Break Through the Barriers of the Impossible
At age 67 Sri Chinmoy is lifting simultaneously with each arm 200 pounds — in each arm 40 pounds more than his bodyweight.
New York — 25, April. The international well-known Bengal meditation teacher Sri Chinmoy based in New York has shown with a feat of strength, that age is no barrier, if one has access to the source of power through meditation. That amazed even the experts. In 1988 Sri Chinmoy had tried to lift 160 pounds with each arm simultaneously in a similar feat of strength. At that time he failed and was able to lift only one dumbbell up about 1/2 inch high. Now eleven years later at the age of 67, he lifted with each arm simultaneously dumbbells of 200 pounds -his own bodyweight of 160 pounds plus 40 pounds with each arm — from a rack at the height of his shoulders. Mr. Franco Columbu, two-time Mr. Olympia, stated, “No one else alive today can lift such phenomenal weights. Sri Chinmoy’s mind and spirit are very, very powerful!”
When he had lifted the total weight of 400 pounds up more than 4 inches high after two hours of intense meditation and warm-up exercises, Sri Chinmoy stated: “God wants to show the world what He can do even with a fragile human body.” Since March 22nd of this year Sri Chinmoy has lifted up the two weights thirty-eight times. Sri Chinmoy’s motivation for such performances is to inspire other people to acquire inner peace, joy as well as inner and outer power by prayer and meditation.
“It is because of my prayer-life and meditation-life that I am able to accomplish these feats of strength. Everybody can get inner strength from prayer and meditation. ... This inner power will give us peace. This inner peace in the individual is the base for a true and lasting world peace.
“Because individuals inspire groups, groups inspire nations and a nation can also inspire the other nations to live peacefully and in oneness with whole humanity.”
Sri Chinmoy also uses his strength to honour the work of other people. In Pretoria Sri Chinmoy met President Nelson Mandela and honoured him with the Lifting Up the World with a Oneness-Heart award, lifting the President overhead with one arm from a honorary platform. Sri Chinmoy has honoured already 2000 individuals from all walks of life with this price for uplifting the standard of humanity.
Sri Chinmoy is well-known through many initiatives in Europe. With these initiatives he has promoted world peace in the last 34 years. Among these are 90 Peace Concerts in Europe and the Global Peace Run. Since 1987 during the Peace Run several millions of people passed Peace Torches from hand to hand on all seven continents. On the occasion of the turn of the millennium in 1999 the Peace Run will follow a route of 20,000 km through all European countries on every day.
For his tireless and selfless efforts for peace Sri Chinmoy was honoured with the Nehru Medallion of UNESCO, Paris in 1995 among other awards.
Published in Die andere Realität, 4/1999, page 3