Latest news and features

This extraordinary test of strength underscores Sri Chinmoy's avid belief in the joy of self-transcendence and the unlimited potential of the human spirit. With his weightlifting he hopes to be an example to inspire others to fulfil all their hopes and dreams in their own field of endeavour, regardless of age. With these superhuman heavy lifts he tries to challenge himself, not others.

Some of the remarkable lifts included:

• Airplanes: An 'Ultralight' weighing 424 lbs, lifted with only one arm from a seated position and a Stearman Bi-plane and pilot weighing an enormous 2,952 lbs, lifted with a standing calf raise (see photo).

• Micro Cars: a BMW ISETTA Microcar weighing 1,011 lbs, lifted in an overhead two leg calf raise and also a 1,290 lb FIAT 500.

• Boats: a Hobi 16 Catamaran weighing 424 lbs lifted overhead with one arm only from a seated position and a Day Sailor Sailboat with sailor weighing 660 lbs lifted overhead with a one leg sanding calf raise. Carl Behrens, who was in his sailboat when Chimoy lifted it, said: "Well you know, I don't know so much about the message, but it's pretty impressive that a guy that age could perform such a feat."

• Motorcycles: A 384 pound Suzuki 400 lifted in a right arm overhead lift. Then using a seated calf raise with platform, Sri Chinmoy lifted a 583 lb Triumph Bonneville 27 times and one additional lift with the rider totalling 731 lbs.

Overall, Sri Chinmoy lifted a total weight of 32,453 lbs, over 16 tons in one day.

Sri Chinmoy is the founder of the Sri Chinmoy Marathon Team, an international marathon team that organizes 500 athletic events each year and the inspiring force behind the World Harmony Run, a global friendship relay covering 80 nations.

• You can see video of this remarkable feat on NBC South Jersey news...
• Article and video of Sri Chinmoy lifting the catamaran from the Cape May County Herald...
• Video of a weightlifting event last year where Sri Chinmoy also lifted planes
• Article about Sri Chinmoy's lifting in American Fitness, Jan 2000

• Thumbelina in the arms of owner Mike Goessling were lifted overhead as Sri Chinmoy used only his right arm to lift a total of 301 pounds

• Thumbelina stood on a platform and was lifted by a special machine that was propelled upward as Sri Chinmoy used a hand gripper (see photo)

• Using a modified seated calf-raise machine, Sri Chinmoy lifted a total weight of 567 pounds as Thumbelina stood between her owner and handler - and he lifted them 33 times!

Thumbelina is the first horse to receive the Lifting Up the World award. She is devoted to raising money and awareness for children in need around the world. "If anyone is right for the job, it is Thumbelina," say her owners. "Every day, thousands of people fall in love with Thumbelina and every day, she gets one step closer to fulfilling her mission (of raising $1 million for children). It is amazing to witness such a tiny, loving creature accomplish such great works. She is a blessing that we are thrilled to share with the world."

• Thumbelina's website: worldssmallesthorse.com
• Blog entry about Thumbelina on sensitivitytothings.com
• Photos of Sri Chinmoy and Thumbelina on Yahoo! News
• The World On His Shoulders: Article about Sri Chinmoy's lifting on Vegetarian Society website

One thing Sri Chinmoy encourages in this regard is for his students from different meditation centres in different countries to meet up together to meditate, but also to have fun and be happy. These so-called 'Joy Days' offer a chance for his students to escape the pressures and responsibilities of the heart and partake of the kind of innocent joy we used to have as children. As well as meditation there could be team games, plays, novelty competitions, treasure hunts, singing and a whole lot besides. Often Sri Chinmoy's students have to travel great distances to be a part of these Joy Days, but the whole experience serves to burn away the heaviness of the mind's broodings and leave one refreshed and reenergised.

Over the past weekend there were two such Joy Days: students from Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Austria and other countries - over 700 students in total - met up for two days in Heidelberg, Germany, whilst a smaller Joy Day involving almost 70 students from England, France, Scotland, Wales and Ireland took place over two days in the Burren region of the West of Ireland. Joy Days in the former Soviet Union countries, where over one-third of Sri Chinmoy's students come from, can involve over 1,000 students.

