“I am really really grateful to have this experience now in the race that I can really run. Nothing is bothering me. There are many experiences that you can have in the race and this one I didn’t have yet. I have the joy now of being able to seek my limits. Because if you have an injury or something is wrong. Than you have to be careful” ….Pradeep
As I replay these words again more than 12 hours have passed. In the meantime my day has been a whim and whirl of activity. From time to time sudden pressure and emergencies have billowed up like the sudden rush of hot magma trying to break through the crust of the earth.
Experiences came that were so intense and so immediately pressing it felt almost as though the very fate of the world itself was at stake, and then these moments simply vanished into oblivion. Gone so quickly it is almost as though they never even existed.
Of course I realize that these dramatic episodes on the stage of my life are engineered and authored by my own lack of receptivity. My prayer always, once I stumble back to some sense of calm awareness, is that eventually one day I can offer up the entire script of my life fully to the one who really is in charge of all life and its transformation.
In the grand scheme of things my roller coaster ride was typical for me as it was probably for billions of other residents in our little universe. Each day a melody of joys and sorrows. Of tiny victories of our heart’s cry, and a list of annoying defeats to the relentless insistence of our own ignorance. And yet if we were to take the time to methodically sum up all the wins and losses over the course of a day we would never advance another step. We would find ourselves locked in a endlessly repeating loop which would dare not release us once again into the endless possibilities of tomorrow.
Yet now as I listen to Pradeep’s words again, I am reminded of just how infinitesimal and insignificant just about every moment of my day really was. How caught up I was in a gaudy daily carnival of illusion. For Pradeep and the other runners they are moving ever deeper into a luminous world stripped of pretense and falseness and all the little vanities they we allow to cling to our lives.
For several days now he has been running stronger and with more joy and confidence than he has since his very first day. Miraculously this is just now happening, after more than a month of running virtually non stop. After completing more than 2,000 miles he is at last reaching the bright crest of his journey, and as he looks around and about him, pain and injury are no longer at his side. Instead, “I have the joy now of being able to seek my limits.
No limit
To what my love, devotion
And surrender can do,
Not only for me,
But also for the entire world.
Start Day 39
The last day draws near but for some the finish line will not be theirs.
Grahak has less than 400 miles in front of him
Stutisheel still has unwanted companions at his side… Pain and Injury
Pranjal has turned a corner the goal so clear in front of him….Just 600 miles more
“Strictly speaking I do not know. But I had this real nice meditation for 2 days, when we had the rain. Then one day afterwards something seemed to click, and I just got more physical strength.” The reasons exactly why his race turned around so suddenly and so dramatically may never be revealed. To all the rest of the residents of the world this little miracle may always be incomprehensible. But within Pradeep’s seeker heart there is no room for mystery, for it and doubt, have been pushed away some time ago by the bright positive glow of his gratitude. His journey may not allow him to arrive at a physical finish line but in the souls world the trumpets are already sounding out an inner victory for him here.
I ask him if he ever experienced any downside during the the time when he was having problems. “No, I don’t think so. Of course now that I can run like this I am very happy also. When you have problems you try and be happy also, and deal with it. But I didn’t have just problems the first 34 days I also had nice days.”
At this moment Grahak comes up along side and is asking Pradeep’s assistance in performing a joke with him in front of the Enthusiasm Awakeners singing group. He declines the offer which is just a little odd since it was his joke in the first place.
Yesterday Pradeep shocked the other runners at the starting line when he bolted away from everyone. “I made this decision, that I would try and run from the first step. But some times your ego catches you also. So I ran harder than you can keep up with much more than 20 meters. So it was a little like showing off. So I caught myself too late, any way it was nice to try this.”
Both he and Grahak have been suffering for a long time with a bad rash. “Definitely it is much better. There are still uncomfortable things happening. But everybody has that.” Grahak adds that his is a tiny bit better. Than he jokes, “His is nothing compared to mine.” (Both laugh) “It is true. I never denied that. His is much worse than I have.”
We run into camp and Pradeep gets some water. In the meantime a call for Grahak from Adelaide has come and he picks it up and starts to chat with friends back in Australia. On the audio you can hear little bits of conversation in the background as Pradeep goes into a longer explanation about the mediation he had that seemed to bring about the recent outer changes.
“In the evening I started getting really peaceful. The I got this feeling how this race is really like a creative process. When a woman gives birth it is really painful. But there is also joy because there is a sense of purpose inside, and like new life. I started to feel how Sri Chinmoy is creating new life, and greater love for humanity, in and through us.”
“This feeling was very special. I was very grateful. All of a sudden you realize it is such an immense blessing to be here. To feel yourself at the cutting edge of the plow that is plowing humanity’s fields. And how the Supreme really needs us, as we need the Supreme to do this race. I felt like the Supreme really needs me. It was such a sweet feeling. Because it is like both ways. It was unimaginable.”
Click to Play Interview
One good turn deserves another
The joke went off well…..Play
Then it is quickly back to business
Suchitra and Zuleikha recite the Poem of the Day
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 Enthusiasm Awakeners….Click to Play….Song of the Day |
MY LIFE IS DANCING AND SINGING
My life
Has broken open all its limits.
It is now dancing the dance
Of earth’s success-pride
And
Singing the song
Of Heaven’s progress-light.
Hurray for Pradeep! I will be joining him in a few days to assist him on the course. Can’t wait to finally be there!