Photo by Shradha

More than 4 years have now swept past since Sri Chinmoy left us.  His sudden departure from this world was a shock, not just those who called him their Guru, but also to many many others.  Spiritual seekers around the world who saw him as a spiritual beacon and inspirer of all those who sought to reach new heights both inwardly and outwardly.  His departure churned up a great wave of sorrow that spilled across the globe and touched all those with whom he had made an inner connection.

This sorrow however is such a useless thing, and certainly not what Sri Chinmoy would have wanted of anyone who admired, respected or loved him.  Nothing is ever to be gained by fruitlessly chasing down tears.  He saw joy as the only true avenue in which one could confidently move forward and continue to attain and fulfill all our own spiritual goals.  In retrospect, he certainly had accomplished all that he needed to do on this earth.   He shared the richness of his life with all and required not another year, month, or day in which to do it.  Most importantly, it is his inner connection to his followers that is in fact still intact, and is as bright and illumining as it has always been.  His capacity to nurture and inspire remains as rich and as powerful as always.

But for those of us who lived physically close to him, or had the opportunity for repeated personal encounters, it is another matter.  I do not think that I am alone in still feeling the pangs of his loss.  I am patient but certainly I still have some distance to cover before this healing can be claimed complete.  Even an examination of a tiny catalog of my personal experiences with him reminds me of how transformative, illumining and so divinely sweet each moment was.  An accumulation of them over the decades and I am reminded of just how much I was shaped and formed by them in an infinite variety of ways.

How remarkable it was that while in his brief presence, a miracle could take place with just a passing glimpse of his smile.   How you could not but be aware of the unimaginable wealth of divinity within him.  A seemingly limitless world that he offered unhesitatingly and unconditionally, not just to his students but to all who came round and about him.

Yet I know a brightness burns still within my life, as it does in the countless others that he inspired.  It was abundantly clear to anyone in his presence that he was not just a true spiritual master but also, he could also be appreciated on a human level as a brother and a friend.  Just as we will loose countless family and friends in our lives so too will we step into the next world ourselves.  Find a new path, and journey in a new direction, hopefully  with greater purpose and resolve.  Ultimately loss is part of all our lives and yet no loss is perhaps more profound and incomprehensible than the loss of one’s spiritual master.  If one remains sincere, and maintains their inner connection, than ultimately the journey must and will continue, until the goal has at last been reached within.

A year ago I had a chance to observe one unique way in which Sri Chinmoy’s life is being perpetuated.  It was on a tropical afternoon that myself and Kaivalya Torpy strolled into the Agun Rai park in Ubud Bali.  A gentle rain fell us as we walked along the tidy path, glistening with the moisture. The raindrops create a rhythmic music as they softly ‘pitter pat’ against our umbrellas.  The air hangs heavy with humidity  and the rich scent  lush gardens sweetens the air.   When you look in any direction the view is filled with flowers and shiny green leaves of the tropical gardens.   There are few places on earth more beautiful than this one.

photo by Sushuti

It is in many ways a familiar stroll for both us, as we had walked this same path just 2 years earlier.  Our conversation is casual and relaxed  as would be expected with two old chums as they take a stroll on their first day of vacation. We are rediscovering our legs in some ways.  Each of us has traveled from very far, and shaking off jet lag and the weary bonds of international travel. He has flown here from England and myself from Canada.  It has been two years since we were last here in this most sacred place.  For me it is a pilgrimage to come back here again and see a bronze statue of my Guru, for Kaivalya it is something else again.  For he is the artist who crafted this statue of his spiritual master and helped to set it in this magnificent garden.   He is eager to reacquaint himself with his creation and see how it is fared since he last left it here 2 years ago.

In fairness it was the second bronze statue he had created of Sri Chinmoy, the first being displayed in Oslo.  Now as time has passed he has skillfully crafted and constructed more and more likenesses of his late spiritual master that are being set up here and there all over the world.  At last count there were 9 bronze likenesses.  I cannot help but feel that for Kaivalya, each and every time he looks upon them, he does so with both a unique personal affection and an inspection that no one but he the artist can appreciate.

We have by chance taken the back entrance to the park, and so our longer walk has but added to our growing anticipation.  We go down a few steps and turn a corner and then quite suddenly there is Sri Chinmoy standing on his pedestal glistening from the rain.  This experience is a wonderful shock, both for my heart and my mind.  Over the least few years my Guru has only been physically attainable to me through photographs, recordings, and written material.  Yet now he stood before me in immortal shinning splendor, ageless and immune from time and the demands of the world.  The first thing I notice is that this is just not a good image of him but a great one.  For me the statue somehow captures not just a profound mirror of a physical reality, but also conveys something deeper and subtle from within as well.  That a spark of Sri Chinmoy’s consciousness has been imbedded here as well.

This was Kaivalya’s second statue of Sri Chinmoy.  His first was in Oslo and this one came a few months later.  He tells me:

“Each one is a little different, they all have a slightly different expression, I don’t know why, it’s just how they come out of the mold. 

“They all have a different feeling.  They’re in a different position, in Prague you’re looking straight at it,  This one you are looking up. 

It’s very nice to see it again.   It’s a really a fresh experience again.

For me it seems just a little disconcerting to ultimately turn my back and walk away.  I wonder if Kaivalya has any thoughts when he leaves one of his creations under the trees or in a public park.

Well no, because you’re always concentrated on the next one. There’s always a next one, just on the horizon. You’re always concentrated on getting everything right, getting the timing right.

He also has no real notion of how others will and do relate to his statues. He also reminds me that Bronzes from Greek times continue to survive and this over thousands of years.

He had over the years produced many works of art and pieces of sculpture for Sri Chimoy personally.  He has a deep and rich art experience.

It’s always been my experience that I’ve tried very hard, in the actual process of making each sculpture, whether its this one or the smaller ones to capture Guru…but in the end Guru always gave me a very short time. He never allowed me to deliberate for too longs. He always said speed was of the essence. In the end, you surrendered. Whatever comes out, comes out, and you hope that Guru liked it.. Sometimes I was more pleased, sometimes I was less pleased.

In the end, you really feel that Guru is working through you. Sometimes in your desire to get what you think is right, you miss what is going on, and then suddenly when you wake up and see the whole thing, you realize that Guru is also working through you, and you appreciate Guru’s effort

His first full sized figure of Sri Chinmoy was created in 1996.  It was created specifically to be placed on the property of Narada Michael Waldon.

The year before, ’95, Guru had been down to Sacred Rock, and he saw Mary, Mother Mary, and a plate, a copper plate statue of the Buddha, quite a big one, and it was standing high up, and Narada said – this is what I heard – oh Guru, I’d love to have a statue of you there. And Guru said, I will ask Kaivalya to do one. And by some miracle, low and behold scarcely a year later, there was a statue of Guru in white polyester resin. And it was a nightmare getting it there. Guru had to get there  I had to get there, Narada had to get there, and the statue had to get there. At times it seemed that one of the four wasn’t going to make it, and very often it was me, so I said, look, it doesn’t matter about me – let’s get Guru, the statue and Narada together, because Narada also had a timetable, and he kept saying, I can’t, I can’t. But finally, Narada picked up the statue, I think on the Friday, and then I came on the Saturday or Sunday, and then Guru came on the Sunday, I think it was,  I got a Thai Airline flight, it was a one-day flight, I mean, you returned on the next day. So we were all there – the forces all came together, and it was great.

Kaivalaya interview Part 1

I never thought too much about it, I just felt that Guru would help me. I was a total amateur, I was just doing it. I was doing the clay modeling in the boys’ bedroom, because that’s how much space there was in the apartment. I was working through the night while they slept on their beds on the floor. And it was just pure, pure belief in the system. Because I didn’t know what was going to happen next. And I did the clay, we carried it out of the house to the car and then drove it down to the casters about 25 miles away, and it all sort of happened, we arranged the transport and it went flying off to San Francisco.

He tells me about a time when he worked on just a head and shoulders project.

Guru looked at each part and worked his way down – forehead good, eyes good, nose good – then he got to the mouth, and he slowed up and said, Mouth?, hmmm.  and then he got to the chin, and he said, Next year, next year.(laughs) That was just a small head and shoulders that I did. But this one for Narada, he was totally blown away by it, he was absolutely really happy, everyone was really happy. Guru said, Narada, I’m so happy, you’ve brought down happiness, the statue is here and you are singing songs. He blessed me there.

I ask him if he ever imagined that after so many years he ever imagined that he would find himself almost working full time and creating likenesses of his Guru. (At this moment he is 72)

Well, it never occurred to me strongly. I thought, well, this is an opportunity that I have taken more will come,  But I never thought about bronze at all.

This statue in Bali was taken from a series of poses that Sri Chinmoy did on a revolving pedestal sometime in 1999-2000.

So I took the idea from that, but not the face. I took the posture, but not the face.  The pose is exactly the same, even to the fingers. Guru explained to him (Shilpa-Taru) why the fingers are apart. He said, “When I fold my hands and put my fingers together, I bring down the force, and then when I open them up, I send the light out.” This is what he said to Shilpa-Taru. I did it exactly ike that, because shilpa taru said. But the face, I worked on a lot, a lot, a lot, and I kept changing the emphasis.

The very first one I did, the face wasn’t good enough. We made the clay model and cast it, but then I made a completely new head. We took off the original head and made a completely new head.

He describes the building of his statues as being a very hands on experience.

Even now I do take photographs, and I play with photographs and computer images, and choose the ones I like. But in the end, when you’ve done all your drawings, you have made all your measurements, you have to do all that.  You have to make a structure inside to hold it all up  when you are doing it in clay. 

 Once you’ve done all that and you have created the base, then getting the feeling is something that just happens as I’m working on it,  I get  a very strong feeling as I am working on it.  Working on the surface with the material

The number of Kaivalya’s statues of Sri Chinmoy just continue to be set up in different countries and places around the world.  When asked just how many he personally would like to see he mentions the obvious, 27 statues.

I also have my own private little venture is to do 27 heads of Guru, in different modes and expressions. And then to do the Kamakura, the Guru Kamakura. It’s my fervent target to fulfill that idea  which came way round in 1999 or 1998.

This project is one of those immense projects that would can humble even the bravest.  Yet Kaivalya envisions it being completed, perhaps in his lifetime.  It would be a truly epic statue erected of Sri Chinmoy on the scale of the great Buddha in Kamakura Japan.  It would be a statue 13 meters high, built from a material yet to be decided and a also an unknown location.

While we are standing together admiring the statue the owner of the museum Agung Rai comes and joins us.  He had met Sri Chinmoy personally in 2004 and was grateful to have the opportunity to host a statue of Sri Chinmoy.

It is not just a statue.  It has a spirit, it has a positive spirit.  It is really amazing powerful  If you are honest when you view it you can feel the impact, the reflection of yourself.  Everything begins with our own self. 

Some artifacts are around for a 1000 years and people stll respect it.  And the way to respect it is to keep it sacred.  The old and new hand in hand this is what we call a living tradition. 

Interview with Agung Rai

Of course no statue, no matter how skillfully created or evocative could replace Sri Chinmoy.  Yet visiting the statue with its creator was comforting to me in a way that I had not  completely expected.  For Kaivalya who has a polyester cast of Guru in his back garden in London tells me that he meditates every day on it whenever he passes by.

I also ask him what he would do if I weren’t intruding upon him just now.

Why I’d go right up to the statue and meditate on it, and express my gratitude to Guru.  

With that the interview concluded and we both did exactly that.

Kaivalya interview Part 2

It is an event sponsored by the Sri Chinmoy marathon team but the prime co-coordinators and organizers are Boijayanti and Suchitra. As to why they chose to have the event here Boijayanti says, “Lake Welch worked out because it is beautiful, and the Parks people were very accommodating.” The biggest bonus was that the entire race, which consists of a 1km swim and a 10 km run could take place all within the generous dimensions of the park itself.

“The first year we had 47 participants.” As we are talking registration is still taking place. There are a few no shows and some unexpected stragglers tend to show up at the last minute. The number will turn out to be almost exactly as it was the first year. The support crew working with the girls is impressive. There are lots of people working at all the little jobs that make the event feel well run and yet you cannot help but feel that there is a real family atmosphere here as well. Boijayanti says, “Every year it gets a little smoother. There are always bumps and kinks that need to be worked out.” Suchitra adds, “it is absolutely great. We love it.” She confesses that they both have a not so secret wish to do the race one day themselves. Yet, “it is so special to be the organizers. You get to go through the whole process, and you feel so satisfied at the end when everything goes well, and everything is okay.” They have granted me a few minutes of chat as the swirl of entrants flows and bobs around them. I ask if they were ever scared about organizing the event the first year. There is a knowing glance exchanged between them and Boijayanti chimes, “terrified.” Suchitra adds, “we get scared every year.” (Laughter)”It’s definitely feeling much more routine. A little less stressful, yet there is always something that comes up and is new, and you have to deal with it. So it is always exciting. “ Click to play interview “I swim a lot.” Frank Carroll. He has come today to of course swim and to run but it is pretty obvious that if it weren’t for some injuries he would rather be spending a lot more time running and spend somewhat less time in the pool. Not too long ago when he was in high school and college he says, “I was one of the best runners in New England. And now as I have aged I can barely lift my legs off the ground when I run. I mean I can’t run at all. I can only shuffle. Because I can’t run I have been swimming for years. That is my major work out.”

