Sri Chinmoy waits in the departure lounge at the airport in New York for an evening flight via London to India. He will visit his family at the Sri Aurobindo Ashram in Pondicherry. (Sadly, the Mother of the Ashram had passed away just the previous day, on November 17th.)
Documentary Film
Premiered in New York, August 1975
A ‘Silver Journey to Infinity’s Soul’ production.
Directed and produced by Tarun and Prabhat.
Narration and production assistance by Uma Yvonne Hannemann.
This iconic film covers the highlights of Sri Chinmoy’s artistic achievements from 1974-1975.
An article on Sri Chinmoy’s weightlifting appears in Trhák, from Slovakia.
Sri Chinmoy creates his first artwork in the West, marking the beginning of Jharna-Kala ‘Fountain-Art’, in room 233 at the Sheraton El Mirador Hotel, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. For the first time, he signs his artwork with his initials C.K.G. (Chinmoy Kumar Ghose), the monogram he would use throughout his long artistic career.
Sri Chinmoy’s talk at the Blue Centre meeting
in All Angels Church, Manhattan, New York
Today is a most significant day for my disciples and for me, for today we complete one full year of my art-life. It is the first anniversary of my art experience. I was a seeker, I am a seeker and I shall eternally remain a seeker. I shall eternally walk along the road of aspiration. The Supreme in me taught me at a very young age how to concentrate, meditate and contemplate. But even before that, when I was totally ignorant of aspiration and consciousness, when I was one year and two or three months old, my parents took me to a spiritual institution called an ashram. Then, when I was four years old, they took me again. When I was seven and when I was nine years old again I was taken to the ashram. Finally, when I was eleven years and a few months old I went there to become a permanent member. At that time the Supreme in me made me conscious of my aspiration. He taught me from then how to concentrate, meditate and contemplate. In a few months’ time I came to discover who I was in my previous incarnation and what would be my role in this incarnation.
But no matter what I realise, I feel that my realisation is nothing but a form of aspiration, ever-crying aspiration. Each realisation is nothing but a progressing rung in the ladder of evolution. While I was aspiring through concentration, meditation and contemplation, I was asked by the absolute Supreme within me to aspire also through athletics. Again, out of His infinite Bounty He made me in my youth a champion sportsman. Then, along with my physical discipline and spiritual discipline, He wanted me to aspire through poetry. I started writing poems before I was twelve years old — of course, in Bengali.
I am saying this not for the sake of boasting. What I wanted to tell you is how my aspiration took shape in various forms, in various fields — spirituality, sports, poetry and also music. I was a music-lover, and even now I am a music-lover. Music also played a considerable role in my aspiration. I came to the West, here to America, by the express inner command of the Supreme Pilot who wanted me to be of service to many here in the aspiring West. As you know, the Supreme, out of His infinite Bounty, has inspired me, according to my power of receptivity and capacity, to write over 250 books during the eleven years of my existence in America. These books are nothing but the revelation of my own aspiration which is crying, according to my inner receptivity and capacity, to go high, higher, highest, to the ever-transcending Height. It is always aspiration that is being manifested in all my activities, physical, vital, mental and psychic.
Here in the West I have come to act as a devoted server, unconditional server of the divine Love, Light and Truth. In the outer life, in the outer world, some people take me as a spiritual teacher, a Master. But I wish to say the real Master, the supreme Master, is God Himself. We are all representatives. He who knows a little more than we do in any field we are apt to call our teacher. But the real teacher, the absolute Teacher, who has infinite Knowledge and who is infinite Wisdom, Light and Love is God Himself and no human being.
Here in the West the Inner Pilot, my Supreme Pilot, expressed Himself in and through me according to the power of my receptivity when I gave hundreds of talks at various universities in America and in Europe. Hundreds of questions I have also answered. I have composed hundreds of songs both in Bengali and English and a few in Sanskrit. All these things are nothing but various ways of expressing my own inner cry.
