15. A dream becomes reality

Mongolian white horse, Mongolian white horse, Mongolian!
You give me the joy and pride of a real Olympian.

On this day also Sri Chinmoy lifted Mr. Hamid Sardar, who pledged to help Sri Chinmoy fulfil his dream of lifting fifty white horses.

Homagni Baptista [student of Sri Chinmoy]: I would like to formally welcome Hamid Sardar and thank him for being with us here today, and receiving the "Lifting Up the World with a Oneness-Heart Award" from Sri Chinmoy.

Hamid Sardar is involved in so many activities that it is very difficult to express the full spectrum of his life. He is a scholar of Tibetan Buddhism, a scholar of Sanskrit, an anthropologist, and recently also a documentary filmmaker. I first came in contact with him when I was doing research into horses in Mongolia. I saw some of the photos that he had taken, and I discovered that he was also the founder of a company called Wind Horse Tours. Since I arrived in Mongolia, he has been extremely welcoming and so helpful in trying to contact the owners of the white horses.

I am so grateful that you were able to come here today, Hamid, and receive this award. Thank you.

Mr Sardar: (after being lifted by Sri Chinmoy): Dear Guru Sri Chinmoy and everybody, welcome to Mongolia, the Land of the Horse. [Applause] This is an ocean of grassland – or it used to be, at least, and still is in large part. And the horse is the vessel with which we navigate this ocean. As one old nomad friend once told me, to be without a horse here is like being a bird with broken wings. And a lot of energy and time of the Mongol nomad goes into taking care of horses and searching for them, because here they are not put in stables; they are left to run wild and free.

On this occasion of Master Sri Chinmoy's visit to Mongolia, we are trying our best to gather the fifty white horses necessary for this feat which, I think, will be a great blessing for this land, specially this year when we need harmony. There has been little rain, so I hope this ritual will not only inspire the nomads, but will fundamentally bring harmony to the land's spirit as well. It is still May, the grass is not green yet, the horses are far out in the pastures, and we have sent people to try to bring the fifty white horses down from various valleys. I hope we will be able to do this in the next couple of days. And I will be in touch with everybody. Thank you. [Sustained applause]

Sri Chinmoy:_ I am extremely, extremely, extremely happy. I am extremely, extremely grateful to you and I am extremely, extremely proud of you. You are serving God inside the animals. They are our younger brothers and sisters. When we take care of our younger ones, God becomes very, very pleased with us. You are doing something that I feel is most sacred. You are performing a sacred task to please God in His own Way. For that, my dear Brother-Friend Hamid, I am extremely, extremely grateful to you and extremely, extremely proud of you, proud of you, proud of you.

In India, our most sacred book, our most ancient book, is called the Vedas. There it is written that the spiritual, esoteric significance of the horse is sacrifice.

Mr Sardar: Yes. Ever since ancient times, this land has been home to successive dynasties of nomads – from the Huns to the Turks to the Mongols. And all the kings have always been buried with their horses. Horses have been known to carry the soul of the deceased into the afterlife. It has always been sacrifice, not in a negative way, but in the sense that they will follow their master on the journey into the other world.

Although there are many domestic animals in Mongolia, it is always the horse which is glorified. The horse does not only serve as something to ride. There is a Mongolian saying that the horse is a symbol for one's inner strength, which we call "wind horse," or Khiimori in Mongolian. By performing certain rituals, we say we raise the wind horse in ourselves. Your coming here, Master Sri Chinmoy, and performing these lifts, is a most unique and wonderful way in which you will raise the wind horse of Mongolia.

Sri Chinmoy I have come here to serve – to serve God inside the horse and inside you. Service is my only task: to be of service to mankind and also to be of service to the animal kingdom. They are our little brothers.

Mr Sardar: That is wonderful, and it is the key to longevity for you and for everybody else.

Sri Chinmoy Thank you, thank you.

On 19 May a special naadam (festival) was held at the Hotel Mongolia in the Gachuurt area, an eastern suburb of Ulaanbaatar. A number of children fearlessly circled the dusty area on horseback, shouting in a vigorous drone as though to bring forth all their exceptional strength.

Sri Chinmoy said, "It is my wish to have absolutely white horses. These are absolutely the best!"

One special horse with a cropped mane sported a brightly coloured head decoration with shiny ornaments. Astride this horse, riding bareback and managing him very ably, was a smart young boy wearing a pointed Mongolian hat.

A total of 17 wild white horses were lifted by Sri Chinmoy, mostly in groups of three, on a standing calf raise machine with attached ground platform. He also lifted horsemen who had accompanied the animals from their far-flung locations.

As a special gift, Sri Chinmoy was presented with a white racing stallion, along with a mare. The gentleman who gave the racing horse to Sri Chinmoy – one of the Master's students, along with his four children – bowed before him, proffering a white sash.

Mr. Hamid Sardar explained, "This man comes from a distant province with the fastest horses. The shawl means purity and good luck. He was born in the year of the white horse. He is 79 years old! He is asking when you were born."

Sri Chinmoy replied, "I was born in 1931." Delighted, he asked, "This horse is dedicated to me as a gift?"

