Remarks by Sri Chinmoy at the Peace Mile Relay held at the Ministry of Sports in Colombo, 7 January 1990

I am extremely grateful to the Minister of Sports for this signal honour that he has accorded to me. For about two weeks I have been in Sri Lanka, the island of beauty, purity and divinity. Here your beloved President Ranasinghe Premadasa has most powerfully blessed me with his inspiration, encouragement, kindness, sympathy and compassion….

Sports and physical fitness are of supreme importance for each and every human being because they help us to achieve inner peace…. So through physical activities, especially sports, we are dedicating ourselves to the betterment of this world…. I am so happy that President Premadasa is extremely fit physically. Needless to say, spiritually also he is super-fit. He pays attention to physical fitness as well as spiritual progress. In his unique book "Peace and Prosperity", the President teaches us: "In Sri Lanka, we have tried to blend both physical development and spiritual progress." Physical development and spiritual progress together can make us true and perfect citizens of the world.

The President every day shoulders millions of problems. At the same time, he is the voice of the people, the nation. But in spite of all this, he finds the time to keep his body in excellent shape. Indeed, this is a tremendous source of inspiration to me and to my students who practise sports.

…. In silence I am offering my heart's most soulful prayer to the Lord Buddha, the Author of all Good, to shower His compassionate Blessings on each of us so that we can be perfect instruments of His — loving and serving humanity both physically and spiritually.

Once more I am offering my heart's love and gratitude to the Minister of Sports and others who have organised today's programme. May each of us become a divine athlete to fight against ignorance-night and establish in Sri Lanka and all over the world the kingdom of love, brotherhood, oneness and fulfilment.