Today these runners will perform their final acts.   They will take all the steps and turns that they can and that they must do in order to achieve their absolute best.   Something that they have not neglected over other days but now upon this the very last, each and every moment here is so sweet and and yet so fleeting.  It will lead them, either to a glorious finish line, or they will simply tread on until the unyielding hands of time simply forbid that they step forward any further.

All here will perform what they can and what they must before the curtain falls at midnight and sweeps to a close this the 14th running of the Self-Transcendence 3100 mile race.

Today Dharbhasana will defy both his skeptics and his own self doubt.  He will prove that as powerful as pain and injury are the heart is infinitely stronger.  The sweet inspiration that whispered softly to him to come and challenge impossibility will now roar in delight that he has found victory by simply letting victory itself carry him there.

Surasa last night reached a goal on an unyielding day that reluctantly gave her 2700 miles.  For many days she knew already that the grander vision would not be realized.  At least not here and now.  She will run on today simply because their is time left and she came here but to run.  As long and as hard as she possibly could.

Both Baladev and Ananda-Lahari have seen their journey end here before they could reach the ultimate finish line.  Today grace has not favored them with this honor for reasons we will never know.  But they have been blessed in other ways that are secret and sacred only to them.  Divinity does not neglect those like them who ran so hard for so long.  We may not see how they were blessed.  We are only able to be aware of their indomitable courage to go on and on.  That if we ever forget what it is, “to never give up,” than we only have to look at the sacrifice and courage that they continually offered up here for 52 days.

Purna-Samarpan has found his satisfaction in a different goal.  He starts the final day  with just 25 miles more to go in order to reach 2700 miles.  It is not the goal that he first set out to reach but it is what has been offered to him.   In about 6 hours later he will accept it with grace and with gratitude.   picture by Alakananda

“Here it is, the last day.”  For a story of adventure drama none has been written here at the race quite like Dharbhasana’s.  As surprising as it is to those who have watched, it is no less surprising to all the various members of the extended Lynn family as well.  They have all found a joyous oneness in his journey.  But with pause and introspection it is clear that within this victory was already accomplished,  he just had to find the faith and courage to accomplish it.

10 days ago he admits with his hamstring injury the goal seemed unreachable.  It required something like an unbelievable effort of 66 miles a day to be able to do it.  “I knew I had the capacity to knock out that kind of mileage in a day.  I just didn’t know how many days I could hold it for.  The strength definitely has to start coming from within more and more rather than from the physical sense.  So if I had to limp around any longer I don’t know how possible it might have been.  I had to make my move when I made it.”

“Yeah, I am kind of amazed that I chopped it down from 66.7(miles a day), 65, 64, 63, 63, till here we are 50.”

He is clear as to where the credit has to go.  “When I look at it that way it is not my achievement.  I really got that sense yesterday.  You know every day seemed so long and so much effort, you have to invoke every spiritual quality at your disposal. From cheerfulness, enthusiasm, eagerness, to determination, will power, gratitude, joy, surrender, humility, simplicity, sincerity, all these qualities you really have to engage and grow into.  Try and become those qualities and all the different life experiences that present themselves to you.”

“So from the perspective of the spiritual nature, yesterday I really came to the conclusion, that all those days that had gone by I hadn’t lived them.  It wasn’t me myself and I.  It is not my achievement.  I am all gratitude.  It is all grace, all grace, all grace.  And that 1% of personal effort of living out those spiritual qualities, who am I to claim possession of them as well.  They are not mine.”

“I feel that on the starting line I was just the willingness and eagerness to take the first steps and make the journey.  The rest was done for me.”

I ask what it is like having his family with him as well all this time.  “For me because I am a family man it has been an absolute huge role.  There is no way I could do anything I have done without their support.  I completely had the easy path.  I just had to circle the block, and try and remain cheerful and happy.  Nandana has had the Supreme self sacrifice job of being the greatest handler and server and constantly taking care of all my food.  She is up the same time I am, at 5 o’clock preparing all the food.  Although I am skinny I am eating a lot of food out here.”  He adds also taking care of their daughter Shakti.

“The encouragement and support, you know when you are out here running you offer so much inspiration to others. And it is there inspiration that turns around and feeds you to keep going.  It is a reciprocal thing, and having the support and encouragement coming back at you from family and friends, and everybody around the world.  It picks you up and takes you to another level.”

One of the things he did to inspire himself to reach deeper in order to make his goal was to picture that he was running in a 6 day race near the end.  He completed a remarkable 405 miles in that time.

“At this point I feel like the entire soul of New Zealand will be pleased.  It is the achievement of New Zealand.  I am so deeply grateful to everyone in the Sri Chinmoy center back home in New Zealand all their support love and encouragement.  It is just huge.  It definitely doesn’t feel like it has been just mine, Nandana’s and Shakti’s efforts to finish this race.  It is the collective consciousness of everybody.  It is a beautiful thing.”

“It is only on the result of my inner experience.  The inner achievement of my prayer and meditation life encouraged by Sri Chinmoy that any of this is possible.  Certainly I am completely 100% inspired by everything that Sri Chinmoy represents, and there is no way I would even have got to the starting line.  Everything that I have, Everything that I am, everything that this race is all goes back to Sri Chinmoy, and for that I am deeply grateful.  I wouldn’t be a runner if it wasn’t for Sri Chinmoy.”

Complete Dharbhasana interview

“I am really happy that I stayed until the end.  It is like a victory for me this year.”  He starts the day with 2800 miles and will run until midnight.  He hopes to come back again next year.

“It is the duty of every runner to stay until the end.  Not to give up.  For me it was a really good year.  It was tough.  But I am sure I feel more love and more devotion.”

Ananda-Lahari Interview

The Enthusiasm Awakeners salute Baladev

Yesterday Surasa ran more miles in one day than she had in weeks.  By completing 57 miles she made her goal with a day to spare.  She was able to do it because she simply found the energy.  “If you have the motivation the energy is there.”

Earlier Galya had inspired her by saying, “you can do it today.” There was no big celebration, and when she was finished it was nearly midnight so she left.

As for today she says, “I want to run until the last second.”  She continues on because she says the race does not end until then.  To feel satisfied with what you have and what you are you must give your very best.

She will pass the Enthusiasm Awakeners one more time.  As she does, she scatters rose petals at their feet in gratitude.

To her helpers who have supported her so long, she is all gratitude and more.

Alas, Every day I do

so many things deliberately wrong.

It is hard to believe

that God still loves me

and needs me.

Poem of the day by Sri Chinmoy

Aug. 3rd, 2007

In just a few hours more Purna-Samarpan will finish 2700 miles.  His parents are here to see their son celebrate a remarkable achievement.  “I am very very grateful really.  It is all God’s grace I have to say.  It is unbelievable.  It is so far, and for the past month this was my goal, to run 2700.”

“I knew if I could stick with my miles, and do a little bit more I would be able to reach it.  It was a great second half of the race.  I am totally happy and totally grateful.  I am also happy that I only have 41 laps to go.”

He says his folks are only familiar with the metric system and so he had to convert his mileage into kilometers.  “I told my Dad it was 3,430 kilometers.”  He described that this mileage would be several trips up and down the length of Germany.  He says his folks have really like the atmosphere at the race.  “They are very happy and they are very proud.”

As for if he is coming back to try again he says, “If it goes all right it should be possible.  But that is totally up to the Supreme.”

Poem of the Day and Purna-Samarpan

“Finishing 6th and becoming the 1st New Zealander in history to run 3100 miles. Finishing in a time of 51 days, 13 hours, 17 minutes, and 32 seconds.  Which is 60.134 miles per day, or 96.77 kilometers a day.  He is now ranked 24th on the list of all time list of 27 finishers.  And this is the 101st performance of 3100 miles.  Congratulations.”

Sahishnu

Dharbhasana’s finish

World Harmony Run

comes from the

World Peace Family.

World Harmony Run

earth’s self-transcendence jubilee.

Song of the Day composed by Sri Chinmoy

Performed by Enthusiasm Awakeners

Song of the Day

It is so easy to make God happy.

Just show your willingness-mind

And eagerness-heart.

Excerpt from Seventy-Seven Thousand Service-Trees, Part 8 by Sri Chinmoy

Sometimes most powerfully, the inner in us breaks through and shows us the way for our entire being to be transformed and made one.  In practically all religions the call to pilgrimage is part and parcel of this transformation process.  The journey will take you to a sacred spot in which a spark of consciousness can be lit and we will feel our connection to our soul’s reality on all planes.

Pushkar one day during the race had a powerful experience in which he no longer saw himself running around and around a block but instead on a sacred pilgrimage in with he was always moving forward.  “Something entered into me.  It was much easier to accept. Every step I do brings me closer.  On that day I did my best.  I could not do more.”  Today that journey will come to a close, at least for this year.

