Senior Citizens

At the opening of the 5th World Masters Games, held in San Juan, Puerto Rico, in September 1983, Sri Chinmoy held the following address:

Right now we are all ordinary human instruments of God. But we see in this world there are some who are more dedicated and more devoted, more willing and able to manifest God than we are. We are not competing with those who are doing a better job. But by observing them, we see that we can make progress. In order to make progress we have to be with the world, in the world and for the world. There are many things which the world does that we do not approve of - such as wars and so forth. But we do like other things. We like peace, love and the feeling of oneness. Because of our feeling of oneness, because of our love of peace, we have come to the World Masters Games. People from various countries have come to these Games to show their feeling of oneness. These Masters Games offer us a special message. They make us feel that even though we may be forty, fifty, sixty, seventy, eighty or even ninety years old, we are still God's children. When someone is fifty years old, it is very difficult for him to think of himself as a child. For us to think of ourselves as children is very difficult because we have developed the mind. But the Masters Games help us feel that we are truly children, for it is only children who like to play. People who are advanced in years will stay home and watch television or read newspapers, but children have boundless energy. They have hope, they have ambition, they have determination. They want to become good, better, best.

Most of the time, elderly people feel that they are finished products, that their life is over. So they don't have any hope or promise. But the Masters Games show us that elderly people can have hope and promise. It shows that elderly people can become inseparably one with children, with the new generation.

We are here at the Masters Games to make ourselves feel that we are children - God's children. For it is only children who have higher goals and make progress. Old people have given up their goals and are only waiting for death's hour to strike. But the people who are participating in these Games are telling death, "We are not ready for you, for we have still many things to accomplish here on earth. You are knocking at our door at the wrong time!"