June 19: Grateful To Be Part Of

Usually there isn’t much to be gained by taking long backward glances over our shoulders and looking longingly into our past.   Whether it be yesterdays mistakes and failures or even our triumphs over adversity.  Indulging in memories of being conquered by our inner foes or resting our thoughts  on the summit of yesterdays perfection.  Any moment we reach out for either yesterdays pain or its glory we will have unconscionably diverted the speed and momentum of our today’s forward progress.  Perhaps in even briefly touching the ground behind us we will have delayed the transcendence that is calling out to us just beyond the edge of tomorrow.

Here at race the runners are constantly reminded of the restless shifting sands of time always churning beneath their feet.  A minute lost in aimless inactivity is equivalent to many yards of forward progress.  Feet need to move, and bodies and beings have to dodge endless hidden missiles of doubt and lethargy lobbed up at them from their own unillumined natures.

Despite all their best intentions, planning and their prayers the 3100 will never be an effortless experience for the runners because, not just for them, but for all of us, our true self transcendence has to be a long hard fought journey.

One which may be more about ultimately releasing the bonds of our own ignorance and allowing the divine within us to be our only beacon and our guide.  How intangible and incomprehensible it is to be racing towards a goal that we cannot see with our eyes and yet within we feel it ceaselessly and clearly calling out to us.  Always patient and also always tirelessly waiting for us to answer it with our hearts cry of perfect surrender.

For all the 12 who run here there is a deep and unshakeable inner bond with their late teacher Sri Chinmoy.  His legacy of achievements is monumental.  In many fields of endeavor he offered up countless soulful offerings to inspire not just those who were his disciples but also to any and all who hungered for inspiration to rise up and reach out for their own highest dreams.

He personally loved running perhaps more than any other sport or activity.  During the time when injuries did not hold him physically back then he would challenge himself in ways unimaginable to any other previous spiritual master.

Here it is August 27th 1980 and a 49 year old Sri Chinmoy is running his own 47 mile race for the 2nd time.

Spiritual people often like running because it reminds them of their inner journey. The outer running reminds them that a higher, deeper, more illumining and more fulfilling goal is ahead of them in the inner world, and for that reason running gives them real joy. Sri Chinmoy, The Outer Running And The Inner Running, Agni Press, 1974.

Every day the date is changed on the fence

Vasu for the second day in a row had a phenomenal day of running.  2 days of 150 laps or 82 miles.

Sopan now has good reason to be happy after putting in 2 good days.  Pranjal celebrates the start of his 3rd day with a personalized coffee mug.

We should never forget just how tough it is here.  How there are so few precious moments of rest, and how much time and effort needs to be put into keeping the body simply going.

Start Day 3

“Very subtly I felt last year, already from the beginning of the Spring, that I should do something else.”  Pushkar ran the race here for 3 years in a row.  When he did not come back and run last year it might have been assumed that he would not come back again.  That would have been wrong.

The tug of the race is strong for those who come.  It seems as well that it is just as able to withdraw that invitation for reasons just as unfathomable as it is able to entice runners to its beck and call.  For him last year he says, “I felt like I should do something else.”

Because he had a ticket last year he came to New York but only for a brief visit.  “For me it was perfect.  I did not feel, ‘O God I did the wrong thing,’ for me it felt absolutely correct.  Because I felt it inwardly.” At the same time, “I did not know if I would ever come back.”

“I like the race.  I like the running I like the simplicity.  I like trying to meditate the whole time.  To be always in a good consciousness.  So from that point I like the race very much.  Of course I have my ups and downs every day.  If I am running through a valley then I try to find a way to get out of the valley.”

“In 2008 when I ran the race.  It was totally different how to deal with the problems as it is now.  In that race I was pretty fortunate because when I had my not so good times.  I also got mentally tired.  Then my consciousness drifts away.  Then this makes me also physically tired.  Then I would take a 15 minute break.  This allowed my whole system to relax somehow.  That is enough for me some how.  I come out and I feel, ‘WOW’, it is great to be here.”

“If I have obstacles coming up I try and not get too mental.  I try always to be focused.  My prayers every lap, and lets say I am in a flow.  It comes kind of natural.”

“When I was at the start I felt so honored and so grateful to be part of a really incredible race.”  He describes with deep humility how in his heart he feels that he is just an instrument here.  “Inwardly feel that I will do it. It is really absolutely a blessing.”

Pushkar has made a decision several years ago not to ever hear or pay attention to his mileage.  When I start to speak with him about how well he has done the first 2 days he strongly reminds me he doesn’t wan to know any numbers.  I am curious though if he has prepared differently.  “I have worked on my style.”  When he was a child he tells me his knees did not develop quite normally.  He was told at one time, “with those knees forget about running at all, even the marathon.”  Being able to conquer this then makes him feel even more gratitude.

“I think the main thing is the mental preparation.  I am a simple person.  I don’t try and go too deep.  Why and how…..I just try to be and feel.  Try to be more cheerful.  I also tried to simplify my whole race, because I have no helper.  There were years when I took lots of vitamins and this and that.  Now I try and minimize all that.  If I feel something I try and adjust it immediately.  So that it doesn’t get too bad.  I am trying to go into the moment and feel it.”

 

click to play interview

 

pushkar

Poem of the Day Recited by Boijayantipoem

“I am looking for a counting shift that works.”  There are many crucial jobs that facilitate the relentless demands of putting on the race.  Boijayanti came by to find a free morning and happily volunteered to read the day’s poem.  All gratitude to those who selflessly serve the race.  Karibe and Niriha are this mornings early counters.

 

 

Enthusiasm Awakeners

Click to play

parvati

 

There are millions and millions on earth who are still fast asleep. But we have been awakened. By whom?

By a higher force. So each time we get the opportunity to serve, we feel that it is because a higher force has kindled the flame of aspiration and dedication inside us. Therefore we are grateful.

Gratitude looms large when we are given the opportunity to be of service to the Supreme in mankind. This gratitude power is our expansion-power, our self expansion power.

Each time we offer our gratitude to the Supreme, we expand our hearts and grow into the universal Heart and transcendental Reality.

June 17th, 1976
University of Edinburgh
Edinburgh, Scotland