Question: If you want to use your weightlifting as an inspiration, why not use a more conventional type of lift that is more recognizable to the general public?

Sri Chinmoy: What you are asking is an excellent question. Why do I not do something conventional so that everybody can accept or reject it? There are two reasons. The outer reason is this: we have to go forward with new ideas. Why should I only follow the old system? Every day science is making new discoveries. If we go on reading the same old book, although it may be a good book, an excellent book, it becomes boring. So if somebody finds a new book, written in a different style, with different ideas, then everybody is delighted.

In a garden there are many beautiful roses, and you have been seeing these roses all your life in that particular garden. Now if you add some totally new flowers, will they in any way take away the beauty of the garden? It may no longer be a conventional rose garden, but the new flowers will only add to the beauty of the garden. Roses are extremely beautiful, and we appreciate their beauty and fragrance. But if other flowers also can be added, then we appreciate them also.

If a tree has many branches instead of only one or two, and if these branches are of different sizes and shapes, then each one will offer new interest and new beauty. So this is the outer reason why I do the lifts that I do.

The inner reason is that if I want to please somebody in my life more than anything else, if I want to please that person at every moment consciously, soulfully and unconditionally, then I will do it. The person that I want to please is my Inner Pilot, my Beloved Supreme. My Inner Pilot wants me to do it this way, so I am doing it happily, cheerfully and unconditionally. But if He changes His Mind, if He wants me to do it in the conventional way, then I will do that. The inner reason is the main reason why I do these kinds of lifts. But if you are looking for outer justification, it is because if you have more than just roses in a garden, it only adds to the beauty of the garden and in no way diminishes the beauty and fragrance of the roses. Something new is always interesting and charming.

From:Sri Chinmoy,Aspiration-body, illumination-soul, part 1, Agni Press, 1993
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