The Qualities of the Heart

In my Ashram life, boxing and wrestling were compulsory on Saturdays. One Saturday there was boxing, and another Saturday there was wrestling. Always on Saturday I said I was sick. One day when there was wrestling, my partner and I decided that both of us would shake hands and fall down at the same time. So we did it, and the coach was furious. Then he fired us. We were so lucky. There are many, many boxers, but I tell you nobody will enjoy the same name and fame as Muhammad Ali for various reasons, but especially for his courage, that he stood for principle. He did not participate in the Viet Nam war. I had such admiration for him.

Muhammad Ali, the man, I really admire. He has such a big heart. When he is fighting, he is somebody else. He is ready to take somebody’s life. But when he is not fighting, he is another person. I have had the experience of meeting with him five times — not once, five times! Sometimes he would start reciting poems he had written. Or he would speak all about spirituality, about Muhammad. Muhammad Ali and I used to speak about God in general. How kind he was to me.

One incident in Manhattan we will never forget. He was going to fight with Ernest Shavers in the evening. Around 3:00 I went to meet with him. Then we decided that we shall meditate together, standing. He and I were meditating together, not for one minute, for 10 minutes, and we were going on meditating together. The manager became alarmed. Finally he said, “Sri Chinmoy, Ali has to fight this evening,” so he ended the meditation.

What actually happened, I thought Ali was so great that if I stopped meditating, it would be an insult. And Ali also felt the same way. I was a spiritual man, so how could he stop meditating? This kind of love we had.

Only two years ago I was able to meet with him again when he came to visit a school in Washington, D.C., the Oneness-Family School. Now he is quite incapacitated. I lifted him and his wife separately with my right hand and left hand. They were standing side by side on the honorary platform. I got such joy lifting them.

Muhammad Ali’s fans will be countless: Ali, Ali, Ali! Others may never get the same name and fame. Muhammad Ali is at the top of the Himalayas. But I am saying that the man I admire is Muhammad Ali the heart. Muhammad Ali, the one who will punch and knock out someone, do I admire? No. This world makes progress only when we can separate something, the person’s heart. Otherwise, if we just take someone’s destructive quality, we cannot appreciate them.