Click to play interview

Hyunsoo Park	Catkin Bacon	Colin Smith
Gangane	Jessic McAnneny	Mitrasena

It is a unique perspective when you are chest deep in a still warm lake and then a powerful splashing phalanx of swimmers surges out into the lake towards you. I am desperately holding onto my stillness and camera as they come closer and closer and yet I feel a desperate urge to stroke off across the lake with them. Then my thoughts turn to next year and being in a different position. right click to make any pic big

	Colin Smith says he found out about the race from his friend searching the internet. When asked what he would like to do here today he says simply, “go as fast as I can.”Click to play interviewHe finishes 10th overall with a time of 1:12:56

Erin Jedlicka finishes 11th overall in a time of 1:13:03

Participating as a relay team is a big part of encouraging athletes to take part. Some teams plan in advance but sometimes teams are thrown together by fate. Snigdha found out she had lost her partner only at 6 am.

When she called Palash she said, “sure I’ll do it, I just have to get my shoes. Within 5 minutes I was saved. It is one of the miracles of our lives.” Palash adds, “I have never considered myself as a miracle.” Click to play interview 

Photo by Annurakta

“It was very interesting.  I am not a water creature.”  Granantan Boyle may have second thoughts about his swimming abilities but on land he was faster than anybody else over 10km.  He was the overall winner in 57:52.  His hopes of swimming around 20 minutes were realized when he swam 20:41. When asked how he compared to all the other swimmers he says he felt as though everyone else was in front of him.

I ask him when he actually practiced any swimming at all.  “The last couple of weeks.”(laughs) “I was more nervous before this race than even a marathon.”  He says he doesn’t feel comfortable in the water.  “I have been concentrating on the marathon for the past 6 years.” Click to play interview

Crosby Jurkiewicz was 2nd overall in a time of 1:00:49.  “This is my first duathlon.  I don’t have a bike so that eliminates me doing a triathlon.”  When asked what he like about the event, “Everyone was so friendly.  It was just great seeing all the motivation and the cheering.  All the volunteers I really appreciate all their efforts, working hard.  This was a great day to do a competition.

Crosby is just 21 and was the first swimmer out of the water in a time of 16:37.  Granatan was 4 minutes faster over 10km.  He says of Granatan, “he was really fast.  He is awesome.”

As for other races, “I definitely enjoyed it so I will probably do some more.  This is my first one so I guess I will see where it takes me.”  Click to play interview

Shobhavati Davies is the first girl and 8th overall.  Of her race she says, “O it was lovely.  This is the first time I have done anything like this so it is a new experience.”  She has been an active runner for some years but of her swimming she says, “I have trained but never competed.”

With her running today, “I had to push with my running, my legs turned to jelly but I am very grateful.”  Click to play interview

“What I like about it, is that it is very challenging.”  Pulak Viscardi has participated in this event in each of its 3 years.  “The only part that gets you is the first part of the swim.  Getting to the first buoy.  That is the hardest part.”  He describes simply getting the stroke rhythm and breathing organized.  “So many things.”

Now as we are talking he is standing on the beach with his medal.  “It feels good.  I am grateful.”  click to play interview

There is no better example of fulfilling a pledge for home cooking at the event then to see Rambha cooking her classic barbecued corn.  The sizzle and aroma can be experienced and enjoyed from far off.  The taste is even better.

Her recipe uses, honey, mustard, barbecue sauce, and “all kinds of spices.”  Click for a taste 

The appearance of Banshidar at the event is a surprise for me and perhaps even for him.  He hasn’t done anything like this in many years and yet felt inspired to participate.

He says that he doesn’t really train swimming but the secret to that is, “I do quite a lot of surfing.  So I kind of relied on that.  I haven’t done any straight swimming at all, just surfing.  I just did it the best I could and then ran it the best I could.  It’s great fun.  It’s all a great vibe.  Nice little small family group.  I could feel the energy.  I could feel the inspiration energy coming through.”

“I saw a big smile in the sky and just kept focusing on that smile.  That is what it is all about, joy.”

click to play interview

JOY

Give joy;
Earth will be yours.
Take joy;
Heaven will be yours.
Become joy;
God will claim you,
Earth will need you,
Heaven will treasure you.

Sri Chinmoy, Lord, Receive This Little Undying Cry, Agni Press, 1975.

Sri Chinmoy 1980 photo by Bhashwar

Yet Sri Chinmoy himself never surrendered to age and certainly hoped that his students would not listen to the braying frailties of our bodies, or the gibbering reluctance of our minds.  There can be no better examples of this philosophy in action then Gaurima, Arpan, and Dipali who even after 30 years of continuous competition have never found any excuse not to still step up and enter this most special and uniquely challenging midnight run. Their memories are rich and full with moments when Sri Chinmoy not only watched with admiration from the sidelines but even back to the 2 years when he ran this race himself.

The 47 mile race has never lacked having an enthusiastic crowd of eager young participants.  All willing to step off into the unknown realm of distance running and discover their own precious experience.  Some dreaming and training just for that moment when they can push off  from the starting line at midnight on August 27th.

Now over more than 33 years the track and road around Jamaica high school have tested and taught hundreds of runners some unique and fulfilling hard fought lessons.  Each participant is inevitably confronted  with not just the challenge of running an ultra distance but more importantly they are inevitably confronted by the simple truth, that by going deep within is also the answer to succeed in going not just 47 miles but also covering the total distance of one’s life.

High Fives at midnight	Kiwi boys signing in
Mostly new faces	some more familiar

counters getting ready

Counters getting it right

Then it all just begins.  Pratatyaya and all the 122 runners at the starting line.

From the beginning Garbitashri and Jayasalini found strength and comradeship by running together throughout the long night.

The counters ever attentive and watchful through the night, sharp pencils at the ready.

The scoreboard crew ever vigilant.

No reason to be hungry as you run

Music in the night.  Click to play

Pushkar comes in first this year and I suggest for a man who has run the 3100 mile race that 47 miles is just a warm up.  “Yes, but the intensity is a little bit different.  On the other side of the street you know that you have to go on and go on.”  His effort tonight though was so grueling he feels as though he has really given his all.  “I am squeezed out like a lemon.”

“I started getting cramps at lap 25.  I started to stretch and thought,oooooh, this is very bad.  Fortunately I got rid of it, and I said, just keep moving.  I want to say the intensity is much higher but it is just different.”  He ran much of the race with Stefan but eventually he continued his own pace and Stefan had to slow down.

As we are talking an applause builds louder in the background as Satyamurthi finishes in 4th.  He yells out encouragement to him.  Pushkar tells me that for the last 3 years he did not run the 47 because he was still recovering each of those years from his 3100 mile experience.  In past years when he ran this race he had also participated in the marathon a couple of days earlier.  This year however he felt inspired just to run the 47.

It is also a very intense spiritual experience for him running this race.  He spent much of his time chanting and feeling real gratitude that he could offer this race to his spiritual master, Sri Chinmoy, in honor of his 8oth birthday.  He feels that his experience was all grace.  That he won the race in a time of 6:22 he says, “I feel very honored or humbled or whatever.”

Click to play interview

Sukhajata finishing

Stefan finishing

“I have prayed.  I have tried to feel the presence of my spiritual master, and to give him the result of my actions.”  Satyamurthi has come in 4th.  This is the 7th time he has run the race.  “This is my 4th time that I have come 4th.  I have not done my best but I am very happy.”

Click to play interview

Tomaz is one of the remarkable new generation of runners who enjoy doing both the marathon and the 47, back to back.  Less than 48 hours earlier he ran the marathon in 3:12.  He finishes the 47 with a time of 6:47, good enough for 5th place.  He says that during the marathon he didn’t push harder because he wanted to save his best effort for the 47.

Pushkar tells him that he once ran a fast marathon in 3:01 and then followed that up with a very slow 47, 8:51.   Tomaz says his double time was better last year.

He says that more training and preparation gives you more confidence.  “You know your body and your inner body better if you train.”

click to play interview

“We are feeling great.”  This is of course more than understatement by Garbitashri, who moments earlier had just completed the 47 mile race with Jayasalini at her side nearly every step of the way.  Still a little out of breath the 2 girls are celebrating not just their combined victory in this years race but also that their first place achievement is the ultimate present they can offer on this most auspicious day.

What makes their run tonight even more impressive is that the girls finished 1,2 in the marathon less than 48 hours earlier.  Garbitashri in 3:11 and Jayasalini in 3:19.  These are both terrific times and tonight they have run 6:58 which is a superb achievement.

“We were running the same pace and in oneness we just ran together,” says Garbitashri.  “It was just a joy.”

For Jayasalini this is the second year in a row that she has found a companion to share the race and the win with.  Last year she and Dhavala had an historic race and sharing the win as well.  This year she says, “it just happened.”

“It was not on purpose.  We had so much joy.”  She tells me how they shared so much together through the night.  Particularly helping each other at water stations.  “It was so sweet.”

Both are in agreement that there can be no higher and deeper satisfaction on this auspicious day than to run this, their spiritual teacher’s most sacred race.  “It is the best way for me.”

Click to play interview

At 7:17 the next girl finisher crosses the line.  For her this day and this race is like no other.  Since 1981, and nearly every August 27th in between she has been at the starting line solely to honor her Guru, and offer him the complete and sum total of her inner life and her outer running capacity.  For 30 years she has shared birthdays with her spiritual teacher and this race has been her gift.  For many reasons this race is unique.  Simply by taking part in it has for her always been a total commitment, that blends in equal measure all parts of her being, from the physical to the spiritual.

The number of occasions  that she has not run has been miniscule and on this occasion, hard to recall.  Now without question running the race is for her and many others as well a sacred tradition.  Sometime during the long dark night she turned 52 years old.  Yet in the glow of this bright new day she, like Arpan and Gaurima show no hint or sign that this will be the last time to run throughout the night on August 27th.

“I feel very much full of gratitude, and exhausted.  But in that exhaustion, are the tears of gratitude are flowing.  I would say this race is the hardest of all my adventures in my running.”  She says that the other races are nothing in comparison.  “I am so grateful to have the same birthday.  I fell like my soul is just crying.”

click to play interview

Sri Chinmoy 1980 photo by Bhashwar

Question: What does your slogan mean: “Run and Become, Become and Run”?

Sri Chinmoy: If we run, we see our capacities becoming fully manifested. Previously our capacities were dormant; they didn’t function inside us. But when we run, we bring to the fore our hidden capacities and are able to do something and become something.

But once we have become something, that is not the end. Still we have to go forward, because we are eternal pilgrims. Everything in us is transcending. It is like a child. To learn the alphabet is his first goal. He studies and learns it. But will he then give up? No. His second goal is to go to school. Then he wants to go to college.

A runner brings forward his capacity and becomes something. Then he looks around and sees some champion runners, and he gets the inspiration to try to become an excellent runner like they are. Perhaps he will one day excel and go beyond them. So there are always higher goals even after we have become something. Once we reach our first goal, we have to run towards a higher goal.

Sri Chinmoy, The Outer Running And The Inner Running, Agni Press, 1974.

This all happened more than 30 years ago.  Time has removed the sharpness and clarity of many moments of my life but the start of the first 47 I am certain is etched so deeply into my heart and life, its sweet memory has yet to fade or dim.  I can still clearly remember as Sri Chinmoy stood in powerful silent meditation in the darkness.   An almost indefinable outline, illuminated barely by far off streetlights, and a couple of dim flashlights.  Yet where our eyesight’s failed, another part within us was acutely aware of his presence and his gratitude that we should participate in this great new undertaking.  On this night and at the moment as the clock ticked past 12 it became his 47th birthday and the race began.

What we did not know then was that this race was his gift to us and to future generations of runners.  An unprecedented 47 mile long spiritual journey whose goal was infinitely longer than 40 laps of Jamaica High School.  Yet for each and all who participated it would also be in turn a powerful opportunity to bring to the fore some small measure of our own self offering.  The very act of running a perfect gift to him who inspired us in the first place.  It was and remains to be both an unprecedented sporting event and a unique spiritual exercise, that many continue to take advantage of, and seems destined to remain as a timeless tradition.

In the weeks leading up to that midnight start he had made clear that the 47 mile race was going to be  something new and challenging like nothing before.  We simply had but to let go of our doubts and fears and surrender fully to the experience.  A short while later he coined a unique expression that clearly and beautifully defined what this sport of running could offer both outwardly and inwardly, “Run and Become, Become and Run.”   Spiritual progress and athletics and fitness can and must go together.

