Aspiration-body, illumination-soul, part 2

Part I

Franco Columbu: How important are yoga stretching exercises to the mind?

Franco Columbu: Are there yoga stretching exercises which benefit nerve conduction or nerve supply to the muscles?

Franco Columbu: What will be the percentage of change or help to the mind when one does bodybuilding?

Again, to some extent the mind does get satisfaction from the strength and dynamism of the body. But if we are talking about the mind that has to empty itself of uncomely thoughts, doubts, fears, anxieties, worries and negative forces, then mere bodybuilding cannot be of true importance from the spiritual point of view.

Franco Columbu: What will be the change in the mind when someone is training professionally in comparison to someone who is not training professionally?

Sometimes the professional gets joy only by displaying his capacities, whereas the amateur gets spontaneous joy merely from developing his capacities. But again, many amateurs also love to display their strength and physical development. To a great extent it is a matter of inner attitude. While practising, the amateur needs to concentrate only on self-transcendence and self-improvement, which give him tremendous joy. But the professional is obliged to think of contests and competitions if he wants to be successful. He may get joy from his practice as well, but satisfaction will come only when victory descends upon him, and his capacities are recognised by others. He has to work harder than the amateur, because success-life is his goal, whereas progress-life is the goal of the amateur.

Part II

Mary Roberts: I have been bodybuilding for approximately seven years. I find that now I am very interested in helping other women learn to compete. Do you feel this is a proper attitude for a champion to have?

Part III

Question: Why do you do weightlifting?

This morning I lifted an elephant. I am not a circus performer, but I do identify with the animal kingdom. The animal consciousness is also in the Universal Consciousness of our Beloved Supreme. In the spiritual world, the occult world, the mystical world, an elephant represents solid strength — not just strength but solid strength. On the physical plane also its strength is unparalleled. The 3,000-pound elephant could easily have destroyed all the human beings who were present when I lifted it. If you had put all of us together, we would have been no match for it. But the elephant was very mild and had tremendous poise and peace. In terms of strength, I am no match for that elephant. But just because it knew it was infinitely stronger than I, the elephant remained calm and quiet. That is why I was able to bless it and garland it.

Similarly, if a country is really strong, especially with inner strength, peace and poise, then like an elephant that country will remain peaceful. We call some countries super-powers, but this is all comparative. They have no inner confidence; therefore they are constantly quarrelling and fighting and trying to prove their supremacy. If they were really superior powers, they would identify themselves with other powers, both superior and inferior. Only when we are strong do we identify ourselves with another strong person. God is omnipotent; He is all Power. That is why He can easily identify Himself with us. Unfortunately, we are very weak, and that is why we find it difficult to identify ourselves with our Beloved Supreme. But again, He has given us the supreme secret for acquiring strength: prayer and meditation.

Question: This must be very difficult physically. Is it painful?

Question: Do you work out every day?

Question: Why did you choose this way to show people your philosophy? I mean, is it something people can understand better?

Part IV

Joel Martin: Let me introduce to you now a man whom I've grown extremely fond of over the years and whom I love a great deal. His achievements and his accomplishments are amazing. They have been reported world-wide. We will talk about those achievements with a Guru, a genuine Guru — really genuine — Sri Chinmoy. And Sri Chinmoy, of course, is an international figure.

Joel Martin: We have to expound. I have learned what the term 'Inner Pilot' means. But for the people that don't know, it's so important. When we first met many years ago, you explained to me all about the Inner Pilot. Could you do it again?

Joel Martin: So it's that inner voice, inner sense, or inner guidance that we sometimes ignore, unfortunately. You are wearing, I think, the emblem of the United Nations, if I see correctly.

Joel Martin: You do that regularly?

Joel Martin: You wear the most beautiful robes. Different colours have different meanings, yes? The last time we were together here you were wearing a red robe. This time you are wearing a sky blue, light blue, robe. Could you tell us the significance of that colour?