Last but not least, I entered last year, exactly one year ago, into the field of art. This field was not my forte. In our family, as ill luck would have it, art-life was not cultivated. Of course, in the broad sense, poetry is an art, music is an art, undoubtedly, but painting as such was not appreciated. Our family was wanting in the capacity for appreciating this particular art. I was in no way an exception.
Eleven years ago when I arrived in New York, I happened to visit the Guggenheim Museum. I saw quite a few paintings. To my extreme sorrow I could not appreciate any of them. But my Fate-Maker one year ago wanted me to become an artist. I was in a hotel in Ottawa. Around 5:00 in the afternoon it was drizzling, but the command came from within to go out and buy a few crayons and drawing paper and so forth. I went out in the rain and bought a few drawing books and I started my journey. After I had drawn a few, I was totally disappointed and disgusted, but the Inspirer in me did not permit me to stop. He wanted me to continue, and I did.
Now some people call me an artist. Yes, I am an artist; this is true. But to be exactly true, one hundred percent true, I wish to say that I am a seeker. Here again, my aspiration is being expressed through art in the form of thousands of paintings in the short span of a year. The artist in my Beloved Supreme, according to my receptivity, according to my surrendering and surrendered existence, has painted and drawn in and through me. Then he wanted me to offer to these paintings an Indian name: Jharna-Kala. It means Fountain-Art. Like a fountain this art flows spontaneously. It has no birth, it has no death; a ceaseless, birthless and deathless flow.
I have quite a few admirers to appreciate my paintings. I am extremely grateful to them. Again, I have quite a few critics who feel they have legitimate reasons to find fault with me. They say, “Why deal with quantity and not with quality? Why not aim at perfection?”
I tell my critics that earthly perfection is a relative experience of and in the mind. A child’s perfection is to pinch someone. The satisfaction that he derives from pinching is perfection in his life. A child crawls and stumbles, he stands up, he walks, marches, he runs very fast. Each progressive stage that he masters is perfection in his life. When he was unable to crawl, he was having a particular experience in earth-life. But the day he started crawling he felt that that progress was perfection. Continuous progress is perfection. Constantly transcending one’s own existence-reality is perfection. Otherwise, perfection would be a finished product. If perfection is a finished product, then it is no perfection at all. Perfection is the song of ever-transcending reality that we embody and we eternally are in the cosmic Vision and transcendental Reality of the Absolute Supreme.
When I paint, I do not have in mind — I never use the mind — how many I am going to do. No, I only try to become a perfect instrument of the Supreme by surrendering to His Will. When it comes to thousands and not hundreds, I clearly see and feel that each painting of mine is a flame of aspiration. Now if I see thousands of aspiration-flames instead of one, then I see clearly that these thousands of aspiration-flames can more easily illumine ignorance-night than only a few could. Those who claim me as their very own, those who are my spiritual children, still need illumination. These thousands and thousands of paintings are for what? To be of service to them, to illumine them. If they see not one but thousands of flames, naturally they are bound to be carried far, very far, high, very high, deep, very deep. Instead of one if they have thousands of aspiration-flames to be of service to them, naturally their progress is bound to be much faster.
Again, each painting of mine is a spark of my own aspiration. One person will appreciate one painting of mine, a second person will appreciate another, a third person still another. This way each person gets the opportunity to identify himself with my aspiration-light. For my disciples, nothing can be as important as identification, identification with the Master’s life of aspiration and dedication.
As I said, I have written thousands and thousands of poems, I have given hundreds of lectures and composed hundreds of songs. Each poem, each talk, each song embodies my own aspiration. A disciple of mine may find his identification in one particular poem or song. The more he identifies himself with the consciousness-light of my creation, which is God’s own creation in and through me, the better for him, the sooner his illumination will take place on the strength of his identification with the Highest.
