The  journey is not about the number of signposts that you have passed along the way, or who you have left behind. It is more that you have been attentive to your own inner voice and just how many you have inspired and gathered up with your heart’s oneness.  In so many areas of life we judge and measure and attempt to balance all the conflicting and self important bits of who we are and who we think we are.

Here the playing field is flattest for those runners who can somehow manage to toss away the nagging conflicts that erupt between a lethargic body, a restless vital, and a mind tainted by doubt and fear. It never becomes effortless and yet the greatest burden a runner here has to bear are those stubborn bits dredged up from the shadowed places we all have within.

Photo by Jowan

Sri Chinmoy created this race.  His vision now still as bright, gleaming,and fulfilling as it was 15 years ago.  His legacy is not an easy thing to measure.  One can try and count up all his accomplishments.  Somehow attempt to find a formula to measure all his books, his art, his music, his athletic achievements and then again, so much more.

Sri Chinmoy Photo by Bhashwar 1980

Yet if all this were swept away something more significant would still be left.   What would remain would be a goal he set,  not just for his students but perhaps for all humanity as well.  One in which he never tired of illumining for us, and constantly demonstrating,  and continually proving that it was possible to achieve.  Also, if you allowed him to, he would gladly guide and help you to attain your goal.  All this he constantly did, until he breathed his last.

This goal of course is not some secret mystery of life, but always visible should you just open your heart and embrace it.  It is not impossible, it is instead inevitable that we all one day will and must take our own self transcendence journey.  One that is not reached at the end of 3100 miles but one that tirelessly calls us ever onward into the distant shores of our own beyond.

There are many not so glamorous aspects of the race.  Climbing out of the car with all your aches and fatigue refusing to ever let you go.

Ananda- Lahari will not finish the race and yet he will continue until the last drop of time is available to him.

Vajra, a tireless saint doing the most unglamorous job of all.

Pradeep finds himself in a bit of a media spotlight this morning.  Friends back in Holland have been arranging for various interviews with newspaper, radio, and television back home.  When he was younger he was a champion drafts player and traveled to many competitions around the world.

“My main purpose for doing the race was to have a deep spiritual experience.  But I know that other runners after the race, try to inspire their communities or countries with what they have achieved with the help of meditation.

When I came here I never dared to imagine that the media in Holland would be so interested.  It is really great, because now of course it is really happening.  So it is great that my friends back home want to show it now.”  For him as well he is inspired and impressed that all his friends back home have so much enthusiasm and oneness with what he has done here.  “They are doing their best to share the inspiration of the race with other people.”

“I got a last minute invitation to join the race.  I never really showed the capacity that I could even finish the race. Rupantar tried to protect me from myself.  He said, take it easy, don’t even try to finish, just try and do 50 miles a day for the first 3 weeks.  Learn form the other runners.”  He thinks that both he and Rupantar were surprised at how it all turned out.

“I also had no clue how well I had recovered from the earlier 10 day race.  I said, let me take this opportunity that they are giving me.  Let me learn as much as I can and have a great spiritual experience.  Who knows maybe next year I will finish.  I really didn’t think that I would be able to finish this year.

Half way through the race I started to glimpse that I could finish.  More so, my soul, or something higher, really wanted me to finish.  Then suddenly it became a struggle with the part of myself that is insecure.  That doesn’t want to give everything.  That is afraid of the pain and the effort, and the exhaustion.  Part of me didn’t want to open up completely and receive the grace.”

“Basically I was making a good effort, even for the first 3 weeks.  I was giving 100% of my own personal capacities and then for the rest, I was also praying for God’s will to be done, in and through me.  At one point I realized, that if you really want to open up to a higher force, and let that force run through you that is not good enough.  You have to claim God’s will and make it your own.  Only then can you make 200%, because then you are not only with your own efforts and your own capacity.  If you have that Fearless Dedication than you can also draw the Supreme’s capacities.  You are not just running for the Supreme you are running as the Supreme.  Then, once I glimpsed that than resistance also came.”

“I don’t think that I ever felt really bad.  I can say, that I never had as much pain in my life.  But somehow, amidst all that I was still quite happy.  I didn’t suffer.  I didn’t get depressed.  Somehow there was such grace and just such a blessing to be here.”

“With Sri Chinmoy as a force behind this race we realize that we don’t run it for ourselves.  And somehow with the Japanese monks and the Tibetan monks, I did get the feeling that it was question of personal transformation.  Here, even though our capacities are smaller then them.

I don’t feel that we run for ourselves.  Of course we get transformed in the process.  This is I think working on a higher level.  Of course I don’t have a full understanding of what is going on here, but that is my personal feeling.”

“This is a diamond day in a golden incarnation.  It is so special and just to be able to fulfill a kind of dream of the soul within this lifetime.  I am sure the Supreme will allow me to do a few things more for him.  Personally, I don’t need much more than this.  I am quite fulfilled.”

Click to play interview

“On May 30 I sent an email to Den Haag.  I was trying to find out if he would be interested in running the 3100 mile race.  Which he was interested in doing…..next year. I said, this year.  Do you still have the dream?

Pradeep finishes in 7th place in the 3100 mile race.  Becoming the first Nether -lander.  A new national record of 53 days, 9 hours, 3 minutes and 25 seconds.  Which is an average of 58.096 miles per day.  He is now ranked 27th on a list of 31, all time finishers.” Sahishnu

Click to play finish

“I was speaking to Mike from ESPN and he said the course is humble and that really struck me.  Because it is not about the venue, or the course itself.  It is about how the runners react to the race itself.  It’s their reaction and how they overcome the obstacles.  It’s all about the runners. It’s not like we are climbing up Mount Everest, or running around the world.”

“It is just a very simple humble course.  We are just running on this concrete course, a half mile loop, a city block in Queens.  The real emphasis of the race is totally on the runners.  How they react to the various circumstances that occur during the race.  So that is how the self transcendence comes in.”
Click to play interview

“It is a very special day.”  No runner this year has had quite the miraculous experience that Surasa has had.  Last year injury kept her from reaching the goal and it attempted to offer the same fate one more time.  She declined to accept the offer.

I spoke to the chiropractor, Gaurish today, and he says that from his perspective the injury she maintained this year was so severe there was no way she could go on without extensive rest.  He says this as one who is reluctant to offer this doomsday scenario.  In fact he did not tell her.  He simply shared it with the race directors.

When asked if she ever worried about it.  Her answer simply, “I did not think so much.  When it happened, it just happened.”  Very quickly after she was slowed to a walk, the buffer miles she had in the bank, quickly disappeared.  “I didn’t worry about all the miles and all this.”

“I just have to try and then see what happens.”  What happened clearly is that she simply didn’t indulge in fear or worry.  She remained calm and happy, yet at the same time an iron spirit of never giving up pervaded her presence.  Also she says, “everything depends on grace.”

Even when in the early stages when she couldn’t even walk back to the camp, and had to be picked up by a car instead was she overly concerned.  “There was not much thinking.  You just have to wait and let things be uncovered, day after day.”

She has not returned to her previous running speed but still she moves quite quickly.  “I am really surprised that I have this pace.  But today I know that I have to be careful and to take it easy.  That is my feeling for today.  No pushing.  No looking at the time.”

As for tomorrow.  “It will be very boring not to get up at 5 o’clock.  I don’t know how I can manage this.  Not to come here.” (laughter)

Click to play interview

Poem of the Day

Recited by Salil

Enthusiasm Awakeners

Click to play

“Against all odds.  This young lady at age 52, has accomplished the impossible.  She had this resolve, this steely determination to finish the race.  She believed, she had the faith, and she had the grace from above, and the determination from within to reach the goal.  So Surasa Mairer, at age 52, becomes the 2nd woman in the history of the race.  She is ranked 28th out of 31 runners.  She is the 109th performance in the history of the race.  She averaged 57.7 miles per day.  She is the 2nd oldest finisher in the race.  Finishing the race in 53 days, 15 hours, 54 minutes, and 25 seconds.  Congratulations, unforgettable.”Sahishnu

click to play finish

Surasa remarks

The body’s food
Is matter-made.
The soul’s food
Is spirit-made.
Gratitude-life,
Gratitude-heart for God
Is food for the soul.
Perfection-cry
Is food for the soul.
Heart’s awakening
Is food for the soul.

