as really special disciples just because you are working very hard. You are working towards manifestation and for that I am very, very grateful. There are many, many disciples who do not care for manifestation. But if you are wanting in discipline in your own spiritual life, then please, please, do not expect my tremendous outer attention, gratitude and pride.
Those of you who come here from other states and countries also, please take spirituality as soulfulness, not as cleverness. Do not think that if I can come late, you can also come late. If you come earlier, who will get the advantage? Who will get more benefit from the spiritual life? It is you and nobody else.
There is something else to consider. For you it takes five minutes or ten minutes or fifteen minutes to enter into your highest consciousness, but at a moment’s notice I can enter into my highest. I doubt that anybody among my disciples has the capacity to enter into their highest consciousness in the twinkling of an eye. Such being the case, if you come here ten minutes, fifteen minutes, twenty minutes or half an hour early, it is only to your advantage. If you can meditate soulfully for an hour or two, will you not get more benefit from your spiritual life than if you meditate for only five minutes? Yes, there is a theory that it is better to meditate for five minutes with utmost soulfulness than to sit for an hour and think only of unspiritual things, but this is a totally different matter.
True, I have made it compulsory to attend our collective meditation once a week, but in many ways I doubt that any other spiritual Master is so indulgent with his disciples. Of course, in the West everybody is indulgent! But in India and other places, there are many, many strict spiritual Masters and their disciples also have become very, very strict with their own lives. Coming back to my point, once a week if you come here half an hour or an hour before the meeting starts, you will get tremendous benefit from your inner cry.
There are many more things I would like to say, but the main thing is this: take spirituality as sincerely as possible. Nobody has forced you, nobody has begged you; nobody can force you, nobody can beg you to be on the path. It was your decision, it is your decision and you can continue with your own decision. Kindly be strict with yourself. Do not look around. If you are strict, then it is worthwhile to be in my boat. If you are not strict, then you are wasting your most precious time. You can do something else outside my boat. Perhaps that will give you joy.
The more you can develop love of God, love of your own self, love of your own divinity, the faster you will run towards your Destination. You made the choice. Now be worthy of your choice, if you wish to continue.
Please take everything I have said today as soulfully as possible. This will help you. I have not come into the world to be a disciplinarian — no! I have come into the world to be a lover of God and a lover of mankind and to be a server of God and a server of mankind. Please do not misunderstand me. I am your spiritual father.
There shall come a time when you will be consciously in touch with your soul and your soul will tell you that I have loved you, I love you and I shall forever love you infinitely more than you can ever imagine. Your mind may not believe it. Your mind may say, “How can Guru think of me more than I think of myself? How can he love me more than I love myself?” But once you have a free access to your soul, you will see that what I am saying today is true, absolutely true. It is your soul that has given me this responsibility because your soul knows that spirituality means bringing the soul’s light into the mind, the vital and the physical.
The soul is the only reality that will last. This body-reality, vital-reality and mind-reality will not last. The soul is an eternal portion of God. Believe in the soul! After thirty, forty or fifty years you will be the soul-reality, not the body-reality. Just because you do not see the soul right now, you cannot say the soul does not exist. Just because an Indian villager has no way to come to America, he cannot say, “Oh no, America does not exist.” In spite of hearing about America from people who have come to America, if someone does not want to believe in its existence, who can make that person believe? Again, all the spiritual Masters, if they are really genuine, will definitely speak about the existence of the soul and the supreme importance of the soul.
If you are spiritually developed, you are bound to see the soul and communicate with the soul, with the supreme reality. Only one thing you need and that is the inner cry. As we need outer means, like money-power, to travel to another country, even so, we need the ceaseless inner cry to communicate with the soul.
Just because I do not know about something, it does not mean that very thing does not exist in the world. In exactly the same way, just because you have not seen the soul, just because you have no access to the soul, you cannot deny the existence of the soul. How many people have seen God? If belief in God’s existence has to depend on eye-to-eye contact, then nobody will accept the spiritual life! Just because spiritual Masters have said that God exists and Someone deep within you — your Inner Pilot, who is God — tells you that He does exist, you believe in God. Belief comes from the inner feeling'. We have to believe. If believing does not precede seeing, then spirituality is of no value. If you say that you will believe in God only if you see Him face to face, then God will say He has more important things to do than to come and stand before you.