This is an opportunity for all art-lovers and all seekers of the transcendental Truth. Each painting, each poem, each thing that I undertake is at the express command of my Beloved Supreme. I have 900 disciples. I feel that each disciple can be given the golden opportunity to select whatever form of creativity inspires him most in his own way. There are also seekers who are not my disciples who feel something sublime in me. I wish to assure them that the inspiration and aspiration that my paintings and my writings embody is for them. He who sees something in me or in my creation is my soul’s friend, my heart’s friend. A friend of mine is he who gives me the best opportunity to be of dedicated service to his Inner Pilot. He who gives me this golden opportunity to serve him is my real friend. Here there are about fifty seekers who are not my disciples. But I wish to tell them that their very presence here has given me enormous joy and divine pride. Why? It is they who are giving me the golden opportunity to be of service to the Supreme in them. I say this with all the sincerity at my command. You may feel that I am sharing with you my inner wisdom, but I wish to say that what I feel in the inmost recesses of my heart is something else: the song of aspiration, the song of dedication. I sing in and through you my aspiration-song. I sing in and through you my dedication-song.
To my disciples, art-lovers and all those who are seekers of the transcendental Truth here, to you my fervent soulful request is that you try to identify even for a fleeting second with what I stand for, which is constant inner cry. What I am doing and what I shall be doing is aspiring, and you are all doing the same thing — aspiring, crying within to be conscious and constant instruments of God. The Goal is one; the roads are many. When the seekers see eye-to-eye with one another, then the road undoubtedly is shortened.
Published in AUM – Vol. 2, No.11, November 27, 1975
Sri Chinmoy visits Room 233 at the Sheraton El Mirador Hotel in Ottawa, Canada, where he painted his first Jharna-Kala. It is the second anniversary of this historic event. Sri Chinmoy is accompanied by Mukti and members of the Ottawa Sri Chinmoy Centre.
Sri Chinmoy creating Jharna-Kala paintings at Public School 86 in Jamaica, Queens, New York.
These spiritual words are given to Sri Chinmoy by the disciples travelling with him on the bus from Montreal to Ottawa. He then composes a short poem or aphorism on the words.
1 Humility
My heart sleeps in humility-grass;
Therefore I am allowed to study
In my Lord’s salvation-perfection class.
2 Softness
Softness is my life-tree.
Soulfulness is my life-flower.
My heart’s only choice:
My Beloved’s Perfection-Hour.
Only when I worship
My Lord Supreme
I am free,
divinely free,
supremely free.
3 Willingness
What I have for God is brittle willingness.
What God has for me is Immortality’s oneness.
4 Grace
I am God’s Shelter-Grace
Blossoming into His all-illumining Face.
5 Peace
At last I now have peace of mind:
My fault-finding eyes nowhere I find.
6 Oneness
My oneness with God’s Delight
Is my perfection-light.
7 Consciousness
My consciousness-bird started flying
Long before the birth of time:
Therefore in me
God is creating
Triumphantly and proudly
His Perfection-clime.
8 Gratitude-oneness
With my Lord my gratitude-oneness is growing
Steadily and unerringly;
Therefore my heart-bird
Is dancing merrily.
9 Height
Every day I transcend my height.
O my poor earth, do you know why?
O my proud Heaven, do you know why?
I do it because
God Himself
Has made me His choice kite of light.
10 Chinmoy
Chinmoy, Chinmoy, Chinmoy, Chinmoy.
Am I God-Eternity’s self-amorous boy?
11 Joy
Sleepless is my occult Eye;
Therefore God-Joy have I.
12 Mercy
Lord Supreme, my ignorance and I
Are at Your mercy.
“Son, you are partially wrong.
Your ignorance is at My mercy,
But not you.
You are My Eternity’s lap
To give your ignorance-foe
A smart slap.”
13 Self-limits
I have transcended my self-limits:
Fear, doubt and jealousy;
Therefore I drink deep
God’s ceaseless Ecstasy.
14 Forgiveness
I cry to my sweet Beloved Supreme for
His constant Forgiveness.
God cries for my Eternity’s brave
Oneness-might.
15 Capacity
I love God for God’s sake.
This is my greatest capacity.
God loves me unconditionally.
This is His Eternity’s Beauty.
16 Lustre
When
I am earth-face
I am farther than the farthest from the Supreme.
When
I am Heaven-lustre
I am nearer than the nearest to the Supreme.