Sri Chinmoy, Transcendence-Perfection, Agni Press, 1975.

Somewhere in the Ukraine or maybe even in the Russian Federation a young runner went out running knowing that by tonight something  significant would  at last be realized.  Something that would take place far away but still be able to uplift their own dreams.

For no matter how you look at it, Stutisheel, over 8 years has been a consistent and true  inspirer of distance runners throughout the region.  Tonight in what is most certainly an historic event, he will complete the Self Transcendence 3100 mile race for the 8th year.

They may have never met him, perhaps only read one of his books, or attended one of his talks.  They may have never even fully committed themselves to the spiritual life, or maybe never even run as far as a marathon.  Yet still they have somehow heard of his historic accomplishments and felt in themselves an unmistakable inner thrill.

We know this to be true because once upon a time a young runner from Berdansk, Ukraine, felt this same thing.  His name is Sarvagata.  In Vinnitsa, also a young runner named Igor was dreaming of the 3100.  Both thinking it was impossible,  not just to run 3100 miles, but also to spend such a lengthy time here in New York so far far away from home.

Yet in their admiration of Stutisheel they found that the impossible was possible.  That he was just the first of many who would follow in his steps and find their own places on the starting line.  Find that transcendence is not to be taken lightly but with absolute willingness, cheerfulness, and surrender to whatever the inner experience commands that you do.

Now one can follow Stutisheel’s whole experience this year on his blog or this one.  See pictures of all the highs and lows and everything in between.  For some it just may be so remote and impossible that they can only shake their heads with wonder.  But despite this there is some runner who is out training and preparing themselves even now.  Stutisheel’s magnificent accomplishment shines like a distant star in the sky for them.  Yet each step they take draws them ever closer, so that one day they too might shine as bright as he.

We don’t really know what it has been like to have been here for these past 8 summers.  Each one adding something more to his inner life and to that of his family as well.  None of us has a shopping list to pick and choose what experiences we want to have in our lives.

It all looks so mundane and ordinary when you see him sit here like that.  Yet in a few hours more he will complete his 7th race.  Daughter Alakananda a huge part of this epic journey.

Start

Day 53

This morning the reality has not yet quite sunk in.  For Stutisheel just 56 miles remain.  Soon the race will be over and yet there is still a lot of experiencing of life to be enjoyed throughout the long day ahead.

He says that for the past week he has been doing his absolute maximum.  “I need a little more time to wake up, to feel something.”(laughter)

“A few days ago I asked the Supreme to help me get out of my mind.  I see that my mind has been indulging in negativity, and I suffer from this very much.” He says he prayed that he be relieved of this burden until the end of the race.  He laughs and says that in this he was successful, “no mind.”

“Somehow after Independence day (July 4), my speed declined.”  He says that for sometime he has been suffering from shin splints.  “It is a strange pain and I cannot do anything with it.  No previous experience helped me.”  He says it was Ashprihanal who actually understood what his problem was.  “Still nothing can cure it.” He has had it continually for the past 32 days. The other new problem is a sciatic nerve problem.  “But I am living with them happily and they are living with me happily also and don’t want to leave.”

“Now it is clear, that I am doing all that I can here.  I am quite happy.  I was not a slave to inertia, or weakness.  I was doing what I can do and my soul was pleased.  We have this saying, the body is dying but the soul is flying.  I felt it many times during this race.”  He says that he also heard this summer that Sri Chinmoy once predicted that no one would ever receive a permanent injury participating in one of these races.  “I found that so inspiring.”  He illustrates this by saying he was so able to recover from his leg problem last year that he could come back here again this year and once again complete the race.

“Quite often during this race I was comparing myself to the fellow who came here the first several years.  Back then, I would say I was a guy with abundant energy.  I used to really hold myself the first half of the race.  Don’t burn out.  Keep it for the second half.  Now many say that I am a wise man.  I am even.  Not sprinting anymore.  I just love the speed but I can’t.”

Click to play part one

He describes some of his experiences with the Doctors who came here and tried their absolute best to help and cure all his ills.  They always try their best but ultimately the hand of fate will ultimately decide which pain to relieve or injury to cure.  “Still I am happy.”

While we are running we pass the Enthusiasm Awakeners who know that this is his last day and they come forward to give him a special cheer.  Also, a local morning exerciser. who comes by every day to power walk across the street, comes across to congratulate him.

Stutisheel also has many fond and vivid memories of Sri Chinmoy who he saw here at the race many times.  “When Ashprihanal finished this year.  I felt Sri Chinmoy’s presence vividly.  I was literally crying.”   He said he could envision his late teacher sitting at the finish line enjoying the finish.  Which for Ashprihanal as well are the brightest moments of his life as well.

“It was I believe 2006.  When like this year I was slow, but even slower, and it was a much hotter year than this one.  So by the end of the race I was not within the limit of 51 days, and it was so hard.  Constant heat, and I was walking, like dead.”  He had already completed 3000 miles but was in a tough way.  “It was really hard for me.”  At that moment Sri Chinmoy was at the course offering prasad to the runners.  Because the time limit had passed he was almost certain that Sri Chinmoy would suggest that he stop.  Instead he said, “Only 100 miles to go.”

He recalls a previous year when many of the other runners had finished and he was still on the course and struggling.  Sri Chinmoy at that time was there celebrating a runners finish and also taking the opportunity to ask who would come back and run the following.  He asked each in turn and eventually all agreed to come back.  Stutisheel says he had a lap to think it over.  Should he or shouldn’t he come again.  When he circled back around again he heard his teacher call out.

“Heh Stutisheel, will you run next year? Yes, if you want me too.  I want more people to run the 3100.  I could not resist his affection and concern.  I smiled spontaneously from within, and I said yes, and he was smiling so brightly.”

“I really adore the spirit of self transcendence, and when you do everything that you can, then the Supreme does the rest.  That Changes me.” As for a next year, he says, “everything is possible.”

Click to play part two

“I think it is more sad than happy.”  Alakananda has been up most of the night working on her slide show and yet wants to be here and help her Dad on his last day.  “The last day is always a little bit sad.  You know, it is over for the year.  But now that we know that it is over for possibly for ever, it is a little more sad.  I guess that is life.  I feel there is always the next step.  You cannot always do the same thing for your whole life, and be happy.  Because there might be some other plans for you.  You have to be prepared that you have to go somewhere else farther, the next step.”

“The tough experiences are always very tough of course.  But there is not enough love in this world, so those experiences actually make me feel that consciously.  That is pretty amazing.  I don’t think I have had that before, this is the first year.”

“All the runners are contributing to the general consciousness of the race which is my home.”

Click to play interview

There never seems quite enough room to include all the wonderful people who help out or simply come by to inspire the runners.  Felix is a massage therapist who has helped a lot here.  He says, “there is a tangible vibration here that you will feel.” Mercedes and her dogs.

Poem of the Day

Recited by Kodanda

Enthusiasm Awakeners

Click to play

“Finishing in 6th place, in a time of 52 days 16 hours, 19 minutes, and 18 seconds, it is not his fastest but he is still ranked 17th all time out of 31, averaging 58.49 miles per day.

He is the champion of champions.  7 finishes in 8 attempts extraordinary.  I don’t know how many times around this course.  Thousands and thousands of laps.  Self giving laps, thinking about higher realities.  He has 7 peaks that he has reached, the Everest of ultra distance running.” Sahishnu

Click to play finish

If you forget to dream
Of higher realities,
The higher realities
Will never be manifested.

Sri Chinmoy, Seventy-Seven Thousand Service-Trees, Part 22, Agni Press, 2001.

To observers it was so effortless it was almost as though they barely touched the ground.   Their faces continually turned up to the sky, focusing on a single celestial object.

In her book, “Magic and Mystery in Tibet,” the author Alexandra David_Neel, wrote

“By that time he had nearly reached us; I could clearly see his perfectly calm impassive face and wide-open eyes with their gaze fixed on some invisible far distant object situated somewhere high up in space. The man did not run. He seemed to lift himself from the ground, proceeding by leaps. It look as if he had been endowed with the elasticity of a ball and rebounded each time his feet touched the ground.”

