16.

Most of you, if not all, are ignoring the physical aspect of life. Once upon a time, many of you used to run, do sports, physical exercise, stretching exercises and so forth, and now you are no longer doing it. I wish to tell you that you are not doing the right thing, not doing the right thing! At least do some stretching exercises. Otherwise age will descend upon you sooner than the soonest! I am seeing some people who were once upon a time really smart, active and dynamic. Now they are behaving like octogenarians! My brother Mantu also belonged to that class. He was young in terms of age, but in his movements and everything he acted like a perfect old man. So in my family I also had that experience.

So, dear ones, you do not have to be the champion supreme. Only keep your body physically fit. Again and again I am saying, physical fitness is of paramount importance. Health is God's Wealth. All our scriptures say that when health fails, everything fails. Once the body's activities fail, you will have no inspiration, no aspiration, no dedication, no enthusiasm, no dynamism — nothing. So always keep the physical in good order, perfect order, not for the sake of competition, but for the sake of the completeness of your physical existence. Otherwise, the hospital will invite you much sooner than otherwise.

I am also trying to be very strict with myself. Five or six days a week, I spend thirty-five minutes taking stretching exercises and then I do my weightlifting. The physical aspect is very difficult, very difficult. The spiritual aspect — prayers and meditation — I do it, I do it. After God-realisation, some people enjoy pension or vacation or retirement. In my case, I do meditate for hours and I am also involved in the inner world and in many other worlds. So you can be involved in two worlds: the inner world and the outer world, which is your physical body.

Some people think that as long as they are thin, they are physically fit. I do not agree with them. You can be thinner than the thinnest, but you can be attacked by many undivine forces. Thinness does not mean physical fitness, no. Many people can be thin, but they can have lots of health problems. But again, I am not the one to say that fatness is not a problem! Fatness is the worst possible problem!

So once more I am begging you, please pay utmost attention to the physical aspect of life.

From:Sri Chinmoy,The inner meaning of sport, Agni Press, 2007
Sourced from https://srichinmoylibrary.com/ims