Question about Weighlifting
Question:
You have devoted yourself to sports and the arts and have achieved exceptional results. What is the basis of your success? You have said that it is natural, that it is sufficient to “open yourself to the Source of divine inspiration.” What does this mean?
You have also stated that, “Men themselves set their limits, but they also decide when to surpass those limits.” Is man omnipotent? You lifted 7,000 pounds, a virtual miracle. If you wanted to, could you surpass other world-class performances?
Sri Chinmoy:
Whatever I have succeeded in doing, the basis of my success lies in my self-offering to the Will of God. But in all sincerity I must say that my self-offering has God’s infinite and unconditional Compassion as its Source.
Whoever wants to create something in any field - whether it be literature, art, music or anything else - needs an access to the source of inspiration. If one wants to create something divine and illumining, then naturally he has to devotedly and soulfully establish a free access to the divine Source that embodies inspiration in infinite measure.
The desiring mind in man sets limits for everything - whether it is something that he already has or something that he wants to possess. But the aspiring heart in man deals with the infinite- with things that are already infinite or things that eventually will be infinite. When someone lives primarily in the mind or in the desire-world, he is enchained by the limitations of his mind. When the same person enters into the aspiration-world, that means he wants to liberate himself, and he can liberate himself from the world of limitations.
Is man omnipotent? No, man is not omnipotent. But God’s unconditional Grace operating in and through man can do things that are absolutely unimaginable. Needless to say, man as such is not the doer of these unimaginable deeds. The omnipotent God is using man as an instrument. His own Omnipotence He can manifest through man’s pure and humble receptivity.
In my case, I have lifted over 7,000 pounds with both my left and right arms. To my mind it was, it is and it will forever remain unbelievable. When I am in the mind, I am the first person to disbelieve it. But when I am in my heart, on the strength of my soulful surrender to my Inner Pilot Supreme, I know that this achievement - which is nothing other than the result of God’s infinite Grace’is absolutely real. As a human being, with my own capacity I cannot surpass any world-class performances. But if God, out of His infinite Bounty, wants to perform something extraordinary in and through me, He can do so.
Excerpt from World-Destruction: Never, Impossible! Part 2 by Sri Chinmoy.