Less mythical and certainly very real are the marathon monks of Japan called Kaihigyo, a Buddhist sect based in Kyoto Japan.  They are recognized as spiritual athletes and train extremely hard both in their exercise regime and in their meditation. Their ultimate goal is to one day complete a 1,000 day challenge.  Only 46 men have completed this feat of fasting, chanting, and running in the last 130 years.

There is no simple all encompassing description for anything to do with the self transcendence race, other than the two words that make up its name.

After that the mental world flounders at trying to grasp the enormity and significance of how the runners do what they do, and more significantly just how powerful, peaceful, and transformative it is to be there and identify with it.

*Yesterday the injured Surasa increased her mileage once more and completed 106 laps (58 miles) She has 3 days to complete 168 more miles*

Pradeep the birthday boy arrives.  He said that for some days he has felt extra enthusiasm and energy.  That his soul day would not just be celebrated on Tuesday, but instead the inspiration could be felt for many more days.

Stutisheel is nearing the end of his race.  Sometime near the end of the evening on Wednesday he will be able to complete his 7th 3100 mile race.

For Ananda Lahari, as much as he would dearly like to see 3100 by his name it is simply not going to take place this year.

Start

Day 52

As always the birthday song is sung.  His comrades rejoice that they have all shared an incredible and unique experience together.  His has been a joyful soulful journey. Atmavir and all the rest who have finished will come by.

“I have to say that when I was thinking how it would be like to have my birthday here, I didn’t know what it would be like.  I had hopes that I would be super strong and not tired.  That kind of didn’t happen.  It took me a while to remember it was my birthday.  I dragged myself out of the slumber of sleep.”

“Then I feel as though my consciousness is very light and very happy, even though my body is tired and aching.”

As for which of his 33 birthdays has been the happiest.
Well this one isn’t over but it is going to rank very high.”

“Being together for so many days we all get a real inner connection with the other runners.  They become friends on a completely different level.  It is just very special to me and fulfilling to be together with them on my birthday.”

“It is not so much the technical things, although it definitely helps.  I did a few extra laps the last few days.”

“it it is the joy I suddenly got from seeing Unmukta on the block.”  For the past few days a surprise helper has been almost ceaselessly at his side to aide Pradeep.

Pradeep had called him the best birthday present and for even a casual observer he seems to be helping Pradeep tirelessly and selflessly.

Just his appearance alone gave him the confidence to be able to say, “then I knew I was going to make it when I saw him.”

“I already knew that I was getting so much inner support “  I ask if it it was like the frosting on a birthday cake and he says, “no, this is like the whole birthday cake.”

“We are really good friends but at home we usually don’t have time to do things together.  I am just really happy that he is inspired by the race, and we can experience this together.  Because it is a really special experience for me.  I am happy to share it this way with him.”

“On a physical outer level it is also great.  It is just very special.”

click to play interview

“I am just using the opportunity to bask in the soul’s effulgence, on the birthday of Pradeep.”  For a period this morning Pradeep runs with Stutisheel.  With just 4 runners on the course the opportunity to have a companion does not come too often any more.  Pradeep is also running faster.  He ran 66 miles to Stutisheels 57 yesterday.  But for a while at least their pace and rhythm are in sync.

“I am using the draft of Stutisheel, who has seen the goal, and he will reach it tomorrow evening.  He is speeding up because it is getting within reach.”

I ask Stutisheel what he feels Pradeep as a newcomer has brought to the 3100. “I don’t feel that he is a new runner.  He told me that for many years he was dreaming of participating in this race.  This year when he came it was quite natural.  He just immediately became a member of the 3100 mile boat.  And I am also pretty amazed that I have never seen him down, he always seems okay.  He had physical problems but his consciousness was always quite good.  He never complains, always smiling.”

I suggest that this has to be the key for the success of all the runners.  “It is not a new thing for me but still it is hard to implement.  For example when you have something happen to you on the material level, like a blister, or some other injury.  You can do things to fix it, and you know it.   But when you have inner problems, you know what to do, but the affects can come or not come.  It is just up to a higher force. So we just need to be wise and patient.”

I ask Pradeep now that he has run so far can he imagine doing it like Stutisheel has done.  “It is amazing somebody doing this race 8 times.  The guys who have done it before have cleared the way for all of us.  so many things we learn from them.  We don’t have to make the same mistakes.”  He says that Stutisheel has been telling him many of the stories from the past history of the race particularly when Sri Chinmoy still came.  “We are reliving those moments together.  It is great it is amazing.”

Click to play interview

“It is nice.  Once you are here you can really see what is involved.”  Unmukta started off as a surprise guest of the race but quickly as become an integral part of Pradeep’s running these past few days.  But he as well has benefited a lot as well.  “I was just realizing it today.  It started to sink in how special it is to be here, and also really get the feeling of the race.”

“I am following Pradeep and I realize how intense it is here.  He has to keep going.  He takes little breaks but immediately he has to get up.  Be focused, be disciplined.  That is really amazing.”

He has learned many little things that most outside observers cannot see.  Like even during his short 15 minute naps, something inner is happening, he gets inner strength. “A powerful recharging. That is how he experiences it.”

He said a lot of factors influenced his decision to come and help out.  Ultimately it came down to a feeling, “I should be there, to help out a few days.  It is so special.  It is so fantastic to be a part of it.”

When asked what has impressed him the most since he came.  “I think it is also the oneness.  This feeling I already got a little bit at home, how much oneness there is with everybody”

Due to a change of scheduling he is leaving tomorrow, a day before Pradeep’s finish on Thursday night.   “I will try and be there inwardly.”

Sri Chinmoy 1979 photo by Bhashwar

“Just to be in this area, is kind of special.” Unmukta has been a student of Sri Chinmoy for many years.  He recalls how so much of Sri Chinmoy’s sporting activities took place in and around this area.  He was able to share some of this with a younger friend today who had no idea of the long and powerful history this area represents to the entire group.  He describes this block simply, “as where it all started.”

“It is beyond the mind to think that they are running 2 and 1/2 marathons every day, for 52 days.  That is unbelievable.”

For pradeep, “today is the important day for him.  He said, if it goes well today, then he can finish it probably by walking.  It has always been a dream for him.”

Click to play interview

Poem of the Day

Recited by Satyavrata

Enthusiasm Awakeners

Click to play

Question: Can we purify our daily actions?

Sri Chinmoy: Certainly, that is what we are aiming at. If we cannot purify our daily actions, then how are we going to make progress? Again, if we make progress, then only can we purify our life. These things go together. If I become good, only then will I become a good instrument of God. And if I become a chosen instrument of God, then only will I become really divine. They go together. It is like meditation in action. If I meditate well, then only can I think of loving God and serving God. Again, if I serve God devotedly and unconditionally, then only can I think of meditating at my highest. As action and meditation go together, so purity in our day-to-day life and spiritual progress must go together; they are complementary. If we don’t have purity, we cannot make very fast progress. And any progress that we do make does not remain permanently if we do not have purity. So, purity is of paramount importance in the spiritual life.

ri Chinmoy, Sri Chinmoy Speaks, Part 8, Agni Press, 1976.

The runners who come here to the 3100 each year do not have the singular excuse that human nature can provide, to do what they do.  Their journey goes no where but around and around.  It is a task in which though they are never hungry they are however almost always continually sore and tired. All their human needs and wants could easily be fulfilled back home in their own countries.  There is no incentive to do this other than one that is indescribable and is generated by a deep and inner source.

Atmavir today will finish the race for the 5th year in a row today.  “I feel very grateful to be here this year, though it was a very difficult year for everybody.  For me it was absolutely the toughest one.  For me it was a miracle that I was able to compete the race this year.”  He says that on the very hot day 2 weeks ago, that when he left the track that night he went home and had tremendous problems.  “I felt it might be over.”  He says that it was only through divine grace that he was able to complete the race this year.  “I am very grateful.”

Despite being so difficult he says, “I got inner fulfillment.  There are more things than miles and laps here.”  He feels as though he made real progress towards his goal.  He then reads a poem which he says helped him tremendously.

How can he be happy
When wild storms are ahead of him?
How can he be happy
When red dangers are beside him?
He can be happy,
He can be happy
Because his Master has said:
“Be happy.”

How can he be happy
When he knows that he has failed
In his life-examination?
How can he be happy
When he knows that he has fought
Against the compassion-warriors of Light?
He can be happy,
He can be happy
Because his Master has said:
“Be happy.”