“I am able to complete this unimaginable distance only because of God’s boundless compassion, affection, and concern.”  He is wearing a special shirt that he has only worn once before.  The only other time he wore it was when he finished the race last year.  The previous year when he did not complete the race he did not wear it.  On the back it says, “Joy Guru…27)

He will be slower by more than a day from last year but he is not disappointed by this at all.  He does not believe that the heat bothered him as much as some of the others but suspects that it may have indirectly affected his digestive problems.  As a whole he has learned a lot from being here the 2 previous summers and feels more disciplined and independent.

He spoke recently about how happy he was to be able to continue to run after Asprihanal finished 2 days ago.  He felt that his own finish would likely be a mixture of sadness and joy.  “A smiling eye will definitely come forward.”  He confesses that already this morning the crying eye was present when he was filled with overwhelming gratitude that he was able to be here and complete the journey.

“I would love to go for ever and ever but this is just a part of it.  Another part says, “let us reach the finish line and take a little rest,” and he laughs.  I suggest that if he wants to run for ever and ever he just needs to come back every year and run.  “If the outer circumstances allow it, I will definitely be here.  It is the most beautiful thing  I can do on earth.  What ever you do is the right thing here.  If you come you move, move, move.  Everything you do is in God’s own way done.”

Pushkar Interview

This morning Baladev sits next to Pushkar who is going to finish the race late this afternoon.  He starts the day with 2714 miles and he plans to run right up until midnight on Tuesday.  For days now, because of a sore Achilles he has only been able to walk.  He remains cheerful but it still has to be hard.  Hard to see your cherished goal remain 300 miles beyond your reach.  Instead, focus only on what you have attained inside.  The poise and courage that was able to sustain you for 52 days.

Pushkar is meticulous in the way he prepares his feet every morning.   There is only 40 miles more to go but he takes his time and does it carefully.

Ananda-Lahari also will not complete 3100 miles.  He starts the day as well with 2757 and plans to run until midnight tomorrow.  The 52 day cut off is not a something unexpected.  Everyone knew it from the start so it is no surprise to anyone.  Yet somehow 52 days can go so quickly and the miles do not come fast enough.

Start Day 51

The body is the patient.

The heart is the sufferer.

The soul is the sympathizer.

God is the ultimate curer.

Poem of the Day

written by Sri Chinmoy

Aug. 2nd, 2007

Poem of the Day

Nisanga recites the poem this morning and is one who has spent countless hours here in the morning helping.

He is a perfect example of the many selfless and dedicated people who have helped keep the runners going for 52 days.

Purna-Samarpan and Dharbhasana are running together this morning and I ask them to recall a pivotal conversation that had taken place between the 2 of them about a month earlier.  They of course had no recollection.  “What were we talking about?”

The gist of their conversation was that they were both going to have to run harder in order to have any chance of finishing.  Purna-Samarpan remembers and adds, “well somebody picked up the pace I would have to say,” referring to Dharbhasana who is almost certain of finishing before the cut off. Laughter by all.

“I guess you know what you have to do, to get to where you have to get.” Dharbhasana

“Whatever that goal is you stick with it.  Or attempt to.  I remember several attempt to get going and get knocked back again.  I think we are both extremely happy with the turn out.”

“I did some calculating actually the day before yesterday when I was walking.”Purna-Samarpan

“I discovered that I could increase my mileage from last year to this year by 12% or something, so I was quite happy.  Even though I wont be able to reach 3100, I decided I would be very happy with my performance.”  He mentions that he takes less than 4 hours to run a marathon.  Yet he admires like anything those who run it and stay out there on the course for 6 and 7 hours.  “It is even more exhausting in my perspective.”

Dharbhasana adds that they appreciate those who have stayed on in the race and taken as many as 60 days to complete the distance.  “For them they are real warriors. Because for them they are doing the same thing that Asprihanal does finishing early.  But they are here every single day after, going on and on and on.”

“I am really happy that I am stopping at 2700, it is a nice number.  It is a lot of progress in comparison to last year.  And you know, it is a good feeling for the future.  It is still quite far I would say.  I am very happy that the time is not extended.  Otherwise I would be out here for another week or something.”

“It is also very exhausting not only for us but for the cooks, for the counters, and the organizers.  It is just getting really exhausting for every body.  It is a nice feeling to be on the 2nd last day.  Whatever the mileage is it is quite an achievement, and I am quite happy that Dharbhasana is making it to the finish line.  It was so nice because he put in so much determination and effort.  It was just great to see that it was possible.”

Purna-Samarpan and Dharbhasana Interview

Surasa starts the day with just 58 more miles of running to reach 2700.  She plans of simply going on until there is no time left to run.

Today Atmavir sits for the first morning in 50 days.  He listens to the Enthusiasm Awakeners, who he has appreciated so much.  This morning they turn and offer their appreciation of him.

Pushkar finished his journey today in a time of 50 days, 9 hours, 34 minutes, and 24 seconds.

Photo by Jowan

How can I reach my Goal?

O how can I?

My life is still tinged

with the desire-hunger-dye.

composed by Sri Chinmoy August 2, 2007

How Can I Reach My Goal

To love God Unconditionally

is to be

on the right track.

composed by Sri Chinmoy August 2,2006

To Love God Unconditionally

EVERY STEP

O every step along the progress-road

Quickly lightens my heavy bondage-load.

Excerpt from Sail My Heartbeat Sail, Part 2 by Sri Chinmoy

“It is very good weather today and I will enjoy it until the end.  But it is not like it was on other days.  Outwardly the result was not very good.  I will be 4 days behind my last years result.  Inwardly I feel quite good. I feel I made some little steps towards my goal.  From that point I am really happy and satisfied.”

He tells me that he was expecting that the race was going to be difficult for him even before he arrived.  “And it happened.” He says he knew that conditions at the 6 and 10 day race were extremely challenging earlier in the year and somehow felt that the challenges would simply appear in another form here.  In this case a summer of relentless heat and humidity.

“I was wondering why I was suffering so much this year, while some people were really quite smooth.  On those really hot days.  My feeling is that every body has a different role in this race, and we have to accept these roles.”  He explains that it is also in the task of cheerfully accepting the different results, no matter whether it is success or failure, that is perhaps one of the key accomplishments for those who run here.  That you must work extremely hard to do your best and than as well be grateful for whatever the outcome might be.

“Definitely I am quite happy that it will be over.  It was my toughest year here.  It was my hardest race ever.  On the other hand the inner progress that we are doing here.  If you are putting yourself through more pressure maybe something deeper will appear.”

“Also I really like the poems this year, written by Sri Chinmoy.(2007)  Those were special for the race.  I realize those poems were really like diamonds for us.  Those poems are really powerful.  Those poems are kind of the secret of the race for me.  Like, why we are here.  It is our destiny.  It is our goal.”

Atmavir Interview

A heart of faith

is a life of tremendous happiness.

Poem of the Day

written by Sri Chinmoy

August 1st, 2007

Poem of the Day

Start of Day 50

Their names aren’t on the board but Dharbhasana’s wife and daughter are a crucial element, in not just his doing so well here this summer, but also in his ability just to be able to come here all the way from their home in New Zealand.  Nandana and Shakti are the extra legs that have given a tremendous boost to Dharbhasana’s stunning performance here this summer.

A good helper is one of the greatest assets a runner can have in order to perform well.  Nandana has proven to be one of the greats.  She has not only supplied her husband with an endless supply of nutritious and tasty raw food , but she has also been an ardent and committed supporter of his race.   Even in the darkest days which seemed to be a lifetime ago but in fact were just last week.  While all the while juggling the needs of a 7 year old daughter.  Who required, it should be mentioned, both attention and ice cream during our talk.

“Every single morning I make him a green smoothy.  That gives him all his calcium and protein, and stuff like that.  Then I make him a super food smoothy.  We have been into the raw food thing for the last year.  In the last year we have been learning more what raw foods do and what properties they carry.”  She mentions that in the 6 day race they had a test run with the diet which was mainly raw.  “He had the best 6 day race that he has ever had.  He didn’t get injured and he was full of power.  He made it to the end and it was totally great.  So we thought that we would do this race the same way.  He didn’t want any dairy or gluten.  He didn’t want to have anything processed.  It all had to be fresh and healthy.  It started to go well at the beginning.  Than slowly he wanted to have more heavier foods.  This race has been more 80% raw it hasn’t been 100% raw.”