Joel Martin: People who watch me know that I've done many programmes about the occult and about psychic phenomena over the years. You don't have any quarrel with the spirit world or those things that we call psychic?

Joel Martin: Since you mentioned lifting, I understand you recently lifted an eight-year-old elephant. What we can do now is see the videotape of some of your lifts so people will know that this is real.

Joel Martin: But this weighed more than a ballpoint pen. I mean, this was heavy also. Wow! Did it hurt? I've got so many questions. What do you think about when you do that — is it total concentration?

Joel Martin: You're not pushing for people to all lift elephants, are you?

Joel Martin: Guru, what if somebody were to say to you: "All right, it's remarkable. You have lifted an elephant, you have lifted a seaplane, a boat, various weights. How does that further the cause of world peace, which is so elusive?"

When I feel inner strength, at that time I have peace of mind and I do not want to quarrel or fight. We quarrel and fight precisely because inwardly we feel that we are weak. One nation declares war on another nation, not because that nation is far superior, but because that nation feels in the depths of its heart that it is weak. I know I am weaker than you, but I want to show you that I am stronger. Perhaps you have also the same experience; you may think that you are weaker than I am, but you quarrel with me to show your superiority.

The other day with my calf muscles I lifted up an elephant which weighed 3,600 pounds. In terms of strength, a human being is no match for an elephant. Just because the elephant knew we could do nothing to it, it behaved well. So he who is really strong will not fight. For a human being, the only way to become really strong is to pray and meditate. When we pray and meditate, we develop inner strength, and this inner strength is nothing other than peace.

Joel Martin: It's not that long ago that you began weightlifting, and you are fifty-five now. Before that you had been running for a long time?

Joel Martin: With one arm?

Joel Martin: So that's better than three times your body weight.

Joel Martin: But somebody can also say that if I lift weights and get stronger physically, then why do I have to be concerned with peace? I can use that strength to be aggressive.

Joel Martin: We have a short intermission here, and then we will have some photographs and visuals of what Sri Chinmoy has done in terms of weightlifting. Sri Chinmoy, internationally-known Guru. We will talk more about his weightlifting and his work for world peace through physical strength and meditation...

Here, Guru, we’re looking at you lifting I think about three times your body weight. This is 450 pounds. Where is this wonderful gym?

Joel Martin: You've turned it into a gymnasium! How many hours a day do you spend on weightlifting?

Joel Martin: Okay. I want you to see the next one. This is the calf-lift, is it? And you are lifting some of your students.

Joel Martin: Those numbers — 1,384 pounds — represent a lot of weight. That doesn't affect the old leg injury?

Joel Martin: Fortunately is right. I think also we're going to see the sailboat. This weighed how much?

Joel Martin: Unbelievable! And when you document these lifts, obviously the reason is to show people that it really happened.

Joel Martin: This was the seaplane that you lifted at East Moriches last Sunday. You see the numbers 3,632 there, folks? That's the weight of the plane, not its license plate!

Joel Martin: I can't even get myself out of bed in the morning. Are you saying that the average person — people like me and people who are watching — can do this?

Joel Martin: I pray and I meditate.

Joel Martin: I had a back injury last time.

Joel Martin: That's true. I'm going to come back to that. I think we have one more visual. This is where you bettered the one-arm press of 450 pounds and lifted 503 pounds. You don't lift that much every day, do you?

Joel Martin: You said something before about faith in our own prayers. Let's come back to that point because it's so important.

Joel Martin: Guru, excuse me, but why _should_ God listen to our prayers? Doesn't He have better things to do than listen to me?

Joel Martin: We are going through a terrible problem everywhere in this country, with young people using increasing amounts of drugs. What has gone wrong that so many people are turning to that path, which is obviously a destructive one, rather than following your advice, which is obviously the best advice?

Joel Martin: Well said. I've got to ask you, before we conclude, Guru, where does this go? Do you have an ultimate goal with all of this?

