A God Touch

Three years ago, on this date, Sri Chinmoy wrote the following poem, dedicated to all those who were taking part in the 3100 mile race.

A Single God Touch

Gives the seeker

Enormous thrills

Ceaseless unimaginable

by Sri Chinmoy

A Single God Touch

“Inwardly when you are doing something divine, which comes from your heart.  Somehow there is an inner feeling that God is doing it in and through you.  And that is what I feel is the God touch.” Vajra recited the poem today and gave his own interpretation of its meaning.

Three years ago when Sri Chinmoy was inspired to write these daily poems they were immediately copied and handed out to the runners.  They were meant to inspire them of course on their long journey.  In the following years they are again continued to be handed out, on the appropriate day. The message as inspiring then as they will continue to be for eternity.

They are meant for everyone of course, and each person will find their own unique and personal meaning in them. For most of us who are caught up in the daily circus which is life, it may seem impossible most of the time, to imagine that God even exists little alone that he has the power to touch and inspire us with his love.

There are special moments in a seekers life however in which, not only the existence of their own souls,  but also God’s constant inner connection with it becomes an irrefutable reality.  At that time only one goal exists.  Make ourselves an instrument of the divine.

These are precious moments and they can carry us through the times in which our own doubts seem more real than our own precious divinity.  It is a long road home.  Yet eventually we all must take it.

The runners here are on this sacred road like very few others.  What sustains and carries them on is their inner strength and their inner connection to the divine within.  On some days it is all God and on others, well, sometimes there are just bad days for everyone.

Yesterday Dharbhasana had a most remarkable day.  He had calculated that the 1/3 mark of the race would come today, at 17 days and 6 hours and that he was in danger of not being able to complete the race by the 52 day cut off.  In order to achieve the standard he would have to run more miles in one day than he ever had done before.  It was going to be a phenomenal achievement of running 68 miles.  He thought, if he was lucky, he might just do it by midnight.

He not only made the distance, he made it by 10:30 last night.  His wife and daughter were there to see it, and Shakti even rode the final lap with him on her bike.  It was a glorious victory for him, for his family, and for all those who love self-transcendence when it manifests itself in bright and beautiful ways such as this.

The hot weather was at last tamed over night.  There were some who woke up in the middle of the night with a chill, and today most have showed up in long sleeves and jackets.  It will be interesting to see if the big plane trees are also a little happier with the weather. For now the weather will be livable but it is the last day of June.  The forecast for the fast approaching weekend, is once again ominous.  The peak of summer is now upon us and lazy dreams of cool days are not what a New York summer is most often about.

Dharbasana was not the only one who passed into the 1000 mile club.  Pavol and Ananda-Lahari also did so yesterday.

Ray the truck driver is here again this morning and once again is amazed at the mileage on the board.  “It makes me feel lazy,” he says.  Rupantar gets a work out in itself transporting at least 10 big jugs of water a day.  More is brought by others throughout the day.

Start Day 18

“In the morning I saw that 1000 miles was in sight.  If I have a super good day and don’t take any breaks, and just go for it I might have a chance.  So I did.”

It is hard not to be amazed at what a spectacular accomplishment Dharbhasana was able to achieve here yesterday.  One never likes to dwell too much on the numbers but sometimes they are beacons that indicate unequivocally when something phenomenal has occurred such as the case with him.  Looking at his average, looking at the fact that he ran only 54 the day before, a 14 mile jump is tremendous. “It was absolutely awesome.  Hitting the 1000 mile was a huge benchmark for me.  It felt like a great achievement.”

To be able to share it with his family was also very special for him.  His daughter Shakti asked her Mom if she could stay up.

To be able to do this means that he had to push harder, take less breaks, and focus on running here, more than he had done before.  The result today though is, “I am paying the price for it now.”

We are talking while he is running his 5th lap on this cool morning.  “My feet, ankles, everything are just getting warmed up enough now to do a little better than a walk.  That was the case in the first 2 weeks as well.  Wake up in the morning and you feel this overwhelming stiffness that you could never possibly imagine to go out running on.  And lo and behold you find yourself toeing the starting line and off you go again.”  Eventually after 6-10 laps he says it is like nothing ever happened.  “Persevere on and keep going till everything is nice and relaxed and warmed up and away you go again.”

I ask him if now he can actually fully believe that making the 3100 miles is doable.  “I feel like I have the confidence and I have the capacity to do it.”  He points out that even though he made 1000 yesterday he is still a little behind the cut off.  In this case by something like 25 miles.  “What it does mean is that I have to perform well every day.  And then every now and then chip away at my debt a little bit more and try and make it.”

“At the same time you don’t want to get to mental or mindy about the miles, because it diminishes the experience.  You definitely need to have an overall vision of where you are heading, so that your determination is firing in the right direction.  Otherwise it is pretty easy to give into the pings and pains.  The overwhelming distance and time frames.  You do need something to aim yourself toward.”

Click to play complete Dharbhasana interview

It will take Surasa another 2 days to also be part of the 1000 mile club.  Petr made some small gains yesterday but has yet to return to his top form.

“I talked with Dharbhasana yesterday and it felt like we had both reached a new level.” Purna-Samarpan clearly loves the race.  This is his second time here and he has had powerful trans formative experiences along the way.  Last year unfortunately he was unable to make the distance and the cruel harsh math is not adding up in his favor again.

“Obviously today at noon, the first third of the time is over.  17days and 6 hours, and I am like 80 miles behind at that point maybe.”  He knows that 1033 would be the minimal total in order to make the cutoff, and currently he is running with 926 miles completed.

“I was quite determined yesterday to go for it, and increase the mileage, or otherwise I would not be able to finish.”  He says that both he and Dharbhasana felt a new determination and new joy yesterday and strength that they hadn’t had before.

“For me the day before was quite a tough day.  It was hot and I felt really tired, burned out.  It was quite hard outwardly but inwardly I really had a chance to connect with my spiritual heart of running the race.  And try and figure out why I am running this race.  It was a humbling experience and it really helped me to increase my devotion and my gratitude.  Even though there is lots of determination and strength, the main thing is to go deep within and try and run from within.  From the heart and from the soul.”

He tells me that he has been listening to an Audio book called, “The Way of the Peaceful Warrior,” by Dan Millman.  In essence it describes many experiences that seekers must go through in order to make spiritual progress.  That many challenging and humbling experiences are simply put in front of us in order break down our pride and ego and our other undivine qualities in order to find humility in our life.  “Sometimes you must get it the hard way, and that really inspired me.”

He says for him the question he had to answer was not that it was too tough or to hot but, “do I really want to finish. If I really want to finish than I will have to make more effort and put more into it.  Last year I was nowhere near finishing, and it was kind of easy to try my best, but also to let go.  Now I have to really concentrate on getting the miles but also not to be over concerned.”

Complete Purna Samarpan interview

“No more self indulgence

No more self indulgence

I shall run outwardly to see Nature’s God

I shall run inwardly to see Heaven’s highest height.”

Composed by Sri Chinmoy

Performed by Enthusiasm Awakeners.

No More Self Indulgence

Earth-touch makes me patient;

Therefore

I am grateful to earth.

Heaven-touch makes me compassionate;

Therefore

I am grateful to Heaven.

God-touch makes me complete, perfect

and absolute;

Therefore

I am grateful to God.

Excerpt from The Golden Boat, Part 17 by Sri Chinmoy