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Another Famous Vegetarian – Sri Chinmoy
Speaking of famous vegetarians, our meditation teacher, Sri Chinmoy, has been a vegetarian since his pre-teen years. He was a champion decathlete and sprinter in his youth and was captain of the soccer team in the Sri Aurobindo Ashram where he spent more than 20 years of his life from the age of 11. After coming to the West in 1964, Sri Chinmoy became inspired to reinvigorate his running and began training for marathons and ultra marathons.
As time went by he also started sprint training again. When a debilitating knee injury left him unable to run, he took up weightlifting – an activity that he pursued until his passing in 2007. During his weightlifting years, Sri Chinmoy lifting weights, animals large and small, aeroplanes and many other things as a way of expressing the limitless capacities of the human spirit – highlighting what can be accomplished through a life of prayer and meditation. He also lifted several thousand people from all walks of life as a way of honouring them with a programme called Lifting Up The World With A Oneness-Heart.
One of Sri Chinmoy's students, Noivedya Mark Juddery, who is a member of the Canberra Sri Chinmoy Centre in Australia, wrote a inspiring article on the Sri Chinmoy's weightlifting for the Australian Vegetarian Society website. Entitled 'The World on His Shoulders – The Incredible Strength of Sri Chinmoy', the article highlights Sri Chinmoy's weightlifting achievements and the source of his strength – which is something beyond just physical strength, training and diet alone. Noivedya, a professional writer, author and journalist who has published several books, introduces his article about Sri Chinmoy's weightlifting feats with these words:
"Mind over matter" – once applied more frequently to such activities as spoon-bending and levitation, the phrase is now commonly used by athletes and weight-lifters, aware that their sport requires mental as well as physical discipline.
Sri Chinmoy adds another twist to that concept – meditation over matter. The Indian-born athlete, meditation teacher and long-time vegetarian, well-known for his remarkable feats in a number of areas, first added weight-lifting to his repertoire in 1985. Though he could initially lift no more than an 40 pound (18 kilo) dumbbell, he soon progressed to heavier items: human beings, animals, and eventually, objects such as aeroplanes, trucks and elephants.
Noivedya also highlights an exhibition of Sri Chinmoy's feats of strength that was hosted by five-time Mr Universe, Bill Pearl. The presentation was witnessed by a large audience of Sri Chinmoy's students and invited guests including Olympic legend, Carl Lewis, Australian politician Tony De Domenico, a group of elite sports people and the media.
One of the nights guests was Canadian boxer, Donny Lalonde (a former world champion) who later went backstage to attempt the feat for himself. Unable to move the weights with brute strength, he finally gave in. "Today Sri Chinmoy woke me up," he said, "and made me realise the human potential we have."
In his article, Noivedya poses two important questions:
Noivedya ends what is an inspiring article thus:
So how does a 68-year-old man, with relatively little weight-lifting experience, achieve such a lift? Answer: a lifetime of meditation. "I do not have the muscle mass of a bodybuilder," he admits. "I do not have the strength of a weight-lifter... I pray and meditate so that I can establish my oneness with each and every human being in the whole world. My lifting is all done on the strength of my heart's oneness with the world."
If we have established how Sri Chinmoy does it, an equally pertinent question is: Why? When discussing his weight-lifting, he does not boast about his feats of strength, but simply suggests that, with faith, such feats are possible. "There is no such thing as impossibility when you depend entirely on God," he says. "It is one hundred percent due to God's Grace."
In whichever area he enters, Sri Chinmoy tries to bring the same message. Poets might be impressed by the beauty (not to mention the sheer volume) of his verse. Artists might be intrigued by his colourful matrix of abstract art. His work as a musician and composer has been equally commended, while in his athletic activity, he has shown the same powerful determination as in his weight-lifting. "People who care to break barriers are the heroes," he said recently. Perhaps it explains his own philosophy.
Read the full article here:
The World on His Shoulders – The Incredible Strength of Sri Chinmoy
– by Noivedya Mark Juddery.
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