Sri Chinmoy, The Dance Of Life, Part 16, Agni Press, 1973.

A friend from home sent the poem and he says that receiving it gave him tremendous inspiration.  “I feel that oneness of paramount importance in the spiritual life, and to be aware of your goal.  I really felt I touched the level that I was aware of my goal, and all the time try and feel oneness with others.”

“This year I felt as though you really had to pray for protection, because it was so intense, right from the beginning, for everybody.  I am extremely grateful that many people prayed for us and felt oneness with us, and they supported us in many different ways.  Many local disciples they offered their heart.  And of course my brothers and sisters from many different countries all over the world.  I really felt support from different places.  I am really grateful for that and I treasure it very much.”

Click to play interview

For all the true followers of Surasa they are probably not too surprised that this marvelous lady seems to be somehow finding a way to get through her injury.  It is not always pretty, it has to hurt, but somehow her formula for facing grim adversity just seems to be working. She doubled her lap count yesterday and managed 100 (54 miles) She has 4 days to do 216 miles. In other words she just has to repeat this again every day in order to succeed.

Start

Day 51

“It takes a lot to do what they do, day in day out.”  Bobby is a long time friend of the race.  His parent’s home is just a block away and he has often been around to support the runners.  Not a stranger to long distances he used to drive across the country in his 18 wheel truck twice a month.

“I go away for 2 weeks and come back, and they are still running. You see them continuously going and going.  It really encourages me to go too.”

He tries to do 4 laps each time he is here, and repeat it again in the evening.  “When I talk to these runners what I do is not even a warmup.  It encourages the whole neighborhood.”

Click to play interview

Sandhani has been a race director since the very early years of the Sri Chinmoy marathon team.  The group has continually put on many multiday races and says that it was in 1991 that the seeds for this race were first planted.  It took a few years to work out all the logistics of just how to go about doing it successfully.  He says that Sri Chinmoy during this period would gently ask about it.

He says that Sri Chinmoy envisioned and wanted it very much.  His reaction, “how can we do this?”

“It is a commitment.  Obviously we do a lot of work, physical work, and planning.”  It also needs the help of many people to cover all the facets of the race.  “We are there every day.  You don’t work as hard as the runners do physically.  But we have to be there as well until the distance is covered by all the runners.  There is no letting up any way.”

“I always felt that the multi day races are an amazing manifestation of Sri Chinmoy.  The running I find is the medium that he is using.  They are uniquely his creation.”

“The main thing was to take care of the runners, as much as possible.  They are all really putting themselves out to conquer the distance.”  He feels that Sri Chinmoy manifests something powerful and unique, in and through these races.  “They are conducted according to his wishes and his vision.  I feel that there is something he brings to the earth consciousness, in and through the runners, and everybody who helps, and everybody who is involved.”

He says that Sri Chinmoy used to come by the race at least 2 times a day and even sometimes 4 times.  He feels that he had real love and concern for the event and was particularly pleased with all those who could identify with it.

He says Sri Chinmoy had a real love of running.  Eventually injuries forced him to stop his own running and eventually in the mid 1980′s he turned his attention to weight lifting.  Sandhani says he once asked him once which sport he preferred.  The tone of his words conveyed his feelings, there was no comparison.  Running gave him infinitely more satisfaction.

“He loved it.  Running was a real spiritual metaphor in this world in which we live.” He adds that he is grateful to be able to serve the race and see it to its completion.  “It is a great satisfaction.”

Click to play interview

Poem of the Day

Recited by Nishta

Enthusiasm Awakeners

Click to play

“Ladies and Gentlemen, finishing in 5th place in a time of 50 days, 8 hours, 59 minutes and 7 seconds, which is 61.542 miles a day.  This was his 5th consecutive finish.  This young man is a really fantastic runner.  He still holds the 7th fastest time.” Sahishnu

“I am coming back.” Atmavir

Click to play Finish

Question: Is it better to use heart-power or mind-power?

Sri Chinmoy: If it is the illumined mind, or the mind that has achieved light, then you can use it. But if the mind is still only in the process of searching for good, for light, then use the heart. In the heart, the light of the soul is always more prominent than it is in the mind. Heart-power is one with the soul’s light. Mind-power at times glimpses this light and at times does not.Mind-power is tricky; heart-power is never tricky. Mind-power cherishes separativity; heart-power cherishes oneness. The ordinary mind uses power to dominate, to possess, to lord it over others. It gets joy from a conscious, deliberate, uncompromising sense of separativity. The heart derives fulfillment only from oneness. So let us use heart-power as often as possible. Only if the mind has achieved light should we use it.

Sri Chinmoy, The Giver And The Receiver, Agni Press, 1987.

Runners, helpers, well wishers all caught up in a dizzy swirl of anticipation.  Who dares or wants to see that an inevitable  stone faced conclusion was going to simply march forward to end it all.  Perhaps not to mortal ears but certainly to some, the distinct discordant note of finality could always be heard, even when the calender made it all seem so so distant and so endless.

Back then certainly I could not peer forward into the murky mists of time.  Now of course you don’t need any telepathy, or crystal ball, or conjuring spell.  An ever increasing weight of quietness, and a sobering lack of energy is tangible and real here now. The great fat luxury of what appeared to be endless time has now been reduced to just 5 stick thin days.

Four runners have retired victoriously from the course and one was felled by injury.   The math is clear, that leaves but 5 gallant souls to continue the great odyssey on their own.  The board is static with victory banners, a few are still creeping their way up there as well.  But 5 less bodies means 5 less footfalls, 5 less smiles and cheers, and all who are left are more alone on the half mile loop than ever.

Then you have the incomprehensible saga of Surasa.  The luxurious reservoir she had in order to reach the goal has been reduced to vapors.  2 days ago she completed just 12 miles and yesterday 27.  In front of her is 261 more unflinching miles and 5 hot days in which to do it.

The Las Vegas odds makers certinaly wouldn’t  put any money on her chances here, and yet.

And yet today she begins to tentatively run once more, if even for a few steps here and there.  To push and prod her way back from the brink of disaster. How this story will conclude I cannot yet see or hear.  It is only on the tablet of her heart that it is etched clear.  Eventually time will be forced to share it with us all.

Start

Day 50

Atmavir went home last night with the goal clearly insight.  He completed 3000 miles before retiring for the day.  Sometime on Monday he should arrive at the finish line at last.

There is none of the runners who seem to take as much delight in what they do here as does Ananda Lahari.  He never displays even a hint of agitation or worry.  Rather he just seems to beam constantly with light and joy.

He is now 5 days away from the end of the race and has an impossible task of trying to complete 5oo miles in that time.  I ask him if nobody made him stop after 54 days would he simply keep coming back and keep running.

He says, “maybe like Forest Gump.  Go, go, go, go on, and a certain point you say, I am tired. I am going home.”

“Here everything is intense.  So it is a great opportunity to make progress, and to serve.  When I am at home it is intense but not as intense as here.  I go as fast as possible.  I can’t really push more.”

“Now I don’t have strength.  When you are strong you can push for 2 laps.  Now I can’t go any faster.”

“It doesn’t affect me that people have left.  It affects me that it is so long.(laughter) But it is hard.  You may see the end of the race coming closer but it is tricky.  Now it is like 5 days to go, but every day is so long.  It can somehow catch you if you are impatient, or that you cannot get there.”

“I am looking forward to it. (the end) I would say that it is clear that I am not going to complete 3100 miles.  I like to run but I am just walking, walking. So it is quite hard.  It is harder to walk then to run.  It will make it easier for me when it ends.”

“I am on my gratitude schedule, but I know that I can do much more.  I feel much more gratitude than previous years. But I know it is not infinite gratitude yet.  You have to try and do you best.  To think of the Supreme as much as possible. It takes time to get to perfection, perfect perfection.   I don’t worry that I am not doing so well for a few years.  Everything is okay.  It is a journey, and we don’t know what we get.”

Click to Play interview

The appearance of Unmukta is a surprise to everyone including Pradeep.  Now it is clear that nothing is for certain here but to have a friend at his side for the next few days is a real boon.

Pradeep, whose birthday is on Tuesday looks upon his arrival as a real birthday present.

