Question: Last week you mentioned something about wrestlers and people who are engaged in physical activities, saying that competition on the physical level is not what we are after. Do you feel that people who are professional wrestlers and boxers do not have a place in society?

Sri Chinmoy: They do have a place in society, according to their own development. In God’s creation everything is necessary. A boxer is necessary, a wrestler is necessary. If you are attacked by an undivine person and if a boxer happens to be nearby, the boxer can easily come to your rescue. There is a special time and place for the use of physical strength. But if somebody says that tremendous physical strength will help you to aspire more, that is not true. In fact, those who are deeply involved in training the physical body are usually too preoccupied with the physical to pay proper attention to the spiritual.

Physical strength as such is not bad, but it is very often misused. If someone has more physical strength than somebody else, the stronger person will usually try to dominate the weaker one. This tendency is not at all spiritual. Boxers and wrestlers may be very kind-hearted and most devoted to their friends and to the members of their families. But if they want to use their physical strength undivinely, they can destroy the whole family in a minute. Our highest aim is to become spiritually great, inwardly great, to embody Peace, Light and Truth in infinite measure. For this we do not have to be the strongest person on earth. We only have to know how to aspire. While aspiring we have to keep this physical body in good condition so that we can meditate well.

In the spiritual life we do not dislike anybody. But we have to be very careful about the bad qualities which people embody. So we do not dislike the person; we dislike his undivine qualities. Somebody may have many good qualities and many bad qualities. If we hate or dislike a person, because of a few undivine qualities, then we are not allowing him to increase his divine qualities. But if we love him, all his good qualities will come to the fore, and these good qualities can be utilised for a divine purpose.

From:Sri Chinmoy,Flame-Waves, part 4, Agni Press, 1975
Sourced from https://srichinmoylibrary.com/fw_4