Editor's preface to the first edition
Since he began serious weight training on 26 June 1985, Sri Chinmoy has quadrupled the amount of weight he can press with one arm. With less than five months' training, the 54-year-old spiritual teacher has progressed from 40 pounds to 155 pounds. On 18 November he did two sets of one-arm dumbbell presses (first 10 and then 14 repetitions) with 155 pounds — his own body weight at the time. In the strict military press style — straight body, level shoulders and locked knees — he began with his elbow parallel to the shoulder and then slowly and steadily lifted the weight until his elbow locked.In this book, Sri Chinmoy answers questions on weightlifting submitted by professional bodybuilders and by his students. For a spiritual Master like Sri Chinmoy to give such importance to physical strength signifies a new direction in spirituality. It acknowledges the supreme contribution that the body is capable of making to the ultimate perfection of the heart, vital and mind in human life. More important, it attests to the significant role that the physical can play in God's self-transcendent aspiring universe.