As we are talking I point out Pranjal who seemed to exist on snickers bars and coca cola.  “Everyone seems to have a different constitution. At one point Dharbhasana was able to eat like that.  I think when you start to become aware, and start putting more good things into your body.  I think it eventually starts rejecting the bad stuff.  It doesn’t work the same like it used to.  Pranjal is fine on it.”

She starts talking about the consequences of trying some dairy earlier in the race and she says digestively it just didn’t work.  Ironically as a musical back drop to this, an ice cream truck arrives with its music blaring in the background.    She also confesses to accidentally feeding him a bad mushroom, which made him sick for a short while.

The family has worked as a team in other races but Nandana suggests that the experience here at the 3100 is completely different.  “The 6 and 10 day race is short and sweet.  This keeps going.  There have been ups and downs.”  She also takes the opportunity to compliment her daughter who has done extremely well here for the past 52 days.

When asked what she has like most she says, “I like every bit of it.  I feel very much oneness here.  I don’t know what I am going to do with myself when it is over.  I like it all.  I like seeing what the runners go through.  It has made me appreciate what they do a lot more.”  Dharbhasana had wanted to do the race for a number of years.  He had spent time following the race on the internet but for her the race was simply an abstraction until she arrived and had to become fully engaged in it.  “I appreciated it because he appreciated it.  Now that I have been here and seen what they go through.  They all have to work together.  It is a oneness thing. I appreciate that now.”

“I came in with absolutely no expectation because I had no idea what it meant.  I am really ‘wowed’ that Dharbhasana is going to finish in his first year.  I had no idea that it was a possibility that he wouldn’t finish.  When I see everyone’s capacity and where they are at.  To see how absolutely hard the journey is.  So for him to finish in the first year, I really appreciate that now, and what he has gone through.”

I ask her about the dark days that seemed to spell the end of Dharbhasana’s chances of finishing the race.  “That was an amazing experience.  I am still surprised by that one.  Because he got the hamstring injury.  He tried to get through it.  He had a good attitude but after 5 days of walking, he got hit by doubt and frustration.  He made up his mind that he wasn’t going to finish.  It was kind of a hard thing.  Then something just happened.  A snap of the fingers.  His parents arrived.  A few people gave him some words of encouragement.  A snap of the fingers and it was gone, absolutely gone.  Grace, that is real grace.”

I ask Nandana if anything as dramatic, as his recent running resurrection had ever happened before in their lives.  She mentions that just being able to come to New York for the family was really challenging.  Their financial situation was so dire that it looked like coming here was just not going to happen.  His business financial advisers were strongly suggesting that leaving New Zealand at that time was not recommended.  “It wasn’t going to be feasible for his business.  He was on the brink of deciding not to do it.  Every one was just doubting him.  Then he went a way and had a moment to himself.”

He had the experience where he recalled the old legend of Babaji.  It is a simple story of faith in what one holds to be true, and how far one will go in order to prove and demonstrate their own faith in their beliefs.  The experience was so strong for Dharbhasana, “that he knew that this is what he was meant to be doing.  It is a similar experience.  He felt he needed to have that faith, to jump, and just do it.  From that moment on when he made that decision, everything just smoothed out.  Now I have complete faith, and belief in grace, because it works, when you believe.”

Complete Nandana Interview

It is an especially happy time for Atmavir as he completes the final laps of his journey.  As hard as it has been for him he knows that others too have had to endure a struggle as well.  He can be grateful that he has at least completed the race.  And while he runs he stops for just a moment to thank the Enthusiasam Awakeners.

At noon Pushkar and Purna-Samarpan take their breaks.  There is still a lot of running left to do for them.  Nikhad hands out the daily race prayer and it is his voice that recites it earlier at the top of the page.

“Ladies and gentlemen, finishing in 4th place, in his 4th consecutive 3100 miler.  In a time of 49 days, 5 hours, 31 minutes, and 34 seconds.  Although it is not his best finish, he is still ranked 5th fastest all time in the world.  But I must say for this kind of runner and his particular unique physique.  He can’t handle the heat very well.  He is very thin.  He doesn’t have the cooling apparatus of his body.

If it is cold he is in danger of winning the race.  Because Asprihanal had a slightly off year.  Asprihanal 10 finishes, 2nd fastest all time, all kinds of records.  But this man was right on his heels, and then the heat wave came.

Heat wave number 1 it set him back.  Heat wave number 2 almost wiped him out completely.  And heat wave number 3 just let me get through it.  All kinds of obstacles and yet he finished.

He thought about quitting.  He would go home at night and be so hot from the heat of the day.  He couldn’t cool off.  He would take cold showers, and still couldn’t cool off.

It is a real testament to his inner and outer fortitude to finish this race, and to do very well, considering the heat.  49 days is no joke.  So our congratulations to Atmavir.  It is a fantastic achievement to do this race.  To do it so well with class, and with dignity.” Sahishnu

Click to play Atmavir finish

Atmavir then thanks all those who have helped.  He mentions everyone.  “I am very grateful that you supported us in many ways.”  Than he points to the board behind him.  His name now has 3100 beside it but he speaks of those who have arrived already at the close of this year’s epic journey.  “Those older brothers on the board.  They inspired me to work harder for next year.  So I am really inspired to do better next year.”

Atmavir speech

Earlier in the morning the Enthusiasm Awakeners sang a song that was very special and significant to Sri Chinmoy.  He had composed it 3 years ago on this day and in the evening he had asked the group to sing it again at an evening function.  He asked his students to try and sing this song 3 times a day.  He said that if they did, he would be very, very, very, very -a million times-proud of you.  “This will definitely help you in your life of aspiration.”

Last night I had a very, very

very significant dream.

I saw my Lord,

clasped His Eye

and

Kissed His Feet Supreme.

Song composed by Sri Chinmoy

Performed by Enthusiasm Awakeners

Last night I had a very, very, very, Significant Dream

“Either from within we come without, or from without we dive deep within. We can start our journey either from the soul’s capacity or from the body’s capacity. Ultimately these two capacities have to be united. Needless to say, the soul’s capacity is infinitely greater than the body’s capacity. But the little capacity that the body has, has to be united with the soul’s capacity. The body’s greatest capacity is the acceptance of the soul’s leadership. If the soul is accepted as the supreme leader, if the soul gets the opportunity to guide, mould and shape our destiny, then we get what we do not have right now: the sweet, pure, breathless, intense inner cry and the sure, measureless outer smile.”

Excerpt from Everest Aspiration Part 1 by Sri Chinmoy

Little by little

I must change my life only

in God’s own Way.

Poem of the Day

Written by Sri Chinmoy

July 31st,2007

With but a few exceptions, none of the runners here is running so quickly that most people, even in pretty average condition, could not keep up with them for the length of at least one city block.  There are times of the day when they might pick it up, but for the most part every body here runs pretty slow.  When dealing with time nothing moves quickly.  Though as the final days slip away into oblivion our perception of time can be skewed.  The striking enormity of the distance they are running and the super human effort to accomplish it however never changes.

What is miraculous is how much that can be accomplished and transformed in ourselves simply by being diligent and persevering.  Harnessing ourselves to a, never give up attitude, and trying to eliminate the distractions in our lives that serve no genuine purpose.   Instead, imagine how better we would feel and be if we just started focusing on the tasks that will give us inner satisfaction and fulfillment.

Over the summer I have heard lots of stories from others who have found inspiration from what the 11 runners have done here this summer.  For some it is simply reevaluating their priorities.  Get more exercise, eat less and better, and maybe just trying to reexamine their goals, both outwardly and within. Finding out what taking little steps can do to improve our own lives.

“Yeah, step by step.” Purna-Samarpan. “Don’t overstretch.” Pushkar.  I had asked Pushkar and Purna-Samarpan to recite the above poem and before you know it they offered some commentary on it.  “Yeah, one step at a time, and also accept whatever is given to you.  Be patient.”

When I mention that there are very few days left, Purna-Samarpan jokes.  “Yeah, we paid for 52 days so we are staying until the end.” He adds more seriously that while Pushkar will finish likely in 2 days,  he himself has almost 200 more miles to go in order to reach 2700.  “It sounds little in comparison to what we have run already but still, it won’t come easy.  It is coming to an end and it is a good feeling.”

Pushkar jokes, that now they will need to become really spiritual in the last few days.  “No joking and kidding any more,” and laughs hilariously.  “I have a crying eye and a smiling eye.  Crying eye, is that it will be over, and no more running.  No more divine progress running.  Smiling eye, is that you have reached the finish line and you can get a little rest.  You are so happy delighted.”

Purna-Samarpan describes that for him as soon as the race is over, that life afterward takes some adjustment getting used to it again.  “In the beginning it is a little bit plain, also a little bit dull or something.  It changes obviously.  It is not so easy to readjust.  It takes some time to get back into your rhythm.”

“Here you run because you run.”

“Tonight we will finish 7 weeks of running.”

Pushkar, “just after Asprihanal finished, I got a very happy feeling, that I am still not finished.  That I can still continue running.  I got such joy that I can continue to run. I got the feeling, that I would love to run for eternity.  Up to the moon and back, whatever.  This was quite special.  Running for eternity, eternity, and eternity.

Pushkar and Purna-Samarpan Interview

Galya puts in his first early morning appearance at the race since he finished.  He had mentioned how much he wanted to be able to listen to an entire performance by the Enthusiasm Awakeners.  He got that and then some this morning.  At the end of their singing program the girls turned and sang the 3100 song just for him.

For the other 2 guys who also just finished, they have still got a little bit more racing left in them.  Both Asprihanal and Pranjal ran in the 2 mile race.  Asprihanal was actually 2nd in 13:06.

We can’t say for sure where the next generation of distance runners will come from.  This little guy (Chameli’s grand son) was running in the 2 miler and didn’t seem as though he wanted to stop.  While some folks are not in a hurry whatsoever.

In the category of little things meaning a lot.  Atmavir found his MP3 player which had slipped under the motor home.

And if you ever need a good fruit smoothy come early and come often.

The flowers around the course are still looking pretty good.

The score boards are starting to have their own special charm and offer up a different kind of beauty.

Start Day 49

“This is like the 5th year I think.” Swami Parameshanandaji (Monk of Bhavat Sevashram Sangha) has been putting in many appearances in his his bright ochre colored running clothes on the course in the early mornings.  Almost as often as the sun has dawned bright and hot in the sky.  “Every year it is getting better.”

“It is something to look forward to when the disciples are here, and not only that.  Before and after they are here I utilize the same strength that I get.  The memories of them being here running.  I see how they are fully into it.  That memory, that feeling, that power that comes from this whole atmosphere.  I utilize it for the whole year.”

We talk a bit about how involved the runners here are in the complete running experience, both outwardly and inwardly.  “I can’t get the full experience say like Asprihanal is getting finishing.  Even taking one day off.  And then the struggle that he went through.  That struggle that he went through is what is helping him towards his liberation.  Because when we are running on this course.  After a while the mind has no place, in our existence.  Because how much can you think about the same thing.  Then the power of the Guru takes you out of the painfulness of mind, mind, mind.  After a while you beat the mind.  The mind is ripped.”

“The mind is something that is non existent, when you go deeper in the spiritual life.  So we come to that non existent state of mind and all that happens is the purity of consciousness, starts gradually to take its hold.  And the further you go that consciousness, is the bliss of the whole exercise.  So that is why I choose to be here.  I make a point that purposefully during this time I am not away too long.  Because I will miss it.”

“This morning here the sun is coming up and I am here to greet it.  To greet God in the form of sun.  I do my prayers, and then I look up into the sky and there is the moon.  This is a reminder of all nature.  This is a reminder of all God creation, and when you are conscious of God in all of his creation.  Then you are moving towards your liberation, self realization.”

“This is a beautiful opportunity.  You don’t have to go to far for a pilgrimage.  This is like a pilgrimage for me.  To be here.  To be with like minded spiritual people.  Even with the people who are serving.  You can see how they are serving with dedication and devotion.  So thanks to Sri Chinmoy he has created an atmosphere.”

“Even the children who are attending Thomas Edison High school, by us running around their school, we are vibrating high positive energy.  That even they unconsciously are being benefited by the peace.  In this way they can do studies better.  They don’t know this.”  He describes how the consciousness is being transmitted from this location as clearly as how voice is transmitted over cellphones.  How it can carry from one ear to the next on the far side of the world.  “That is why the whole neighborhood is so peaceful.”

“We have to let people know about this and let people know the benefit of it.  Many people say, what is the need of running 3100 miles?  In the hot sun, and taking all this pain.  But it is not just running.  These are people who just see life on the base level, on the mundane level.   But for all great souls, they have to go through some kind of austerity, before the purification can come.  So we have to let people know.”

“Even disciples of Sri Chinmoy we have to let them know the benefit of this kind of a run.  The greatest task that is accomplished is within the runners, and the people who are serving them.  So I am very very happy.  I am very pleased and very inspired, and I am benefiting so tremendously to be here with them.  To see the joy of Asprihanal finishing yesterday.  And year after year all the runners doing the same thing.  Coming and finishing or whether they finish or not, but it is the effort.  I look forward to it.  I will be here every year that it is here.  The beauty of it, whether it is hot or cold.    I will be here.”

Swami Parameshanandaji complete interview

To be very close to God,

to be very close,

each God-lover needs

a heart-beauty rose.

Song of the Day composed by Sri Chinmoy

July 31st 2007

Song of the Day

When we take the golden opportunity

To run the fastest,

We see that spirituality

Is for Eternity.

Excerpt from Seventy-Seven Thousand Service-Trees, Part 19 by Sri Chinmoy

This is very much his world here.  Over the past 48 days no one has ever arrived on the course before him and he has generally been the last one to leave at night.  He seems to try and take advantage of every possible available moment in which it is permissible to run.  If the 3100 was always difficult in past years the race this summer has been a nightmare of heat and humidity.  For a big man like himself there had to be long stretches of absolute and utter torture in order to somehow average 65 plus miles a day.  The reason he succeeds so well is simple.  “I don’t like easy things.”

“I like when you have to really fight for something.  You get more happiness from that.  When people try to have life as easy as possible, I don’t think it is right.  You will not get the right experiences from that.  You will get more experiences from the obstacle that you must go over.”

We talk about how his spiritual teacher always set new and higher goals for himself right up until his final days.  Pranjal models himself very much on the importance of trying to better yourself in every possible way.  “This race is the best for that.  This is the main point of the race.  It is not what you do, You have to do your best.  It does not matter on the outer result.  When you try your best this is the real goal.”

He feels that all his capacity, endurance, and energy comes from within.  “The problem is that people are thinking too much about it.  This energy is always inside.  Your mind always gives you some boundaries.”  Once one does this he believes than the possibilities around us become unlimited.  There is nothing that we then cannot accomplish.  “What is holding us back is our mind.  When you go beyond the mind you can find that there is much more.”

It has been 3 years now since Sri Chinmoy was last able to come.  Like all who continue to run here he is adamant about the feeling that all have expressed that his presence is still very much alive here.  “This is his race.  His spirit is always here.  This course is very special, like sacred.  You can really feel his energy here.  I think this is what draws people here.  They can really experience his consciousness here.  I always felt here that his energy was more stronger here.”

He describes this experience as being totally an inner reality.  He describes that on the surface the course can appear to be utter bedlam.  With kids playing basketball, the traffic, construction on the field, and all the myriad of distractions and eruptions that take place in and around the area all day long.  It cannot be seen only felt.  “This energy is somewhere inside.”

Complete Pranjal Interview

In all the many mornings I have come here, I have never ever been able to do this before.  That is get to the race before him.  You could not call it sleeping in because he will arrive with plenty of time before the start.  But it is 5:45 and as I make my way to the start Pranjal’s bike glides up past me.

He sits every day in the last chair at the last table.  The first thing he does is prepare his feet that have been scuffed and shuffled in every possible way that only a big man can do.

Every morning he eats a snickers candy bar and reads the results.  In just a few minutes more he will stand quietly at the starting line with no thoughts at all.  Just listening to the sound of his silent heart’s beauty.

He will run for 4 hours more and than it will be over.  At least for today.  Tomorrow he will run again, but towards a different goal.  He will be keeping alive a streak of more than 2 years of running every day.  His running journey will not end any time soon.

Start Day 48

There are 2 notable absences on the starting line this morning.  As the final few days count down the number will dwindle even further.  I ask Rupantar to describe the race this year, and he says, “It has been like survival.  Because of the extreme weather.  We had a mugging on the course.  We had a bomb scare and the bomb squad came. (just a bag somebody left) We had a knifing on the course.  With the construction in the field it has created dust and with the wind it has been like the Sahara desert.  Hottest July in record.  We survived.  It was a survival race.”

Rupantar loves the race  and despite the long list of dramatic events, and other than the heat, none of these things affected the performance of the runners.  This morning he says, “there is less energy with 2 runners finishing.  Everyone knows it is coming to an end soon.  So there is a general sigh of relief and gladness.”

Rupantar pt1

“This is done by one of the little children in the neighborhood.”  He is pointing to some art work that has been attached to the fence sometime late yesterday.  He calls it, “the unofficial banner of the race.” He then talks about all the people he has seen who show up over the course of the race.  “This is the center of the universe for a little while.”