Something more:
I am His Eternity’s blue Satisfaction
And
His Infinity’s gold Perfection.
17 Surrender
To God I have surrendered my stupidity.
To man I have surrendered my self-created
responsibility.
18 Speed
Speed I need, I always need
To feed my Lord Supreme, to feed.
19 Purity
Because I am all purity,
My heart is God’s necessity.
20 Sincerity
Because my life is blue-gold sincerity,
God has made me His world-transforming
perfection-dance.
Because my life belongs to God
and God alone,
Ignorance-night my soul has conquered
With my Lord’s all-conquering lance.
21 Divine warrior
I have become a real God-lover;
Therefore He is shaping me into His
divine warrior.
22 Dedication
My dedication
Is God-satisfaction.
God-satisfaction
Is my immediate salvation.
23 Love-victory
Eternity’s love-victory
In my heart of gratitude-seed.
My Beloved Supreme is my divinity’s
Supreme need, my only need.
24 Divine manifestation
What I call divine manifestation,
My Lord Supreme calls
my indispensable perfection.
25 Thankfulness
My peerless treasure: cheerfulness.
God’s matchless treasure: Thankfulness.
26 Selfless
My selfless service-love
Has made me a blue God-dove.
27 Intuition
Out of His infinite Bounty,
My Lord Supreme has made me
His own cosmic intuition-soul.
In me is His transcendental Height
With me is His universal Life.
28 Subtle grandeur
I forgive my outer world.
My forgiveness is my subtle grandeur.
I love my inner world.
My love is my all-conquering treasure.
29 Calm
When I am calm,
God opens His Eternity’s Door,
God gives me His Infinity’s Love
And shows me His Immortality’s Shore.
30 Determination
I know, I know my life’s perfection
Is the flower-fragrance
Of my supreme Lord’s
Compassion-Vision.
31 Eagerness
Eagerness I had to see the Face of God.
Eagerness I have to feel the Heart of God.
Eagerness I shall have to be the
Dream-Reality of God.
32 Bondage
No more shall I live in a bondage-cave.
In Infinity’s sky
With God I shall fly,
Eternally selfless, brave.
33 Discipline
At long last I have disciplined
my ignorance-life;
Therefore my Lord Supreme
Is making me
His earth-transforming fife.
At long last I have seen
my reality’s soul;
Therefore my Lord Supreme
is triumphantly playing in me
His cosmic self-transcendence Role.
34 Rebirth
My heart longs to unravel
The mystery of rebirth;
Therefore my Lord Supreme
Tells me to do two things:
He tells me to cry with earth’s
excruciating pangs
And smile with Heaven’s
Life-immortalising Ecstasy.
Published in Light-Delight-Journeys
by Sri Chinmoy
A friend of mine at the Ashram has said, “In the West people don’t believe in spiritual power. They think that spiritual power is dead. So here is the proof that it is alive.”
He says that by my weightlifting I am proving that spiritual power is still alive.
Published in My Weightlifting Tears and Smiles, part 2
Sri Chinmoy achieves a personal best for the 22-lb. shot put of 6.32 metres in Jamaica, NY, USA.
Sri Chinmoy lifts Sarvottama Tatyana Lebedeva, 2004 Olympic long jump gold medallist and 2004 Olympic triple jump bronze medallist, at Aspiration-Ground in Jamaica, Queens, New York. Sri Chinmoy also composes a song in her honour. And, her young daughter too receives a ’Lifting Up the World with a Oneness-Heart’ award.
Sri Chinmoy honours Ravi Shankar, his wife Sukanya and daughter Anoushka, at a gala event of music and plays performed by members of Sri Chinmoy Centre at PS 86 in Jamaica, Queens, New York.
A lecture by Sri Chinmoy
at the University of Essex, Colchester, UK
The inner promise is a seeker's inner progress. This progress inspires him, energises him and helps him to please God in God's own Way. The outer promise we make quite often, but the inner promise we make once or twice, not more, during our life's span. The outer promise we make, but the inner promise we keep, we try to live up to it. Finally, we try to manifest this inner promise on earth.