• Read about recent Joy Day in the West of Ireland
• Sumangali Morhall describes a Joy Day in Wales

A couple of days later, Sri Chinmoy travelled to the windblown steppes outside Ulan Bataar to fulfil a long-cherished dream of his - to lift some of the famous himor, or wind horses, of Mongolia as part of his inspirational weightlifting programme. On a special calf-raise machine, Sri Chinmoy lifted 17 of these beautiful animals, sometimes two or three at a time, in a series of six lifts. The photo below shows Sri Chinmoy lifting one horse plus its young rider; the height off the ground is indicated by the dial to the left of the apparatus.

Sri Chinmoy was also inspired to compose a song to mark the occasion:

Mr. Hamid Sardar, tour guide and animal lover who searched the Mongolian steppes to find the white horses for Sri Chinmoy to lift, saw tremendous symbolic significance in this lift. “For Mongolians, the horse is the symbol of humanity’s inner strength and spirit; by lifting these horses, Sri Chinmoy is lifting the ‘windhorse’ or the inner Spirit of all Mongolia.", he stated.

View more about Sri Chinmoy's award on the Mongolian Presidential website...

• Fixtures for 2007 at Sri Chinmoy Races
• 100 Km Self Transcendence Race Race this May 16th
  

• Cardiff Races

• Oxford Races
• Fixtures for 2007 - Oxford Races

• Bristol Races 2007

• Cambridge Races

• Run and Become - sponsor of many races
• "Meditation and Marathons" - Article on Sri Chinmoy and Tony Smith, founder of Run and Become
• Sri Chinmoy - philosophy of Ultra distance Running
• All About Running - Guide to Running by members of the Sri Chinmoy MT.
• Multidays - Guide to Ultra running by Abichal
  

Ashrita credits Sri Chinmoy's philosophy of self-transcendence with inspiring him to break records. His records vary from the most cigar boxes balanced on one chin to the fastest mile balancing a milk bottle on his head. He is currently 52 years old, but if anything, he is increasing the rate at which he breaks records, breaking over forty in the past two years.

An inspiring interview - Ashrita talks with 'What is Enlightenment' magazine about Sri Chinmoy, his meditation experiences and how he came to start breaking records.

• Sri Chinmoy Weightlifting
• Sri Chinmoy Lift - article at American Fitness
• Sri Chinmoy Weightlifting videos at Sri Chinmoy TV

The Ten-Day Race began on 25 April, and the Six-Day on 1 May so both could finish at the same time. Both races combined attracted a record field of 80 runners from all around the world. The men's Ten Day race was won by Petr Spacil from the Czech Republic with a total of 670 miles, only 14 miles ahead of his nearest challenger and long-time leader Glen Turner. Surasa Maier from Austria dominated the ladies' field with 595 miles, setting the best time of the day 9 out of the 10 days. Her fellow Austrian Tatyana Jauk came in second, and Pratishruti Kisamoutdinova from Russia - who is 63 years young - came in third with 507 miles.

The Six-Day Race men's honours went to Asprihanal Aalto from Finland with 505 miles. Asprihanal is a three-time winner of the 3100 Mile Self-Transcendence Race, which is the longest foot race in the world and is also held in New York in June. Dipali Cunningham from Australia won the women's race with 443 miles, taking best day honours in each of the six days. Dipali has won every edition of the Six-Day Race since it started, and broke the world Six-Day record in this race in 2001 with 510 miles, a mark which still stands.

"The whole picture does not come to me at once. As I start painting, I see a streak of light right ahead of me and devotedly I try to follow that streak of light. But on some rare occasions the light is so powerful that I envision the painting long before I have actually touched the paper, I don’t bring it forth; it comes to the fore from within. In the light the colour is there. Each time I see the streak of light, I see the colour.”

In the years following his entry into the art world, Sri Chinmoy produced an enormous number of paintings - over 140,000 paintings in a 33 year span. In 1991 he began a new series of drawings titles 'Soul-Birds' - drawings of birds that capture aspects of the human soul. To date he has drawn over 15 million of these birds.

