Question: Could You Compare Running To Weightlifting?...

Question: Could you compare running to weightlifting? Does one give you more pleasure than the other?

Sri Chinmoy: In my life running is unparalleled; it has no second. Weightlifting was never my forte. Right from my early years I disliked bodybuilding and weightlifting. I was a sprinter and decathlete, and I did not care for weightlifting at all. It was something foreign to me. But last year I started weightlifting because of an inner command. I always listen to the dictates of my Inner Pilot, and my Inner Pilot asked me to enter into weightlifting. That is the main reason, the inner reason, why I took up weightlifting.

The outer reason, one can say, was severe knee pain, which prevented me from running. So I have to do something to keep my body fit. But the inner reason is because my Inner Pilot, my God, has commanded me to lift. For that reason I do it cheerfully. But if I am asked to make a comparison between running and weightlifting, running will always remain my most favourite sport.