Last night Nikhad was at the race to shut down as he usually does.  You have to put away all the tables and stuff, and then you have to park the vehicles, so it was probably quite a bit past midnight when he was finished with his duties.  What he did next is not what he usually does.  For then he got on his bike and road almost non stop for the next 5 hours.  He had completed 70 miles.  The only reason he stopped then was because he then had to set up the camp again for this morning.

“In the pitch dark, I made loops around the 3100 mile course.  It was nice. Terrific.  I was full of energy.”  After 9 this morning he says he will continue his cycling  journey. He tells me that once he biked for 66 hours without sleeping and without stopping.  So I can do much more than 5 hours.”

When he continues to ride he hopes to go an additional 55 or 60 more miles.  Other bikers  are also involved in Nikhad’s project, which he is doing to celebrate what would have been Sri Chinmoy’s 80th birthday.  “I hope a few more people will participate.”

Click to play interview

Last year the Doctor told me I had gained a lot of weight.  My Doctor said, that if you don’t start running or walking you are going to have a problem.”  In May of last year Taposh started and hasn’t stopped.  He immediately chose the 3100 mile course as his running route and goes to the gym only when the weather is bad.

He works for NYPD traffic control directing traffic.  It is standing he says but not really movement.  When he first came here he ran really fast and couldn’t even make one lap.  “They asked me, why do you run so fast?  So they gave me tips and they gave me inspiration.  I really appreciate them and am grateful to them.  They taught me how to run especially this guy Atmavir.”

He now is up to running about 5 miles a day.  Of the course he too finds that it is a spiritual place.  He says that last year Dharbhasana and Pushkar told him that being here is not just about the physical.  “I realize that,  so I am grateful to them and appreciate them.”

Click to play interview

Poem of the Day

Recited by Unmukta

Enthusiasm Awakeners

Click to Play

I make progress fast
When my mind
Cheerfully loves God.
I make progress faster
When my heart
Soulfully serves God.
I make progress fastest
When my life
Unconditionally obeys God.

Sri Chinmoy, Fast, Faster, Fastest Progress, Agni Press, 1994.

What is similar throughout all the variations of the tale is how, once it is reduced to ashes, it rises up again to take flight.  It somehow lives again as it did before.

Surasa has amazingly reappeared on the course again this morning.  Maybe not rising out of the ashes, and certainly not immortal, but just perhaps maybe unstoppable, as she refuses to give up her flight of self transcendence.

“I am just trying to see if I can walk properly.  I like to be here and to be out, and not to lie down.  I just came and I will try and see if it gets better.

The first Doctor said that it was a very deep muscle inside my calf and it was injured, and I have to rest for 3 days.  Then I should see her and she would tell me if I can walk or run.

After this I thought, I have to try everything.”  Then she visited a local auyervedic Doctor who gave her some pills and a massage oil.  “Ahh, in 3 or 4 hours you can run.”  (Laughter)  “And I was looking at him, hunnh?  He was absolutely sure, yes.  Of course.  In 3 or 4 hours you will run.”

After this she went home and applied the oil, took the pills, and came back to the race.  So she continued.  Not flying, not running, but at least she is walking.  “What can I do?  You have to take it and accept it.  That’s life.”

Click to play Surasa interview

Pranjal patches himself up so that he can once again enter into the battlefield of life.  He does not wear beautiful armor, he has no charioteer to speed his way into the fray.  No sacred weapons or magic spells to subdue all the enemies he surely must face.  No army marches at his side for he goes out alone to face the day.

Yet he does hear a General’s call that beckons him to come forth.  One that he can scarce resist and one that is so strong he hears it resonate within every part of his being.

Not just one mighty roar but instead a comforting and consistent command.  It is one that gives him strength and courage when the outcome of the battle seems most in doubt, and gives him extra speed when the way is clear.

His trust so complete he holds back nothing to its call.  For how can he resist.  How dare he fail his one and only sacred task.  To not go forth at all is to die a thousand times.

Now there are just 10 miles more to go.  Soon it all will be done.  Done but not yet over.

On a practical level Surasa has to be taped up this morning to make even walking possible.  The only certain thing is her will and wish to continue.

Start

Day 49

After Pranjal finishes today the next to finish will be Atmavir, sometime on Monday.  More and more will take up places on the sidelines.

It is while having a discussion with Pranjal that the topic of being forced to stop running comes up.  He snaps his fingers and says, it can be over like that.  If it were to happen to him he says, “in this case it is really hard.  I don’t know if it were to happen to me if it would be so easy to accept it.  I mean I would have to, but it is not easy.”

“In my first year I had this ankle injury.  It was like the 4th to 7th day.  I was thinking that it was over actually.  I could not even walk properly.  I did 50 laps in 12 hours, then 8 laps in another 3 hours or more.  I couldn’t even step on it.  I was thinking.  That’s it. It’s over.”

“The next day I went to see the Doctor.  He looked at my feet and said for 2 weeks you have to stay in bed.  With the leg up.  Your joints are overloaded. So I looked at him, aw come on.  I knew what it was, but what I wanted was to know how to run with it.  He said, I cannot run.”

“So I said okay.  I will put a bandage around it and run as hard as I can.  I will either destroy the ankle completely or get healed.  So in 7 laps it was okay.  It disappeared.  It was over.”

“It was a kind of miracle.  I was suffering for 3 days and couldn’t even step on the ankle.  Then I just pushed through it and it disappeared.  (He completed the race in 59 days and some hours) He has completed the race every year he has entered.

It was a dream of his to run the race for a long time.  “I couldn’t imagine me running the race because it was just too expensive.  While visiting China in 2004 he decided, “I am just going to run it.  I will not think about the money I will just apply.”  In that year both Pranb, Ananda Lahari, and he were accepted.  “Then the money came after that.”

I ask if he ever wonders if there are others who get the inspiration to come and then simply don’t apply.  “The main thing is our doubts.  People doubt that they are able to do it.  That it is too hard or they are not fit enough.  Or they will suffer too much.  You just have to look at Sarvagata.  The best he has done till now was 60 miles a day for 10 days.  Now he has done almost 70 miles a day for, I don’t know how many days.”

“Here on this course something special is happening here.  Some kind of special energy.  I don’t know what it is but it helps them to do better.  But you have to want to do it.  You have to feel that you want to do it.  Nobody can really push you.”

“This race will change you.  Once you go through this race something inside you will change forever.  You learn something about yourself.  You will find capacity within yourself that you hadn’t even dreamed about before.”

“You have no idea how hard this race is.  You can’t even think or imagine how hard it is.  Only after you have done it can you realize how hard it is.  It is really really hard to even imagine.  What you have to go through.”

“I mean in my case, I was given the capacity to do it.  So from my point of view it is my duty to use this capacity.”  He the suggests that because of this he has to simply go on until the capacity is  then taken away.

“Any capacity that you have been given by God you have to use it.  It doesn’t matter what the capacity is.  Otherwise it will be taken away.  It is some kind of grace.  This capacity which we get here is a kind of grace.  So we have to use it.  Otherwise it is just wasted.  I don’t think that it is my capacity I feel that it came from somewhere above.”

“It is not that I want or don’t want to run.  I will do it as long as I have the capacity to do it.”

“I am giving my best only here.  The rest of the year is just preparation for next year.  I feel this race is so intense and you have so many experiences inside that it can really feed you all year. I am not as focused the rest of the year like I am right here. Because here I am just focused on what I am supposed to do. Here is only one thing that you have to do.  Just to run as much as possible.  So it is kind of easy.  Out there in the world are so many distractions that can take away your concentration.  It is much harder in the outside world.”

photo by Jowan

For him crossing the finish line is not what it is all about.  “For me it is just a number, 3100.  What is really important is what you experience throughout the whole race.”

The cake and the bells and all the celebration at  the finish line, “is just the top of the iceberg.  The main thing is under the water. The race is going somewhere in between the start and the end.  For me the goal is not important it is the way to the goal.”

Click to play interview

Poem of the Day

Recited by Sasha

Enthusiasm Awakeners

Click to play

“Can you imagine.  A guy as big as him going around this course 5649 times times 7.

The 7th finish for our 4th place finisher this year.  In 48 days, 2 hours, 27 minutes, and 5 seconds.  It is less than a day behind his record setting pace for himself last year.  And when you consider that he lost a whole day because of the heat.  He is right there.”

