Interviewer: Reading about your background, I see you entered a place called an ashram. Can you tell me something of your experience there?

Sri Chinmoy: It is a spiritual community. I stayed there twenty years and I prayed and meditated most sincerely. I also participated in sports, because I saw the necessity of having a fit body. The message of the spirit must be expressed in and through the body. Here we are on earth, in the physical body, and the Light we receive from our meditation must be expressed through the physical. The body-consciousness must not be neglected. The higher messages that we get from our meditation must have a channel for expression and the body is that channel.