Rupantar pt2

It will not be until Sunday that the next runner will finish.  So for now the little group, though depleted, still has the ability to see others on the course and sometimes find companionship.

Asprihanal has come back to enjoy the singing of the Enthusiasm Awakeners.  Later he and his brother will go off to the beach.

The happiness of the heart

expedites the speed of the body.

Poem of the Day by Sri Chinmoy

written July 30th 2007

Poem of the Day

Niriha recites the poem this morning and says, “Sri Chinmoy did say to each of the runners.  He practically begged them to smile.  You will do so much better if you smile.  It will help you so much.  This poem is appropriate for that.  He said that to them many many times.”

For herself she is doing a pretty good job this morning as well.  “We have 2 finishers and another on the way.  Especially considering this has been the most difficult summer imaginable for them.  The heat, the construction, many extra steps taken because of obstruction on their course.  So there is really something to smile about this year that they have persevered, and they have been such troopers.”

Pranjal finishes his race in 47 days and 4 hours.  It is more than a day faster than last year.

Picture by Alakananda

Now that I am at my Supreme Lords

Golden shore.

To frighten ignorance night,

He wants me to roar and roar.

Song composed by Sri Chinmoy

Performed by Enthusiasm Awakeners.

Song of the Day

“Life and sports cannot be separated; they are one. As a matter of fact, life itself is a game. This game can be played extremely well, provided the player develops consciously or unconsciously the capacity to invoke the transcendental energy which is always manifested in action.

In the life-game, each soul is running consciously or unconsciously toward the goal of inner perfection. There is not a single individual who has not left the starting point. Now, one individual may be behind another in the Godward race, but all are making progress and running toward the same goal.”

Excerpt from The Outer Running And The Inner Running by Sri Chinmoy

But how to understand and appreciate the heart and spirit that carried him through out the long hot summer.  Can any of us who have watched the full measure of his heroic deed here really grasp and comprehend any of it at all.

At even our finest moments of pristine clarity and of vision, we can barely glimpse only a fraction of the enormity of the burdens he has borne here.  And not just this year but in all the 10 summers he has set off for the impossibly distant finish line.  All we can really see for sure are the numbers, and the times pressed by pencil into neat columns on clip boards.

For the past 46 days he has run 3069 miles.  He has traveled so far and yet he has gone no where.  At least our eyes tell us this, but in our hearts know this is not true.  For the power that really moves him also moves us and the world around us as well.  For 3100 miles he listened to, and became one with, the power within.  Hopefully when our call comes, no matter the deed, we too will be able to answer.

He was given an invitation to take a great and monumental inner journey.  He willingly and gratefully accepted, and now he heroically stands on Self-Transcendence’s distant shore.

Galya starts the day with just 61 more miles to go.  This will be the 2nd time he has reached the finish line.  His time this year will be something like 2 days faster than last year and by any and all computation standards his betterment of his previous time is unequivocally a demonstration of Self-Transcendence.

But the transformation of this 39 year old Ukrainian is much more than just better timing.  He started the race as Vladimir, and somehow by the wondrous mysteries of life, he is now known by the spiritual name of Galya.  He has a lifetime ahead of himself now to appreciate and identify with this new inner identity.  Use it to unlock and reveal much more of the world within him.  To fully become the divine being that his heart wants him to be.

At the same time in just a few hours more he will be able to rest and sit still at last.  No longer be driven by the relentless pace of his constantly churning legs that never knew true rest for the past 46 days.  To at last enjoy and abide in the place within that he has struggled so hard to arrive at.  He will be the 2nd champion to arrive at last on Self-Transcendence’s Distant shore.

They tell me that they had never seen their son run before.  Yet since this past Sunday, Tom and Rose Lynn have tumbled gladly and wholeheartedly into the 3100 mile race experience.  For 4 days now they have seen him do nothing but run.   They have enjoyed every second of the time they have spent with Dharbhasana in the whirl wind adventure that he has gone through recently.

“Prior to coming here I just thought it was crazy.”  Tom is used to speaking his mind about things.  Having no experience with the longest race in the world he just didn’t think it was humanly possible to do it at all.  Even after being here for 4 days he says, “I still think it is that. But I am blown away by it all, how it is all unfolding.  That these guys are able to do this mileage.  I can’t get my head around it.  I really can’t.”

Rose says, “I am so inspired by him.  Normally I think it is children who should be inspired by their parents.  But I have been turned around the other way.  I am so inspired by what he is doing.  It really is.  I want to go home and get into it.  Get it into other areas of my life too.”

They came so early this morning because in just a few hours they are returning to New Zealand.  They are already making plans on how to keep up with the final few, hopefully not too dramatic days of their son’s journey to 3100 miles.  They came at one of the most challenging moments of the race on Sunday when Dharbhasna seemed to find just the right key to make finishing the race even possible.  His Dad says, “I never thought he wouldn’t finish.  I just didn’t think he would complete the 3100 mileage.  Then he had that turn around when he did the 70 miles.  He just seems to be going from strength to strength.  He has got himself back into it.”

I ask his Mom if there is anything that they may have taught Dharbhasana to be so good as a multi day runner.  “Yesterday the guys wonder how he stands on his feet and his feet don’t go through what they are going through.  And he said, I am sure it is the Markets.  Because we have all done the markets and stood on our feet day after day.  For long long periods.  He can only put it down to the markets.  That is one thing he has got from us.”

I ask them what they will be able to tell folks back in Hamilton New Zealand when they return.  “We got so much to say.  Where do we start.  We didn’t realize it was so huge, the magnitude of it all.”

Tom and Rosen Lynn Interview

Start Day 47

Asprihanal says he knew last winter that by coming back and running for the 10th time it would all add up to 31000 total miles on the course.  He says that the number 31 was significant to Sri Chinmoy but other than that the other numbers are just zeros.  “That is pretty much what it means.” Referring to all the gigantic opportunities to employ elaborate arithmetic in counting up all the numbers.  “It just means it is a lot of running.”

“I think every race is different.  This one was hotter. But it was a good race.  It was tough, mainly mentally.”

His brother, Antaraloy was here as well in 2007 when he finished.  “That was my nicest finish ever, of all the 10 times I would say.”  It would be the last time that Sri Chinmoy was there at the finish line.  He would pass later that same fall.  He describes how he came in second that year but that Sri Chinmoy composed a song for him on the spot.  “It felt nice sitting there with Guru.”

Talking about his upcoming finish he says, “I am happy.  I am also proud of it.  This race is not easy.  You should always be happy with finishing.  It is like a marathon.  Some time you have a not the best time.  Maybe you had a little higher expectations.  You do a marathon and you feel good when it ends.”

“I had some tough times and some easy times……..well not so many easy times.”  He describes how at times your body is strong but mentally you can get into a rut by thinking things like, “O it is so hot, or something.  Anyway I am definitely happy.  And I hope I did a good job, like inwardly.  I do feel like I should try to be in a better consciousness.  But it is so hard sometimes.  It is so hot you know, and you are just going around all the time.”

“This is definitely a nice race.  It is a little bit more than just a race.”  He says that Sri Chinmoy once said how much he missed the race after it was over once.  He also said, “even though we are suffering and suffering, our souls are dancing and dancing.”

He recalls that when he was off for a day and could not run and in fact had to spend time getting an IV that when he was able to come back the next day,  “I felt like OY, I am so happy to be here.  This is the right place to be.  That was when I knew that something in me really wanted to be here.”

Asprihanal Interview

Picture by Alakananda '46 days,07:37:24'

“I really do not feel like I have finished, because I have all day to go.”  It is still early in the morning and it is true there are still 61 miles yet ahead of Galya.  ” I don’t allow myself to think about it.”

He finished last year in 48 days and 2 hours.  He will finish in under 47 days and he says, “I never thought that I could run like this.  I told you before the race that I was not sure about my condition. “

“I am really very happy and very grateful, that I can do it.  I never thought that I could run 46 days.”

The Human in me

Loves to Live.

The Divine in me

Lives to Love.

Poem of the day by Sri Chinmoy

Poem of the Day

It is a personal best for Galya of 34 hours.  His time 46 days, 16 hours, 18 minutes.  Sahishnu called it an extraordinary performance.  “He runs with grace, he runs with power, and he runs with finesse, and he hardly ever walks.”

Galya”s Finish

Be not afraid, be not afraid

of your Lord supreme!

smile at Him

you are

His Blue-Gold-Dream!

Song of the Day Composed by Sri Chinmoy

July 29 2007

Be Not Afraid

The distant shore
Towards which we sail our life-boat
Is within, and not without.

