Lasting Impression

Sri Chinmoy believed that spirituality and physical fitness are meant to co-exist and mutually support each other to help achieve a well-balanced life. While he strongly emphasized the importance of prayer and meditation, he also participated in sports as varied as soccer, track & field events, sprinting, marathon running, tennis and weightlifting. He explains,

“I am also trying to show that the inner world has to be a source of inspiration to the outer world. They should not be like opposite poles—North Pole and South Pole. No, they have to be united. The body and the soul must go together.”
-Sri Chinmoy, Aspiration-Body, Illumination-Soul Part 1, Agni Press, 1993.

One unique and unforgettable expression of this joining of sport and spirit is a weightlifting series he named “Lifting Up the World with a Oneness-Heart“. Ever a visionary, he combined his gratitude, oneness and goodwill towards others with his weightlifting and lifted individuals overhead on a specially built apparatus as a way to honor them for their contributions to society. As one ascended the platform, singers would perform a song composed by Sri Chinmoy – a theme song as it were for these lifts. The lyrics are:

Lifting up the world
With a oneness-heart,
The Hour of God
And His Victory-Start.
Song-Flowers, Part 3

Over a period of almost two decades Sri Chinmoy lifted 8,000 individuals in this manner. This number is mind-boggling when you stop and think about how many of those lifts involved large amounts of total weight including the individual(s) and apparatus.

To actually experience being lifted overhead by Sri Chinmoy makes a lasting impression. Helen Hunt spoke about getting lifted by Sri Chinmoy during a recent appearance on the David Letterman Show. She speaks about it as if it happened yesterday when in fact it was almost ten years ago. Get a closer glimpse of what it is like to be lifted in this video featuring Helen Hunt and Desmond Tutu: