Why lift weights?
"The reason I have entered into bodybuilding and weightlifting is to inspire everybody to pray and meditate so they can bring to the fore their own inner strength. If everybody brings to the fore his own inner strength, the world will eventually be inundated with peace."
"Inspiration is a divine element inside our life. When we are inspired, we try to climb up the Himalayas. When we are inspired, we try to swim the English Channel. When we are in spired, we go from one country to another country to inspire people and to be inspired by them. I feel that when we inspire humanity, we automatically become good citizens of the world. This is my philosophy. My weightlifting feats I have done solely to inspire humanity."
"In my weightlifting I am trying to show that if you pray and meditate, you can bring to the fore your inner strength. Now, if somebody is really inwardly strong, he is always at peace."
"Through God’s infinite Compassion and Grace, from my concentration, prayer and meditation I am able to bring forward inner strength, inner power, and use that power to increase my outer strength. The inner strength that enables me to lift elephants and airplanes is not my sole monopoly. Far from it! It is available to anyone who prays and meditates. Everyone can get inner strength from prayer and meditation."
"What I wish to show by these feats of strength is that prayer and meditation can definitely increase one’s outer capacities. I hope that by doing this I will be able to inspire many people to pray and meditate sincerely as part of their regular daily routine. my message is that if one needs strength, then uncovering one’s inner strength through prayer and meditation is the fastest and most effective way to get it."
"Through my weightlifting I wish to tell the outer world that the world of spirit does exist... It proves that the inner spirit, or the mental and psychic power, can be of great assistance to the body when it is brought to the fore. Otherwise my physical body would never be able to lift this kind of weight. It is my prayer-life and meditation-life that, through God’s Grace, are enabling me to do this. I am also trying to show that the inner world has to be a source of inspiration to the outer world. They should not be like opposite poles—North Pole and South Pole. No, they have to be united. The body and the soul must go together."
Weightlifting and Spirituality
"Say I have set my goal at 300 pounds, and I cannot do it. The very fact that I have been devotedly practising and practising gives me joy, and the tenacity or perseverance that I am showing is itself progress. Anything that we do devotedly and soulfully helps us make progress."
"I do feel there are countless people on earth who do not believe in the inner power, the inner life. They feel that the outer strength and the outer life are everything. I do not agree with them. There is an inner life; there is spirit, and my ability to lift these heavy weights proves that it can work in matter as well."
"I am a seeker and a God-lover. God is trying to inspire humanity in a new way in and through me. The spiritual Masters of the hoary past thought the inner life and the outer life could not go together. In India some of them think this even today. Our spiritual Masters, in order to realise God, used to live in the Himalayan caves or in one solitary room for 20, 30 or 40 years. They were afraid of entering into society. They said that the outer life could never be transformed because they felt that inner inspiration or aspiration did not function in the outer life. But my Beloved Supreme—who is my Lord, who is your Lord, who is everybody’s Lord—feels that if we neglect the body, the outer life, then how are we going to be perfect in every aspect of life and how are we going to manifest Him?"
Self-Transcendence
"I do not compete with anybody else; I compete only with myself. You saw my capacity a few minutes ago. Now I am competing with myself. When I do weightlifting, my body is my world. If I can improve myself, if I can go beyond my previous achievements, then that is my goal. My own previous record is always what I am competing with."
Training
"I take exercise for each part of the body: arms, legs, back and whatever muscles are required to keep the body fit. I do at least 20 different exercises daily for my upper and lower body. Then I come here every morning to do calf raises and play tennis. If there is time in the afternoon, I play tennis again. At least three hours I spend on weightlifting and bodybuilding."
During weightlifting
"Before I lifted, I breathed in three times. The first time I offered my gratitude to God the Creator, who has created me. The second time I offered my gratitude to God the Preserver, who is preserving me on earth. The third time I offered my gratitude to God the Transformer, who is transforming my mind, my vital and my physical. I believe in these three aspects of God, so three times I offered my gratitude."