“He is always the first one in the morning and the last one to leave.  He averaged 64.44 miles.  He is still ranked 12 all time out of 29 finishers.”

“His consistency is remarkable.  He is our hero.” Sahishnu

Click to play finish

THE GOAL OF THE BEYOND

Obey and trust,
Trust and obey.
Indeed, this is the short way
To the Goal of the Beyond.

Love and serve,
Serve and love.
Indeed, this is the shorter way
To the Goal of the Beyond.

Surrender and offer,
Offer and surrender.
Indeed, this is the shortest way
To the Goal of the Beyond.

Sri Chinmoy, The Dance Of Life, Part 20, Agni Press, 1973.

For individual runners who are competing here ultimately they have only themselves.  They are alone on this 3100 mile road and whenever and whatever the experience may be comes, it has to be felt, experienced, and endured by them alone.

Nothing can be avoided or put off until tomorrow.  There is no hiding from duty, no shirking of responsibility, you must stand up and confront adversity with who you are and what you have inside.  Today Surasa is facing a foe, who with brute and painful force is trying to steal away from her, what appeared just yesterday to be inevitable and an almost certain victory in the 3100 mile race.

When she started on day 47, Thursday morning, she looked as relaxed and confident as she has been all summer.  Yet even then the pain was building in her leg and refused to be subdued and beaten back by her will.  “These muscles were tight for a long time, especially after the day off.  Then in the evening and the next day they were very tight.  Then yesterday they were worse.  Then all of a sudden, I couldn’t move any more.”

Today is Friday morning and rain drifts across the course in brief yet drenching bursts.  Eventually it stops but Surasa does not.  Her quest to complete the race bravely and gallantly continues.  This morning she has returned to the race after pain forced her to leave the course yesterday.  She is walking and it is obviously painful.  In front of her appears to be an impossible task.  321 unyielding miles more to go, and now only 7 days left in which to do it.

For now nothing is absolutely clear to her other than to try and complete her task. Yesterday just after it happened,  Gaurish, a chiropractor treated her at the camp in the early afternoon, but was unable to detect exactly what was happening to her leg or find the magic cure.  He treated her as best he could but could only ultimately suggest rest.  He knows full full well that it is not easy to say, ‘no more’, knowing full well that this superb endurance athlete has already gone 2700 miles.

Later he tells me how deeply concerned he was with her.  He was worried that because of the unbalanced way that she was walking that she might fall over and cause further injury.  He said, “It just goes to show, you never know when your last breath is.  It could pretty much happen to anybody.  One never really knows.  That is the intensity of the 3100.”

Surasa 3 days ago

After her treatment she bravely attempted to continue at least by walking.  It turned out to be so painful that she had to be picked up by car and returned to the little camp.  “I said no, it makes no sense.  I am going so slowly, it is better to take a rest.  Maybe it will get better.”  Today she is here and trying to walk as best she can.  “I cannot move the right way.  It is painful but I will see.  Maybe we will go to a Doctor and see what has really happened.”

I ask how she is feeling about all this.  “I have the feeling that it is not me.  They want to bring me to a Doctor, but of course I have already lost a lot of time.  We will see now.  I had shin splints last year and it feels a bit like it, but I am not sure that it is shin splints.  It is not in the normal place that shin splints usually are.  But the feeling is the same.”

She stayed at the race yesterday so as to not miss Ashprihanal’s finish.  After which she was brought home.  “I was happy to see him finish.  He also had hard times.  It was just nice to see his finish.”

Click to play interview

Update:  Surasa later in the morning visited a Doctor in Manhattan who diagnosed a torn Soleus muscle in the calf.  She was advised to take at least 3 days of complete rest.  As of late this afternoon she has not returned to the course.

It is a nasty wet morning which is soon to be followed by a pleasant late morning and day.  The wet conditions will come back by early evening.  Aryavan has returned from Europe and proceeds to help out by getting the yellow van going.

Pranjal will finish tomorrow morning and did his usual 114 laps 62 miles yesterday.

In case you might like to know what it is like to finish the race, this man has a good idea.  Ashprihanal finished yesterday and is enjoying seeing the race now from the other side of the fence.

Start

Day 48

“This is how the whole summer is like in Holland, especially lately. If the humidity would go down a touch, and stay the rest of the day like this it would be heaven.”  Pradeep had another great day yesterday with 115 laps.  He has 314 more miles to go but ahead of him is a rainy night which is soon to be followed by another long series of very hot days.

He was inspired by the finishes of the some of the other runners.  “It is true.  It makes me really happy to see all the finishes.  It is like another dream complete.  I feel really well.”

He adds, “one other reason I am feeling well is that Tuesday is my birthday.  So the finish was supposed to be on my birthday but it changed.  Usually when my birthday is coming up I feel good.  Something in me feels it coming.  It gives me this extra little thing.”

“I am more or less at a 60 mile a day schedule.  I am 6 miles ahead of that schedule.  I could basically do 59 miles a day. ”

As we are speaking in the morning is still not clear what is going to happen with Surasa and her race.  “It is a lesson for all of us.  You never know where an injury comes from.  You can never blame yourself.  One thing you really have to do is try and stay in a good consciousness, and pray for protection, and be grateful.  I know most of the time when I have got an injury, it was related to my consciousness.  Other people might not notice but it might be some bad thought that keeps recurring.  Or you are a little relaxed.  You are not so focused.  Then these things slip in.”

“”So yesterday I thought, be grateful for any steps you can run, and celebrate that.  Don’t take it lightly.  It is not possible of course to be all the time focused.  Maybe there is a critical amount of time when you have to be like that.  Or a critical amount of soulfulness, even if it is not very  long but you have to put in and it helps.”

“Basically it is a mystery for all of us.  We are all plodding along and trying to see what we can discover about ourselves.”

Click to play Interview

Poem of the Day

Recited by Pradeep

Enthusiasm Awakeners

Click to play

You want to know
The capacity of my hope?
I tell you
My hope has great capacity
To chant God’s name ceaselessly.
You want to know
The capacity of my dream?
I tell you
My dream has sufficient capacity
To make me another God,
A real God.

Sri Chinmoy, Europe-Blossoms, Agni Press, 1974.

Photo by Jowan

One more runner will complete the 3100 today.  Unlike the previous 2 finishers who were first timers, Ashprihanal has crossed the line before.  Today in fact he will complete his 11th self transcendence race.  Not one for overstatement or bravado of any sort he says this morning simply, “I am very happy, very glad.  One more race for Guru.  So That’s good.”

When asked if this race was the hardest of them all?  “Last year I felt also was hard, with heat all the time.  So I don’t know.  So I would say the last 2 years were hard.  Before that I don’t remember.” (laughter)

If we all really thought a lot about very hard projects in advance, before we did them, most likely not much would ever get done.  Even just to prepare yourself for a single one of these races is terrifying little alone accomplishing what Ashpihanal is about to do.  How can you even begin to fathom what it must be like to have run 34,100 miles around the block here.  Only one other person can understand of course, and that is Suprabha, who accomplished the same thing 13 times.  Still if he somehow knew that he was going to do this 11 times, he probably never would have got on the plane in Helsinki even the first time.

It is clear with not just him but with all the runners who come here that something deep within compels them all to come and do this.  Whether it be just once, or in his case, now close to a dozen times.

We are all called forward at one time or another to be challenged to do difficult tasks.  Sometimes we fail even before we start simply because of fear, or doubt, or our own obstinate and uncompromising inertia.  If we can learn anything from Ashprihanal, and the others, is that we all must attempt to answer these inner calls no matter what they may be, and no matter when they come.

We may physically exist in a material world but the moment you see Ashprihanal take flight around the course, you see so clearly that the inner world exists too.  One that is infinitely more real and more fulfilling than what are eyes show us. It is by identifying with  our hearts oneness and its ability to perceive our inner reality that we gain any glimpse of it at all.

It is only through all Ashprihanal’s countless steps here, and those of the other 10, that draws them subtly closer and closer to this world.  There is only one path that leads straight there and it is named self transcendence.

Ashprihanal had a warm but brief conversation  yesterday with Sarvagata, the winner of this years race.  “He is a nice person.”  They never exchanged many words during the race mostly he suggests because, “his speed was a little bit faster than mine.  All nice things.  It was very good.  For a long time there was nice racing going on.”