I have watched Abakash’s  47 mile footage many times.  The faces of all those who ran that first race are deeply familiar to me, as we shared the dusty track and windy Queens streets all together for many hours. For a brief and glorious moment, time is graciously and delicately wound backwards.  When the person, who bears a great deal of resemblance with one who once used to look back at me from my own mirror, crosses paths with Abakash’s  camera, I have doubts that I was ever really quite that young.  For all the limitations of shooting film at 24 frames per second  it still nonetheless can transport all of us who were there that night back to the very beginning of a brand new exciting chapter in our lives and in the life of the Sri Chinmoy center.  Hopefully it also can demonstrate for future generations just how much absolute oneness Sri Chinmoy had with all those who were pioneering his new creation.

When you see him attentively standing on the sidelines you cannot help but notice in his gaze, that he is all affection and concern for those running around the course.  With each runner and in fact with all who contributed in any way, he shared a deep and personal inner identification with.  We were all part and parcel of his very own spiritual family. By the time dawn cast its warm brightness to the day and the camera could begin to roll, all the doubts of any of us might have held were long discarded,  replaced instead  by certainty and celebration.

What time would soon reveal was that 47 mile race was opening a brand new door to Sri Chinmoy’s manifestation.  That from the first step we 38 took on what appeared to be an impossibly long journey was just the beginning of something infinitely longer and even more transformative.   Sports and fitness were to become central and integral aspects of our spiritual life.  The 47 mile race simply and eloquently demonstrated this philosophy.  Looking back it is hard not to realize how  revolutionary it actually was. It was only in June that Sri Chinmoy had first announced his personal commitment to distance running.  During that first 47 mile race he would run 23 miles himself and come back the following 2 years and run the entire distance.   Some years later, because of injury his own distance running would not continue.   His love and commitment to distance running though would remain a part of his life until his passing in 2007.

For this years race, which would have been Sri Chinmoy’s 80th birthday all who had ever run the event in past years were invited to run or walk a ceremonial first lap. Shortly after he has returned from his lap I chat with Sundar, who was one of the pioneers of the event.  The air is alive with energy and excitement.  122 runners have entered and from time to time clusters of runners spill onto the track and come up in enthusiastic waves in front of the attentive counters.

We are standing in the light of the counting hut.   “I remember when Guru inaugurated the race over on the other side of that wall.  One morning, I remember Guru used to play tennis over there.”  He points across the track, over towards Jamaica High school.  “Guru announced that we were now going to have a new event.  It was a 47 mile race, and I thought, oooooo.  He was calling for volunteers, and I thought, if he asks me, I will agree to do it.  So he asked me, and I agreed to do it.”

When asked if he was scared, without hesitation he replies, “yeah.”

On this night he says that by walking around the course that it helped him remember all the other times he had run the race.

click to play interview:

“It was very thrilling very exciting. It was a lot harder than I thought.”  (Laughter)  Vidura is hard pressed to talk about his experiences that first night because he is so busy trying to keep track of his runners.  He ran the first race and in his own way kept very involved with the 47 helping in different ways the help it all happen.  It needs runners but also needs many hands behind the scenes as well.

As he looks back on that first race you can see him reliving it once again.   He had run a marathon so had some idea of how hard it would be but of course it was all that and more.  “I trained, but not like I should have trained.”

“It was very fulfilling to do it.  To do 47.”  For him as well, he always considered himself a sprinter.  “I never did long distance.  I don’t like to do long distance, but Guru inspired us so much.  It was very thrilling to do it.  It was very very exciting.”  He can’t remember exactly how many times he did the race but knows, “it was a lot.”

Asked what was the best part of doing the 47, he says, “basically it is the only time you are alone.  You can do whatever you want.  You can meditate, you can sing.  Nobody really bothers you.  It is like you are in your own space.  It is meditative, you feel the pain of the body, but you still just keep rolling and moving.   It is quite inspiring.”

Then Vidura announces something remarkable.  He tells me that next year he will be 65 and he plans on not only running the marathon but also the 47.  “It will be very interesting to see.”

Click to play interview

“The beginning is always a little chaotic.”  This years 47 has literally just begun, and like Vidura, Devaki is one of the main helpers.  She is in fact in charge of the girl counters.  When asked if she remembers the first race she answers with a strong yes.  “I do, because I ran it.  I was a lot younger and I was in shape. (Laughter) I remember it was hard, but Guru ran and it was very inspiring, because Guru was running at the same time.”

She recalls, “I was not a long distance runner.  I was a sprinter.”  Yet she felt such powerful motivation to do it she could not resist and at the same time how inspiration was able to move her forward.  “I could feel Guru, somehow.”

She then fills me in on all the little jobs she and a large team led by Pratyaya have working on now for days.  “It has been our project ever since the beginning, a Canadian project.  We feel that it is our privilege to do it.  It is like an honor.  To honor Guru on his birthday.  We were always so thrilled when Guru would even just walk around the track.  So we still feel it.  He’s here.”

Click to play interview

For Saral tonight’s ceremonial lap reminds him not just of the first 47 but also how he once ran his very best race here on his teacher’s birthday.  “25 years ago today I was very fortunate to come in 2nd place.  One of the best races of my life.  It was an amazing race for me.  I passed the marathon in 3:23.  Just like floating.”

“It just shows you how much work it takes and how much grace.  I am just lucky to be out here and remember it.  The feelings are there even if the fitness is not quite there.  The feeling of the soul is still there.”

Click to play interview

Surashri marvels at just how long his lap has taken.  “It was pretty bad, but I was remembering that first one.”  The course is exactly the same and with the little candles burning to mark some of the turns and a waft of sweet incense it reminds him of that first night.  “Just the feeling of specialness.”

“I didn’t know I was doing the first one until a few days before.  Inadvertently I had trained for it to some extent.”  Shortly before the race he read some advice that greatly helped him.  “Have a program right from the beginning of walking and running.  Don’t wait until you are really exhausted.  So I walked the track part and ran the outside part.  Right from the very first lap.”

“I don’t think there was a lot of pain.  It was probably difficult as it always is with long runs.  (laughter)  I am only speculating because I can’t remember exactly.  There is a feeling of elation too,  because you know you are doing something very special.”  Coming back for his lap tonight he says, “was such a nice opportunity to reconnect with it.  Because I hadn’t in so many years.

Click to play interview

“For almost 20 years every new years I have made the resolution to run 2 marathons in the year and I broke it.”  Kusumita is a very visible figure in the first 47 mile film.  As a chance would have it she comes into view on several occasions.  Not content to slip into retirement she has taken her vow of running very seriously and did in fact run all of this year’s marathon in 6:47.  It was also a big thrill to come back, along with many other veterans and do a lap of the 47 as well.

“But after Guru left his physical body, it seemed to me that there comes a time to keep our resolutions.”  Remarkably it was in 2008 that she came back and ran the August marathon then after not having run one in 19 years.   She recalls having once heard Sri Chinmoy say, that if one has taken a vow one should try and fulfill this pledge, no matter how much time has elapsed.

She says that describing running the marathon is very hard to do to people who have never done it.  “There is a huge difference between doing something and actually thinking about it.  Doing something changes a person.  Whatever the action is.”  She says there is a real transforming power to action itself.  She says for this years race she trained for it and most certainly experienced a real sense of satisfaction.  “By doing something I resolved to do.”  She says that running the one in 2008 was even more fulfilling as it had been such a long period since she had run one.  “It was like getting it back.  That was a very valuable experience.”

When she ran the very first 47 she says that she had never even run a marathon.  As for her thoughts at that moment on the starting line, “I think I wasn’t really thinking.  Which is by far the best.”  She says that like a number of other runner she was given some advice by the great ultra runner Ted Corbitt.  He said, “if you are fit for a marathon, you are fit for this.  The rest is mental.  It was the best thing he could possibly have said.  You shouldn’t be afraid of what you are going to do.  I think the runners of the 3100 say the same thing.  Just do it.”

She says that doing the first lap of the 47 this year was very beautiful.  “Everyone was in a wonderful mood of celebration, and at the same time a bit quiet.  A sense of sacredness at the beginning of what would have been Sri Chinmoy’s 80th birthday.  I thought that was a wonderful way to honor him on his  birthday.” She says that before the first race, Sri Chinmoy gave her permission in private to run the race.  “I have never had a reputation for being an athlete in my whole life.   When I ran the 47, people were really really surprised.  I enjoyed that.”

Click to play interview

Sanjaya, at age 40 ran the second 47 in 1979.  When asked if he was a little frightened of undertaking such an event, he admits, “I was.” His strategy to overcome everything was, “I found the best way was to turn off.”  He says that he would have like to have done more training for the race.  His longest training run prior to the race was to the seaside town of Felixstow, which is 11 miles from his home, and then run back again.  “I remember calling in at an Indian take away at 1 o’clock in the morning, asking them for water.”  When delicately suggesting that seemed very late, he adds, “that is the only time you can do it brother.”

Describing his first 47, he says, “it was a challenge, and actually it was a lot better than I thought.  You were on your own for a lot of it and you could really go in on yourself, quite a bit, and that was quite fun.  I think that by turning off it was easiest to deal with it.” He ultimately did the race 3 times but believes his best was 8:35.  He also suggests that being prepared and fit makes the experience that much better.  “It means you are running much of the time.”

“Here we have some excellent lads.”  Now of course he has been part of the crew for many years.  His role includes delivering sandwiches, back rubs, and the occasional checking of figures.  It is not an easy job but part of the joy of being here is that he it is just one member a large team with everyone contributing,  in their own way to the celebration of Sri Chinmoy’s birthday.

Click to play interview

Animesh was one of a considerable number of runners who for that first 47 mile race who had never even run a marathon.  “It was great, because, I think we all felt that first year, that if Guru had asked us to run the 47 then we had the capacity to do it.  There was no doubt.  The marathon distance, which I had never passed before, felt like a breeze.  It was nothing almost.  Then of course it gets a little harder as you go on. (laughter) It was quite a special time.”

“The physical suffers, there is no doubt about it.  You get out there around the 30 mile mark, which is a totally unknown.  In the weeks prior to it there was a lot of information going in.  (advice from ultra-marathoners like Ted Corbitt)  But then we had to turn it into something practical.  Like actually finishing the race.  Regardless of what the body was going through there was a joy pervading everyone.  Just the fact that we out there doing it for Guru’s birthday.”

I mention that throughout Abakash’s footage of the race he is seen running side by side with Kishore.  “That year was fantastic, because Kishore and I ran together the whole way.  Certainly we had quite a few people putting pressure on us near the end.  I think we came 4th.  Then of course next year (laughter), I never saw Kishore again.

He describes how that for him running the race was all about having faith in his spiritual teacher.  “Of course you realize that it is the making of you, these types of events.  To be able to go out there, and do something you have never done before.  Really transcend your physical and mental limits.  That’s something that really can’t be taken away.  It is something that you have achieved and it is something that is deep within you, always.”

He has just walked the first lap of the 47.  Due to some physical ailments he confesses that his feet aren’t up to much more than that.  “It was great.  Standing at the starting line, I am feeling Guru’s presence.  Knowing it is his birthday.  I was just pulled along.  It was really quite a special feeling.  It is great that it is continuing and it will.  There is no doubt.  This has become an institution.  This race will go on.”

Click to play interview

Guru running 47, 1979, Photo by Bhashwar

Run and become. We run, we become. We run in the outer world, we become in the inner world. We run to succeed, we become to proceed.

Inspiration helps us run, far, farther, farthest. It helps us run the length and breadth of the world. Aspiration helps us become fast, faster, fastest the chosen instrument of our Beloved Supreme.

Inspiration tells us to look around and thus feel and see boundless light, energy and power. Aspiration tells us to dive deep within and enjoy boundless delight, inner nectar and bliss.

Inspiration tells us to claim and proclaim our own divinity, which is our birthright. Aspiration tells us to feel and realise once and for all that we are exact prototypes of our Beloved Supreme. We can be as great, as good, as divine and as perfect as He is. Inspiration tells us to become our true selves. Aspiration tells us to become God Himself.

Inspiration tells us to feel what we soulfully have: God’s Love, God’s Compassion, God’s Beauty and God’s Peace in infinite measure. Aspiration tells us to feel at every moment that we are of the Source and for the Source. We are of our Beloved Supreme the One, and we are for our Beloved Supreme the many. Him to fulfil, Him to manifest, Him to satisfy unconditionally in His own way is of paramount importance.

We run. We become. At every moment we are running to become something great, sublime, divine and supreme. At the same time, while we are becoming, we feel that we are in the process of reaching our ultimate Goal. But today’s goal is only the starting point for tomorrow’s new dawn. At every moment we are transcending our achievements; we are transcending what we have and what we are. By virtue of our self-giving we are becoming the Beauty, the Light and the Delight of our Beloved Supreme.

8pm, October 5th, 1978 Stanford University.

Sri Chinmoy, The Vision-Sky Of California, Agni Press, 1980.

As exceptional as he is as a giver of chiropractic adjustments, Pradhan is also keenly aware of the world beyond the physical.  He knows first hand that these exceptional runners sometimes also need encouragement and inspiration on the mental, emotional and spiritual level as well.  Physical problems sometimes may be the least of the many obstacles the runners encounter when facing such a momentous task as running 3100 miles.  He has great and lengthy experience in dealing not only with the athletes who attempt the impossible but also understanding the great challenges of the spiritual life in general.  I had an opportunity during the race to interview him and ask him for some of his thoughts on what these incredible athletic events are all about.

