Sri Chinmoy - Weightlifting

Weightlifting

Sri Chinmoy began weightlifting in 1985, at the age of 54. Bill Pearl, former Mr. Universe, acted as Master of Ceremonies at many of Sri Chinmoy's strength exhibitions. Introducing one of Sri Chinmoy's weightlifting exhibitions in 1999, Bill Pearl wrote: "Today you are going to see some amazing feats of strength that I myself - and I have been in the industry for fifty-five years - would not even attempt to perform." Sri Chinmoy, said his motivation for lifting was to inspire others, especially those of an older generation.

If I can inspire anybody in this world, then I feel that my life is meaningful. With my weightlifting, I am offering my physical strength to inspire people.

In a program created in 1998 known as 'Lifting up the world with a Oneness Heart', Sri Chinmoy lifted people of inspiration while they stood on a platform overhead. Chinmoy described his motivation: 'I lift them up to show my appreciation for their achievements,' Among some of the 7000 people he lifted include: Nelson Mandela, Desmond Tutu Muhammad Ali, Sting, Eddie Murphy, Susan Sarandon, Roberta Flack, Yoko Ono, Jeff Goldblum, and Richard Gere.

In April 2011, a documentary film about Sri Chinmoy's weightlifting titled Challenging Impossibility was featured at the Tribeca Film Festival.

In 1991, a professor of kinesiology at the University of Texas concluded that Chinmoy misrepresented the type of lift he claimed to have completed. After criticism over the type of lifting, Bill Pearl volunteered to edit future articles on Sri Chinmoy's lifting events to make sure the lifts were described in more accurate terminology.