Sri Chinmoy lifts 10 prominent Australians, including Mt. Everest climbers Greg Mortimer and Lincoln Hall, at the Town Hall in Sydney, NSW, Australia. Others among those lifted, are three TV reporters, from Channel 9, Channel 10 and SBS, who each interview Sri Chinmoy.
Sri Chinmoy offers a Peace Concert at Buchman Hall in New York, NY, USA.
Sri Chinmoy achieves a 1,250-lb. lift using a seated calf-raise in Jamaica, NY, USA.
Zambia is declared a Sri Chinmoy Peace-Blossom-Nation.
Sri Chinmoy lifts 23 people, including staff members of the United Nations Development Programme, in Jamaica, NY, USA.
Sri Chinmoy draws tiny soul-birds on a tiny pad, watched on by his tiny dog Chela.
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Media
INDONESIAN LEADER VISITS SRI CHINMOY
Photo: Adarini Inkei
JAMAICA, NY — Former Indonesian Prescient B. J. Habibie, vacationing in New York with his family visited Sri Chinmoy at Aspiration-Ground on July 6, and was lifted into the air.
Sri Chinmoy had met the Indonesian leader in Jakarta in January 1999.
Published in Anahata Nada, Volume 38, April-Early August 2005
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Music
Photo by Sarama Minoli
Sri Chinmoy performs on the esraj on stage at Public School 86 in Jamaica, New York.
Photo: Pulak Viscardi
Sri Chinmoy offers a Peace Concert at Buchman Hall in New York, NY, USA.
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Photos
Sri Chinmoy in Zurich, Switzerland
Photo by Prushphutita Greco
Sri Chinmoy meditates during the ‘Lifting up the World with a Oneness-Heart’ function held in the Peace Room of Sydney Town Hall, Australia.
Photo: Dhanu Alaimo
Sri Chinmoy 700lb lift.
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Sports
Photo by Adarini Inkei
Sri Chinmoy throwing a basketball at Aspiration-Ground in Jamaica, New York.
Comments by Sri Chinmoy
at Aspiration-Ground in Jamaica, New York
after seeing a video about the World Harmony Run
I had a dream, and the name of the dream was the Peace Run. This Peace Run, which we now call our Harmony Run, is a dream, an ever-blossoming dream of our Source. This dream of ours will be valued infinitely more in the near future, and more so in the distant future.
We sang the song of God's Peace. We are now running in the hearts, souls and lives of the runners. We are running in and through them. Each runner rightly deserves my most powerful gratitude. The presidents, mayors and other dignitaries from various states and countries are helping us enormously through their stupendous encouragements. They are all peace-loving children of God. We are trying to serve God in a special way, and these peace-loving souls who are encouraging us wholeheartedly deserve my ever-blossoming gratitude.
True, our physical bodies have not been and will not be able to cover the length and breadth of the world. But the spirit that we have deep within, and the spirit that we truly are, has covered the length and breadth of the world many, many times. During my highest meditation, many, many times I have clearly seen that our self-giving spirit in all its beauty and fragrance has covered the length and breadth of the world. Not only that, something more: there are countless souls who have not yet seen the light of day, but when they come into the world, they are bound to see and feel this self-giving spirit that is circling and circling the world. The beauty, the fragrance, the light and the delight of this spirit will kindle the flames of aspiration in the newcomers. Then they will also sing the same song of peace, universal peace.
Today's chaotic world cannot forever remain chaotic. World harmony, world peace — these are not mere dictionary words. These are the realities, divine realities and supreme realities. For all of us who are aspiring to become good citizens of the world, our Harmony Run is a supremely important inspiration to us all.
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.
Photo: Dhanu Alaimo
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.
A lecture by Sri Chinmoy
at the Indian Cultural Society, London, England
Two instruments: impurity and purity. Here we are all seekers, seekers of the highest Transcendental Truth. In our life of aspiration and dedication, purity and impurity play two significant roles: purity in a positive way and impurity in a negative way.
Impurity tells us, "I am of myself and I am for myself. Although I am limited, I want to expand myself, I want to cover the length and breadth of the world." This is what impurity tells us.
Purity tells us, "I am of God's infinite Beauty and I am for God's constant Satisfaction." This is what we learn from purity. Its source is God and at every moment it wants to please God in God's own way.
Impurity is nothing short of division, world-division and self-division. But purity is all the time playing the role of creation, new creativity; and this new creativity is founded upon conscious oneness with the world at large.