Mr Sardar: replied, "Yes, but that does not mean you have to take it back! They will keep it here for you." Turning to the donor of the horse, Sri Chinmoy said, "Please come to our hotel. I would like to honour you." (This Sri Chinmoy did, on 22 May, by lifting the gentleman and his wife.)

Then Sri Chinmoy asked, "May I offer a name to this horse, a spiritual name?" Requesting his students to sing with him, he composed a special song entitled "He Ghoreshar" – "O Lord of the Horses."

The horses will remain in Mongolia at Sri Chinmoy's request and will represent Sri Chinmoy's spirit in the country.

Sri Chinmoy also received a bowed Mongolian instrument with a horse-head as a gift. Mr Sardar: explained, "This bow is made from the tail of the fastest horse. There are many stories behind this instrument, but the most popular legend is that there was a warrior who used to travel to visit his lover on a winged horse. When the horse was killed, the warrior, out of his grief, fashioned an instrument from the parts of the horse, making the strings out of tail hairs, using the leather of the horse as the drum and carving the likeness of his favourite horse as the head. In Mongolia it has been considered also a magic instrument."

Sri Chinmoy played the instrument briefly and invited the donors of the horses to join him for photographs. A very small, cherubic boy and girl stood to the side of his folding chair, undaunted by the wind and seeming to capture the essence of Mongolia. They remained still and serious as Sri Chinmoy placed a blue-gloved hand on each of their heads in an affectionate blessing, then patted them very gently on the shoulder. Sri Chinmoy next watched some spirited and free-wheeling wrestling matches among the young Mongolian boys. He lifted all the boys together on the platform, eliciting instant laughter and applause from them with a victorious exclamation after the lift. Sri Chinmoy then said, "Hamid, you have done everything for us! Kindly stand behind them." He lifted the group again, with _Mr Sardar: among them, and offered Mr Sardar: two framed photographs commemorating their first encounter. Finally Mr Sardar: presented a gold-pointed Mongolian hat to Sri Chinmoy, who then invited all the children present, boys and girls, to pass by and take a container of juice as his gift.

Sri Chinmoy stood up to leave, bedecked in the hat and sash symbolising the boundless self-offering of this unique land.

Asked how it was possible for him to accomplish these lifts, Sri Chinmoy responded, "I am able to lift the horses because I love them; I become one with their hearts. When you become one with anybody's heart, everything becomes lighter than the lightest. I love horses and it was my dream that one day I would be able to serve the white horses. These horses are my little brothers and sisters. I have established my oneness with my little brothers and sisters. Therefore, they are not at all heavy for me. When there is oneness, there is no heaviness. On the strength of my oneness, I have lifted them, and I have found that they are very, very, very light."

On 23 May, a second naadam was held at the Tiara Resort in Terelj National Park. The horses were again lifted in groups of three on the standing calf raise machine from a ground platform. On this occasion, Sri Chinmoy lifted a total of 41 white horses and a number of horsemen. Rough-hewn and ruddy-faced, wearing heavy, colourful robes, the horsemen had no easy task in persuading the clomping and whinnying horses to tread onto the lifting platform.

One mounted horseman had a golden hunting eagle perched on his arm, its powerful wings fully extended. After the lift, Sri Chinmoy concentrated intently on this imposing bird with its crested head.

During an interlude, a horseman, gently cradling one of the two foals that had been lifted, stood before Sri Chinmoy, who lovingly blessed the tranquil creature on its dark mane.

One lone young horsewoman prayerfully and smilingly folded her hands as she was lifted on a horse. She was Ms. Oiyuka of Tseren Tours, who had kindly assisted in the arrangements for this event.

Sri Chinmoy lifted a number of horsemen together, and they cheered heartily, raising their arms, after the lift. All of these nomadic herders, young and old, then knelt in turn before Sri Chinmoy, removing their hats to be garlanded with a medallion by his hands.

During an interview after these lifts, Sri Chinmoy again reflected on his aspiration to travel to Mongolia and to lift the white horses: "I came to Mongolia to love Mongolia and to serve Mongolia. I have tremendous fascination for Mongolia, and this fascination started while I was in India. To visit Mongolia was a great dream of mine that I am able to fulfil now. I love Mongolia, and Mongolia loves me. The President of Mongolia has been extremely, extremely kind to me. Therefore, I am very grateful to him. "I love horses. It was my dream that one day I would be able to serve the white horses. White means purity, white means divinity. A long-cherished dream of mine God has fulfilled today. I am very, very grateful to God for fulfilling my long-cherished desire to be of service. I want to be of service to the white horses because white is purity, white is divinity.

"While I was lifting the white horses, I got tremendous joy because I have love for them. When you have love for someone, you do something to give that person joy. Here I lifted the white horses and I became one with them, and I got tremendous, tremendous joy by serving them in a special way. These horses are my little brothers and sisters. Each horse is speed; each horse is self-giving. I like speed, and I also like the self-giving spirit."

Indeed, a snow-white dream gloriously fulfilled by Sri Chinmoy's own self-giving spirit, unhorizoned as the Mongolian sky: he lifted a total of 58 Mongolian white horses, and thus paid homage to the very soul of Mongolia.