You have to believe — believe in your soul, believe in your own inner existence, believe in your own inner reality. Then you will see. Because you have belief, you pray and meditate. But if you want to see God first, before you start praying and meditating, that is absurd, absurd, absurd. Always we have to have faith in ourselves, faith in God, faith in our Master. If faith is taken away and we only demand proof, then that proof is no proof at all.
There are atheists. They do not believe in God. They challenge the theists, people who believe in God. Now, just because the atheists do not believe in God, is God going to come and stand in front of all these non-believers? No, never! In exactly the same way, just because we are not illumined, we cannot say that illumination does not exist. Just because we are unable to do something, we are unable to become something, we cannot say that it is impossible. Impossibility in the spiritual life does not exist. It is merely a dictionary-word. When it comes to the inner life, impossibility does not exist. Even in the outer life, my mind will never agree that impossibility exists.
I have lifted thousands and thousands of pounds over the years. If I use my ordinary human mind — not the illumined mind — my own mind will be the last one to believe in what I have done. Let us take away my mind of illumination, my mind of oneness with God. My regular mind, my ordinary mind, will be frightened to death to think of lifting up such heavy weights. But if I go beyond the mind, I see that it is possible. It is all the Grace of the Supreme. God says to me, “I want you to inspire people with the message of the spirit in and through your physical body.”
Sri Aurobindo said, “Matter and spirit must go together.” Is it not the message of the spirit that my body is carrying? In the Sri Aurobindo Ashram, I was perhaps the best athlete. There they had a huge gymnasium. Two days a year I went there and lifted twenty pounds only to increase my strength a little for shot put. Now I am lifting thousands of pounds. Why? To convey the message of the spirit. The inner spirit and the outer body must go together.
Why do I give so much importance to physical fitness for my disciples? I am not asking you to be a tennis star or a great football player or a champion athlete. No! I simply want you to keep your body fit. Otherwise, early in the morning you will be afflicted with a headache, stomach upset and other ailments. Kindly take care of the body. Every day set aside one hour for exercise. Out of twenty-four hours, one hour you can give. I spend at least three hours a day! From 4:30 in the morning, I spend a minimum of three hours, believe it or not, on the physical. Stretching exercises I take for about forty-five minutes or more. I do all kinds of stretching exercises. You may call it greed, but I call it wisdom, because I know that if we have to stay on earth, physical fitness is of paramount importance.
Again, if you are not physically well, do not delay. Go to a doctor! Do not wait for six months or three months or even one month. Please, please, if you have pain in your physical, take a doctor’s help. God is also inside the doctor. As God is inside your prayer, so too, He is inside the doctor. God is omnipresent. Be wise! Go to the right person.
Forgive me; I have given a long sermon. I have to be very, very strict with all the disciples. Some of you are doing very well, while others are not disciplined at all. You feel, “Oh, I have done so many things for Guru this week. Now I can be relaxed.” There is no such thing as continuous relaxation. Certainly you can relax for a few minutes or a few hours. But if it continues for days, then it is nothing short of destruction. Please, dear ones, take me seriously.
Published in I Wanted to be a Seeker of the Infinite
by Sri Chinmoy
at his home in Jamaica, New York
I am so proud, so proud of my disciples who are working at the United Nations. They carry my vibration, my consciousness, my light. When the disciples go to meditate at the UN in my absence, it gives me such joy. I take such pride in these Meditation Group members. They go to meditate in my absence; they think of me, they meditate on me. At that time they get my blessings, they get my light, they get my gratitude and gratitude and gratitude. Inwardly they get my blessings. They love me and they are carrying my mission at the United Nations in my physical absence. They have such love for me, and they listen to my request. They do it so faithfully.
All those who pray and meditate at the United Nations in my physical absence rightly deserve my appreciation and admiration, plus gratitude and gratitude and gratitude.
Discipline! Perhaps I was born with discipline. In India I lived a disciplined life. Here in America also, if I did not believe in discipline and regularity, I could not accomplish so many things every day. Punctuality I miss sometimes, but regularity really saves me.
Regularity is of paramount importance for all my spiritual children. Again, punctuality is infinitely better; but if you fail in punctuality, at least stick to regularity. We need regularity, regularity, regularity. There is no other way to accomplish something great and good.
Published in The Temple and the Shrine