Impurity is an inner disease and a contagious disease. Consciously and unconsciously the seeker is attacked by this disease. If a seeker even unconsciously mixes with impure human beings, then his consciousness is lowered considerably. If a seeker unconsciously walks along a road that an impure person has just travelled, then he is affected. If he sits at the foot of a tree where an impure person has previously sat, then he becomes a victim to impure thoughts, although he cannot account for them.
Similarly, if a seeker walks along a road that a spiritual person has just travelled, if a seeker sits at the foot of a tree where a spiritual person has sat a few minutes earlier, then he gets good thoughts, divine thoughts, illumining thoughts and fulfilling thoughts.
Impurity plays the role of a thief. It enters into the physical proper and from there it tries to steal a few divine things that the physical embodies. Then it enters into the vital proper and steals away a few divine things from the vital. Then it enters into the mind proper and steals a few significant things, precious things from the mind.
The soul, which is the eldest and wisest member of the family, looks at the body, the physical, and feels sad over the deplorable condition of the body. This body does not know what has actually happened; the body does not know that a part of its reality has been stolen, but the soul knows. Then the soul looks at the vital and feels miserable over the deplorable condition of the vital. Then the soul looks at the mind and again feels very sad. The soul looks at all the younger members of its family and feels sorry that impurity, the thief, has stolen so many of their divine qualities. The soul searches for the thief and at long last it discovers the thief in the tiny cave of the mind. In spite of having divine power, the soul pleads with the impurity-thief to change its ways. It tells impurity that only if it changes its life and grows into purity will it have satisfaction. The thief has robbed the physical, vital and mind of quite a few spiritual qualities, but still it is not satisfied: whereas if the thief is illumined and transformed into purity, then it will have abiding satisfaction. The soul convinces impurity and impurity gives way to purity slowly, steadily and unerringly. Yesterday's impurity grows into purity through the illumining light of the soul.
The seeker continues to walk along the road of Eternity with patience, perseverance and devoted service. But after a few years it may happen that another attack of impurity will assail the human mind. Impurity offers the message that temptation is everything; there is nothing save and except temptation. "Live in the world of temptation and then you will have satisfaction." If the seeker enters into the world of temptation, he discovers frustration; and inside frustration what looms large is destruction. Yesterday impurity was astounding temptation. Today it is frustrating frustration. Tomorrow it becomes petrified destruction. This is what impurity teaches us.
Purity teaches us something else. Yesterday purity taught us how to pray soulfully. Today purity teaches us how to meditate with a calm, quiet, vacant and tranquil mind. Tomorrow purity will teach us how to contemplate soulfully and unconditionally. What is prayer? Prayer is something that lifts us high, higher, highest, to where we can see face to face our highest Reality, God. With prayer we reach the Highest and there we see our Beloved Supreme. When we meditate, our Beloved Supreme descends and stands right in front of us. When we pray, God plays the role of a magnet; He pulls us up to His height. And when we meditate, we play the role of a magnet; we pull God down to our height, to our consciousness. Then, when we contemplate, we see that wherever God is, we are there also. We see that we are in the same play; we are playing the cosmic game of oneness. In this game, this moment God is playing the role of the Beloved Supreme and we are playing the role of the divine lover, the supreme lover; the next moment God changes roles and makes us, out of His infinite Bounty, the Supreme Beloved while He plays the role of the Supreme Lover. This is what contemplation is: oneness inseparable, oneness at the same height, which God grants us out of His infinite Compassion.
The Scriptures teach us the value of purity; the spiritual Masters teach us the value of purity. Now, what is purity, after all? Purity is our sincerity and our willingness. A sincere heart embodies purity to a great extent. If the sincere heart goes one step ahead with willingness, then it becomes all purity. A man may commit Himalayan blunders; therefore he falls down and begins crawling. Then he confesses that he has made a mistake. But just by confessing his mistake, he cannot rectify it. Just because he has confessed, he is infinitely better than one who has made countless mistakes, serious mistakes, but who is unwilling to confess. Sincerity is something most valuable; it gives him the added divine energy to enable him to stand up. Then comes the willingness to walk ahead, to walk forward. He may be frightened to death. He may think that if he walks forward he will again fall down; he will again be tempted and suffer defeat, so the best thing is not to stand up at all. At this point, he is making a serious blunder. He has to know that, in spite of making repeated mistakes, there is a way to reach his destination. And, for that, he has to grow inside him the willingness, the divine willingness to move forward constantly, consciously, devotedly and unconditionally, so that at God's choice Hour he can reach the Golden Shore of the Beyond.