The outer promise we make to ignorance, to teeming ignorance, but the inner promise we make to God. Our outer promise is to torture the world either consciously or unconsciously, or try to destroy the world.
To change the face of the world and to fulfil the world with the divine Will, this is our inner promise that we have made to God.
Now, there are three significant steps to this inner promise.
God is to be seen.
God is to be felt.
God is to be realised.
To see God, we have to be far, far away from the snares of darkness and ignorance.
To feel God, we have to live in the domain and realm of aspiration, the mounting flame within us.
To realise God, we have to grow into divine and constant and supreme surrender.
After we have attained to God-realisation, there are two most significant steps, two more significant promises we have to make. These promises are God-revelation and God-manifestation.
God-revelation is the promise made by the God-realised souls on the strength of their unconditional concern for suffering humanity.
God-manifestation is the unconditional promise of the God-realised souls to love mankind unconditionally and to manifest the reality of Divinity here on earth.
In our day to day life, we see a child making promises to his mother: he won't tell a lie, he won't do anything wrong. But unfortunately, he does tell lies, he does make mistakes. But the mother has boundless patience. She feels that sooner or later her child will tell the truth and will do everything right. Then, as a young boy, a teenager, he does quite a few things wrong and he promises to his parents that he will not do them anymore. Unfortunately, he fails to keep his promise. But his parents have the capacity to forgive him. They feel that either today or tomorrow he will turn a new leaf. This is the inner confidence that they have in their son.
So in the spiritual life also, many seekers make an inner promise, an inner commitment. They say that they will enter into the spiritual life, they will give real importance to the life of purity, the life of aspiration, the life of realisation; but unfortunately they fail to fulfil their promise. Nevertheless, God's boundless Compassion never leaves them. God, with His adamantine Will and with His Vision of the ever-transcending Beyond, sees that these seekers will sooner or later enter into the right path and they will walk, march, run towards the Destined Goal.
Then there are some advanced seekers who have made considerable progress in their inner life, and who have made a promise to their own inner beings and to God that they will not give up their spiritual quest or journey unless and until they have realised God. God-realisation is their sole aim. As ill-luck would have it, after having some higher experiences, they do not want to march further. They feel that these experiences that they have already acquired are more than enough, at least for this life. So they do not want to go any further. God-realisation at that point they do not need or they do not want. So God-realisation remains a far cry for them.
But God knew that with utmost sincerity these seekers entered into the spiritual life and they have made considerable progress, only now they do not want to run towards their Destined Goal. They do not want to reach the farthest end of the Golden Shore.
God again with His boundless Compassion, observes the situation and tells the seekers, "Look, you will never be fulfilled. You will never see the face of satisfaction until you have seen the Golden Shore. You have not fulfilled your promise. But My Promise to you is unconditional. I shall wait for you. I shall take you, carry you to the destined shore of the Golden All at My choice Hour. If you do not want to run fast, faster, fastest, it is up to you; but you have to know that nobody on earth can remain unrealised, unfulfilled."
God says that this is the supreme decree. Each individual has to realise the highest Truth, but he who aspires will naturally reach the Goal sooner than the others who are still in the world of sleep.
As human beings, most of us are extremely clever. We are clever, but we are not wise. We try to deceive others, human beings. Not only that, we go to the length of deceiving our Inner Pilot, God. In spite of knowing that we can never, never deceive the Inner Pilot, we unconsciously, sometimes consciously, deliberately try to deceive the Inner Pilot, God. We tell God, "Oh God, if You give us some inner wealth (that is to say, peace, light and bliss), we shall offer half of our peace, light and bliss to mankind. We shall not grab them all. We shall not use them all for ourselves." It is just like saying to God, "If You give me a dollar, I will give half to mankind and only half I shall keep for myself."
