Question: Guru, I wanted to know if there was anything else we should do for the body in the spiritual life besides feed it? Are there any exercises?

Sri Chinmoy: If you know how to meditate well, then it is not necessary. You can take a few hatha yoga exercises or you can run. That will help you. But do not confuse your serious meditation with hatha yoga. Hatha yoga is not the answer. If you take a little exercise in the morning for five or ten minutes, it is more than enough. It will give you additional strength, health and dynamism. If you are not feeling well or if you are tired all the time, how will you meditate well? If you take regular exercise, then you keep the body fit. By keeping the body fit you make it easier for your aspiration to grow. But you have to know that simply by keeping the body fit, you cannot realise God. There are many, many people who are very strong and healthy, but they are nowhere near God-realisation. All physical activities you can do, but not at the expense of spirituality. Inside every physical activity spirituality must be there. If you throw your spirituality aside in order to become the best athlete, that is absurd. Spirituality should come and enter into the physical so that the physical also will be meaningful. Without the spiritual, the physical has no value. As long as we can bring the soul's light forward, then only are we really human beings; otherwise, we are all animals. In every action spirituality should be there. Then only will we be able to manifest the Divine.

From:Sri Chinmoy,Politics and spirituality: can they go together?, Agni Press, 1977
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