On June 26 1976 Sri Chinmoy stood in front of the Statue of Liberty and meditated before 27 young men who were about to run across all of America’s 48 states. It was to be a journey of 8,800 miles and for 46 days they would carry a lit torch the entire way. It was a continuous relay run and 2 teams ran in 12 hour shifts 24 hours a day. America was celebrating its bicentennial that year and the mood and enthusiasm in the country was unbounded.
America is a place in which the word impossibility is unfamiliar to most lips. It is a place in which doing, is not and cannot be replaced by trying. To move fearlessly forward and not be intimidated by failure is an attitude that is common and accepted wherever you go in this vast beautiful country. Sri Chinmoy himself came here in 1964 and felt that America was ripe to embrace the inner life, as it had so successfully accomplished so many things outwardly. Running and America seemed to go hand in hand.
The Liberty Torch relay was followed in quick succession by other events and running contests. The Self-Transcendence 3100 mile race is now the pinnacle dream of individual competition. This year there are no Americans running the 3100, but on this day the 11 runners will feel an enthusiastic out pouring of American spirit all around them, as today is the 4th of July. A time when America celebrates in a big way, and 3100 mile runners will find celebrate in their own unique fashion.
Stutisheel stands here holding a torch once used years ago during one of the earlier relay runs that crisscrossed over America. He once said that he always dreamed that he would like to be in America on the 4th of July. Today marks the 7th time he has been able to say that he has done it.
If one were to add up all the mileage he has completed from his 6 previous races here, by himself he could have covered the same distance the Liberty Torch relay completed 2 times over. Beside him the Enthusiasm Awakeners are singing the America song just for him because he loves it so much and it touches his heart.
Sri Chinmoy: America is a young nation. It does not want to walk; it wants to run as fast as possible in order to breast the tape first.
I appreciate America for its dynamism. If you are dynamic, you run towards your goal. If you do not know where the goal is, then you may run from this side to that side. But it is better than to remain static. Americans are running. They may not be sure of the goal, but they are constantly on the move. They go to one side and run into a wall and get hurt. Then they go to another side and the goal is not there, so they get another blow. But at least they go.
The best quality in the spiritual life is not to hesitate once you know your goal. But even if you do not know your goal, it is good to run. God’s Compassion will dawn just because you are running, because you are on the move. Once you feel that your goal is not where you are, that your goal is somewhere ahead of you, then you have to run. And if you run, eventually you are bound to reach your goal.
Excerpt from The Outer Running And The Inner Running by Sri Chinmoy
In the early hours of this Independence day, the temperature seems pleasant enough, but the forecast for the hours and days ahead are predicting a heat wave that may be the worst on record for the race. For now the runners are planning a little performance that will go on when Parvati and her Enthusiasm Awakeners arrive.
Start Day 22
The Impresario for today’s performance is Asprihanal who will, by sometime tomorrow, be the first to pass the half way point in the race. Over the past few weeks he has tried out a few very short skits for the morning singers but today he has orchestrated something much grander that will include all 11 runners. Even as he runs this morning he is tweaking the little presentation he hopes will entertain the girls who sing here every morning. It is not grand theater but more like a humble and sweet, simple offering and yet quite remarkable considering all that they have to endure.
“We have 11 runners, and 11 different running styles. To celebrate the 4th of July we all have a few second skit. Everyone demonstrates one different running style, and have fun. And it is not going to slow us down at all. It is like a little bit of a change, because it is the only big day during the race.” Asprihanal confesses that the idea was his but one has to suspect that the influence of Grahak’s regular performances last year played no small part. It was of course organized on the move, and he says, “everybody meets everybody at some point. Than the word spread out on the track.” He adds that because there is no American running the race this year, Suprabha’s running style will be represented by Stutisheel. Also the statue of Liberty will put in an appearance, he doesn’t say who it will be, and they will sing, “This Land Is Your Land.” “The rest of it will just be fun.”