Talk transcribed by Bhadra

Photos by Arpan, Prabhakar, Jowan

Utpal: Why do you think Sri Chinmoy created this world of multi-day races?

Pradhan: I think it was an actual extension of – you know –of his spiritual philosophy. It was something that evolved.   He used it as a metaphor for what we’re trying to do inwardly. On our path, there are people who run regularly all the time. And it is understood that the runner accomplishes his goal by placing one foot in front of the other.

And the multi-day races evolved.  In the early days, it was just a mile, two miles. I remember in the early days – it was like, the guys ran 3 miles – can you believe it? –it was unbelievable. We’d often have Games Days, or Olympic-style races – these guys would often run outside the field, they’d run out on the street. They’d go three miles, or five miles – then, applying the principles of self-transcendence, eventually it came to be a multi-day race. And the multi-day races, especially the 3100, lend themselves to an inner demand, where you have to go within in order to accomplish the task. So I think that’s why the multi-day races are such an important part of the Sri Chinmoy Centre.

U: You have worked at the multi-day races, from the first multi-day race up until this one. In terms of an experience for you, what do you get out of it? You’ve come all the way from Chicago, you work on guys for a day or so, what happens to you when you’re there?

P: Well, the truth is – first of all, it’s an incredible honor to work on them. I’ll be frank – I mean, sometimes I’m tired, I go, O God, what can I do? But then you enter into their world, and you play some small part in helping them accomplish their goal, and their goal is heroic, especially in the 3100 mile race, by entering into their world – and they’re really heroes, you get a little bit bigger, you feel a little better, you feel more joyful. I come away tired, sometimes, from treating people; but compared to what they do, it’s a small sacrifice to pay. They really accomplish something so significant, especially the 3100. The nature of that race is such that everyone who participates – the runners, who are doing 99.9% of the work, and the scorekeepers, the support people – they all feel that they’re playing some tiny role in that accomplishment.

U: Do you think that what happens at the race – these guys have been there now for 46 days – goes beyond the race the race itself? Do you think it has an impact beyond the perimeter of the race itself? Do you think it reaches out into the world?

P: Yes, I do. I think not just the race, but anything good, carries with it a vibration. I feel – this is my personal philosophy – that anything we do, for lack of a better term, has a little aura about it. You walk through my world when you pass me on the street; you walk through my consciousness – if it’s sweet, it’s good, it’s joyful, you pass through my space, you leave it a little more joyful for the encounter, right?

I don’t think people realize how vulnerable their consciousness is. That is to say, you pass by someone on the street who is depressed or angry, and suddenly your thoughts are like that. Everything you do carries a consciousness with it. So when someone does something that is transcendent in nature, that transcendence isn’t just bound by the physicality of the experience itself. It goes way beyond, way beyond that. We live in an ocean of collective consciousness, think of it that way. So if someone does something good, it brightens the water, sweetens the water, it allows for other people to experience transcendence. I don’t think that it’s limited at all spatially . It goes way beyond that little oval out there.

U: Okay, coming back to a very practical point, as a chiropractor who has worked on multi-day runners -3,100, ten-day people, is there anything new that you haven’t seen before out there?

P: Well, what is new and what is unique? From a physical standpoint, no. Over the years, the physical problems repeat themselves. But what is, what strikes me as new, and I would use the term, almost miraculous, is the fact that I see problems that would halt any runner, on a normal day, in their tracks. You see them, you know — blisters, and shin splints, and back pain and knee pain – and those things would typically stop a runner. And the doctor would say, you know, rest for two weeks, or a month, or two months. Here, it seems that the will of the soul to transcend – the physical surrenders to it. I see these kinds of problems resolve, oftentimes in a matter of days. You know, something that would stop a person for weeks, in a matter of two days, they’re back running, and somehow, it’s not there, it’s almost gone. That is what is new, what is different from what you’d see in a usual, a typical, running situation.

U: I know you’ve given remedies in the past, or even this summer, that are not typically chiropractic, that you’re aware of conditions that are blocks – that may have nothing to do with a bone or a muscle or a tissue – that you’ve told people that they mentally had to change a little bit in order to get through it. Am I correct that you’ve given that kind of treatment? As a guy who’s so familiar with the race, you see a physical problem, but you’re also aware, on occasion, that they have to do something else internally to make it work.

P: Yeah, that happens, in the 3100 more than in any other race, the mental state, and the consciousness state of the individual, has as much to do with it as the physical state. Let’s face it: the physical state is exhausting. Think about it – what is it — 62 miles a day? How can they endure that? If their mind, or their consciousness, is depleted, if they enter into sadness, or they are in a funk, then it becomes overwhelming. We experience this in our normal everyday life – when the mind is down, the physical is down. When I go running, I only go running for two miles – if my mind is consumed with issues and worries, I weigh 10,000 pounds. I weigh more than I should anyway, but on those days when I’m mentally consumed, I weigh 10,000 pounds. Or if I’m joyful, I’m lighter. And that’s what I experience in a short race. That becomes more exaggerated in a race of 3,100 miles.   And that’s where sometimes I’ve told them, that the problem isn’t with their foot or their ankle – they have to do something about their attitude, their joy.

My treatment is really a joke. These guys – do they really need me? I come in here for three days – I’ve been here for six days, and how many days has this been going on? (U: 45 or 46.) Okay, there are other guys who treat them. But I treat them for ten minutes. Most of what I do, I contend, is just to create joy. We laugh when they’re on the table, we have a good time, we share inspiring stories. And yeah, I’m treating them, I’m doing this and that, but really, it’s joy-creating. And the joy-creating is healing.

U: Sri Chinmoy seemed to have a very special connection with the race. This race – this is its fourteenth year. And up until his last year, 2007, he came several times a day; he seemed to be giving a lot of attention to it. What do you think that was all about?

P: My feeling is that this race, more than any other race, I would describe it as –

Pradhan Inteview Part 1

[end of first tape]

The 3100 mile race in comparison to the other races – and they’re all heroic – I find the 3100 mile race to be the most spiritual – and I’m guessing that it’s for this reason that Guru took the most interest in it. In our short, little races – the 6-day, the 10-day, the 700 mile race, the 1000 mile race, the 1300 mile race – which by comparison are short – you  never leave the world. What I mean by that is this: Say you’re doing the 1300- mile race, and you’re in the sixth day of it. Twelve days later you’re back home. You can already start thinking about paying your bills, you can already start thinking about what happens at the end of the race. The 3,100-mile race, for two months, a month and three-quarters, you’re running. That’s all you’re doing. From 6 in the morning until midnight, you’re running. And whether or not you succeed is 100 per cent dependent on your inner space, 100 per cent dependent on your inner space. For that reason, I think Sri Chinmoy felt a special joy, a special identification with it, because of its spiritual value.

And there’s, you know, another aspect. Guru loved the transcendent aspect of it. I mean, can you imagine running a 3100 mile race? You know, I’m happy if I can have a 3100 mile decade (laughter, both). I mean it, I’d be very pleased with that. And these guys are doing 62 miles a day! When you think about the sheer scope of that, it’s unbelievable.

U: But he would come several times a day. He would be there, he would drive by, he would bring treats.

P: Yeah. I think it’s because of its incredible spiritual sport/transcendent nature – to be there, to feed the runners inwardly, to identify… I mean, as you know, Sri Chinmoy is not merely about running races, but about a path, a spiritual path. It’s about perfection, self-realization, God-manifestation…whatever term you’re comfortable using. And we will often use these things as a metaphor – oh, look how far they’re running; they’re climbing a mountain.

But I think it’s even beyond that, way, way beyond that…I think Sri Chinmoy has a special fondness for these tasks that are heroic in nature, because they give us a glimmer of the kind of effort that’s required to accomplish the end goal, which is way, way beyond 3100 miles. The joy is in the process of achievement. And Guru would always remind us of that – I mean, you’re training for a marathon, today you do two miles, tomorrow you do four miles, the day after that you do six miles. So it’s not merely the achievement of the goal that’s of value, it’s the process of achieving the goal, the transcendence-progress of achieving the goal. And I think this race probably came closest…Sri Chinmoy loved running, you know that. And to watch these guys go around, and endure, I think maybe had a special appeal to Guru.

U: It’s continuing. I mean, we’re into…2008, 2009, 2010…I mean, he’s not there physically, but he is there, isn’t he?

P: Yes, the force, the vibration. They’re still very present on the course; perhaps even more so, because before the runners could depend on Guru being there two or three times a day – they could run from visit to visit. Now, to succeed, they have to create that. It’s incumbent on each one of them to reach for that. Now that feeling is perhaps even a little bit thicker – he’s more present.

U: You were here, of course, for many of the years that Guru was here at the race. Did you ever get the impression—some anecdote or story, that puts a physical, or puts a name, on the race and your experience of the race.

P: Well, that’s a challenge. I’m sure he has, and you’d have to…I did spend a lot of time with Sri Chinmoy personally and intimately, and work on Guru. But in a general sense, not only did Guru visit the race two and three times a day, but when I was with him in the afternoons, his awareness, his sensibility, his attention, his concern, was always at the race. He would talk about them, and he’d say, oh, this one has such a nice smile when he’s running, or this or that, or this or that.  Definitely Guru was all the time present with the runners, even when he wasn’t there.

Pradhan Interview Part 2

Car drivers zipping past are probably unaware of what takes place just yards from the street.  The gaze of pedestrians making their meandering way up the sidewalk however must certainly be drawn in befuddlement at the unique creations that begin to appear there just over the fence during the steamy heart of every late summer.

It all seems to all happen in a brief yet explosive burst of activity.  One moment there will be piles of lumber, great mounds of bagged sugar, or enough popcorn to feed several circus crowds many times over.  The whys and wherefores of this puzzle are easily understood when you learn that the man behind the unusual goings on is Ashrita Furman.  He is a human tsunami wave of energy and enthusiasm.   It is he who is the creator and breaker of the most Guinness book records ever and is the instigator of the unusual constructions that appear across the wide expanse of rugged green lawn.

It has happened for many years now that Ashrita and a crew of fellow disciples have engineered and manufactured world record marvels in order to honor their spiritual teacher Sri Chinmoy.  Since his passing in 2007 the tradition has continued.  Last year a giant edible  lollipop was constructed.  This year Ashrita decided upon building the worlds largest see saw.  Don’t ask me why, and came up with the dimensions of 79 feet long to match what would have been Sri Chinmoy’s age on his birthday August 27th.

Yuyudhan is this years job foreman and when I come upon him first he was in the early stages of trying to put together this typical playground apparatus, but of the almost impossible dimensions.  His good humored reply as to how he got involved, “trickery.  We have got 2/3rds of a teeter totter going here, or what some in England would call a see saw.”

It is still fairly early in the building stage and it appears that there are few, if any glitches that are likely to slow the inevitable progress of its construction in time for its final installation on the 27th.  For now Yuyudhan and his crew are trying to just get the object assembled and see if it is going to work.

At this point in its construction he says, “we are just trying to get things going.  We are now assembling 2 of the 3 main pieces of the see saw.” He then admits that some wrong bolts where purchased which will have to be replaced.  Only a small inconvenience.

He has been working for almost a week at this point and it becomes clear that there has been a real collaboration on its design.  In some mysterious way, a crew seems to come together almost spontaneously, of the right capacity and number, at just the right time each year as well.  He says that Bishwas was principally responsible for designing the stand and that he did much of the structural fine tuning of the see saw portion.

When asked  where the ‘trickery’ came in with his involvement he says, “I was supposed to build it, and not get into the design and all that.”  Clearly though he is relishing his involvement in constructing the world’s biggest see saw.  As simple as it appears it takes real skill to super size such a simple device.  He came up with some important ideas that would allow the see saw to achieve its great length with a minimal amount of weight.

He goes into some technical discussion on how and why he chose certain materials.  At this point it looks close to being operational but he says that is still a day away.  It will take at least 12 guys to pick up the see saw and put it in place on the stand.  This will happen in the next 24 hours he says.

The almost constant rain has been a major factor in slowing down the early production.  At this point he has August from Iceland and Keith from New Zealand as his crew.  He says, “It is not that hard for one or two people to put most of it together.  The problem is that once you get the sections together one or two people cannot lift this thing.”

He describes how the pivot in the middle will be 10 feet high and that the rider on the end of it will rise up 20 feet.  With all the trees in the yard I wonder how it is even possible to adequately test the see saw.  “It will fit,” he states categorically.  He also has been designated as one who will have the dubious distinction of being the first test pilot, I mean rider. He is convinced all will go well.  “It is going to be a great teeter totter and a record breaker.”