Joel Martin: Most of us, I guess, at one time or another are so much more concerned with the things that are around us than with the things that are within us. Maybe that's where most of the confusion is.

Joel Martin: You've done thousands of paintings, poems and musical compositions. Are you still doing these things?

Joel Martin: And you're not here to say you're better, but to encourage us to do the best _we_ can.

Joel Martin: We're out of time. Thank you so much. It's been terrific to see you again. I didn't even get to ask you what the white flower means. It's for peace?

Part V

Ken Hall: I've been bodybuilding for over 40 years now. I've watched many changes come to this sport. One of the most significant changes in recent years is the increasing number of women who are entering this field. I feel this is a wonderful change, both for women and for bodybuilding in general. Do you agree?

Part VI

Terri Locicero: When I'm competing on stage and it is not going well — for instance, if the audience is not applauding or there is a technical problem with my back-up music — I have to struggle not to lose my concentration. How can I keep poised when problems arise?

Terri Locicero: When I win a contest, I'm on top of the world; I'm so happy! When I lose, I worry too much about why that happened. How can I learn to keep a proper balance when I compete in a contest?

Part VII

Nina Schoenbaum: They say in bodybuilding, "No pain, no gain." To me, that sounds ridiculous. I've never been in pain. Bodybuilding is the fountain of youth — you get stronger as you go along. I've made gains without pain. Why do people feel they have to hurt themselves to improve themselves?

I find it difficult to accept the theory that physical pain is unavoidable in order to improve. True, we may at times get pain as we struggle with an exercise or with heavy weights. But that is a totally different matter. If we deliberately torture our body beyond its limited capacity with the hope of becoming stronger overnight, then there is every possibility that the body will revolt. This kind of training will tell upon our health.

Part VIII

Jean Laguerre: When I feel that I've honestly done my best, how can I feel that the outcome of the competition has been fair and just, if I didn't win?

Part IX

Russell Barber: Guru Sri Chinmoy is a Master of meditation. In his pursuit of God and Truth, he has used his meditation powers to accomplish amazing things, from writing 700 books and composing 3,000 songs to creating over 140,000 esoteric paintings. He has now turned this Eastern discipline to weightlifting. In the world of weightlifting, Sri Chinmoy's progress has been remarkable.

I want to know more about meditation first. What’s the first lesson that you would give me as I try to learn how to meditate and use these special powers?

Russell Barber: Would there be one particular thought that one would hone in on?

Russell Barber: Can anyone learn how to meditate?

Russell Barber: How, then, does the peace that will come from our efforts at meditation translate into the kinds of things that you are now doing with weightlifting?

Russell Barber: It certainly has done that in your case. We have a photograph that you were kind enough to bring us today that shows you lifting — with one arm — 360 pounds! It's quite an achievement. That's more than double your body weight.

Russell Barber: And even more astounding is the thing that you did this morning, which we have a videotape of — lifting a car that weighs 2,825 pounds. This is amazing. I'm not sure that I could ever achieve the kind of meditative power to be able to do that.

Russell Barber: When you are exerting yourself in this very athletic way, are you praying at that moment? Are you thinking of God?

Russell Barber: We have another videotape here that shows some of your other efforts at meditation, which we'll look at now. It's just amazing the things that you've been able to achieve. Here, for example, are some of the paintings that you have done. And we see you here in an archway with some of your 700 books. What are you trying to say to those of us who don't seem to have this kind of power? Are you trying to give us examples of how, through meditation, we can find God and achieve amazing things with our life?

Russell Barber: I assume that one doesn't have to engage in physical exercise to achieve a oneness spiritually with the world. I mean, a lazy person like myself hopefully could achieve that through prayer and meditation. What is the relationship, though, between athletics and peace?

Russell Barber: On a more practical level, with regard to athletics, how do you feel about the fact that politics have been somehow made a part of certain athletic competitions, like the Olympics? Are you unhappy about that?

