“The course is what we make of it. It is always there. Everybody makes of it what their current need and current capacity is suggesting to them. And this is for everybody, whether they are spiritually minded or spiritually hearted or not. They are still getting something.”…Teekshanam
“People who live nearby come out during the day, either in the morning or in the evening for a jog. They always circle the course but maybe in a different direction than we do. They may not talk too much, but they kind of know what is going on and they really appreciate what is going on. They don’t stop you and they don’t engage you in a conversation.”
Teekshanam describes that when on occasion he has found himself talking to these local people they are always incredibly respectful. “They don’t want to disturb what is happening. They know that we are doing something amazing.”
He has found himself at many unexpected times alternately being cheered up by these strangers or just shown a true sense of appreciation for what he is doing, He says this is not a kind of loud cheer leading kind of support but a more subtle and heart felt connection. “They are moved they are touched. It is a deep feeling inside them that they are very delicately expressing.”
“Yesterday I saw a man who was jogging very nicely. For some reason I looked at his feet. I wanted to ask him something about his shoes. So I waved to him and he stopped. I had seen him many times before. But at that moment when I waved to him and wanted to talk to him. He immediately stopped.”
“I couldn’t believe the amount of respect and the amount of appreciation he was showing. I realized in that very short encounter that all this time, he was coming to jog here and keep silence. But he was also very deeply aware of something big that was happening here. He was totally respectful.”
“I realized that yes, there are all these people around who seem to be minding their own business, but in some corner of their heart they are totally attuned. To something that is bigger than any individual runner or any individual performance.”
“So I realized that within this silence that reigns here while people run here that there is a lot of inner oneness, that has already taken place. It comes forward sometimes when it needs to come forward. But it is always there. There is real oneness between the local people who come to the course and the runners. Even though there is no exchange of words. So I immediately felt home.”
“Sometimes you feel, O I am by myself doing some laps here. But in fact you have this whole army of people who observe you every day and support you every day, and who come here every day. You don’t know them by name. I may not even notice them by face. But they are there offering their support. It was a simple thing but made me feel that people are totally supportive of what we are doing.”
Sincerity
Changed his past
Slowly and steadily.
Determination
Is changing his present
Powerfully and convincingly.
Faith
Will change his future
Amazingly and permanently.
Sri Chinmoy, Ten Thousand Flower-Flames, Part 39, Agni Press, 1982
Yesterday for Sarvagata was something of a break, he did 111 laps. The number that mortals run. Vasu ran the most with 122 and Yuri did 121 and William was number 3 with a remarkable 118 laps.
The counter gets ready.
Pranjal working on his feet.
Stutisheel had a good day yesterday and today his daughter Alakananda arrives.
Rupantar puts up the daily race sponsor.
There was a mix up of the girls boxes. Usually they are out and in place.
Teekshanam arrives
The clock always moving
Tarit getting last moment things together for William.
Start Day 30
The moon hangs full and bright out over the western sky. Soon clouds will drift in and the showers will begin off and on through late afternoon into the night.
Yesterday Ray Krolewicz walked 87 laps of the course. That is a distance of 47 miles. His total of 1160 seems tiny when compared to that of Sarvagata who has nearly 1000 more miles. But when you look just a little closer at Ray you can see something that the numbers cannot show nor can they hide. The real journey of Self Transcendence that is going on.
It is a journey that he is also inspiring so many others. For the next day his friend from North Carolina, Casey, is taking her own journey here.
Beautiful things to see and to hear.
Ananda-Lahari had 76 laps yesterday.
Sopan had 64 laps yesterday.
“I am trying to keep inspired besides thinking of platinum SixFlags flash pass and the cool waters at Long Beach.”
“I am also thinking of more profound things like once Sri Chinmoy said that no matter how many miles we run every day at the 3100 he gives us the highest price because we do not avoid full capacity. Tikshanam had a few difficult days and had to visit the doctor I visited 3 times already and thanks to whom I am able to keep moving around…”
“So the other day I was trying to encourage Teekshanam by telling him “hey look if you feel miserable think of me I am able to only walk slow and cover about only 35 miles and to make it worse at the end of the day I feel like I have run 65!” But the great thing of feeling like 65 miles is that it feels like 65 miles rewarding…”
“The only tricky thing is that you shouldn’t think of the actual miles but focus on the inner feeling and forget about the miles or just trow the mind out the window.”
What William has to do now for the race is so incredibly difficult that it is almost painful to imagine. To come from miles behind and catch up to the needed pace.
He has an extraordinarily good support crew. First in Tim, now with Tarit, and soon with the man himself, Alan.
He starts day 30 with 1677 miles. A great number but he needs to find 60 extra miles in the days ahead. He ran a superb 118 laps yesterday.
It will actually cool off over the next couple of days but there is going to be showers aplenty.
Tarit reads an appropriate passage from Tagore this morning.
Click to Play:
The 14 do not sit very often, nor do they remain still.
Yes we can be friends, good friends. Just stay on your side and I will stay on mine.
Distances are deceiving.
Baladev had 97 laps yesterday.
Boy do I hate making decisions like this. Which way should I go. If only I had remembered my gps.
Nidhruvi is clearly a very fine athlete.
For quite a few laps she ran with Jayasalini and had a good time.
She did 105 laps and you can see her confidence and her poise.
She shares the road with so many others.
But ultimately she goes alone.
