No limits for weightlifting guru:
Sri Chinmoy thinks, then lifts 400!
l keep looking at the pictures and newspaper clippings in front of me and still can’t believe.
“On Sunday, September 21, Sri Chinmoy lifted 400 pounds overhead with one arm,” says the press release accompanying the pictures and the clips. “Two days later, on September 23, Sri Chinmoy lifted a 1220 pound baby elephant 6 (six) inches off the ground with his calves and upper legs,” continues the description of another incredible feat done by Sri Chinmoy.
The lady who sent me the stuff calls and says that more recently the guru lifted a plane from the ground.
Articles from Daily News (New York), Chicago Defender, New Life (Britain’s biggest Asian weekly), Iron Man and Ultrasport Magazine, and quotes of famous weight lifters and bodybuilders (Mr. America, Mr. Olympia, Mr. Universe, etc.) all praise Sri Chinmoy’s unbelievable achievements.
There are also statements by legendary sports champions like Muhammad Ali and Carl Lewis. “Sri Chinmoy is doing the impossible. He is truly an inspiration,” said the former heavyweight champ. “It’s unreal. I am going to use all his inspiration to help me beat the world record in the long jump,” said Lewis.
So who is Sri Chinmoy?
The man who is an inspiration for such inspiring sports champions is a 54-year, 159-pound Indian born philosopher-spiritual leader (known for his special peace meditations at the United Nations and in the U.S. Congress)-musician-composer-painter-author, who took up weight lifting 15 months ago only to shatter our convictions in physical limits, physiological and biomechanical laws.
“You have to realize that the physical world is not the only world. You can enter into the inner world and meditate. On the mental plane first, you imagine that you are lifting weights beyond your physical capacity. Then you can bring that mental capacity to the physical plane and turn your imagination into reality.”
Sri Chinmoy performs his lifts by taking the dumbbell from a stand at shoulder height. He calls it “Body, Heart and Soul One-Arm Lift.” His weight lifting accomplishments came in this succession: 40 pounds in June, 1985; 155 pounds in November, 1985; 200 pounds in March, 1986; 300 pounds in August, 1986; and 400 pounds on September 21.
Chinmoy’s philosophy of self-transcendence says: “If you control thoughts, it brings down peace and power. Ninety per cent is in the mind. If you can discipline the mind, what is not possible?”
Will this philosophy of meditation and spiritual concentration sweep the sporting world?
I still doubt that Carl Lewis will break Bob Beamon's 29' 2½" long jump world record...
Caption:
To be able to support 400 pounds with one arm is impossible, superhuman, say weight lifting experts. Not for 54-year-old modern Hercules Sri Chinmoy...
Published in News-Herald and Journal, No 85, Saturday, October 25, 1986
The Oldest Community Newspaper in Los Angeles