Now, God observes our sincerity. He examines the face of sincerity, whether we are really sincere or not. And what happens? God gives us peace, light, bliss and divine qualities to some extent, but we feel that it was not according to our satisfaction. What do we do? Immediately we say, "Oh God, You have not given us the full amount, the full quantity. I wanted to have a dollar, but You have given me half a dollar. You are very clever. You have already kept half a dollar for Yourself, that is to say, for humanity. So I cannot give humanity the peace, light and bliss that I already have, because I feel that You have not given me the full amount."
How we try to deceive the divinity in humanity. Everybody here, here at this place, has something to offer: peace, light or bliss, sincerity, simplicity. There is nobody on earth who is not in a position to help the rest of mankind. This help, this service, if I can use the term service, can be offered by any individual here on earth.
If somebody feels that he is more sincere than somebody else, then let his sincerity be shared with other persons.
If somebody feels that he is pure, purer than somebody else, his neighbours or friends, then let him share his purity.
If somebody feels than he has aspiration, more aspiration than his friends or neighbours, then let him share it.
This is the promise that every moment we can make to God.
Then we come to realise that every time the soul enters into the field of creation and manifestation, the soul makes a most solemn promise to God, the Pilot Supreme, to try its utmost to reveal God here on earth. But unfortunately when the soul enters into the world, ignorance the sea tries to envelop the soul, and then our body, vital, mind and heart consciously or unconsciously get pleasure in identifying themselves with the ignorance-sea. But the soul is all-forgiving. It does not cast aside the body, vital, mind and heart. It has boundless patience.
If this body, vital, mind and heart identify themselves with the soul, and if they want to see the Truth with the soul's eye, if that is their promise, if that is their only promise, inner promise, then the date of God-realisation, God-revelation and God-manifestation on earth is not very far.
Each individual can make a solemn promise to himself, to herself, to humanity at large. This is a promise of dedicated self-service. And when he fulfils his inner promise, God fulfils His highest Promise of absolute Perfection in and through the aspirant.
Published in My Rose Petals, part 1
A lecture by Sri Chinmoy
at Barnard College, New York
The Rig Veda is the oldest of all the Vedas. Most students of the Vedas are of the opinion that the Rig Veda is the most inspiring, most soulful and most fruitful Veda. This Veda embodies the earliest monument of India’s aspiration and realisation. India’s poetry, India’s philosophy, India’s literature, India’s religion and India’s science all owe their very existence to the Rig Veda, which was their source.
When it is a matter of choice between quality and quantity, the wise long for quality and the ignorant cry for quantity. The highest quality and the greatest quantity almost never go together. But to our great joy, the Rig Veda surpasses most strikingly the other three Vedas both in quantity and in quality. The Yajur Veda, the Sama Veda and the Atharva Veda have borrowed a considerable amount of wealth from the Rig Veda.
In the Rig Veda, the gods are seen as personifications of nature-power. The seers invoke the cosmic gods with their heart’s prayers and their life’s dedication. These gods were supposed to have been thirty-three in number. Each god had his own origin; all of them did not come into being at the same time. It is said that at first they accepted human incarnation and were mortals, as we are now. But by drinking soma, nectar, immortal they became. In the subtle physical plane, they are retaining the quintessence of their physical forms and earthly appearances. Some are warriors, while others are priests. Indra is the champion leader of the warriors, and Agni is the champion leader of the priests.
Power they have. Power they are. Some have the power of Silence and Peace, while others have the power of Light and Delight. Ceaselessly they fought against the formidable forces of evil, and eventually they did win the victory.
The Rig Vedic gods are kind and compassionate. With their boundless kindness and compassion, they fulfil the desires of the matter-loving world and the aspirations of the spirit-invoking life. They live in different homes: Heaven, air and earth. Heaven is the home of Vishnu, Varuna, Surya, Mitra and a few others. The atmospheric region is for Indra, Rudra, the Maruts and others. Agni and Brihaspati are well known among those who are considered to be terrestrial gods.
In the Rig Veda we see the pure presence of devotion and the sure presence of knowledge. Devotion tells us how sweet and compassionate God is. Knowledge tells us how high and great God is. Devotion and knowledge find their complete satisfaction only in service. Service is concentration. Devotion is prayer. Knowledge is meditation. Only concentrated service, devoted prayer and illumined meditation can make us divinely great and supremely perfect.