Yuyudhan interview

On the next day, which was the 26th, I come back again and speak with August and Keith, who are busy working with a nail gun as we talk.  The pop of the fired nails punctuates our conversation.  “We are putting a skin on it right now,” says August.  “A piece of plywood to make it look nice.”  The compressor goes on as we talk and adds to the incredible cacophony of sound.  Keith jokes, “I am a noisy worker.  We are not running out of time but we are just pushing on with the job.  We have got to get it done.”    At this point it is starting to look like a real see saw.  “We are almost there.”

Earlier in the day they had actually tried the whole thing out.  Everything has gone extremely well.  “When we lifted it up it was perfectly balanced.  Just like a see saw should be.”  All reports point out as well that the first riders enjoyed the ride as well.  August tells me that on the 27th they are going to need 30 boys in order to transport the see saw down to its final destination where it will officially be measured and tested.  At the moment the see saw is resting on the 6 foot level.  It can and might be raised much higher.  Keith says, “it works, it is a great construction.  It is really well balanced, gives it a lovely ride.”

August and Keith Interview

Arpan is also one who has helped since the early stages.  It is now operational and he describes it, “It looks awesome.  It is Yuyudhan’s creative genius, absolutely.  That it works.  That it works well.  And that it is so big.  It is unbelievable.”  At this point he is eager to take a test drive.  He knows a lot of work went into the project and describes the rain as being one of the obstacles that made going much tougher.  Of Yuyudhan he says, “he took a good attitude and was calm about the whole thing.”

Arpan interview

On the final morning of the 27th the site is busy with final touches.  Papaha tells me proudly, “I am the art director for the world’s largest teeter totter.  We were thinking of some pretty elaborate designs.”  He says that in the end they decided to create something that would look as though it would fit into a typical playground.  “That made my job a lot easier.”

He describes that he chose primary colors.  In selecting them he checked out what was the norm in see saws around the world.  “We wanted the bright happiness affect.  You don’t want to take away from the simple joy of what you have created.”  He has described his own ride on the see saw as, “all smiles.”

“In the beginning you are starring at someone 79 feet away from you.  And both of you have this unbelievable smile on your face.  Then you look down when you get up and it is, holy smokes we are really going up in the air.”  In this mode the rider goes up 12 feet, when it is placed in its maximum setting the rider can go up 21 feet.

Papaha Interview

Transporting the pieces from the yard to the driveway is a big job.  At this time of year there is no lack of volunteers and everyone enjoys being part of something as much fun and as historic as this project is.

Once all the pieces are in the driveway there is still lots of work left to do.

Bishwas directs much of the final bits of the assembly.  Many people like Daulot have played their part as well.

Once the stand is safely assembled than a large group of boys has to lift the heavy see saw up and onto it.

Ashrita has been overseeing the operation from the beginning.  Now he has the all important task of taking the final measurements to ensure the see saw will be recognized by the Guinness book of records.  And yes folks get to actually ride the see saw.  First up is the man who responsible for putting it all together.

To all those who have helped and to all those who simply want to enjoy the joyous spectacle of the world’s biggest see saw, on what would have been Sri Chinmoy’s 79th birthday, Ashrita made this announcement.

“For the purposes of the record, a see saw is defined as a long narrow board or beam that is suspended in the middle, so that as one end goes up the other end goes down.  The see saw must be fully functional, and people must be able to use the item normally.  The components of the see saw must be properly fixed together.  It is not enough to lay a beam across an edge and lay a beam across it.  So this, conforms to all those rules, and is made of all the components of a regular see saw.  It is made out of wood and has some steel components.”

“It measures 79 feet long, because it is Sri Chinmoy’s 79th birthday.  Sri Chinmoy gives us joy throughout the year so we chose something that would give him the most joy.”  At this point he offers rides to the assembled crowd, but says that the first up should be Yuyudhan, as he had contributed the most in making this world record see saw.

Hundreds who will ride it over the next 24 hours will get to enjoy this, instantaneous joy, and certain to give you a smile, gigantic toy.  For both young and old, big and small, it will spontaneously rekindle the sweet simple happiness of being a child. It magically happens the moment you climb on board and start to rise effortlessly up high into the air.  Or in the case of a little girl like Shakti, who gets to ride with her mom, create an unforgettable sweet memory.  One that will give her pause to smile for the rest of her life.  One in which she was part of a world record and also just had fun.

Ashrita speech

Click to play Golden Time

After the run, and still slightly out of breath, he invited all who were there to come and run the New York city marathon in the fall of the year.  It was an invitation that would spread out far and wide, to all of his students everywhere.   Running the New York city marathon became a tradition that continued for many years until 2002, when the marathon team then sponsored their own race in August during the yearly celebrations.

There were of course many recent events in the year leading up to June 1 1978, that had given us strong clues that distance running would become the next big thing in the center.  The Liberty Torch relay had crisscrossed America just 2 years earlier and Canada’s Oneness Heart had traversed the country from coast to coast the summer before. From these events Sri Chinmoy’s students had received a small sampling of what running could accomplish both within and without.  He was obviously inspired to provide even more opportunities for the young men and women in the center so that they might find opportunities to excel and transcend themselves in sport.  No one realized of course that Sri Chinmoy the sprinter would soon become a distance runner himself.

Click to play Practice

What no one knew, on that cool spring day, was that an even greater opportunity for progress was soon to arrive.  It would come even before most could even digest fully the significance of running the 26 mile marathon in New York.

A few of us had been fortunate enough to be just slightly ahead of the pack.  A handful had run the 1976 NYC marathon and an even greater number, including myself had run in 1977. But a little more than a month after this recording was made, and probably less than a month before his 47th birthday, Sri Chinmoy offered us all a totally surprising and unprecedented invitation.  Starting at midnight, on August 27th, when his 47th birthday was to begin we were all invited to run in a 47 mile race.

Many years have passed since we all heard this news.  It is a distance now that is minuscule when compared to the thousands of miles that are now run regularly in many of the marathon teams scheduled events.  At the time however it was such a formidable number that even the young, trained, and very fit runners could not really comprehend how it could be done.  To make it even more interesting it was to be run on a course that started on the gritty cinder track of Jamaica high school and then meander around the outer block with its bumpy sidewalks, sharp turns, and the formidable Margaret Tietz hill.  It was an unbelievable challenge and most had no idea what to expect.  It was after all almost twice as far as a marathon.  It was hard to even imagine if we could make it to the track for that last victory lap and still be able to grab the flag and make it through to the finish line.

No one can truly comprehend the totality of a Spiritual Master.  Safe to say his task is to be but pure guidance, compassion and love for his disciples.  He never forces anyone to do anything beyond their capacity and, he has a clear insight of what course will take us most directly and speedily  to our goal.  We may not ever understand him, but we do have the obligation of understanding and developing fully our relationship to our spiritual Master.  This comes in many ways and over time.  Principally through spiritual practices and disciplines is it gradually and steadily nurtured and obtained. Over a life time it slowly evolves and blossoms.  Each day more and more is revealed but most of us have a limited capacity for serious and lengthy meditation.  To transfer sedentary  meditation to active distance running is another matter.  It is a unique way to occupy the mind and body with the challenge of long distance while simultaneously allowing the heart to come to the for.

What I, and most of us discovered that first night we ran the 47 mile race was that this race would be like no other. It was a unique and dynamic spiritual act in its own right.   True it would be hard, long, and difficult but the reward we all gained over the hours on the road were immeasurable.  For many it was but one long sustained meditation.  An opportunity to see that even in the most difficult things in life, our teacher, Sri Chinmoy, was in fact acting in and through us.  By simply letting go of our limitations he would open up our inner unbounded capacity and we would be able to see, that in fact. nothing was impossible, if it was truly inspired from within.

But there was something more about running throughout the long dark night of the 47.  Every moment you could not help but be aware that it was our Guru’s birthday.  That whatever inner connection you felt or held in your heart for your spiritual teacher was almost always constantly present with each step and with each additional mile achieved on our way towards the goal.  You could not help but be conscious of all the countless things that he had done to inspire your life, for the love and affection he provided,  and the guidance and care that can only come from one who has accepted a deep and personal responsibility for your spiritual life.  In other words it was impossible while running to not be aware of just how lucky we all were to have a true teacher, and be offered a unique and golden opportunity to help in our inner growth.  And to add to all this, on 2 occasions he himself ran the full distance running with us over the course of the long dark night.

I am not sure at what moment I really understood what the 47 really meant to me.  The first race was 32 years ago.   I seem to recall however, that even from my first step that took us all forward, about 12:07 that night, that for me this race would be my gift to Sri Chinmoy.  There was nothing I had that he needed or wanted.  He was all about giving to his his students.  In return the least I could offer to him was my absolute best effort and my heart’s dedication in this 47 mile race.  A gift that I gave for quite a few years and is one that many still find able to give even today.

47 mile photos by Bhashwar

It is late and the final moments of day are swiftly passing.  Midnight looms ever closer with its own special thrill and excitement.  The first thing most notice, despite the lateness of the hour is that no one is sleepy, no one is tired, the expectation and wonder of it all is fast approaching.

Even if one cannot manage to run 47 miles the race requires the help of many.  Over the night the counters will be replaced by a second crew.

Remarkably there are many runners here who also ran the marathon just 2 days ago.  Teekhnata ran a 3:56 marathon.

For many this will be the first time they have run this distance.  19 year old Antara-Prarabhat remarkably ran his first marathon 2 days ago in 4:25.  Now he will run his first 47.  Vilupti recently had her 47th birthday.  She could think of nothing better to honor her Guru than to run the race for her first time.

30 Years ago tonight Virendra set the record of 5:09 that has never been equaled.  Others like Dipali have a winning streak that goes back to 1983.  Tonight is also her 52nd birthday.

Kaneenika also ran the marathon 2 days ago in 3:51.

Before the race each face shares a different story.

Everyone prepares in such different ways for the long road ahead.

And yet the goal remains the same for everyone.

Then as midnight at last draws close it becomes so wonderfully still and tranquil.  The invocation is sung as it has always been done.  The air is still cool and fresh.  A perfect night to run.  A perfect way to become.

From the very start it is abundantly clear that Vajin is going to have an exceptional night.  Unlike many of the other runners he has passed up running the marathon in order to concentrate solely on the 47.  Last year he ran a personal best and set a record for the second best time ever run on the course, 5:27.

From the start he runs strongly and it appears likely that if all goes well he will transcend himself.  What most hold their breath about is if he will in fact be able to surpass the great record set by Virendra exactly 30 years ago tonight.

For Dipali this is her race as well.  She has spent practically every birthday here doing this same thing for nearly 30 years.  She seems to have always been victorious no matter her condition.  She will take the lead for the women from the moment she rounds the track and heads out onto 168th st.

It seems like for hours that Vajin and Granantan run together.  They are training partners together in Christchurch and set a comfortable pace and rhythm as they run together.

Granantan Interview

Sometime during the night Granantan, who had run a 2:41 marathon 2 days earlier has to take a bathroom break.  When he gets back on the course he is running just a little bit slower with the hope of Vajin catching him up.  I think it must be a great opportunity to do an interview, since now he is running at least a little slower.  In case you are wondering, he was still plenty fast.  At that time he still had hopes of being able to complete the double and finish the 47 as well.

Prasasta, Vajin’s wife is his handler over the course of the long night.  She waits patiently for his arrival each lap with coconut water and an energy bar.  She is very excited when we talk about 2 hours into the race.  At this point Vajin is running on his own as Granatan had to briefly leave the course.

“He is on pace, he is doing like 7:30 minutes (per lap).”  They have calculated the time necessary in order to break Virendra’s record.  In the second half he can slow down to an 8 minute per lap pace.

Prasasta Interview

“We just came together.  It is definitely nice to have someone with me.”(Dhavala)  2 days ago both Dhavala and Jayasalini had run the marathon.  Their finishing times were within 4 minutes of each other.  Extremely close.  Now, almost from the beginning of the race they run side by side in an extraordinary act of oneness between two of the top competitors.

Jayasalini says it all, “I just love to run together.  It definitely helps, and it is much easier to keep up the speed, and you feel oneness.”  Before the race Jayasalini tells me that someone had come to her before it and had told her how important the 47 mile race was to Sri Chinmoy.  They suggested that one could achieve inwardly all the necessary progress that was needed over the 2 week celebration just by running the race.

Hearing this for her, after having run the marathon just 2 days earlier was a powerful inspiration to come and run this race as well.  “Now I am just really enjoying the race.”

When I ask the two girls if they have talked much during the night they both laugh out loud.  “We are friends.”

When asked what they were talking about Dhavala says, “she told me all about the 10 day race.” More laughter.

They also both feel that being in the race is an opportunity to give back something and to be grateful.  They also recognize that there is tremendous energy available to all who participate and that for the rest of the night they will try and simply go with it.

Jayasalini and Dhavala interview

“It is an incredibly special race.”  Uddipan has run the race at least 5 times before.  “It is an utterly sacred race.  It is an experience.  Not really a race.  People who go hard out and race it only, I don’t think they get the whole thing.  It is a total blessing on your entire life.”  He also feels that it is the best possible way to give something deep and significant back to the teacher on whose birthday the race is run.

