A Pumpkin Story

You heard last night’s story told by Sol. Sol’s experience was very good. He said that the man who criticized my lifting of the first plane was inside the second plane that I lifted.

The pumpkins that I lifted today were very heavy, plus I didn’t have any warm-up. It really killed me! Normally, first I warm up at home, and then I take warm-up exercises for at least half an hour at the tennis court as well. But today, because of the rain, I could not warm up.

The first time I tried lifting the pumpkins, I could not do it. I said, “Today will be my Waterloo experience!”

But then on my second try I lifted them up. The third time, I lifted the boys also. Then the newspaper photographer begged me to do it a fourth time. While he was taking pictures the previous time, our boys had asked him to move. So I did it again for the reporter, and I held it up for a longer time than before so the photographer could take pictures. He took three or four. In one I was smiling even. I had turned to the people who were watching and was smiling.

— 26 October 1986

From:Sri Chinmoy,My weightlifting tears and smiles, part 2, Agni Press, 1986
Sourced from https://srichinmoylibrary.com/wts_2