May-August 1986

This particular mark stands out as a milestone in Sri Chinmoy’s
early weightlifting career in a different sense. In so many ways Sri
Chinmoy’s lifts were also powerful lessons about life to those who saw
and heard about them, and in this case Sri Chinmoy showed that inner
progress could indeed be made in the face of failure as well as
success. Sri Chinmoy began his attempt on this weight on 8 May with
this soulful prayer:

My Beloved Supreme,
You are my inspiration,
You are my
aspiration,
You are my realisation.
If ever I can lift up 300 pounds,

It will be 100 per cent
Your unconditional Compassion,
Unconditional
Blessings,
Unconditional Fulfilment.

However, on that day, the dumbbell did not move. And it was not to
move for a further four months, and a colossal 212 attempts. And yet
throughout these four months, Sri Chinmoy remained the epitome of
determination and never-give-up-spirit. Here, for example is his prayer
on July 14:

My sweet Lord Supreme,
I do know there is a life
That is
known as the life of failure
But I also know, I also feel,
That by Your
Grace infinite
Someday, somehow,
I shall overcome it.

Finally, on 11 August the bar gave way – a weight of 303 1/4 pounds. “Say I have set my goal at 300 pounds, and I cannot do it.”, Sri Chinmoy would later remark. “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.”