Teekshanam ran 51 laps yesterday and has 1703 miles
“He was very helpful. He took away some of the immediate pain.” Teekshanam has endured a lot in the last 29 days but by yesterday he realized he needed some extra help. Help that he just couldn’t receive at the race itself. So he went to the acupuncturist that had worked on Sopan.
The immediate problem was shinsplints. “He did work on other parts of the body. Parts that I didn’t suspect needed to be worked on. Which was interesting to discover.”
“He found swelling in a knee, and swelling in an ankle. Things that I didn’t feel or really bothered me. But he treated them anyway through acupuncture and manual spinal adjustments.”
He was gone from the course for about 2 hours. “It was a nice experience to be a little bit away from the course and then come back. I really appreciated being back on the course and being grateful for being able to run on the course because there is really a special atmosphere here.”
He says that over the years he has visited the neighborhood he has come many times and run around the course as part of his morning jogs. “it does feel special but while the races on it really takes on a new dimension.”
Suprabha was here yesterday and her presence really inspired him. How do you even imagine 43,000 miles here when he has 1703. “In Suprabha’s case it is totally beyond human understanding. I think Sri Chinmoy said about her that it wasn’t her running physically. It was her running with her heart, and her devotion for her spiritual teacher.”
“I think that is interesting because this race you can run with a big ego, which will help you move forward, or with devotion. I don’t think that there is anything in between.”
Click to Play Interview:
Even when it looks like not much is going on it is.
People connecting with each other.
I don’t know what that was but it just tasted terrible. I am going to go to the bird feeder on 164th street from now on.
Jayasalini once again had 110 laps yesterday.
She just seems to be doing it all right. Not easy for a first timer.
She has a remarkable way of sharing her happiness.
Never in a rush and always patient.
Her team helps her so selflessly.
Really it is hard to tell what some bystanders think of any of this. Are the summer school kids getting a glimpse of something that will inspire them later.
No matter Jayasalini knows what she has to do and is doing it Supremely well.
They told me the course was sometimes uneven but this is ridiculous. Or was that beediculous.
Sarah had one of those wooops kind of days. She did 103 laps.
She had meant to take a short and somehow did not get up when she wanted to. It happens.
Without a helper there are some things that are just that more difficult. Almost as though making up lost time she runs quite a few fast laps with Sarvagata.
She is so incredibly strong that it is easy to sometimes expect big things from her performance here. But she is running the race as best she can.
The hints of last nights rain still on the course and for sure there will be more tomorrow.
I am not perfect. I know it. And maybe once in a while I make a teeny tiny problem in your garden.. But doesn’t being cute and furry make up for something?
Stutisheel had a good day yesterday. He did 114 laps.
Stutisheel loves music of course.
He even decided to put in a guest appearance with Kodanda.
Click to Play:
Which like a pied piper attracted even more listeners, if only briefly.
Team Stutisheel just increased 100% with the appearance of his daughter Alakananda.
He starts the day with 1826 miles.
He knows all too well how to do this. But never is it easy.
Come on out of there worm. No No No. I meant to say. Please dear friend come out of your hole. I want to have a nice conversation with you.
This morning Vasu is having his own conversation. But not the face to beak kind.
He had another good day of 122 laps.
He has 1857 miles
Pranjal had 118 laps yesterday.
He now has 1897 miles.
He just knows how to do it so so well
Yuri remains amazing.
Yuri starts the day with 1940. He will probably pass 2000 miles sometime tonight
You just don’t know how nice it is to stand in soft green grass when your feet hurt.
Apparently Wimbledon is over and yes that means an end to the World Cup as well. But most definitely not the 3100.
Sarvagata had 111 laps and now has 2026. He ran many fast laps this morning.
For Petra, who has come here from Run and Become in London to help at the race. Seeing it from afar and actually being here first hand, “it is like a dream coming true.”
“You just come here and suddenly the thing that you have been following is there. I feel like I have been following the race the whole year. It is not just now.”
She was here last summer helping and says, “I felt like it was my race. I have to come back and help no matter what. I just have to be here. If I am not here than I am missing something amazing.”
“You can see the runners moving and moving. Then still there is so much tranquility. If you close your eyes you can feel that it is tranquil, but it is also dynamic. It is like the dynamism comes hand in hand with the tranquility. It all goes together. It is just amazing because you feel how dynamic peace actually is.”
She says that when she goes home that she will tell her friends about what is happening here but more importantly they will feel what it was that she experienced so powerfully here. When you speak about it they can feel from you what it means to you.”
She has to leave in 2 weeks. “I am trying to keep it firm in my heart that the experience will never leave me.”
Click to Play Interview:
Teekshanam recites the Prayer of the Day
Click to Play:
Enthusiasm Awakeners
Song Of The Day
Click to Play:
In me, science wants to show
Its amazing capacity.
In me, spirituality wants to show
My own ever-transcending capacity.
Sri Chinmoy, Ten Thousand Flower-Flames, Part 62, Agni Press, 1983
Hi Utpal
thank you.
To be a divine hero
Is an achievement
Highly admired
Even by the cosmic gods.
Sri Chinmoy,28148 Seventy-Seven Thousand Service-Trees, Part 29, Agni Press, 2002
It’s always very inspiring for me to listen/read the thoughts of the runners in the 3100 mile race. There is so much wisdom in them. I feel that they find real answers for the human struggle and it is not only for there own lifes but for all. The interview with Teekshanam is a perfect example for this.
Thank you, Utpal, for making them available for us! 🙂