He saw that a competition of sorts had blossomed between Sarvagata and Igor and then he was gradually added into the mix.  “He was getting a little bit closer to me so I had to start doing a little bit more miles.  Definitely there were very interesting things.  Some years it has been, that I was quite clearly ahead.  I have been a little bit bored some years.  So this race wasn’t so hard.  I wasn’t fighting boredom in this race.  But on the other hand I felt like I was more serious, than normally.  I didn’t like that part.  That also made it kind of hard. ”

The appearance of Grahak yesterday was like a dose of good medicine for him.  “He brought so much joy back to the running.  He is very very good.  He is a great runner and he has the 3rd best time.  He is a great actor and singer.  He brings joy and that is good.”

He says that when he is running his high mileage days there isn’t as much time to fool around.  “You have to be focused, but that doesn’t mean you cannot be happy all the time.  Grahak is a good example of that.  It is a balance always.”

He has been joking for the past few days about how to acquire permanent inner progress.  I told him that I would look on eBay for it and also try Amazon.  Eventually I pretend that I found it for sale but in just a small amount.  It was also unfortunately not permanent and was not the genuine article. I tell him that I have only found a cheap knock off, manufactured somewhere in Asia.

On this his last day when asked whether he seriously feels as though he has progressed here.  “I hope so.  I am pretty sure because it is so intense, and we have to go through many things.  Life is also so disciplined here, and simple.  We don’t have to make any choices.  We just go around and around and everything comes to the fore with intensity.  Then my spiritual teacher can work on us.  So that is why we make the progress.”

Click to play Interview

The morning starts like all the rest for Ashprihanal.  Just 53 miles run yesterday but today he should be finished around 6pm.

Start

Day 47

There is a round of cheers this morning as the race begins.  It is the traditional touching tribute that is given to all who are about to finish.  Today the 7 who are still left offer congratulations to Ashprihanl.  Only they have any idea what he has done because only they are doing it as well.

“He is probably the most amazing runner in the world.”  Grahak has been here for the last 2 days and he quickly blends in amongst the runners.  He was there to see both Sarvagata and Igor finish. He will also be around now to appreciate and admire all the others as they cross the finish line.  Grahak is a 3 time veteran of the race and knows Ashprihanal well.

“And his consciousness.  He is always happy and chirpy.  I think he is always trying to transcend himself, whether it is faster or happier.  I don’t think he realizes just how much energy he brings to the course when he is here.  Just his presence.  He is a pretty special runner.”

He has come now 11 times.  “That is amazing.  The admiration for that alone is incredible.  To come back again and again.  He is always joking that it is a tough job but somebody has got to do it.  I think it is simply what he is meant to be doing.”

“He is really helping the progress of the world when he does it.  It is really inspiring.  It is great running with him.  You get such joy.  He is such a child like person.”

Grahak tells me that he spent 8 hours here yesterday.  “I got a lot of joy.  It is really nice being around the course and hanging out with the other runners.  It brings back memories obviously.  I timed it well.  I have watched 2 people finish so far, and Ashprihanal finishes today.  I don’t think anybody cant watch that without feeling some gratitude, and oneness, and things like that.”

“This is the first time I have hung out at the race and not been running.  It is nice.  In a way I miss it.  You always still can pick up on the force on the course.  The force of energy, love, and joy.  It is great coming back.”

Click to play interview

Poem of the Day

Recited by Ashprihanal

Enthusiasm Awakeners

Cick to play Ashprhanal tribute

Click to play song

“In the year 2000 he ran his first 3100 mile race.  He won it as well as the race in 2001.  He proceeded to win 7 races out of 11.  Unprecedented for the men in the annals of the 3100 mile race.  He is the 2nd fastest in the world at 3100 miles.”  (43 days 4 hours)

“This year he was on pace to break his record  by perhaps half a day.  But, things happen during the race.  He did set a new race record that may  never be challenged.  24 days of over 70 miles on each of those days.  Some of those days tipping the scales at 76 or 77.”

“He is the champion because he is always cheerful.  He is always smiling.  Even when things are rotten he finds a way to be humorous.”

“In 3rd place reaching 3100 miles in 46 days, 12 hours, 6 minutes, and 8 seconds.  Which would have won the first 3 3100 mile races.  Ashprihanal averaged 66.664 miles per day.  Still a remarkable performance, from one of the world’s greatest, and you have our admiration and our gratitude, for coming so many times.  Showing the outer world and the inner world how it is done.  Congratulations.” Sahishnu 

Click to Play Ashprihanal Finish

“My nicest memories in my life, is with Guru here, and finishing the races.”Ashprihanal

ALL I HAVE TO DO

All I have to do is to accept it
Without understanding.

All I have to do is to believe it
Without knowing.

All I have to do is to surrender to it
Without discovering.

Sri Chinmoy, Transcendence-Perfection, Agni Press, 1975.

It is just part and parcel of the quiet and gentle humor that is Igor.  Sarvagata of course had no reason to run even one additional lap yesterday.  For on that day he completed his journey.  In the process setting a record for first time runners of the 3100.

Tomorrow perhaps another runner will also be able to make a joke about Igor’s laps,  for most certainly they will be much less then his friend Sarvagata.  Today of course, after he completes just 12 miles more, his race will also be over, and he will be the second finisher of the Self Transcendence 3100 mile race.

A few hours later, when he at last has taken his final step and he felt the ribbon of the finish line embrace his chest.  I ask, are you overwhelmed?  “It is not overwhelming.  My consciousness is so spread out that I can’t join it together.”

He has tremendous experience in multi day running, I ask if any other race can compare to this.  “This race is so big that I cannot compare it to any other.  My mind cannot compare it to anything else.”

When he finished his race, he gave no speech, made no grand gestures of celebration, other than to offer up a sweet and humble smile. Yet it was within that smile that there was a brilliance and a brightness that was not overshadowed by the morning sun itself beaming through the canopy of trees.  He had only one request, that Sri Chinmoy’s song, My Own Gratitude Heart, be sung.  Those who were there to celebrate his victory obliged.  I ask him why he asked for it, and he says, “I heard it inside myself all morning.”

Are you different person, than the one who started here 45 days ago?  “I cannot remember what I was like before.”  As for now,  “I just feel lightness in my consciousness, and of course gratitude.”

He has received tremendous support from many people since his race began.  “The main help comes from within.  But of course this all would not be possible without the help of people as well.”

He is going to remain in New York until the end of August celebrations.  Will returning to Vinnitsa after all this be a bit of shock?  “It will not be a shock to return home.  A part of me is always there.”  It was also only due to the sacrifice and support of his co workers at the enterprise he works called Promise Joy that also made it all possible.

A man of few words, but whose tireless legs somehow illustrated more clearly just who and what he was.  Also it was in his calm, yet relentless pace, that he conveyed his own unique and personal message of self transcendence.

For now he does no need to run another step, at least for now.  It is with his smile that he now communicates so much more.  He adds just one last thought. “This morning was very unusual.  I had inner joy beaming out from within me all the time.”

Click to play interview….Thanks for translation (Gagana)

In the morning Igor arrives already hearing the whispers of delight from the finish line.  Stutisheel who has been there many times before embraces him.  Sarvagata has just a few more laps to make 5,000km.

Start

Day 46

Last night many people showed up for the finish and celebration of Sarvagata’a victory.  Just a few who make it all possible are those on the sidelines.  Anudvega with massage and Dr. Mitch Proffman for his great chiropractic services.  He also predicted early on a Sarvagata victory.  Reminding me that he used the expression, ‘Dark Horse,’ for Sarvagata weeks earlier.

Tomorrow the day will belong to the great Finnish champion Ashprihanal.  He will reach the end of his very long road when he completes his last 89 miles.

Yesterday also brought the surprise reappearance of Grahak, a veteran of the race.  It doesn’t take him long to be at home.

“The first word that comes into my mind is outstanding.” This morning it is as though Sarvagata is running his victory lap, though due to the pain in his ankle it is mostly walking.  Beside him is his friend and helper Dimitry, who also gave very much support to Igor as well.

He also adds, “Surprising, amazing, all those good words that would describe his unparalleled, unbelievable job that he has done.  There is no exaggeration.  So, I cannot really describe it.  I am really really grateful.”