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You have everything here.” Asprihanal not only is doing this race for the 10th time he has done epic treks up along both coasts of America. Unlike few other people these days, he has intimately seen much of the beautiful natural expanse of this country. “The nature here is really beautiful everywhere. When I was 17, I was an exchange student and lived in Georgia. I lived there for 11 months. That is how it kind of started.”
“The main lesson I learned on the hiking, to live like 8 months in the forest. All you have is in your back pack.” He learned from this experience that one did not need all the outer things when one found satisfaction by living simply. “The only thing you need is normal skills to be happy.” Essentially he needed only to be happy with what he could carry and the natural world around him. “We forget this when we live in the city.”
“Here now we learn all kind of lessons. Here we are also living a totally simple life.” I ask him what he continues to get from this race that he is now doing for the 10th time. “To always get fresh new motivation. I have been having that every year. I haven’t totally learned how to be more soulful. I can learn to be every thing here.” He mentions one lesson in particular that happens to all those who are having difficulties. You quickly experience humility when everyone else goes past year and you can barely move. “You can then appreciate the other runners like anything. Even the slowest runner seems so fast. You really start to admire everybody. There is always lessons to learn. Just when you think you have learned something, it comes out, wow, I need to learn this again. It is mostly inner things.”
Besides being the 4th of July it is also Sunday and there is a stillness and peace that one does not experience on most days. The fireworks may come later but now one can enjoy the shadows and the light before the intense heat also joins the party.
Purna Samarpan tells me today that he is changing his strategy. From now on he wants to follow the Pushkar method. This means the counters will no longer tell him his laps. He says that when you hear your laps every lap it is too easy to get mental about the numbers. “I want to be in the heart.”
He says he wants to have the best experience here possible and if one remains cheerful and happy than they are better able to also achieve the most from themselves outwardly as well.
“I really have the inner urge to explore a little bit this country. This country has so many sites to show to give, and I know nothing about that. This came up today a little bit stronger again. To see something from this beautiful huge country.”
Pushkar feels that Americans, as a whole are very different from the Europeans and Swiss people that he is more familiar with. “On one side they are more open, and on the other side they are more closed.”
Last year he had a unique experience during the 4th of July here. He heard a verse from the America the Beautiful song being performed by Parvati’s group and felt a closer and deeper connection to the country.
Earlier in the morning he had held one of the first Peace Run torches. “It felt very powerful. It was really good. America the Beautiful.”
There can be no review of the remarkable little performance put on by the runners. You just had to be there to see how sweet and self giving they were, and just how much the Enthusiasm Awakeners enjoyed it all. You can also click on the pictures to make them bigger and click on the audio links to hear a little more.
Parvati has a list and her group has to guess which style each runner is pretending to be.
All Your Grace, all your Grace, all your Grace.
My Lord Beloved Supreme,
all your Grace, all your Grace.
My Soul and I are able to join in
Your birthless and deathless Race.
Song Composed on this date by Sri Chinmoy
Performed by Enthusiasm Awakeners
Question: Why do so many Americans, especially young men and women, seem to be turning to Indian spiritual leaders when there are so many churches and religions in the West?
Sri Chinmoy: The answer is very simple. Americans find in the Indian spiritual Masters what they actually want and need. What is it that they do not get from the churches that they do get from Indian spiritual Masters? They get joy, they get love and they get something else: inner purpose. They learn the importance they should give to inner divinity. The spiritual Masters make them feel that they also can be perfect channels of spiritual light and truth.
Spiritual Masters are offering Yoga to Americans, but Yoga is not a new religion. Yoga is only a path. If one follows the path of a spiritual Master, he does not have to leave his own religion. The young men and women of America are not making a mistake by following Indian spiritual Masters. It is just that they have discovered a path and they feel that by following this path they will get what they want sooner.
Excerpt from Sri Chinmoy Speaks, Part 7 by Sri Chinmoy