A Talk to Boxers

Soul the boxer fights for humanity’s aspiration.
God the Boxer fights for humanity’s salvation.
Faith the boxer fights for humanity’s perfection and glorification.
Man the boxer fights for humanity’s appreciation and admiration.
Doubt the boxer fights for humanity’s total destruction
– Sri Chinmoy

On Saturday, 30 July 1988, Sri Chinmoy was host to twelve boxing luminaries, both past and present, including WBC Light-Heavyweight Champion Donny Lalonde. This was to be the first gathering of people from a similar field to participate in Sri Chinmoy's lifting programme, and it set the pattern for many future events, where Sri Chinmoy would honour not only individual achievements in that particular field, but also the calling itself. Historically, this was also the first time Sri Chinmoy's formal name for his lifting programme — Lifting Up the World with a Oneness-Heart — was used.

On this day, Sri Chinmoy completely immersed himself in the boxing world. He had written an open letter to the boxers, which he read out as a preface to the lifts. It was dedicated to the memory of the great heavyweight champion, Joe Louis, and in it he addressed the boxers affectionately as 'brothers'. Sri Chinmoy went on to present a radically new interpretation of this, one of the most traditional of sports. He saw boxing, not as mere pugilism, the urge to fight and destroy, but as a spiritual challenge. He encouraged each boxer to feel that when they fight against someone, they are actually fighting against that person's ignorance and imperfections. They are, in fact, helping their opponent to become more perfect. Sri Chinmoy then expounded his philosophy that the dynamic fighting spirit can also be applied outside the ring.