I tell Dimitry that Sarvagata’s sister told me that Dimitry was such a good helper he could easily give master classes in the art.  He laughs and says, “In fact this race is a great gift from the Supreme to me.  It was aspiration and inspiration of the fullness of life this race.”

“Even though I clearly saw that Sarvagata finished the race, I still don’t see how it is possible for anyone to do it.  When you look at the runners every day.  You can start to look at what you do as just another regular job.”

“But when you start to really think about it.  Then you realize what is really happening.  It is so amazing your mind simply stops.  Even being here every day right here I understand that it is impossible to do.  At this moment I see the runners only as divine heroes.”

No moment of the race was more profound than any other he says.  Of it all he describes, “in fact it was all a really constantly intense and powerful experience.”

I am curious how he can also find the spiritual life in all the intensity and also all the work that he did here.  “I don’t see any problem in this, because for me just being here is spiritual practice.  You are in a spiritual stream here.”

As for next year.  “Whatever happens is entirely up to God’s grace.  I cannot demand from the Supreme to repeat his grace.  It is entirely up to his will if I come or not.”

Click to play interview

Later he says of Igor, “the main quality of Igor’s soul is kindness and love.”  He also describes seeing a picture of Igor in which he recognized some other worldly qualities.   He appeared not so much human but more like some ethereal character from a fairy tale.  “He is a dream.”

“Everything that happened to me here is completely unusual from my regular life.  It is all God’s grace.”

“Ladies and Gentlemen, in his first attempt Igor Mudryck has completed 3100 miles.  In 45 days, 2 hours, 30 minutes and 37 seconds.  He now becomes the 6th fastest all time, and the 2nd fastest first timer.”

“Igor, even with a rest day, averaged 68.33 miles.  Coupled with Sarvagata is the most extraordinary part of the race.  To have 2 young guys come and just turn the tables upside down, in the history of the race.”

“They are the new breed of runners.  They are taking the knowledge of the other great runners and assimilating it and also receiving more grace from above.”

“They were already world class but this is beyond beyond.  They are transcending the barriers and we are all so grateful.” Sahishnu’s speech

Click to play Igor’s finish

Poem of the Day

Recited by Grahak

Enthusiasm Awakeners

Celebrating their anniversary

If we can dive deep within
On the strength of our prayers
And meditations,
We shall clearly see
That peace comes to us
From all directions.

Sri Chinmoy, Twenty-Seven Thousand Aspiration-Plants, Part 245, Agni Press, 1998.

He has but 55 miles more to go now, so small a gap it is almost as though his foot is already poised to step at last across the finish line.  Just a few laps more,  when compared to all the suffering and joy he has experienced and endured now for 44 days.  Using an American expression, I tell her that what he has left to do now is but a ‘piece of cake.’  I ask her if there might be a better expression in Ukrainian.  She says his race is like a, ‘Gift from Heaven.’  Her expression is much better.

It was a little more than a month ago that she was able to visit her brother only briefly before having to leave for Chicago.  “He has changed a lot.  Outwardly his appearance has changed.  He became darker and thinner. (laughter) And stronger.  Also I feel that something inside him also changed.  He became more sensitive, more subtle.  It is difficult to explain, but he is like a soul here.  I cannot see his body, it is something very new for me.  Any way he is my brother and I feel a deep connection with him.  I am very happy that I am here and can be in touch with his experience.”

When I saw her last she was a little disappointed that she would not be able to spend the entire time helping her brother.  In fact she was able to be with him for less than a day.  “Of course in every situation we have to see some positive sides.  We just have to look for it.  If I couldn’t be here I feel it was very important for me to dive deep within and try to feel what is going on.  But it is better to be here.” (laughter)

Instead of being her brother’s helper the job fell upon the very capable and tireless shoulders of Dimitry.  “When you have a supporter it is definitely easier to run.”  She describes how he supported Sarvagata both inwardly and outwardly.  On a practical level he simply had to rarely stray from the straightest possible course.  Those few extra steps Dimitry did for him, she says.  “Every lap, 4 or 5 steps.  He saved time and he saved energy for Sarvagata.”

Click to Play Part 1

Perhaps he can’t quite believe that is almost over himself, as he gazes once more at the lap sheets.  Or maybe it is because he wants just to see how soon others will join him in victory as they too cross the finish line.  He is a tired man.  One who is weary as he has never experienced ever before in this life.   He is also in pain.  Today an Achilles tendon throbs and rages in his leg.

Start

Day 45

Being her brother’s helper is a new job for her.  Today for a while Dimitry is not here and she is alone to do the job.  Everything is meticulously organized.  “Everything is easy to find even if Dimitry is not here.  He showed all the things I needed to do.  I was surprised at how professional it was.  He can make his own master class for helpers. It is his nature to support someone, to take care of them.  This is the best place for him to manifest his inner qualities.”

There are many who have been following her brother’s long journey.  Asked can anyone who is not here really understand it all?  Her emphatic answer, “No.”

I wonder whether he showed any of the potential for endurance sport when he was younger.  “When he was a kid he went to dancing class.  He danced very good.  Then when he was in school he took karate.  He succeeded there.  He has a black belt.  He won some competitions.  But about running I never noticed.  No one knew that he could do this.”

“It is difficult to understand what is going on even being right here.  When we see the lap results every morning it is impossible for our minds to understand what is going on.  I think people can feel something inside their hearts.  That something very important is going on here.  But what is it?  It is impossible.”

“It is not only inspiration.  When you hear about people running for 45 days, you feel, wow.  If they can run so long than I can do something very difficult also.  But also inwardly.”

“As for me when I am working and I am tired.  I remember, wow, they are running now.  It is very hot outside and they are still running for 30, 40, days.  And I am just tired after 4 hours of my work.  Now it is possible…. I can do it.”

I ask if he is going to be happy when he finishes?  (Laughter) “That is a good question.  Yes, he will be happy, maybe one part of him.”

Click to play interview

For many others there are still lots and lots of miles yet to run.  Pranjal has 260 and estimates that he will finish, either late Friday night or early Saturday morning.  He ran 65 miles yesterday.

Igor ran the most laps yesterday, 136.  This will be his last full day here. Surasa ran 113 laps.

Vajra has been one of the sainted and tireless helpers, not just all this summer but also for many years.  In the heat of the day he gives Ashprihanal a massage.  “There is a lot of stuff that I am seeing and feeling.  When you see, you see behind what you are wearing.  You see that seeing goes hand and hand with a sense of feeling.  That there is an inner strength that you see and feel within the runners.”

“You feel it in their muscles, you feel it in their fibers.  You feel it in their tendons.  There is something strong that allows them to be capable of being able to do tremendous things beyond the widest stretch of the imagination.”

“I think that a great deal of this comes from the inner urge to want to transcend and go far, farther, farthest.  In whatever you are doing.  It could be anything.”

“It could be a secretary, typing, anything.  Just trying to transcend the limits of what is the ordinary.  Many times many people are unconscious of this conscious feeling, to want to go beyond certain boundaries.  That are normally humanly reachable.  But here I am talking about going beyond that point.  Where you want to transcend beyond.  Here you enter into the spiritual.  That is a feeling that comes from deep within, the actual soul.  That is what is amazing.  That is what gets me to the point that I am ecstatic.

Click to play interview

Barbara is a school safety officer who can be found watching over the cross walk near Thomas Edison High school every morning.  “You have to love to do what you are doing.”

Of the race she says, “I loved it.  It relaxes me.  They are very very nice.  I enjoy it.

She has been a safety officer for 16 years the last 4 summers have been spent right here.

“I just watch them and relax.  It is just like amazing.  The way they run and everything.”

Click to play interview

Poem of the Day

Recited by Vedisha

Enthusiasm Awakeners

Click to play

“ladies and Gentlemen, you have seen an extraordinary performance.  This young man wins the 2011 Self Transcendence race in 44 days, 13 hours, 38 minutes and 52 seconds.  Which is an average of 69.59 miles a day.  He is now ranked 5th all time.” Sahishnu

Click to play finish

To hope is to bring down

A special gift

From Heaven.

Sri Chinmoy, Seventy-Seven Thousand Service-Trees, Part 23, Agni Press, 2001.