When sincerity and willingness go together, the aspiring heart automatically becomes pure. Our heart that wants to aspire, that wants to dedicate itself to a supreme cause, is bound to be inundated with purity when there is conscious and constant sincerity and spontaneous, conscious and constant willingness to grow into the absolute Reality. This absolute Reality we eternally are, but unfortunately we are oblivious of the Reality. Through constant practice, constant awareness and constant self-giving, we can become fully aware of the Highest Reality which we inwardly, eternally are. But if we remain in the mind — the doubting mind, the suspicious mind, the mind that belittles others — then God-discovery will always remain a far cry.
Purity's role is unique; no purity, no God-discovery. If the heart and the entire existence become purity's flood, then God-realisation can never remain a far cry. A pure heart can and does claim God as its very own. Within easy reach of the purity-heart is God with His infinite Compassion, with His infinite Love, with His infinite Reality.
A talk by Sri Chinmoy
at 7:50 a.m. at Jamaica High School Track in Jamaica, New York
“My sweet Beloved Supreme, I know that You have two realities, two aspects — a human reality or human aspect and a divine reality or divine aspect. Please tell me which aspect of Yours is the better of the two, or which aspect of Yours I must choose in order to make the fastest progress, or if it is obligatory on my part to choose one of the aspects in order to arrive at the highest Goal deep within You.”
“O seeker-son, I wish to tell you that it is supremely necessary for you to approach both aspects of Me, the human and the divine. It is better to start with the human aspect, for in the human aspect you get encouragement and inspiration sooner than in the divine aspect. In the divine aspect sometimes you may see some austerity in Me, some very hard and fast rules, some strict discipline. But in the human aspect you will see that there are quite a few things which you do that I do in the same manner; therefore, you will get tremendous encouragement. You can sing, you can talk, you can play, you can do sports just as I do. Only when it is a matter of meditation, you cannot do it right now the way I do. That is the only place where you are badly lacking. I do infinitely better meditation than you do. But there are quite a few things which you do as well as I do, and sometimes you may even far surpass Me. Because you have the same capacity that I have in so many things, you are bound to feel that you can arrive at the same footing on the spiritual plane as well. So you get encouragement.
“You have to think of the human aspect and the divine aspect as the flower and the fruit of the tree. I am the Life-Tree, and I bear flowers and fruits. A flower is beautiful. It inspires you, and when you are surcharged with inspiration you run, dive and fly. But there is something more than inspiration; it is called hunger. You are inspired to do something, but you need the inner hunger to strengthen you. That inner hunger is aspiration. When you are hungry, only then do you get the fruits and eat them. My Life-Tree holds the divine aspect in the fruit-form. When you eat the fruit, you get nourishment.
“Again, at times you have to take both the human aspect and the divine aspect together. You have to think of Me as the ocean and yourself as a tiny drop or wave. If you want to see Me or play with Me, you have to feel that I am the ocean and you are inside the ocean as a drop or a surge. If you are wise, then you will see that no matter what you are, you have to remain inside the ocean, inside the vast expanse. The surge cannot contain the ocean, the drop cannot contain the ocean, whereas the ocean can contain the drop and the surge. In fact, they are inseparable. The human aspect you embody, and the divine aspect I embody, but they are inseparably one. Now you have taken the form of a tiny drop and I have taken the form of the ocean. But when you grow up in spiritual matters, at that time you will see that sometimes I become the tiny drop or wave, and you become the ocean. In this way we play hide-and-seek with each other.
“If you want to go from the human to the divine aspect, this is very good. You can also go from the divine to the human aspect. Again, you can accept the human and the divine together. The human aspect is sweet, sweeter, sweetest. The divine aspect is intimate, more intimate, most intimate. This is how the seeker approaches the human aspect and the divine aspect. I am your Beloved Lord Supreme, and you are the seeker in Me, for Me.”
A talk by Sri Chinmoy
at 9:20 p.m at the Unitarian Church in Flushing, New York
I am grateful to my Beloved Supreme, for out of His infinite Bounty He has given me the capacity to love Him more than I love myself.
I am grateful to my Beloved Supreme, for out of His infinite Bounty He has given me the capacity to feel His Need more than my own need.
I am grateful to my Beloved Supreme, for out of His infinite Bounty He has given me the capacity not to drag Him into my desire-world, but to implore His Presence in my aspiration-world, and also to offer Him my earth-bound will and desire-life, and soulfully declare, “Let Thy Will be done.”
I shall be extremely grateful to my Beloved Supreme the day He makes me a chosen instrument of His.
I shall be extremely, extremely grateful to my Beloved Supreme the day I can feel that my soul-bird lives only for Him inside my body-cage here on earth and there in Heaven.
I shall be extremely, extremely and extremely grateful to my Beloved Supreme the day I can declare to the world within and to the world without that I am what He has and I have what He is.