On his strategy, “you have to run within yourself.  Run easy for the marathon  See where you are at timing whys, at the marathon.  You have just over another 20 miles to do and see what you got left.  The race really starts for me after the marathon (26 miles).

Part of his strategy in being able to stay within is to chant prayers, which he had just done for an hour and a half.  He also has one of Sri Chinmoy’s songs which he sings to himself as he runs that gives him strength and as well a rhythm to match his foot steps.

Uddipan interview

Lots of preparation goes into preparing food for the runners.  This year Sugandha has a small army of cooks helping her prepare food at the Smile of the Beyond.  Quantity is important, but most importantly not short cuts are taken when it comes to quality.  There are many hungry folks out there all night besides the runners.  The helpers also spend many long hours there as well.

Sugandha interview

“I feel happy.”  The appearance of first time runner Vilupti at the race this year is a surprise of everyone but her.  “I just turned 47 about a month ago, so I am running the 47 to honor Guru for my 47 years.  In January it came to me that it was my 47th year, and I wanted to do something special, because the year sounded so special.”  She admits that she is not a great runner.  Instead she finds that participating for her is a humble offering to her late teacher for all that he did for her.  “In gratitude for everything.”

Vilupt Interview

There is music of all kinds out on the course.  For those who cannot run the full distance there is always some small part they can play to take part.Girls singing 1

Girls singing 2

2 days ago Garbitashri ran a superb marathon.  Her time of 3:02 gave her the best time of all the other women runners.  Her closest competitor, Dhavala, was some 13 minutes back.  Late in the evening she passes Dipali for the overall women’s lead in the 47 and then an injury appears.  She comes limping up the street and meets Tarit.  She asks for advice and he gently suggests she call it a night.  The race is over for Garbitashri a great champion.

“I am trying to enjoy myself, and it is not too hard to do.  The 47 gives me a chance to give a response back to self doubt.  In a very tangible way.”  For Jeremy self doubt means telling him things like you are not prepared or ready to run such a distance.

He is has run the race 3 times and has had much different experiences each time he has run. He says that running the race 4 years ago was his first ultra distance race.  “It was difficult and I had some rough spots.  I had to pray a lot, and gut it out.  The finish was really tearful for me, as I was so happy to have made it through.”

The second year he was more confident but there is always new experiences to be gained in each race here.  “The experience was much more in line with what I felt deep inside my capacities were.  I had been a strong marathoner but was fairly new to ultra running.”  He is relaxed and comfortable as we run together.  He tells me that Sri Chinmoy and his disciples have left a lasting impression on this race and on the course.  “There is definitely something special here.”

“Tonight I just want to experience cheerfulness.  It is my only goal.”     Jeremy interview

“For me it is so nice, because I haven’t participated in this race for many years.” Suprabha has the best possible excuse not to have run the race in a long time, as she has spent 13 summers across the street running the 3100 mile race.  This year she was not able to run and so has run the marathon and as well the 47.  She says simply, “I am happy to be here again.”

Her running partner for a good deal of the race is Palash.  She likes it because, “it feels completely sacred.”  She tells me that at this point she has no idea of even what lap she is on.  Her hope is purely to make it to the finish line and be able to complete the race holding the banner.  “It is always a real thrill and a highlight of the whole year, and a privilege.”  For her the race is a unique experience in being able to offer herself on this most auspicious day.  Her Guru’s  birthday.

Suprabha and Palash interview

Wonderful things happen all the time throughout the night.  Jagadata started playing his guitar and soon found himself with vocalists.   Jagadata’s music

Then again having willing helpers giving out cups of water all night is wonderful too.

Pratyaya has been race directing since the beginning.  She has been helped by many others who have continued from year one as well.

Vajin will have a transcendent race.  Last year he broke the second best time by several minutes and this year he manages to take off another 12 minutes of his own record.  His official time is 5:15:06.  I had a chance to speak with a very elated Vajin and friends shortly after his finish.  He modestly calls his effort last night, “a step in the right direction.”

“It was a very intense experience, but at the same time a very rewarding experience.  Specially right at the end, the last few laps.  There was so much encouragement and support out on the course.  It was really in the last few laps that the mind had really had enough running at that intensity and speed for so long.  So you really have to get in touch with yourself.”

“On one level it was so intense and painful and on another level so fulfilling and spiritual.”

As he is speaking his best friend Granantan is massaging his legs.  “We do much of our training together, and he very kindly entered the race after running the marathon and getting second place in that.  He has got real oneness, that he could come out and run together.”  He also is very glad to have his wife Prasasta at the track helping out all night.  “It was really nice have her here this year.  She is great support for my running and for my training.”

“The race is great, it is such a long journey.  Just getting to the starting line, and getting in your best shape as possible is not a one day, one week, or one month thing.  It takes real dedication for such a long period of time to get into shape and run 47 miles as fast as you can.  It is like at the end of the day the journey (training) is so rewarding  the race is like icing on the cake.  It is like a celebration.  It is so nice, because your training is so solid and then you come here and race.  And then there is all the people here.  There is such a beautiful sense of oneness and support from all your brothers and sisters from all over the world.  It is such nice thing to share something that I have worked so hard at.”  As well he hopes that his love of the race and commitment to it can inspire others.

It was 30 years ago tonight that the record for the race was set by Virendra.  “Last year I was like 17 or 18 minutes away, which is a long way.”  With his 5:15 he feels very grateful.  Over the years no one has been within 30 minutes of the 5:09 record.  “It is nice to show people that it is still possible.  That is what we all are looking for is progress.  So it is nice to see things moving in the right direction, and hopefully, in the next few years we see someone run under that time.”

Vajin Interview

At this hour there is still only a whisper of light in the sky.  Many hours of running remain for most who are running the 47.

“I am very grateful that I was able to run under 6 hours.” Tim’s time of 5:57 is remarkable.  That he ran a personal best of 2:50 in the marathon places it in the category of an extraordinary achievement.  It is a time that in most other years would have won this race but his fellow Kiwi Vajin’s incredible effort has sky rocketed that place out of most mere mortal’s grasp.

Of his night he says, “I am very happy.  I felt quite good, there was a lot of encouragement which really helped me a lot.  I had a good helper, he was keeping me on track.”  I tell him how amazed I am that he was able to do so well in both races.  “I think when we put the effort in, the help comes.”

Tim Interview

The presence of one young runner on the course is also especially remarkable.  19 year old Antara-Prabhat will look back upon this summer as one of many firsts.  2 days ago he ran his first marathon in 4:24.  Tonight he is running as well the 47.  His proud mother has been there most of the morning encouraging him.  As the sun grows bright he seems to run even stronger than before.  Of his racing, his mom says, “he didn’t even properly train for it.  He told me a month before the marathon.  I am going to run the marathon.”  She asked him if he had been doing any long runs, “well I ran 10 miles yesterday.  I guess he did one 15 mile run since then.  Antara-Prabhat’s mom

The music continues

Strings

Paree Group

If Vajin’s finish was not amazing enough than the appearance of Jayasalini and Dhavala crossing the line hand in hand to win the women’s race had to be a first in terms of oneness.  It is hard to recall ever seeing anything so extraordinarily beautiful as the 2 girls circling the course as one for the 6 hours and 41 minutes that it took them to complete the distance.

Jayasalini, “we supported each other so amazingly.  Only in oneness could we complete it.”  As they speak with me the figure of Dipali strides onto the track.  You can hear the girls and in fact everyone on the track cheer. Jayasalini and Dhavala finish

She is just 3 minutes behind but it is the first time in many years that the race has not been hers alone to win. Her face clearly reveals that she had nothing else left to give tonight.  “I felt like I gave 200%.  My body was definitely very weak, in the last 10 laps”  In those last laps she had a profound sense that not only was she sharing birthdays with her late spiritual teacher but also that she was making a deep and heartfelt attempt to offer the results of her race cheerfully and self givingly.  “I feel so grateful, just to finish. I am so proud of everybody who does this race.  It is not easy.” Dipali Interview

There are so many powerful transformative experiences to be had here.  To discover unity in which usually there is only competition.  To find joy in ways in which, on the surface, joy is not easily found.  The 47 mile race has been touching people and transforming runners for 32 years.  New generations will discover their own joy and meaning in coming here and circling the track 40 times.  It is a unique day of opportunity for all who have attempted to follow in the spiritual, and the very real foot steps of Sri Chinmoy.

Tomaz is exhausted.  Tonight he ran the 47 in 6:44.  Two days ago he also ran a 3:08 marathon.  It is also the first time he has run the 47.  He didn’t have any expectations of what would happen here.  “I just started running and let’s see what happens.”

First I had a lot of joy and happiness and speed, than suddenly I have some problems.” He will be back and run again next year.

Tomaz Interview

They are the ones that defy age.  They have run here for 32 years and show no sign of giving up any time soon.  Arpan’s feet bother him so much he runs in plastic clogs.  His time will be 8:13.  Gaurima runs with more joy and energy than can be contained within 2 running shoes.

Vilupti perseveres throughout a long remarkable night.  She simply has had no experience at running this distance and yet she continues.  Continues through nausea, through a Himalayan ordeal of woes, and yet finds victory in the waning minutes of the race.  Her time of 9:52 is a great achievement for someone who suddenly found themselves at age 47, and coming face to face with a race of that same distance.

If she had limitations during the race she simply refused to listen and give in.  Once again proving that we are always much much more than what appears to be.  How so seldom we dip deep into the well of our true capacities and attempt to really offer what we have and what we are.

For Vilupti, if not all who have run here tonight, they have shared not just a long road through the dark night but also they have been one with a golden bright opportunity.  They had a chance to feel the presence of their spiritual teacher in their hearts like in no other way.  To draw inspiration, to draw strength and to draw his love.  In return they only had to give of themselves 47 miles of running in his name.  To offer this simple gift in return for something priceless beyond measure.

“My Beloved Supreme, I have some gifts for You. My first gift is my soulful cry. My second gift is my fruitful smile. My third and special gift is my oneness-heart. My fourth and extra-special gift is my gratitude-fame.”

“My child, I am all gratitude to you, and I have also a gift for you. This is My gift: I need you infinitely more than you can ever imagine. With you I started My Vision’s journey; with you I shall reach My Reality’s Satisfaction-Goal.”Excerpt from Everest Aspiration Part 3 by Sri Chinmoy

by Pavitrata

A native of  Iceland, for the last few weeks he has been in Columbia with a group of Icelandic friends.  They are here conducting meditation classes in various parts of the country.  His visit here, which is just over 5,000 miles from his home, is not unique. For many years, he traveled for a few weeks each year, during the winter months, with his late spiritual teacher Sri Chinmoy.  It is a tradition that has continued on.  Besides his 3 Icelandic friends he is also joined here with a group of about 100 fellow students of Sri Chinmoy from around the world, who are enjoying the groups first visit to Columbia.  Over the years Snatak has visited dozens of countries, and he has seen his own spiritual life blossom.   He has also attempted to share the philosophy and the teachings of Sri Chinmoy, wherever he goes.

“I am a spiritual farmer. God, out of His infinite Bounty, has entrusted me with the task of plowing the spiritual land. This is my first visit to your beautiful island. I have been here for about four hours. During these four hours, I have felt the Indian consciousness here in Iceland. India’s natural beauty I have observed here; India’s inner peace I have felt here. My presence here makes me feel that my life of aspiration and your life of aspiration in the inner world have built a bridge between spiritual India and spiritual Iceland. My Indian heart offers its soulful gratitude to your hearts of aspiration, for it is you who have given me the opportunity to be of dedicated service to you today. Nothing gives me greater joy than to be of dedicated service to the Supreme inside aspiring human beings.”

Excerpt from My Rose Petals, Part 4 by Sri Chinmoy.

“When I was 13 I was drawn towards books on yoga, and spiritual questions.  I found it fascinating.”  At a very precocious ages he discovered the first yearnings of a spiritual life, stirring within himself.  “I felt that this was the way to go.  I remember reading the yoga book by Patanjali.  I felt that this was the real thing.  I just didn’t know how to do it.  I felt I had to do something.”

by Pavitrata

In 1975, when he was 14, one of the most painfully ironic moments of his life took place. Sri Chinmoy came to Iceland for the second time, and gave a talk in the small town of Akureyri, where he was living.  It has a population of only about 17,000.   One day, while his mother was at work, she heard from some friends, that a talk was being given by an Indian Yogi in a small hall in the town.  The next day she described the experience to her son.  “When I came into the hall it was like walking into a wall.  It was just so powerful.  This man he can’t live very long, because he is giving off all this energy.  It was like walking into a wall of power.”

He admits to being disappointed at the time, that he had not been able to attend the talk himself.  His mother had gone spontaneously, and he says, it took place in the days before mobile phones.  He says with a sweet smile, “there was a real yogi in town and I missed him.” She did however purchase a book at the time and brought it home to him.   He was much impressed with what he read.  Of the experience of reading the words of Sri Chinmoy for the first time, he says emphatically, “He was not fooling around.”  The book included all the requirements, that one must accept, if one wanted to apply to become his disciple.  It was all very new to him.  He describes the time as the Hippy period.  When young men, such as himself, wore their hair long.  The book was a tantalizing guide post to a life journey, that he himself would one day take.  Yet there was no clue he says, of how to pursue this teacher, or his path at that time.

