“It is the one great school on how to be surrendered.” For the past week Pranab has been a visitor to the race. He has come from his home in Slovakia to support his friends, and at least for a brief while, be a part of the thing that has meant so much to him. He has completed this race on 4 occasions and at each race he found ways to self-transcend. Both by bettering his times each time and also growing as a spiritual person as well.
“These experiences, of knowing how to let go, and how not to be dependent on things that I want. To be able to separate the things that should happen from the things I want to happen. That helped me a lot with other things in my life.”
“Two years ago it got really bad and somehow I got through it. Last year it started very soon and came back again.” It is enough for any runner just to battle the distance little alone combat health issues at the same time. Pranab had been a fixture at this race for 4 years and last year he was running well here when a stubborn skin rash attacked him with a vengeance, and by June 26 he had to retire from the race.
“Running itself is a transformation process and this race is an embodiment of this. You cannot really expect to run something long and not to be changed. It is a very concentrated life. Outer signs of self transcendence is just a number. I do not really believe in comparing year by year.” He speaks about some of his fellow Slovaks and how much he admires what they are doing here. Each uncovering unknown capacities and also gaining strength in other more recognizable areas of their lives.
He was able to run this race most years when Sri Chinmoy was still outwardly and integrally part of the event. He still feels that he is deeply part of it now. “It is his race, so how can you separate him from this. I would not be coming here if not for him.”
“Inspiration works in mysterious ways.” He feels that the influence of the 3100 can be felt by those who are receptive, but as one who has experienced it first hand has no way of judging what it might be. He had been thinking about doing it for years before he eventually came. “I have been inspired by this race a lot.” He said it touched him long before one could go daily and view the results on the internet. Just hearing about it from others alone was enough to feel a thrill inside.
When he leaves today and heads back to Slovakia, “I am going to miss it.” Then he laughs and adds, “But I am not going to pretend that I will be crying into my pillow.”
Pranab gives some advice to Jaganmata on how to better cut out Surasa’s shoes. Pranjal yesterday shared top spot in the mileage department with Asprihanal by running 68 miles. In what has to be a rare moment Pranjal is not the first to show up at the race this morning. Perhaps his dirty laundry slowed him down.
Start Day 21
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It seems that yesterday my right leg was on strike.” Stutisheel had a day yesterday in which there are few if any pleasant adjectives to describe. At least in my vocabulary any way.
Even today he himself is not sure what happened with his leg. “Because it was hamstring and then knee, and muscle altogether. Nothing could help.” Over the day he had 3 separate massages by 3 different people but none seemed to relieve the discomfort in his leg. “It is just some experience that I have to go through.”
He was only able to complete 36 miles and says, “it was not my worst miles in the race. In all the 7 years that I have been here. The worst was 34 or something like that.” He says that in his first race here in 2004 his knee bothered him and he had to walk for a few days. Since then he has never had a problem quite this bad until now.
He is philosophical about this experience and wonders perhaps whether his injury may be some new experience that he is meant to have in order to find even more change take place within. Today he says, “It is better and I am more stable. Yesterday I walked all day and now here I am able to run.” He says that during the race already he has had some minor problems, but was able to tolerate it.
He believes that intuitively he felt that he was going to have something happen to him in and around this date, even before he started. “I felt there would be some special days for me. Here they are.” When asked how he copes with this experience, he says, “I am the type of runner who tries to totally surrender to God’s will. I am not pushing through all limits. I try to be positive. I try to move and that is it.
He recalls that in his first race in 2004, he had run 10 laps when there was a sudden explosion of pain in his knee. “I stopped and ‘augggh’, what is that? Immediately another thought came. This is not real. This will not stop you. Then immediately I was a new born runner.” He felt that the simple cure for that experience then and what he is going through now is the same. “Move forward that is the key.”
Where is my Lord Supreme
if not in my heart’s streaming tears,
and my soul’s beaming smiles.
Poem of the day by Sri Chinmoy
It really hasn’t rained here in New York in 3 weeks. Good news for the runners perhaps but not for the flowers along the course. Parvati and many others are helping to maintain them.
Asprihanal gets a little help from Nikhad.
“The way that I have come to see it is that the road seems to find an inner running weakness. It brings it out and then forces a change.” Vajra is working on Dharbasana early this morning. He has been helping with the races for many years and has learned a lot from those who have felt relief from his strong hands.
“You then have a situation, where you are forced to look at a problem, that you didn’t know that you outwardly had. Suddenly you find that there has to be a fix for it. Putting it all together forces you to find some kind of solution, that will be the answer to the problem. You don’t answer the challenge by stopping it altogether and throwing it away. You face it and work it through.”
Every day I shorten my desire-life
and challenge the pride of ignorance-knife.
Song composed by Sri Chimmoy
Performed by Enthusiasm Awakeners.
Every Day I Shorten My Desire Light
Transformation is a slow process.
But once it is achieved,
It is treasured by both
Humanity’s heart-cry
And divinity’s soul-smile.
Excerpt from Twenty-Seven Thousand Aspiration-Plants, Part 30 by Sri Chinmoy
Wonderful that Pranab could come to visit and support his fellow runners making the same journey he has before. And fantastic Vajra and others can offer kindness to Dharbhasana and all the other runners. So inspiring. You can all do it!
What is the Divine Thread? It is for what you come to the Sat Guru. Here an Indian couplet:
“The Divine Thread is so subtle and thin, not easy to see, not easy to catch. It is not for everybody, only for those who can sacrifice. Not the physical possessions are meant here, this is not sacrifice. It is relatively easy and is only part of it. Sacrifice means merging into the Great Man of the time, who is the Sat Guru.”
“Running is a Transforming Process” Very True. I see it in my own life that even a simple physical running also transforms a whole life. I first ran 10 years ago in a pilgrimage journey of approx. 180km within 24hrs. It is an annual festival of Lord Shiva during Shravan, the Bharatiya (Indian) month, in which people carry the holy water of river Ganga to perform Lord Shiva’s Jalabhishek (pouring of holy water on Shivalinga) back at their native place. When I see back to those 10 full years I feel that I am lucky to be into this world of ultra running which has transformed my who life (as of many others I should say :-).