Sri Chinmoy's paintings have been displayed in such notable galleries as the Louvre; in addition, exhibitions have been held in national houses of parliament and UN-affiliated organisations across the world. At the time of writing, there are travelling exhibitions of Sri Chinmoy's artwork in quite a few countries all across the world: last year saw exhibitions in London and Paris, and a recent exhibition was held in the Ukraine early this year.

Read more about Sri Chinmoy's art on this site...

Related links:

• Sri Chinmoy Art: painting gallery, plus Sri Chinmoy's writings on art.
• Gallery of Jharna Kala at Sri Chinmoy Centre
• Video footage of an exhibition in Ottawa, Canada displaying Sri Chinmoy's first one million bird drawings.

Ashrita.com: Ashrita has been meditating with Sri Chinmoy for over 35 years. In 1978 he felt an inner calling to transcend his capacities by breaking Guinness World Records - and thats what he's been doing for the past 29 years! He now holds over 60 records, by far the most records held by one person. His recent blog has accounts of record breaking attempts, travel stories, and humorous asides on life in general.

Jogyata Dallas's site at Sri Chinmoy Centre: Jogyata hails from Auckland, New Zealand and has been a student of Sri Chinmoy's for 25 years. Jogyata's writing has great depth and feeling and captures a real sense of the adventure that is the spiritual life, as he shares the ups and downs of his own journey and relates lots of nice experiences he has had over the years with Sri Chinmoy and with other students.

Sumangali.org: Sumangali Morhall has a tremendous talent for prose and poetry, much of which can be viewed on her personal section of the Sri Chinmoy Centre site. She has only just started sumangali.org in the last couple of months, but we definitely look forward to some writing gems from her new site.

RichardPettinger.com: Richard is webmaster of poetseers.org, the most comprehensive collection of spiritual poetry on the Internet. In addition, he is quite a good amateur cyclist, finishing 4th in the National Championships in 2005. His personal site and blog contains a potpourri of articles about meditation, spirituality, cycling, economics (his day job) and a lot of humour!

• Sri Chinmoy had three significant weightlifting sessions as part of his initiative to inspire his fellow world-citizens to realise their own true potential. In addition to the lifts of hot air balloons and rose fountain described in a previous blog entry, he also lifted overhead some special guests as part of the 'Lifting up the World with a Oneness-Heart' program, which honours men and women of inspiration by lifting them up in both body and spirit.
• Sri Chinmoy also frequently performed on a beautiful new synthesizer, which was crafted for him by his Swiss student Panchajanya Burri. Sri Chinmoy composed a song about Panchajanya in appreciation of all his hard work.
• The focal point of these celebrations was April 13th, which marked the 43rd aniversary of his arrival in the West. Sri Chinmoy expressed his gratitude to the soul of the United States of America for being his host for 43 years. The day consisted on many performances by Sri Chinmoy's favourite singers and musical groups, inspiring speeches by famous friends and well-wishers who had come to congratulate him, and some fond memories and reminisces by Sri Chinmoy himself.
• There were some truly remarkable play performances in the duration of the two weeks. The first remarkable play was about Thomas Jefferson, and his struggle on behalf of freedom of religious conscience. The play describes Jefferson's authorship of the Statute of Religious Freedom for the state of Virginia, and its eventual passing into law some years later when Jefferson had moved on to become US ambassador to France. This law was to become the inspiration for the First Amendment in to the Unites States Constitution, which guarantees freedom of religion for all. Another extremely accomplished play, directed by Natabara Rollinson, was the second in a three-part series depicting the childhood of Lord Krishna, the great Indian spiritual figure. The first part was performed in Bulgaria for Sri Chinmoy and his visiting students in January this year, and the third part will be performed in August. This chapter detailed Krishna's gradual transformation from a playful young cowherd into a young prince who realises he must defeat his wicked uncle Kamsa to ease the suffering of his people. These plays are of a remarkably professional standard considering the limited amount of time the international crew have for rehearsal and stage construction.
• This April saw the inauguaration of a new athletics event, the Self-Transcendence Invitational Marathon. Unfortunately the marathon took place at the tail end of some of the worst April weather on record, but many of Sri Chinmoy's students produced very inspiring performances to break their personal best times.