A year later he happened to go into a bookstore, where there was a small collection of Sri Chinmoy’s books.  “I bought all of them.  That was it. From then on I was just reading Guru’s books.  I couldn’t help myself.  I was reading them an hour a day.  This was my spiritual nourishment for many many years.”  He recalls trying to write a letter to Sri Chinmoy during this period, but he simply had no idea where to send it.  He was  filled with such enthusiasm by what he was reading, that he would sometimes spontaneously find himself speaking to others, about this spiritual teacher that he was reading.  From the beginning he felt it was important to inspire others, and to share the philosophy that he was learning from Sri Chinmoy’s books.

When it came time for him to go to University, he decided that he would enroll in a University in America.  Thinking, that perhaps if he came to the U.S., then he would at last be able to locate Sri Chinmoy in person.  He eventually received a scholarship to attend a University in Virginia called Washington and Lee, in Lexington.  He says that without fail, during each school break, he would come to New York.  Both during Easter and the Christmas break.  His seemingly simple dream was that, “I would go to New York and try and find Sri Chinmoy.”  It would not be until his second year of school, 1983, and on his 4th visit there, that he at last found the elusive prize, he had been seeking for such a long time.

He describes a less than fashionable bookstore in the Village,  as the place where he would at last get the real clue to end his quest.  Stuck to a pole in the basement of the shop was a “tinier than the tiniest invitation by the students of Sri Chinmoy offering mediation classes.”  There was a phone number that you could rip off.  “That was it.  I ripped off the number and went outside and called the number.”  It turns out that he was calling at a fortuitous time.  A public concert was soon about to take place in Manhattan.

It was now 8 years since his mother had first attended the talk in Iceland.  Like all great adventures however, his story did not conclude, at least not just then, with a eureka moment of realization.  He went to the concert with a school friend, who he says, was in a hurry to get back to Virginia.  Because of this he had no opportunity to browse the book table, or chat with anyone in the group, before he had to leave.  He admits however that his mind was not in a receptive space.  He says of it now, “it was going overtime.”  Clearly his time had not yet come.  He says that regardless of how unreceptive he was at that moment, “at least I had seen Guru.”

The next year, he went to England to study music.  He admits, “I became very very unhappy.  By my second year in England, I was really depressed.  Here I was trying to find a spiritual path for 9 years, and I hadn’t found anything! So at that point, every night before I went to sleep, I prayed and prayed like crazy, for many months, for me to find a spiritual master. ” Eventually he came across a poster at his school in Manchester, offering mediation classes, once again by the students of Sri Chinmoy.  He says, “that was it.”  The the class was being given by Bhavani, who came up there from London regularly, to give the class.

He tells me that at the end of the class, he asked her, that if he wrote a letter to Sri Chinmoy, could she give it to him.  He describes the relief he felt, to be able to at last write a letter to Sri Chinmoy, and know for certain that he would receive it.  The experience he recalls, was so gratifying , that he felt himself unreservedly shedding tears.  “I really asked for guidance.”  He also included a photograph of himself.  A short time later, he received a post card from Bhavani saying, that he had been accepted as a disciple. It was April of 1985. This news brought him tremendous joy and hope.  At this memory he lets out a “Wowwwww” sound, as he describes the feeling of elation he experienced.  “Of course my problems were not over, but I felt as something really significant had happened there.  I could feel it.  There was something going on.”

He says that when he heard that he was accepted to Sri Chinmoy’s path, he wanted to get on the first plane he could, and immediately fly to New York and see him.  It was quickly decided however, that he could come for the August celebration that summer.  When he got there he says,”I had a fantastic time.  I couldn’t get enough.  There were moments there when I just knew I had found the real thing.” He describes how he had powerful and profound meditation experiences.  It was as though he was at last having the kind of spiritual life he had been only able to read about years earlier.  Of his meditations then he recalls,”I do not know where I went.  I was in tears.  I could not believe how beautiful it was.  I couldn’t get enough.”

Everyone’s first spiritual experiences are unique.  He, like most new students to a spiritual path, have really no idea where it would all lead to.  They just realize that now they are where their hearts truly belong.  That ultimately they will be guided, body, vital, mind, heart, and soul, to ever new and greater inner realities.  He says of this time, “I was soaking it in.  I had a great time.  There was no question.  Finally I had found the real thing.”

To some it may appear to be a cruel irony, to be searching for so long to find a spiritual teacher, when for at least for a brief time, he must have been only a few blocks away.  In 1975 Sri Chinmoy almost magically arrived to give a talk in his small village, and yet only his Mother was there to see him.  He describes how he tried to learn and practice meditation by reading books, but he describes the results as painfully meagre.  Ultimately, it is only when the student is at last fully ready, that they at last find themselves himself being drawn into the all encompassing protection and guidance of a spiritual path.

The task that now lay in front of him, soon became clear.  By this time there was just one student in Iceland, so he decided to go back and live in his native country.  “I felt compelled,” he describes, and from that moment on he has been giving meditation classes here and there, and became the leader of the Iceland center.  He says, that he simply wanted to, “increase the awareness of what Guru was all about.”  Among the events he organized was the first Peace run there in 1987, which he describes as, “a tremendous success.”  It is clear that he was inspired, by what he was experiencing in his own spiritual life.   With this inspiration he worked hard, to share this experience with as many people as possible.  “I had lots of enthusiasm.  I had lots of energy.”  Humbly he adds to this,  that he may not always have gotten it right, but nonetheless he enjoyed very much, this ever unfolding new life committed to spirituality, and the path of Sri Chinmoy.

I ask him why it is, that it appears as though Iceland has been so successful, compared to its small size, in accepting spirituality.  He offers a simple succinct reply.  “If we work hard anything is possible.”

I then ask him if he had any significant personal experiences with his Guru that he might care to share.  Something, that would stand out, in the 22 years he had the great opportunity to spend in the presence of Sri Chinmoy.   Without pause, he describes for me a concert, that took place in Iceland in 1988.  It had been a long time since Sri Chinmoy had last been to the country, something like 13 years.  Despite this fact, it seems that the Icelandic people had learned so much about Sri Chinmoy.  He tells me that he was so well known, that he was even the topic of a question, in a local televised quiz show.  “Who lifted 7,000 lbs. with one hand?”  The answer was immediate by the contestants.  Snatak says, “so many people knew.”

The concert was once again a big success.  As Sri Chinmoy was about to leave from the airport, he walked directly over to Snatak, and stood in front of him.  Sri Chinmoy praised him, and repeated this to him, again and again with such love and affection.  His reaction to this unexpected attention he recalls, “I just lost it.”  A flood of tears came over him, and he felt at that moment, the soulfully deep, and profoundly sweet connection, that existed between himself and Sri Chinmoy.  For him it was a one of the most cherished moments in his life.  One, that took place with such incredible inner intensity, but also one, in which he still feels the love and inner connection he shared with his teacher.

From his very early years as a student of  Sri Chinmoy, he would take part every year, in the annual Christmas Trip.  Starting first in Malta, he who would journey with his teacher to various parts of the world, each year the trip gradually getting longer and longer.  “It was fantastic.”  He describes the informality of these trips and that Sri Chinmoy would be available and accessible almost all day long.  He describes the spontaneous creativity that took place when his teacher was present on these trips.  For hours at a time Sri Chinmoy would be composing songs, or painting, or exercising.  The list of activities that flowed across the day, and well into the night, was endless.  He describes that for him these experiences exemplified, what he dreamed and felt the true spiritual life is all about.  The closeness and intimacy of the trips with his spiritual teacher, felt like for him, as though it were a very fulfilling traveling ashram. For him even now, in this new era, he still feels reinvigorated by the Christmas trips.  He feels the unique sense of oneness that comes with traveling with those he looks upon as members of his spiritual family.  And that when you are visiting different countries in this way, your problems seem to pale into insignifcance.  “I feel it is really important to come on it.  For me the trip is still a priority.”

by Pavitrata

For Snatak, this is now his 3rd trip to Columbia.  He is busy, along with some others, also giving classes here, but he is as well,  participating in all the camaraderie and activities, that are part and parcel of this new Christmas trip experience.  His trip this year, started some weeks ago in Guatemala, and will conclude almost 2 weeks later in Puerto Rico.  He says of the Christmas trip, “I really appreciate it. It really gives you a boost.” He is after all, part of a larger Spiritual family, that now is spread across much of Europe, but is only now really making progress in establishing itself in Latin America.

As he describes for me his own first tender steps toward the spiritual life, he also describes the understanding he has, that there are still more new students of Sri Chinmoy out there in the world waiting to make their own connection with his spiritual teacher.  In his heart he feels that there are countless ones, who have yet to be reached and inspired by Sri Chinmoy’s philosophy and his path.  The experience he says, for a new generation, will be different for each and every seeker.  Just as the experience of having a teacher was unique for each and every one who had a chance to be in his physical presence.  He says, it just depends on their aspiration.  “Sri Chinmoy will give them everything.  What they aspire for they will get.  I am 100% sure.”

Out of curiosity I asked once again about his Mother.  Did she ever have a chance to see Sri Chinmoy again.  He describes that she was able to be lifted by Sri Chinmoy in Iceland in 2003.  Sri Chinmoy said of his mom, “her heart was wide open.”

During this trip to Columbia, Snatak will celebrate his 49th birthday.  A few years ago he was diagnosed with a degenerative neurological problem but it seems not to slow him down hardly at all, as he completes a very busy unvacationlike daily schedule.  He can be found early most mornings, running on the flat Cartagena beach.  Not one to sit back and laze about under the sun, he looks forward to each new day as a divine opportunity.  He wants to manifest the great spiritual treasure that he feels he has been gifted as a student of Sri Chinmoy.  It has been a long journey for him, one he feels fortunate to have been able to take.  One that began decades and miles away and yet still continues at pace.

“It is only a matter of time before the whole world becomes aware of these treasures.  In the beginning it is a trickle, and then it becomes a stream, and eventually it becomes a river and then it becomes an ocean.”  He feels that it is a privilege to share this experience with the world.  I know that in the future the inspiration of Sri Chinmoy will go way beyond anything what we can imagine now. We had the opportunity to learn and we still have the opportunity to learn.  How to build this path upon oneness.  This our role.  We were chosen to bring this oneness of the heart into the world.  According to our inspiration and aspiration we try our best.  I am really excited about the opportunities that lie ahead.  I am having great fun.  It’s fun to be alive.”

Of course great dreams and divine opportunities can stride into one’s life at their own time and in their own unfathomable way.   It was the encouragement of one of her music teachers who was able to shift the focus of her life.  He, along with others, saw in her an unquestionable wealth of talent that she had as an athlete, that far surpassed her musical abilities. It was clear to many that her feet could move her much further and faster than her fingers.

So at age 14 she at last found herself able to be outdoors, but it was not at playing frivolous games.  Instead, she quickly became focused on the disciplined and challenging world of track and field.  As she talks about it today she speaks with an easy confidence, as if she was destined for the life of a world class sprinter.  She advanced very quickly in the sport and by the time she was 15 she was winning meets.  When she was just 17 she represented Russia at a World’s junior competition in the 100 meters.  She ran her personal best at this time which was 11.84.  She says of this experience, “I was a little bit scared but otherwise it was okay.”

She has been competing internationally now for more than a dozen years.  Her specialty has become both the 400 meters and 4×400 relay.  The track and field world knows her as Olesya Zykina, but to those who are her fellow students of the late Indian Spiritual teacher, she is Lelihana, which means the Climbing Flame.  When asked what her spiritual name means to her she says, “I like it.  It is beautiful, this is my name.  When it is difficult for me I repeat my name.”

New York now for her has become a very special place ever since she became a student back in 2007.  Her decision to devote herself to the spiritual life is of course a not so obvious choice as simply peering out from a school window and wishing to join the kids outside. The success and disappointments of our lives can appear to change the way we look at the world but sometimes simply the heart wants to travel forward quickly and leads us onward to a deeper goal within.  In Lellihana’s case it was her friendship with another Russian athlete, Sarbottama Tatyana Lebedeva who became a close friend to her on the Russain team.  She encouraged Lelihana to learn more about Sri Chinmoy and his teachings.

Sarbottama and her husband had been inspired by Sri Chinmoy for several years and she said of him, when he passed away in 2007, “We are grateful to the Supreme that in the course of life we met this man. Sri Chinmoy taught us to take correct decisions by listening to our hearts; he made us more spiritual. He is and will always be for us an inspirer, a wise Teacher, a worthy example. The intellectual and spiritual inheritance that Sri Chinmoy has left us gives us an opportunity to continue perfecting ourselves endlessly.”

Lotika, Lelihana, Bipula, three friends

Lelihana’s birthday was October 7th and this year she turned 29.  She visited Queens shortly afterward with  her good friend Lotika.  They are very comfortable in each others presence and one could easily imagine them to be playful sisters and not just friends.  Recently over breakfast at the Smile of the Beyond restaurant, Lelihana answered some questions about her life’s journey with Lotika offering smiles, encouragement, and some translating.