According to the Vedas, action is a most essential part of life. Action is the conscious acceptance of our earthly existence. Action needs the body, which is its temple and fortress. Action needs life, which is its inspiration and aspiration. A man of action is an ideal hero in the battlefield of life. He lives with God’s human body, the earth, and works for God’s divine life, Heaven. Action is outer sacrifice and inner oneness. The Rig Veda offers us a supreme secret as to what kind of sacrifice we can make on the strength of our oneness. In action we see the universal presence of God. In action we embody the spirit and reveal the form. In the spirit is God the Absolute. In the form is God the Infinite. The Rig Veda speaks of God the Power:
"Twam Indra balad adhi sahaso jata ojasah...
O God, the existence rests on strength, valour and energy.
O Mighty One, You are Strength itself."
In order to manifest God considerably on earth, the seeker must live a long life.
"Aum bhadram karnebhih srinuyam deva...
O cosmic gods, may we hear with our ears what is good and auspicious.
May we see with our eyes what is good and auspicious..."
But merely living a long life lacking in divinity is nothing short of stark ignorance.
The seers of the Rig Veda regard God as the eternal Father, Mother and Friend. They also feel that God is their Beloved. God has many aspects, but a devoted seer prefers the aspect of God as Lord. He prays to his Lord for compassion and benediction. He has come to realise that if he has God’s Love and God the Love, then he needs nothing else from either earth or Heaven.
The Rig Vedic seers are the teachers of mankind. The Rig Vedic gods are the saviours of mankind. The teachers are teaching the world the message of Light and Truth. The saviours are healing the unaspiring, blind and deaf world, and championing the genuine seekers. The Rig Vedic seers are the builders of Hindu culture and Hindu civilisation. They represent the dawn of Hindu inspiration and the noon of Hindu aspiration. They offer to the world at large the ultimate meaning of religion. According to them, religion is the code of inner life. In each religion is the love-branch of the Truth-Tree. The Rig Vedic gods tell us to accept life with love, enjoy life with renunciation and fulfil life with surrender to the Will of the Absolute.
The Vedas tell us that we are cattle of the gods. Unfortunately, we are now compelled to feel that we are slaves of the machine. Let us aspire. Our aspiration will once more make us cattle of the gods. Later, our realisation will make us lambs of the gods. Finally, our manifestation will make us lions of the Absolute Supreme.
Aspiration we have.
Realisation we need.
Manifestation God and we together need.
With loving gratitude I offer this talk to my eldest brother, Hriday Ranjan Ghose, who is a great lover of the Rig Vedic lore, and an erudite exponent of the four Vedas.
Published in The Vedas: Immortality’s First Call
Sri Chinmoy lifts 155 lbs. – equal to his own body weight – 24 times, using only his right arm, in Jamaica, Queens, New York.
At a quarter to two, I go to bed. At a quarter to four, I get up and meditate. Then I go to my second room and do chest exercises 30 times; then quadricep and hamstring exercises.
At five o’clock, I go out to walk for two miles. Then I come back and do stretching exercises for half an hour. Next comes more exercises upstairs. Then I come down and lift 155 pounds 13 times. Then I do leg presses and bench presses.
After this I meditate and play the cello. Then I take another form of exercise and then play my Moroccan instrument. Next I do another exercise and then play the Chinese instrument.
First I am showing a delicate hand and then I am showing a weightlifter’s hand. This moment I use my delicate hand to play musical instruments, and the next moment I use my powerful hand for carrying inert, solid weights. — Sri Chinmoy
Published in My Weightlifting Tears and Smiles, part 1
Unmilan had to go to Germany for a few days in connection with his exercise equipment business. I promised him that I would wait until he returned before I lifted my own body weight, 155 pounds. But while he was gone, inwardly I saw that the time was right for me to lift 155, and I couldn’t wait for him to return. So I took special permission from his soul and then I did it. Afterwards, I phoned Unmilan in Germany to tell him I had just lifted 155 pounds — with special permission from his soul. — Sri Chinmoy
Published in My Weightlifting Tears and Smiles, part 1
You may think that I am weaker than I am because you see only the physical in me. Again, if you happened to see my third eye inside the physical, then you would see the power of my physical body. It is much stronger than you can ever imagine. The outer appearance of my hands may seem weak to you, but my inner capacity makes me feel very strong when I do lifting and other things.
