Why didn't CKG win any Olympic gold medals despite lifting 7000 lbs?

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Sri_Chinmoy_Information

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Tue, 19 Oct 2004 16:36:17 -0000

[sri_Chinmoy_Information] Sam Horton on Chinmoy's

weightlifting

 

Some digging was done, and a copy of Rudra's post as " Sam Holton was

found. It was sent as an attachment, which would have meant that it

did not appear on the actual forum site. It would have been an

empty " post " and therefore was deleted when someone was weeding.

Some who received it in their email did not want to open it, so an

anonymous person opened it and copied it into the body of their

post. It was unclear if the first part of that post was written by

Sam Horton, so only the main body of the post has been copied

below. You can find it by searching for post no. 1083

 

" This writer has no personal knowledge of Sri Chinmoy's sexual

activities, and thus expresses no opinion. We must realize, however,

that for an individual in his position of power and control, the

temptations must be enormous, probably greater than most of us could

overcome. The response from the gentle readers of this site may be:

If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen (quoting

Harry Truman). No one forced you to become a Guru, and if the

temptation is too great, call it quits. Well, after you have told

your disciples that you are not only an Avatar, but also the

greatest Avatar ever, equal to Sri Krishna, certainly higher than

Sri Aurobindo or the Christ, it is hard to just up and quit the Guru

business.

 

Please forgive the length of these thoughts, but a few observations

on weight lifting: Sri Chinmoy has undertaken a number of weight

lifting " run ups " : right arm overhead standing, left arm overhead

standing, " calf " raise, double arm, right and left arm sitting, etc.

The procedure has been the same. He begins with a modest weight and

increases it dramatically in a short time, usually a space of

months. With each increase in weight, often about once a week,

photos are taken, sold to disciples, and given to media with press

releases. It's fairly effective, nearly all disciples buy the

photos, and some media outlets feature the story many times during

the " run up " . This will focus on the first one: right arm overhead

while standing. In 1986, Sri Chinmoy began with lifting 40 pounds in

a conventional one arm press. As the weight increased, the

word " lift " continued to be used, but its meaning evolved. There is

a famous photo of Sri Chinmoy standing holding 106 pounds overhead,

without apparatus. This was taken at the tennis court, near Sri

Chinmoy's gate, with him facing his little house. Two disciples

helped him lift up the weight, they stepped aside, and a photo was

taken of him holding up the weight with his arm straight up. This

photo was never publicized as a one arm snatch from the ground to

overhead, but it looks like that, the publicists never corrected

that presumption, and that is what it represents now. As the

weights increased, an apparatus was built by which the weights were

supported overhead by two U shaped metal slings, with the bar

resting at the bottom of the " U " . Sri Chinmoy would stand under the

bar, with his arm straight up, and push the bar up a little along

the bottom of the U sling. The larger the weight, the less the bar

was pushed.

 

At one point, about the 250 pound level, this writer was looking at

a series of photos of the lift. This writer pointed out to Sri

Chinmoy that the photo taken from a lower perspective, and a little

bit to the side, rather than directly from the front, made the bar

appear to be lifted clear of the U sling. That made Sri Chinmoy

happy, and all subsequent photos were taken from that angle. This

writer is not taking credit for the discovery - the publicists and

photographers are very intelligent and certainly realized that also.

When the photo is taken from several feet lower than the bar, the

part of the U shape that appears to be the bottom in the photo, is

actually partially up the back side of the U, and thus the bar

appears suspended above that apparent, but not actual, bottom

point.

 

The weight " run-up " in the fall of l986 caused a lot of excitement,

and Sri Chinmoy's publicists made many contacts in the weight

lifting and body building worlds. The Sri Chinmoy press releases

contained claims that Sri Chinmoy was breaking world weight lifting

records. Such claims may have had short term benefits, because they

caught the attention of sensationist media outlets. But the claims

probably had a long term detrimental effect, because they were

unsubstantiated, and turned off other media, and persons who were

otherwise sympathetic. This writer wishes that the world record

claims originated from over-zealous publicists gone amuck.

Unfortunately, it was Sri Chinmoy who insisted on the world record

language in early press releases. Later the publicists, knowing what

pleased Sri Chinmoy, pushed the claims themselves.

 

On 30 January, 1987, very late at night, this writer joined over 25

disciples at Sri Chinmoy's house for the 7000 pound lift. The

weights were in what was originally the dining room, next to the

kitchen. The bar with the weights and the truss helping support the

bar (which would otherwise have bent with the huge weight) were

supported on the U shaped iron slings. The slings were welded onto

a metal frame, which itself was bolted together. Essentially, the

weight was suspended about 61/2 feet high.

 

Sri Chinmoy asked us to meditate facing his throne, with our back to

the weights. This writer was sitting in the doorway between the side

room and the hall. By leaning back and to the left, this writer

could look into the dining room through the open door between the

dining room and hall. Sri Chinmoy's back was to the writer during

the lifts. This writer covertly (and disobediently)watched the

lifts. This writer does not know if any other disciples also

disobeyed and watched. Sri Chinmoy tried 5 times. The bar did not

move. On the third try, he shook the suspended apparatus, and there

was a noise. On the fourth try, the noise was louder. On the fifth

try the noise was less, the same as the third try. This took a

while, with short rests between the tries. Sri Chinmoy was

definitely giving it his all. After the attempts, Sri Chinmoy went

upstairs, probably to change. We talked softly, there was a

discussion that the 7000 pound might be like the 300, in which Sri

Chinmoy tried for many weeks before " lifting " it. He had not

succeeded, but would keep trying.

 

Sri Chinmoy came downstairs, then announced that in his fourth try,

he had lifted the weight quite satisfactorily; in the third and

fifth try, less, but still acceptable. Some disciples gasped with

joy, but were otherwise silent. Sri Chinmoy then asked that the

video of the fourth attempt be shown (it had been recorded

automatically). After a few minutes for set up, the tape was played.

It showed no movement of the weights, and the disciples were quiet.

Sri Chinmoy began saying " See, see, can you not see the bar move? "

He exhorted louder, and looked around. Finally several women

disciples said they saw it move (the tape was being played over and

over). Others joined in, and soon nearly everyone was vigorously

claiming they saw the bar move. One disciple, sitting on Sri

Chinmoy's right hand side, when asked, said that he/she did not see

it move. The tape was played over and over, the psychological

pressure on the disciple must have been great, but the disciple

still said he/she did not see movement. Sri Chinmoy then said that

if his own disciple did not see the weights lifted on the tape, that

video should never be shown. It never was. The next day word was

spread joyously around the world that Sri Chinmoy had lifted his

goal of 7000 pounds, but a video of the lift has never been seen

again.

 

When the apparatus made noise, especially on the 4th attempt, there

must have been lateral movement, otherwise noise would not have

happened. Sri Chinmoy, with his hand on the bar, would have been

able to feel even minute side to side movement that was not visible

on the video. There is a possibility that because he felt movement,

and heard the apparatus rattle, Sri Chinmoy honestly thought he

lifted the weight. This writer recounts only what was observed, and

does not speculate on Sri Chinmoy's motives.

 

" There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt

of in your philosophy. " Thank you for your patience. "

 

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