Through his own achievements, as well as the founding of the Sri Chinmoy Marathon Team and the 3100 Mile Race, Sri Chinmoy spent his life vividly demonstrating how sports can be a powerful means to unlock the true potential of the human spirit.
Sri Chinmoy founded the Sri Chinmoy Marathon Team in 1977, and his vision, inspiration, encouragement and intuition have been the guiding force behind its growth into what is today the world's largest organizer of endurance events. His innate understanding of the limitless potential that lies within each one of us led him to conceive of endurance events that to others seemed beyond the bounds of human possibility - the prime example, of course, being the 3100 Mile Self-Transcendence Race, which has been running for eleven years and still remains the longest certified road race in the world.
Sri Chinmoy's philosophy is that a balanced lifestyle fosters harmony and inner peace. His integral approach to life encourages physical fitness and sports as a vehicle for personal transformation.
"There are countless people on earth who do not believe in the inner strength or inner life. They feel that the outer life is everything. I do not agree with them," he said. "There is an inner life; there is spirit, and my ability to lift heavy weights proves that it can work in matter as well. I am doing these lifts with the physical body, but the power is coming from an inner source, from my prayer and meditation."
Sri Chinmoy practiced sports not only for the joy of it, and to keep the body fit, but also because he saw sports as a natural vehicle for expressing his philosophy of self-transcendence. Inspired by his example, several of his students have attempted to stretch their own personal limits - setting new world records in various fields, running multi-day races, swimming the English channel and climbing some of the world's highest mountains.