I know perfectly well that if I wanted to energise the physical, or if I opened up my third eye and allowed spiritual power to percolate from the soles of my feet to the crown of my head, all my limbs you would see as infinitely stronger than what they now outwardly appear. — Sri Chinmoy
Published in My Weightlifting Tears and Smiles, part 1
In the ashram the record for weightlifting is 85 pounds. My ashram friend set it about 20 years ago and nobody has broken his record. At that time I could not lift even 35 pounds. — Sri Chinmoy
Published in My Weightlifting Tears and Smiles, part 1
Sri Chinmoy lifts various objects using the seated calf-raise: a refrigerator; 700 of his books; a Christmas tree; an ice cream cart; and nearly 500 pounds each of rice, potatoes, tomatoes, cauliflower, onions and dal from Annam Brahma restaurant. He also used a standing calf-raise with an overhead platform for the first time, at Aspiration-Ground in Jamaica, New York.
by Sri Chinmoy
Today, with my seated calf raise machine, I lifted some of the actual kinds of food that I get from Annam Brahma — nearly 500 pounds each of rice, potatoes, tomatoes, cauliflower, onions and dal. So all these my disciples will eat next Sunday. Annam Brahma will make a very special meal using the actual vegetables that I have lifted.
Published in My Weightlifting Tears and Smiles, part 2
Sri Chinmoy plants a young oak tree in Federal Parkland in Ottawa, as an offering to the soul of Canada. Here is a transcript of Sri Chinmoy’s remarks at the planting ceremony.
O aspiration-dawn of Canada, you will succeed, you will proceed, you will become, you are. You will succeed. The universal earth-cry you will embody. You will proceed. The transcendental Heaven-smile you will reveal. You will become. Infinity’s all illumining Vision you will become. You are. Immortality’s Oneness-Reality you eternally are.
O aspiration dawn of Canada, there is a special reason why we are planting this divine tree here in Ottawa. Ottawa is the capital of Canada. The capital is the heart. Inside the heart is the soul. Inside the soul is God-promise. A few minutes ago I was told that this divine child of ours is going to live for two hundred fifty years. We shall not be on earth for two hundred fifty years, but from Heaven we shall offer our love-light and our gratitude-life to this divine child of ours. The physical in us will pass behind the curtain of Eternity. The spiritual in us, the eternally Real in us, will remain here with this child of ours. Aspiration-dawn is Eternity’s treasure and Immortality’s pride.
It is my fervent wish that the disciples in Ottawa come to visit this divine child of ours once a month for fifteen minutes and pray for this child divine who will, in the course of time, bring us boundless joy, glory and divine pride. Also, I wish that disciples from all parts of the world, when they visit Ottawa, make it a special point to come to this place and offer their aspiration-dedication to this child of ours.
I offer my heart’s deepest gratitude to the government of Ottawa for granting us this unique opportunity to be of service to the soul and body of Canada. Finally, I wish to offer my most soulful blessingful gratitude to Don. You have been a chosen instrument, a supremely chosen instrument, for this divine journey. A tree represents aspiration. Aspiration-dawn is the ever-transcending soul and goal. When I climb up high, higher, highest, either I carry Don or I bring down the Nectar-fruit to offer to him and all his spiritual brothers and sisters, to all our spiritual children.
Published in Sri Chinmoy Speaks, part 4
Sri Chinmoy lifts actor Richard Gere at Aspiration-Ground in Jamaica, Queens, New York. Richard Gere is the founder of the Gere Foundation Supporting His Holiness the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan Community-In-Exile.