Excerpt from Seventy-Seven Thousand Service-Trees, Part 3 by Sri Chinmoy

He will not break any records.  Measured up against all the other times he has run the race it just might even be his slowest race.  He did however miss a full day of running due to illness.  The true measure of his greatness however cannot ever be calculated by we who merely stand and gaze out from the sidelines.   It is also almost impossible to even count up all the miles he has run all together in competition.  The only thing which is certain, is that after he runs across the line here tomorrow he will have completed this race for the 10th time.  Meaning that he has run 31,000 miles around this little block in Queens.

This slight gentle Finnish man is not one for facts and figures.  He would not likely ever spout off his statistics or accomplishments even if he remembered them all.  He is not a self promoter or one who needs fame or attention.  Though certainly he has performed beyond the measure of most mortals in this world of ours, and could rightfully be declared a real and rightful hero.    He simply has run so far and so often because he must.  Not to please the media, not to please the record keepers, but to please the heart within him that has called him forth to come and run here again and again.

As he goes about his first few laps today he checks the sheet so see how his friends have done the previous day.  He takes his time and reads each column and rejoices when the numbers are big and sounds a little sad when the numbers are small.  They are his family.  They will cluster by the line when he crosses and rejoice in his victory.  In turn as each of them come home he will be there for them as well.

We don’t know for sure if he will return again and run here once more.  10 summers here in Queens is a lot of time and a lot of miles.  In fact, if you added it all up together he may have spent more than a year of his life here running around and around this block.  In about a week he will go back home to Finland where he will not have to ever worry about the heat and humidity.  But I suspect there is a deep and soulful portion of  himself that will always look upon this little hard endless path as his home as well.

In microscopic repetitive detail he has seen every molecular aspect and dimension of this block.  But like the grand journey of life itself there is always the next corner to turn, and the next new discovery to be revealed.  The ultimate goal of self-transcendence is never reached by those who sleep and wishfully think of doing.   Perfection is only for those who do and those who allow themselves to become.

Yesterday Ananda-Lahari seemed to suffer from some heat stroke.  It happened early in the afternoon and it looks as though he might not have been drinking enough fluids.  Rupantar cautions him this morning to take it easy and to be careful.

Baladev searches through the numbers.

Pushkar gets some encouragement this morning from another great Swiss runner Shashanka.

Galaya should be the next to finish the race late tomorrow night.

Start Day 46

Yesterday was the anniversary of Parvati’s Enthusiasm Awakeners group.  I had a chance to say a few things about how significant the role of the group plays in the great scheme of the race.  Today I wanted to share some of the feelings of the those who they really sing for, the runners.

“Enthusiasm and determination, that they come every morning, to sing and this is unbelievable.  Because they have their own daily program.  They go to work and still they are coming every day and sing, and this is really inspiring.  Yes there is eagerness.  Yes there is cheerfulness.

Ananda-Lahari

“They are the ones that keep us going, and give us enthusiasm which is very important.”  He relates a skit he performed yesterday in which they were able to take away all his tiredness.

Asprihanal

“I treasure them every year more and more.  For me they are giving to us their heart and love, and affection.  I am really grateful that they are coming every single day.  Offering so beautiful songs.”

Atmavir

“It is good help that they are here.  I think that without the Enthusiasm Awakeners group this race doesn’t exist.  Because they are one important part of this race.  Because we are doing this race not just for us, but for the world.  This is why we are here.”

Baladev

“It is definitely one of the highlights.  It is super nice to be lifted.  I think everybody in the morning when you get here feel pretty exhausted and tired and fatigued.  It takes a few laps to get warmed up.  Everybody is just going through the paces.   Waking their bodies up, waking their minds up.  And the Enthusiasm Awakeners turn up full of life and vitality.  Clapping and singing, it is fantastic.  Just goes straight to the heart and heaps of smiles.  Obviously if we do a little play or skit for them it brings it to life more as well, for us.  They are awesome, actually amazing, and they are so generous and kind, with their offerings of food, and all the gifts they gave on their anniversary.”

Dharbhasana

He tells me how much he is looking forward to finishing so that he can sit beside them in the morning and hear their entire program. “For me it is the best time when they come from 6:30 to to 7:15.  Because when you run you miss parts.  I am really waiting for Friday.”

Galya

“First I admire that they are coming here every morning.  It is not even 7 and they are already here.  It is just amazing.  They are always giving some wakeup.”

Pranjal

“It is what their name means.  It is really a blessing every morning they come.  I like Sri Chinmoy’s English songs very much.   They are definitely like mantras.  It is always a good start in the morning.  They are always cheerful and creative, every day something new.  We actually got gifts because it was their birthday.  It was very nice.  I like them a lot.”

Purna-Samarpan

“Each day they are coming and singing.  It is a nice thing.  (she performed in a skit yesterday) I just wanted to say thank you to them.  They have to get up so early each day to come here, for such a long time.  Also for them it is not easy.”

Surasa

“They are always very inspiring for me.  They show me that they are really a part of the race.  This outer oneness gives me so much tremendous joy.  I feel like they are really here.  I treasure them deeply.  They come every day and sing for us, and be a part of the race.  For me this is so great a help.  Somehow they touch something in my inner being, and it just overwhelms me.”

Pushkar

Ultimately God’s Justice

Surrenders to God’s Compassion

Poem of the Day written by Sri Chinmoy

July 28th 2007

Poem of the Day

Antara-Prabhat sings

Antara-Prabhat performs

I am so fortunate.

God’s heart and my heart

Sleeplessly communicate.

Song composed by Sri Chinmoy

Performed by Enthusiasm Awakeners

I Am So Fortunate

Be not afraid
To say yes
When the entire world
Wants you to be
Part and parcel of it.

Excerpt from Seventy-Seven Thousand Service-Trees, Part 22 by Sri Chinmoy

To call them a force of nature would be getting close to what they are but this description doesn’t even bring into play the sweet soulful simplicity of what they collectively are and what they do for the race itself.  To ever not see and hear them on this block every morning at 6:30 as they have done for years would be to feel a great gaping hole in the very fabric of the race itself.  It is not as though the runners could no longer be able to run, but without the Enthusiasm Awakeners the heart of the race would be in some way diminished of a great source of joy and of life.

By 7:30 they are all pretty much gone.  Dispersed in every direction back into the world of jobs and responsibility.  Places in which soulfulness and singing simple songs of devotion don’t really count for much.  To the runners, for the hour they are here, they are a great surge of energy that can propel and sustain them, perhaps in some instances, through out the long day itself.

Many other people will come to the race throughout the day.  Performing all manner of useful and practical functions.  The Enthusiasm Awakeners have no practical function at all.  Without this extraordinary group of women singers however the race would feel somehow empty, devoid of something incredibly significant yet one in which the full extent of their service is not so easily comprehended.

It is because they come and sing and inspire, and be inspired, and feed the great churning divine engine of the race that many of the miracles happen at all.  It is in and through their voices, which are filled with joy and hope and inner promise that maybe the world beyond this block is blessed, just a little bit as well, with this miracle.

As a group they had been performing many of  Sri Chinmoy’s English songs for years.  They also had been singing at the race every morning on a regular basis. Every day while they were there, Sri Chinmoy used to drive up in his little red car early in the morning and teach them a new song.

On this day in 2007 however they received their name.  Today, in a splash of color and gifts they are celebrating their anniversary.  Parvati tells me how they had been asked on this day, 3 years ago, to come up at a function, later in the day, and learn a new song.  It was the Enthusiasm Awakeners song.  They sang it over and over and gradually the girls got the drift.  This would be the name of the group from then on.  She says, “and then T shirts appeared.  And then it all came together that maybe this was our group’s name.  So after many years of being a group this became our official name.”

Enthusiasm Awakeners story

The moon has yet to take its rest this morning.  Perhaps it could not believe the wondrous events of the previous night and wants to glimpse, for just a moment more, if miracles can be sustained throughout today as well.  Yesterday the improbable came true, when the struggling Dharbhasana rediscovered his legs and ran 70 miles.  He stayed out under the smiling moon and ran 4 miles more than anyone else, for the first time in the race.

Start Day 45

Just 2 days ago it looked as if disappointment was going to be the theme of the closing chapters in Dharbhasana’s race this year.  The divine author of his life story however seems to have had quite a different ending for this young man from New Zealand.  With 513 long miles more to go and just 8 days to do it, it would be foolish to make premature celebration plans, as least not just yet.  Clearly however he is running without hesitation, without fear, and perhaps without injury, but that is another story.

What seems to be gone for now is the walker struggling to find the road.  What has been revealed, sometime on Sunday, is a warrior who is surcharged with enthusiasm for the great undertaking that he had taken on 44 days earlier.  One who has turned away from the limiting nattering of his mind, decided not to accept the grumbling insistence of his body, and instead go straight to his heart and listen only to it.

