What I wish to show by these feats of strength is that prayer and meditation can definitely increase one’s outer capacities. I hope that by doing this I will be able to inspire many people to pray and meditate sincerely as part of their regular daily routine. my message is that if one needs strength, then uncovering one’s inner strength through prayer and meditation is the fastest and most effective way to get it. – Sri Chinmoy

Sri Chinmoy gave credit to his spiritual life not only for inspiring him to take up weightlifting but for providing him the capacity to do so.

He began lifting at the ripe age of 53, but found that by channeling the meditative feeling of inner peace he could tap into a deeper source of power. He felt that weightlifting could be an allegory for the inner life: that this inner peace could reveal itself in a number of facets in our outer life, not simply as satisfaction or joy but as physical power, a seemingly unlikely benefit of prayer and meditation.

Sri Chinmoy was inspired to reveal the nature of inner peace in this striking manner to motivate people to explore their own potential through meditation. If a 50 or 60 or 70 year old man could continue defying age and impossibility, why couldn’t anyone take that extra small step toward their goal?

Through my weightlifting I wish to tell the outer world that the world of spirit does exist… It proves that the inner spirit, or the mental and psychic power, can be of great assistance to the body when it is brought to the fore. Otherwise my physical body would never be able to lift this kind of weight. It is my prayer-life and meditation-life that, through God’s Grace, are enabling me to do this. I am also trying to show that the inner world has to be a source of inspiration to the outer world. They should not be like opposite poles—North Pole and South Pole. No, they have to be united. The body and the soul must go together. – Sri Chinmoy