The anniversary of Sri Chinmoy’s passing was on the 11th and she and Lotika where here for the events that took place in and around that date.  Training for Lelihana of course continues.  The fall is usually a transition period for track athletes.  It is a time that exists between the outdoor and indoor competitive season.  Though her future is not clear, and she has no plans as of yet, she continued to train every morning while in New York.  For her traveling companion Lotika, it also means daily training sessions inspired by Lelihana.   “She is my friend for real and she is fun to be with.  She inspires me to run here.  We go out every morning.  I have already improved my 2 mile run time.”

Heart Garden anniversary run-Photo Jowan

I can remember all too well the first time I saw Lelihana run.  It was during a sports day competition in 2007.  These meets have been held every August, usually around the time of Sri Chinmoy’s birthday.  There were a few fine athletes competing, but none where anywhere near the caliber of an international athlete such as her.  Almost out of the blue, Sri Chinmoy then invited Lelihana to run her distance, the 400 meters.

When she bolted from her crouch in the starting position, there was simply no comparison between her and everyone else.  There had been a suggestion to give the other girls a 100 meter head start, but it was soon dismissed.  It was like watching a high performance race car hurtling forward being chased by puffing mopeds.  Even though she did not run at her top speed her awesome strength and power was evident with each long swift stride. Her red hair bobbed rhythmically as her heels flicked lightly up behind her.

You can see her winning form in the world indoor championship in March 2008

2008 World Indoor Championship

When she first came to New York in August of 2007 she says simply, “I wasn’t really searching.”  Yet from the first moment she saw Sri Chinmoy meditating and driving one of his little carts, “I simply felt that I wanted to please him and make him happy.”  It was all a very wonderful and different world for this ginger haired sprinter from Moscow.  But from the beginning she says, “I could feel his inner peace.  I could feel that he loves me.”

There are often many new experiences that occur within when one enters the spiritual life.  The inner connection between the student and teacher is one that is deeply personal and is unique to each and every seeker.  It is in and through this inner connection that the teacher inspires the student, and from that, the transformation of the inner life takes place.  There are no stop watches, no strides counted, no baton is passed, the goal is within.   It is clear that Lelihana has found herself once again on a new path, but this one lies within.  It is also one that has helped and inspired her as well in the outer world.  When the world indoor games came around the winter after she became a student, Lelihana won her first gold medal in 400 meter individual competition.

Sitting in the small Queens restaurant she is clearly at ease.  From time to time she looks wistfully out the window at the busy street.  There are a few brief silent moments when it seems as though she is searching for answers.  Finding the best words to describe the wealth of her inner and outer experiences.   It is for her after all, an amazing journey that she finds herself now taking.  Most of the time she simply laughs with ease.  When asked what she likes about the little Spiritual community in this Queens neighborhood she says, “I like that you people are always positive and always smiling.  I feel nice around you all, very comfortable.”

When asked what awaits her in a few days when she returns to Moscow her answer is, “I don’t know.  I don’t know when my next competition will be be, my coach and I haven’t made plans.”  When one examines her accomplishments it is a lengthy list. Her record of achievements stretches back more than a dozen years.  Many times she has appeared on the world stage.   At two Olympic games she has returned home with medals in the 4×400 relay.  She received a bronze medal in Sydney and a silver medal in Athens.  When asked whether or not the London games of 2012 are in her plans, she admits, “Yes this is my dream.  I don’t have a gold medal.” Also she still hopes to run the 400 meters under 51 seconds.

When asked if the World of music is gone for ever, she smiles with delight and laughs lightly.  “Now I am inspired to start playing again.”  As of yet, she has yet to purchase a piano.

When asked what Sri Chinmoy may have said to her, she smiles wistfully, recalling his conversation.  She says he told her how he used to run barefoot in competition when he was a young boy in India.

When asked what changes she has seen come over her in the past few years she says, “I became more patient.  I became kinder.  I became more attentive, more observant, and more responsive.  I have learned how to live day by day and get happiness just by living.  To be happy just because we are living.  To enjoy every single day.”

She admits however that she will miss New York when she returns to Moscow and the long winter ahead.  One in which indoor competition may or may not happen in late December and January for her.  She says, “I will miss the smiles.  I will miss the sincere joy of the people here and I will miss the sincerity.  I will try and preserve inside me, the light that I got here.”

She met Sri Chinmoy in person only during her short trip to New york, in the summer of 2007.  When asked what are her feelings about him are now she says, “I still want to please him when I do something. I also hope he is pleased at my self transcendence.”  She then tells me that on her birthday, October 7th 2007, just days before he passed, he called to wish her Happy Birthday.  It is clear that he spoke to her words that could inspire her for a life time. When asked how high the climbing flame in her can reach, she smiles with such sweetness and says, “I think if it wants to climb high, it can really climb high.”

For Guinness champion Ashrita Furman, who has often taken on simple child like pleasures and escalated them into herculean accomplishments the task of constructing the world’s biggest lollipop seemed like a worthy challenge.

On the anniversary of his spiritual teacher’s birthday he has often turned to creating extraordinary sweet treats to honor him.  In what would have been  Sri Chinmoy’s 77th birthday last August 27th he and a large group of students created a birthday cake with 47,000 lighted candles.

http://heartlotus.blogspot.com/2008/10/lighting-up-world.html

This year he says he wanted to honor Sri Chinmoy’s birthday, “with the sweetest item we could think of.”  This was a gigantic task of course because the previous record was an incredible 4,759 pounds.  Two weeks earlier the process of making a bigger one started in earnest.  Ultimately Ashrita believes that something like 50 people volunteered to make this sweet dream a tasty reality.

Steve Guy from Cambridge England worked just about non stop for 10 days on the lollipop.  He found himself working on sugar preparation almost from the moment he arrived in New York.  But like most who look forward to participating in one of Ashrita’s great adventures each August, working on a lollipop came as no surprise.   Two years ago he worked with a team that created the worlds largest popcorn cake.  He says of this project, “We knew the proportions for the sugar, we knew the temperature, we know how to rotate the cooking of the pots.”  All this experience was crucial, in that the sugar, which was also mixed with corn syrup, color, and flavoring needed to be cooked to the correct temperature.  To add to this, the pots of syrup needed to be created in a steady stream, and then transported down the street to a wooden mold on top of a flat bed truck.  The most important ingredient in this recipe  according to Steve is, “we knew how to work together, and be cheerful, all night long.”

Steve believes that over his week plus of  volunteering he put in 10 – 14 hours a day on the project.  He knows that as strong as the hardened sugar may appear to the naked eye it is also very temperamental, “it can be very strong but at the same time it can just shatter.”

He says for him the best part of the whole project is, “how it unfolded.  There was a certain idea of how it would start, a vision.  That was changing daily, sometimes hourly.  You were only taking a step forward and the path would then appear in front of that step.  That is an amazing experience.  You have to surrender to the moment.  You have to put all your energy and cheerfulness into that moment, and it all just unfolds.”

Click to play Steve interview

There were times in the boiling process when the batch, for no apparent reason went bad.  The tell tale sign was a poor pale color of the mix.  Most often of course when the correct temperature was reached, in a reasonable interval, the mix would be a bright red.

Mark Royden an aeronautical engineer from New Zealand has also used his talents on several of Ashrita’s large projects.  He had literally just gotten off the plane, and was looking for accommodation, when he had a chance encounter with Homagni Baptista while coming out of the local health food store.  He recalls that he mischievously smiled at him and inquired, “are you busy?”  What he was not anticipating was finding himself involved non stop for the next 2 weeks in helping out with the project.

He says that in no time he was, “head to foot in candy.”  He says in the early stages it was all about design and logistics.  A small core group had to sort out how it would work, what was the easiest way to do it, and what would be the right amount of steel to include so that it wouldn’t collapse.”    The destructive power of sugar is well known to dentists but is not so formally understood by engineers.  The group simply knew that when building a giant lollipop, “It needed something.  It has a similar behavior to glass,” said Mark.

He said that creating a horizontal lollipop would have been infinitely easier.  But none of the group wanted to create a reclining candy that simply lay flat.  It must be strong enough to be raised aloft just as though it was to be enjoyed by a very large, and hard to determine the size, gigantic individual.

He says he knows from first hand experience that the candy can easily shatter.  He said he did the test personally by hitting a large block of candy with a hammer.  He had also worked, like Steve, on the largest popcorn cake.  An experience he calls, “an adventure.”

He worked on various parts of the project.  He says that Bishwas and himself designed the steel frame and though an outside firm bent the steel.  It was himself and Unmilan that did all the welding.  It must be noted of course that the final weight of the lollipop will not include the steel.  This weight will be deducted from the overall total in order to achieve the final finish weight.  He tells me that the sugar alone used in the project weighs 4500 pounds.  In addition there is another 2 and half thousand pounds of corn syrup.  In the early stages a goal of 6,000 pound seems within reason.  He adds as well, “it also has to look like a lollipop.”

Homagni has been working on trying to make sure that the syrup will not stick to the mold.  It is a part of the project that no one knows for sure what will happen.  It is extremely hot in the tent that he works within.  There is also little ventilation and he is working with various sprays that make the conditions there, to be kind, challenging.

Homagni started working on the project very early on by doing test syrup boils in his kitchen.  “I started with smaller mixtures and then got to larger batches.  Ashrita and I then got started with larger pots in his back yard.  The main problem in this process he says is cooking the mixture too much thus causing it to caramelize.  “You end up with a gooey mess.”

He said that there comes a point in the planning when time runs out, “and there is no more time for experimenting.”  The ultimate ingredient of the mixture of course is a lot of hard work by a large group of willing people.  “We had a whole team of guys from all over the world.”

Once the mold is leveled than the constant parade of hot syrup begins its journey.  It will take several days to finish filling the mold up to the top.  A lot of good science has gone into the calculations but the final weight is far from certain.

Click to play Homagni interview

There is lots of excitement as the first bucket of syrup is brought up the ramp on the back of the truck in order to be poured into the mold.

	It is a scene that is repeated hour after hour for several days.
	All day and late into the night teams cook up the syrup and deliver it to the slowly filling mold.

The plan for having a two colored lollipop falls by the wayside as the internal barrier fails to hold back the red syrup.  With little other options the lollipop becomes a single color.  The surface decoration however will add lots of color.  Fully candied letters are added to the surface. They are attached by melting them by heating them with a torch.

Now that syrup production has finished Steve joins Asidhari and Anurakta who are decorating the surface.

Everything is edible.  The paint used on the Jharna Kala bird in the middle as well as the colorful topping applied to the 3d letters.

Once the mold has been removed the project is almost complete.  It has yet to be officially weighed however, and more importantly it has not been lifted into the air.  There is however, the not so small matter, of backing the truck out onto the street.  One that was much narrower than when it first arrived.

“He asked if I could pick up a lollipop for him.”  Russel Leach manages United Crane and rigging and he bemusedly recalls a phone call he received from Ashrita 5 days earlier.  “It was a 7,000 pound lollipop, and I said no problem.”  He has asked every conceivable question pertaining to the lollipop.  He is concerned about how fragile the lollipop is but predicts that there is a great chance that it can be lifted and weighed.  He particularly appreciates the internal steel frame adding strength to the candy.

He jokes that he had told his kids the night before what he was going to lift the following day.  He says, “they wanted to come and eat it.”Click to play Russel Leach interview

Nick is the master rigger on the job and he has spent a lifetime lifting heavy difficult objects but had never before lifting a lollipop.  He says that finding the center of the lollipop for him was a problem and also that because of the heat the candy began to change shape.  He says, “It is hard work but its a lot of fun.”Click to play master rigger interview

Mike Nova is the operator of the crane on the job.  He says, “I was really hoping it would work, I didn’t want to see it fall apart.” Click to play Mike Nova interview

There are lots of nerve wracking moments in trying to get the lollipop airborne.  Not only is the lollipop unwieldy the mold proves to be stubborn to remove.

The candy also appears to be melting in the hot August sun.

Click to play Mark interview

A decision is made to get the lollipop off the truck and remove the mold stuck to its back surface.  The crew who made it now help lever the lollipop into the correct position.

Russel Leach watches his crew closely.  Each step brings the lollipop closer to being weighed.  It is also clear that it is very soft in the middle and once the mold is removed it dramatically begins to change shape.

For Ashrita it is all great fun.

A little lopsided the lollipop is eventually hoisted into the skies.  The initial weight by using the crane scale is estimated to be 6706 pounds.  Later when weighed more accurately it turns out to be 6514.  A weight which is 1755 pounds greater than the old record.

Mark speaks for everyone when he says of Ashrita’s Guinness projects, “I look forward to this.  To me it is one great adventure.  We do this a lot to inspire others.  It pushes people beyond what they thought was possible.  It is innocent good fun, and in the end this is what the world needs is this innocence and fun, and this, look what we can do if we work together.  We can accomplish things that people think are impossible.”

Click to play Ashrita Interview