“As you know it has been an absolute roller coaster ride with the hamstring injury.  It has been 7 days limping, walking, trying to run, keep getting knocked back. Every time I tried to pick it up again, I would be knocked back again.  For me the crunch time of completing 3100 miles in 52 days was just getting tighter and tighter.  I had almost given up on the idea of getting to 3100 in 52 days.  It seemed too unrealistic.  So I had gone back to walking because I had been rehurt the day before. Then Arpan and Dipali came up side by side with me and started giving me a little pep talk with emergency.  Basically this is the last key that unlocks the door.  Go again, go again, don’t give up.”

The numbers pointed out that if he were to do 65 miles a day until the end he would just be able to slip through the fast closing door of the 52 day cut off.  “They were saying, to simply offer what ever capacity that you have.  What ever you are, just give it, and let the result be what it is.  There was no more time to have fear or worry of what could be or what will be.  Just go again.”

“It was exactly what I needed to hear.  Dipali said run now, start now, take a step.  I still felt the injury, and I said God, what are you doing to me.  But I did.  I just leaned forward and started running.  That was about 2 o’clock on that Sunday.  I had a really slow morning and I still managed to get 62 miles.  It was a little shy of what I needed.”

Yesterday he decided not to hesitate whatsoever and just go for it again.  “Give to my utmost capacity.  I am not going to worry about the miles.  I am not going to worry about anything.  I am just going to do my absolute best, and see where it all washes up.  Yesterday it happened to be 70 miles.”

“I am deeply grateful.  It feels pretty miraculous in my own life.”  For now he chooses to focus on the positive momentum that seems to be pulling him forward.  Thoughts of injury and the dark days that seemed to be embracing him up until so recently he is simply rejecting.  He was receptive and ready to find a new gear, to step through a door of opportunity that opened up at the precise moment he was most in need.  That Dipali and Arpan happened by at that moment was just, “absolute timing.  It was perfect.”

He had been frustrated he says so many times and trekked down so many useless paths that he was ready to surrender to anything that possessed even a glimmer of hope.  He had tried everything up until then.  Advice from others, massage, adjustments, creams, salves, taping ideas.  He calls this advice as simply all kinds of physical “stuff.”

He acknowledges that he was approaching his dilemma as something he was confronting with all possible available outer tools.  Ultimately it was revealed to him that it was in fact an inner battle that he had to somehow find the resources to push through.  “It was definitely a fear that was gripping me.  Every time it would come up it was fear that was enveloping me.  I would be back into the pain and the limping.  To me it was a physical reality that I felt.  But we make it harder when we add all our human emotion, and doubt.”

“It got to the point where I had to surrender all that human limitation, and dare to have faith and dare to go.   If we believe in our own self-transcendence task there can be no unreachable goal.  If we dare to have faith and we dare to try, we can definitely transcend and go beyond anything.  It is just a matter of applying it and never giving up.”

Complete Dharbhasana Interview

God’s Heart is

The Beloved Mother of all.

God’s Eye is

The Beloved Father of all

Poem of the Day

Composed by Sri Chinmoy

July 27th, 2007

recited by Baladev

Poem of the Day

“Stutisheel, I am so tired. “

“Asprihanal the Enthusiasm Awakeners can help all the tired people in the world, just look at them.”

tire falls off. “Wow, all my tiredness is gone.”

Asprihanal Stutisheel play

According to Hindu mythology, Ganesh and his brother Karteek decided to have a race around the world.  Karteek set off quickly.  The elephant God realized that his mother, ‘Parvati’ embodied the world and so ran around her.

Asprihanal Antaraloy play

There were several skits today in honor of the Enthusiasm Awakeners.  Surasa had a recitation.

Surasa play

And a young married couple made an appearance.  A Swiss army wife was making up her mind.

Earlier in the morning Pushkar wanted to thank ‘Mountain Silence,’ for a shirt they had sent.  Now he has as well received a new one, as all the runners have, from Enthusiasm Awakeners. “It is a beautiful gift.”

Pushkar describes new shirt

The rising sun is beautiful,

divinely beautiful.

The setting sun is peaceful,

Supremely peaceful.

Song of the day composed by Sri Chinmoy

July 27th, 2007

Performed by Enthusiasm Awakeners

The Rising Sun Is Beautiful

If you have the capacity

To please God for one day,

Then, without fail,

You have the capacity

To please Him always.

Excerpt from Ten Thousand Flower-Flames, Part 98 by Sri Chinmoy

“I have known about this event for the past 2 years,” he says.  He had been part of the ceremony at the end of the race last year and once before he had been part of the ceremonies for one of the shorter races.  Of these events he says, “we win ourselves.  By running this race you discover your power.  A very inspiring event.”

“This is a very extraordinary event, and I have come here to reconnect with such a great leader. (Sri Chinmoy) A great son of the soil of Bangladesh.  I have come as a diplomat.  I believe that Sri Chinmoy is a great source of soft power.  His teachings, his meditation, his self-transcendence race, his music, his sayings, his speeches, everything are so inspiring.  They can really inspire the young minds of Bangladesh.

He is soon about to return once again to his country.  He hopes to introduce, “Sri Chinmoy’s inspiring music to the Bangladeshi people and also his meditation, to the school system in Bangladesh.  I will advise the policy makers, to think, and implement that idea.  I am a follower of Sri Chinmoy as well.”

Interview with Mr. Shamsul Haq (ex Consul General of Bangladesh)

Sunday afternoon would at last see the tide turned on an endless long hot summer.  This is not to say that it is over, far from it.  We have yet to see the beginning of August and the steamy delights it has to offer but at least for now the afternoon is cool.  It is a light and blessingful rain that restores a freshness and lightness to the neighborhood that have been absent for days if not weeks.

A curious coincidence is the appearance of 2 packs of 3 runners out running the course together.

Pranjal passes the 2800 mile mark and as he has done each time the centuries tick by he takes no notice whatsoever.

Temporarily I notice Pushkar and Purna-Samarpan behind bars.  Then again it could be the photographer who is behind the bars.  They are practicing some unusual stretching exercises on cool fresh afternoon when nobody seems to be much in a hurry.

“This is the craziest of them all.”  There are an immeasurable number of jokes about Mothers in law, but late on Sunday when I see Dharbhasana walking the course with his Mother in Law Waverly there is nothing funny about it at all.

I have mischievously provoked her above mentioned response, as to whether her son in law has ever done anything crazier than this.  She however is joking, and within moments it become apparent from this woman who flew overnight from the far West Coast of Canada, that she is not just a firm supporter of her son in law’s activities, she is also very inspired by the race and all it entails as well.  “He is an inspiration to me.  Just for me in my own personal life I believe more is possible.  Just by watching him.”

“It is hard to get your mind around something like this, that it is even possible.  But I know Dharbhasana and I know he challenges himself, and pushes past limitations, left, right, and center.  so coming here just to be a part of it, gives me a really good feeling.”

Of course her daughter and grand daughter are here as well and it is an unusual but still a warm family gathering.  She says, “I knew it was going to happen quite a while ago.  You know that it is there but you don’t think to much of it.  Then all of a sudden they are here, and they have started.  Then it is like wow.  Then it becomes a reality.”

She says that it struck home with her in very practical way when she was driving with some friends in British Columbia, where she is from and saw a road sign for a town that was 93 kilometers away.  It really impressed upon her that this was the kind of distance that Dharbhasana was running every single day, “and I am driving it.  That was pretty impressive.”

For her this event, so far from her Canadian home was something very real for her before she even made it here.  One day recently she even felt as though she needed to go out and run herself.  “I am finding more and more inspiration all the time, and all my friends back home are very supportive of what Dharbhasana is doing. It is inspiring a lot of people.”

Complete Waverly Interview

Start Day 44

The bright freshness of Sunday carried over into Monday.  The night was dry and clear, and what heat the earth held, rose up and was dissipated into the night sky.  It is such a morning, when it is miraculously almost necessary to wear a jacket, though later in the day the temperature will rise on back upwards.

It is impossible to know what any of them are thinking here.  If Atmavir is counting down his days left on the course he doesn’t need many fingers to do it now.  The only thing close behind him now is his shadow.

Aspiration flames

grow into

the Realization-sun.

Poem of the Day

Written by Sri Chinmoy

July 26th 2007

Recited by  Ananda-Lahari

Poem of the Day

“I am running according to my capacity.” I had thought that I had observed that Ananda-Lahri was running stronger over the past 2 days.  He burst my bubble when he states that he actually did 11 laps less yesterday than he usually does each day.