Russell Barber: You've been in the West some twenty-two years. You come from the Hindu tradition. You speak of peace, and whenever you come to "The First Estate" there is always a sense of peace that comes over us. I want to thank you for giving us this peaceful moment and good meditation. God bless!

Part 10

Question: Do you concentrate more than once on each metal plate before you lift?

_Question: As the weight gets heavier, the bar tends to bend, so it seems to really take more effort to lift it._

_Question: How is it possible for you to make the jump from 1,500 to 2,000 now, whereas before you could only go from 70 to 90 and then 100 pounds?_

_Question: Guru, while you are lifting a very heavy weight, do you feel that you become one with the weight, or is it like an opponent that you are challenging?_

_Question: When you keep making these enormous jumps in weight, what actually is progressing? Is it your receptivity to light, is it your human capacity, or is it that you are getting more help from Above, or what?_

On the one hand, the Divine or Supreme in me is blessing me with Compassion, and I am receiving. On the other hand, I am entering into this inconscient plane and seeing if the weights can be made receptive. If they were not receptive, nobody could lift them. But because these weights were receptive to me, I was able to lift them. Perhaps they would not be receptive to anybody else in the world at this time. Ask anybody in this world and let them try! I am not bragging; I am only saying that as I happen to be receptive to the higher light, even so — by God’s Grace — the weights have become receptive to that light in me. Otherwise, who can jump from 1,300 pounds to 1,500 pounds just like that? When it is such high weight, people will take two or three weeks, if not months, to increase only ten pounds.

So because my receptivity was good, the divine Compassion acted through me and I was able to offer my light to God’s creation. There is so little of the divine light in God’s creation — next to nothing. But there I found an iota of receptivity, and because the weights were receptive, I was able to offer them light. If the metal had not cooperated, I could not have lifted it. So it is our mutual achievement. And it is through love-power that I did it, not through adamantine will-power.

On my face you do see determination-power and will-power when I am lifting. But it is love-power that actually makes it possible for me to lift these weights. Sometimes determination-power can be destructive, but in no way is mine destructive. While I am lifting you see my ferocious face, uglier than the ugliest. But it is not destruction-power that you are seeing; it is only adamantine will-power on my face, because I have to energise my arm.

I have to use a special kind of will-power — electric will-power I call it — on my arm, especially on my wrist. I have many, many types of will-power, but this one is absolutely my strongest and fastest. I keep a very special concentration on my arm, especially my wrist. Ninety per cent of the weight is supported by my arm. People will say, “Your shoulder, your back, your legs and many other muscles are also working.” But I know how much my leg muscles are working. Next to nothing! As I am lifting, my whole body is supporting the weight, but in no way are my chest or shoulders or legs actively helping me. My right arm is holding ninety per cent of the weight, and my wrist is holding at least seventy-five per cent of that. People will laugh, since my wrist is narrower than the narrowest. But I know that at least seventy-five per cent of the weight my wrist is holding. So I am always extremely careful with my wrist. All my dynamic energy and will-power are in my right arm and wrist. Otherwise, this tiny wrist would be crushed to pieces.

_Question: Guru, for you, using spiritual power is almost as easy as drinking water. But when you lift heavy weights it seems that you really have to struggle and afterwards you seem to feel a real sense of achievement._

_Question: Why do you do your serious weightlifting in the early morning?_

The soul is always conscious and always ready to do something significant for God no matter what time of day it is. But the best time for the heart to receive direct help from the soul is either during deep meditation or just after you have gotten up, before the clamour and turmoil of the world can destroy your poise. At that time the soul and the heart are more powerful than the doubting mind, the aggressive vital and the lethargic body. All the worries, anxieties and other negative forces of daily life have not yet entered into you. The mind is calm and quiet, and a calm, quiet mind is of supreme importance when you want to do something really significant.