Always on the look out for new objects to lift, his first lifting session saw him on a cold morning in New Jersey, where he lifted two hot air balloons. The first balloon - resembling a pink rabbit - was expertly guided into place onto the lifting platform by its pilot, Tom Robins, and some of the gas was then released so the balloon exerted a weight on the platform. Sri Chinmoy performed a succession of lifts with the balloon as the gas was gradually released, with the highest weight lifted being 369 pounds.

Then a second balloon was expertly steered into place - a gaily coloured balloon making its maiden flight that very morning. Again Sri Chinmoy performed a succession of lifts, the highest this time weighing in at397 pounds.

Mr Robins, who was in the balloons when they were being lifted, later remarked: In over two decades of flying balloons, this is the most wonderful and uplifting experience I have ever had. I do not know where Sri Chinmoy's power comes from, but I have felt it today and it is spectacular!"

Two days later, Sri Chinmoy was in New York City, on the 43rd anniversary of his arrival in the west. This time, out of appreciation for the United States of America, which has been his home since 1964, he lifted overhead a huge stone fountain containing 50 roses, one for each state. The total lift, including apparatus, amounted to 312lb.

Just before the lift, Sri Chinmoy offered the following expression of gratitude to the soul of America:"America the Beautiful, you have showered your choicest blessings, concern and encouragement upon my God-aspiring heart and man-dedicated service for long 43 years. I am offering 50 roses from my heart-garden lovingly, devotedly and self-givingly to the beauty, prosperity and divinity of each state."

On the day I die, when I'm being
carried toward the grave, don't weep.

Don't say, "He's gone! He's gone!"
Death has nothing to do with going away.

The sun sets and the moon sets,
but they're not gone. Death
is a coming together.

- Rumi (1)

To overcome a feeling of death we need to cultivate a sense of spiritual identity. If we live only in the mind and intellect we will always be sceptical about the spiritual life. The intellect has its purpose and benefits, but the mind also has its limitations. To discover our real self we need to transcend the mind and dive deep into our spiritual heart, where our soul abides. If we can learn to meditate and quieten the mind we will become aware of a powerful inner reality. This embodies a consciousness more illumining and real than our ordinary mental awareness. We may not be able to prove this to others; it is something we can only experience for ourselves. Through meditation if we can feel a real and abiding peace then we will feel the soul is a living reality and not a mental hallucination. The lofty inspirations of the Seer poets will resonate with our inner realisations.

"Death is but changing of our robes to wait
In wedding garments at the Eternal's gate.

- Sri Aurobindo (2)

In the west the concept of reincarnation does not have widespread belief. However in Buddhist and Hindu traditions reincarnation is an integral part of their philosophy. The idea of reincarnation is that the human soul needs to experience many different experiences before it is able to achieve liberation from the cycle of birth and death. Reincarnation enables the human soul to gain experiences, through which it can make spiritual progress.

Nothing on earth is permanent. The only certainties in life are that all creatures must die and pass away. Death is as natural as birth; why should we fear that which is perfectly natural and inevitable? That which gives us life also takes away life. But here death only means the extinction of the body. The soul merely passes from one body to another. For the soul life is immortal, death has no meaning. This is the message of the Upanishads, as Sri Chinmoy says

"Before death, life is a seeker.
After death, the same life becomes a dreamer.
Before death, life struggles and strives for Perfection.
After death, the same life rests
and enjoys the divine Bliss with the soul." (3)

(1) Rumi ode 911 translated by Coleman Barks

(2) Excerpt from: The Fear Of Life And Death by Sri Aurobindo

(3) Excerpt from The Upanishads: The Crown Of India's Soul by Sri Chinmoy.

See articles on The Vedas and Upanishads

Article by: Tejvan Pettinger, Oxford, Sri Chinmoy Centre

It was almost 12 months ago that I embarked on an amazing 6 month journey with the European leg of the World harmony Run that was to take me through 30 countries and leave me with such wonderful memories that they will stay with me forever.

• Sri Chinmoy Lifting