“I feel very good, and I walked all day yesterday, but with intensity actually.  What I could I did.  Everything is perfect.  There is no problem at all.”

He has yet to feel any anticipation for the immanent approach of the end of the race.  “There are still many days ahead.”  He seems to be running strongly today after several days of walking.   “For me I do not think of the end of the race.”

This morning is cool and he tells me that the long string of hot nights made it hard for him to get a good rest.  He feels that when it comes to running it is all entirely up to God’s will.  “I fully depend on God’s grace.  So I don’t blame the weather for my slow race.  It just happened.”

“There are always parts when I don’t feel so happy, but this is part of life.  I am trying to be happy all the time.  It is a very good game.”  He says that when he has a morning when he is in pain or in a complaining mood he will realize later, “O I could have had such a nice morning.  I could have at least enjoyed the sky, or that I am moving at least.  It helps me to concentrate on the right things.  But I am happy yes. “

“We are God’s children.  We are God’s chosen children.  Life is good and beautiful.  We just have to learn to see it.  To realize it.  To be grateful for everything.”

Ananda-Lahari interview

Beautiful music and beautiful flowers.  Kodanda serenades the runners and everyone else for that matter.  Sanyogita, one of many tends to all the little gardens.

Kodanda’s cello performance

A heart of purity

never dies, never dies.

In the sky of bliss it flies,

only flies.

Song Composed by Sri Chinmoy

Performed by Enthusiasm Awakeners.

A Heart of Purity

To win
Not only the visible war
But also the invisible war,
We need only one thing:
Peace.

Excerpt from Peace-Blossom-Fragrance, Part 2 by Sri Chinmoy

“I feel that it is more than a physical thing, it is a spiritual thing that drives these people.  I feel that they are in touch with a higher power, and that is where they get their energy, and they are able to do that.”  He had heard about the race from his son.  He lives a fair distance off in the near but far reaches of Long Island but was drawn to come and see it for himself.

He reads an article about the race, posted on the fence, written by the Wall Street Journal.  It is a thoughtful informative piece but doesn’t go very far in exploring the deeper aspects of the motivation driving the runners forward or what the atmosphere is like just being there, and standing on the sidewalk.

I ask if he feels any unique inner experience by being here.  “Without a doubt I feel it.  It is more than being physically fit.  I feel they are being driven.   That it is greater than just being physically fit.”  He believes that some of that same energy inspired him to come by today.  “I believe in the spiritual.  It is a different source of power.  I believe we are all beneficiaries of a higher power.”

He has been an admirer of the founder of the race, Sri Chinmoy, for many years.  He is not surprised that such an event still takes place in his name.  He was particularly inspired by all the spectacular lifting events that Sri Chinmoy regularly participated in.  “I remember him from many years ago from the physical end of it.  I was an athlete myself.  I was always intrigued with the physical strength that this man had.  I remember reading about him.”

He recalls some of the lifts that Sri Chinmoy used to do on a regular basis by lifting large groups of people and heavy objects resting on large platforms.  “He wasn’t muscular.  He didn’t look like an Arnold Schwarzenegger.  He didn’t train in gyms, but he was able to get this strength from his spiritual, from inside.  He was able to do this.  It always fascinated me to read about this.”

“His feeling is still going.”  He gazes with such respect as the sweaty runners continue to pass by.  He wonders why more of the world is not aware of this miracle taking place on a hot hard Queens sidewalk.  He shakes his head and eventually leaves the course.  He says he will come back soon.

Martin McNiff Interview

I was drawn back to the race for a second time, Saturday afternoon.  The kids in the park were able to find some relief in the way that all kids do on an unbelievably oppressive afternoon.  The only saving grace may be that the humidity at the moment does not feel like a wet towel wrapped around your face.

Atmavir has once again taken advantage of a minute chunk of fresh New York city concrete.  The crew who had dismantled the sidewalk this morning were quick in taking it a part and also quick in replacing it.  Atmavir describes how he anxiously waited for them to leave, which did not come quite soon enough for the major work he was hoping to create.  Still the mark is clear.  Though a cup of water helps you to see it just a little bit better.

As fate would have it Dharbhasana is on the massage table when I come being adjusted by one of the regular chiropractors at the race Gaurish.

He adjusts one of his lumbars and you can hear a very noticeable crack as he puts it back into alignment.  It has been a few weeks since he was able to come back and help at the race and is always hopeful that he can make the runners condition just a little bit better.   So that there is less pain and they can run easier.  Of Dharbhasana, “he is a tough guy.  He will break through.”

He says that a proper diagnosis of a torn hamstring is not one that can be made on an adjustment table.  Only the most sophisticated imaging tools can really tell.

“I didn’t feel any inflammation at all.  That is why I think he will break through it.”  He is a firm believer in the value of chiropractic adjustments at the race, and that it can stop and prevent injuries caused by overuse.  “Sometimes it is inevitable, but definitely when there is a lack of care in such an intense environment, things can come up much easier.”

He says, “I feel that as a group as a whole everybody is doing better than in past years.  Whether they are veterans or not.  The ones coming now are better able to handle it as a rookie, than previous years.”  He adds that it is just an observation on his part.  Not based on real science.

Dharbhasana meanwhile is simply eager to be back on his feet and hopefully be able to run once again.  He will finish this day with 2454 miles.  He will not be able to run any more today and instead do as he has done for the past few days.  He will walk until there is no time left on the clock.  As he pulls himself off the table he says, “I am trying to get there.  This is the first time today that I have been able to straighten my leg.  It has been kind of locked.”  He leaves while saying a very enthusiastic, “YES.”

Gaurish Adjustment

While I am there some Ice Pop Maidens from Rhode Island show up with just the kind of cool treat, a runner, or for that matter anybody would enjoy on a hot afternoon.

Pranjal’s description for himself is simply, “I am cooked.”

Atmavir simply walks now.  He will finish the day with 53 miles.

Asprihanal somehow will finish Saturday with 68 miles.  Clearly his brother is a big help.  He is doing the little things that take just seconds, but getting a bag of ice ready can enable the race leader to accumulate many extra laps.

The cool delight of the ice maidens spreads far and wide.  Departing race director Bipin takes a break with one.  Arriving race director Sahishnu settles in for a long night with one that won’t last the 6 hours until his day is finally over here.

When the ice pops are licked into oblivion the water remains.  There is always lots of it and Purna-Samarpan enjoys it the old fashioned way.  Bipin gets some down the back which he enjoys in quite a different way.

It is now the start of day 43.  Officially now there are only 10 running days left.  The weather today will be marginally less intense than it was on Saturday.

Start Day 43

My Mind takes me out.

My Heart brings me in.

Poem of the Day

Written by Sri Chinmoy

July 25th,2007

Recited by Pranjal

Poem of the Day

Asprihanal starts the day with less than 300 miles to go.  It is like a sprint to the finish now.

Galya ran 65 miles yesterday and seems to have a firm hold on 2nd place.  He has 326 miles more to go.

Pushkar has just 519 miles left.

Baladev is struggling to find the best way to finish his race.

Dharbhasana will get a great infusion of support today when his folks arrive from New Zealand and his Mother in Law from Canada.

Surasa is at peace and her goal is within reach.

“This year something is really happening.”  Atmavir attempts to describe something that he feels is taking place within himself.  There is no simple way to describe a very subtle process that involves his ability to tap into energy and perhaps his perception as well of the world at large.

It would be convenient to dismiss what he says as being the ramblings of a man who has spent too much time out in the sun and already run more miles than most people think is humanly possible.

The compulsion or motivation to do this event has little to with outer results.  Clearly something draws people from within to be here and for most of us it is beyond our comprehension what can and does take place when you become part of the 3100 experience.  “The body looks like it is suffering.  It looks as though it is going through some really hard experiences.”  He says that it is through this intensity that a positive transformation of the being can than take place.”

He feels that this energy he is experiencing and is aware of from time to time does not come from his own human vital.  “For example many times I felt as though I had no vital.  The vital was on vacation, or somewhere.  Usually I have a very strong vital, mostly for the whole race.  This year the vital was simply gone.  It was a really interesting feeling.”  He points to his midsection and describes it as feeling empty.

“The rest of the body was more pure.  Maybe this is just a fairytale for kids.”

Atmavir Interview

Every day without fail

I pray to God,

I pray, I pray

to give me a

very special role

in His Cosmic Play

Song of the Day Composed by Sri Chinmoy

Performed by Enthusiasm Awakeners

Every Day Without Fail

What do I see

Inside the creation?

Perfect restlessness.

What do I see

Inside that restlessness?

A perfect whisper

From perfect stillness.

Excerpt from Ten Thousand Flower-Flames, Part 59 by Sri Chinmoy