Month: July 2012

At the 1952 Olympic games in Helsinki an English middle distance runner named Roger Rannister was disappointed at finishing 4th in his race the 1,500 meters.  For him his time was a personal best and also a British record but his achievement came without a gold medal attached.

After that race he seriously considered retiring from sport altogether.  It took him 2 months to finally make his decision.  What he there and then decided was also the same serious goal as all the best middle distance runners in the world.  He decided that he wanted to become the first man to run the mile in under 4 minutes.

At the time he was studying medicine and as was the custom of the time he had to try and find a balance between his studies and his training.  His schedule was so rigorous however that in fact he only had time to train around 11 o’clock each night. 2 years later on May 6 1954 at the Iffley road track in Oxford England in front of 3,000 spectators and news reel cameras history was made when he ran 3:59:4.

“The earth seemed to move with me. I found a new source of power and beauty, a source I never knew existed.”

Click to play video:     http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uz3ZLpCmKCM

Pure sporting competition has a way of pulling and pushing us automatically to new and greater heights.  Whenever most people see this picture of Bannister even if they don’t recognize him or his achievement that day it still carries profound inspirational value as a moment of perfect transcendence.  Bannister of course would go onto other competitions but later in his life felt that his contributions to medicine were of much more importance to the world.

By now I have taken thousands of pictures of the 3100 mile race and none will have quite the thrill and power of this one of him setting his world record.  Yet I suspect, despite the limitations of my skills as a photographer, the faces of those who run here can and do communicate much more than meets the eye. Something subtle which is immediately recognizable to those who understand and identify themselves with the inner runner in all of us.

World history of a different sort is being writ large and bright upon this little concrete rectangle in Queens every day.  One that can inspire the mind  and illumine the aspiring consciousness within the hearts of God Seekers everywhere.

When we run in the inner life, we have to feel that we are not only running against ignorance; we are also running with God.

In a 100-metre dash, if one runner is 70 metres ahead of another runner, then the one who is far behind will not have any inspiration to run.

But if the leading runner is only a few steps ahead, then the one who is behind feels determined to overtake him.

That is why, when God runs with us, He uses only a little of His infinite Capacity. Only then will human beings have the inspiration and aspiration to catch Him and run with Him. God stays only a few steps ahead of us so that He can be seen, felt and ultimately realised.

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

Continue reading “July 3: Run With God”

The currents of life are so strong that it is nearly impossible for any of us to remain static or immobile for long.  There is no safe lofty perch to cling to and from which we can then view the tsunami of the world beneath us shift and evolve without us being caught up in its relentless power and force one way or another. Even trying to retreat into our own past is impossible for inevitably we are flung back into the present.

We can try an lock down the doors of opportunity, stuff cotton wool in our ears and be deaf and immune to the calls and cries  of humanity around us but inevitably something deeper and higher in us will snatch away our deafness and defeat  and pull us back into facing the divine task lying in front of us.  Our goal is patient and our goal is kind.  Despite allowing ourselves to be temporarily engulfed in billowing clouds of our stubborn resistance the call does not tire or surrender to the forces that would hold us back.

Our long  friendship with  ignorance will and must one day come to an end.  For on the skybright horizon of eternity is our destination.  When we can listen to our only true friend within and answer to his call we will then no longer recognize hesitation or delay in any guise. At this time our name will be nothing other than transcendence itself.  And just beyond one more name awaits us, perfect perfection.

When Sri Chinmoy began weightlifting just over 27 years ago very few if any could have imagined just how far the journey would go or in fact that it would be remain an integral part of his life.  It can be argued that it appeared to be at the time, an almost plan B.  A second best athletic solution to his true favorite sport which was running.  Which at that time was being compromised by persistent physical ailments, particularly  his knees.  At the same time he said, “The inner reason is because my Inner Pilot, my God, has commanded me to lift. For that reason I do it cheerfully.”

A spiritual master has of course clear access to the highest heights of spirituality and there was no confusion or hesitation at any time when he was asked from within to attempt anything and everything he did.  On rare occasions he  was not always immediately successful, the case of his 300 pound lift is legendary.  For 4 long months in the summer of 1986 he attempted to lift 300 pounds 214 times.  For his students at the time it was a powerful lesson on the very nature of persevering when confronted by a seemingly insurmountable obstacle.

His many lessons to his students and in fact to all of the aspiring world were demonstrated in powerful and yet clear and simple ways.  Certainly as exemplified each day here at his very own Self Transcendence race, the aspiring cry of the inner life cannot be separate or remain isolated from the soulful dynamism of our outer reality.

“When we live in the progress-world, always there is tremendous joy. This joy comes not only from transcending one’s capacities but from the effort itself. Say I have set my goal at 300 pounds, and I cannot do it. The very fact that I have been devotedly practising and practising gives me joy, and the tenacity or perseverance that I am showing is itself progress. Anything that we do devotedly and soulfully helps us make progress.”

Continue reading “July 2: Surrender To The Experience”

There are times in all our lives when we genuinely feel inspired to attempt something really difficult.  To courageously step out from our safe well padded fortress of comfort and stability and venture into the unknown.

Young people of course do this on an almost daily basis because the nature of youth is to explore all the dimensions of their world and expand upon what they see, what they know, and what they do within it.

As we age it quite often becomes the norm to loose courage and loose hope that there is anything more that we can still achieve. That just maybe the life and world as we know  is already good enough.

Sri Chinmoy constantly worked upon and expanded the dimensions of his many worlds of achievement.  It did not matter whether it was sport, art, literature, or any other field of endeavor that he cared to take up.

His tireless  efforts to transcend himself was a luminous beacon of hope and inspiration for all those who felt defeated or bound by the world of limitation.   For any whose perception of reality had become stuck fast in  a prison without light and without the beckoning dreams arising from our limitless inner wealth.

Not just by speech but by practical repeated example he proved that nothing was impossible, that we should never give up, and that self transcendence was not just a good philosophy but we should also live by it, and feel that it was part of our very existence just like he did.

For those curious about any aspect of this philosophy and what it really means than even a brief visit to the race and you will become aware of what it is in action.  There is an unrestricted open invitation for anyone anytime anywhere to become part of it.  If not in a physical way than even through your heart’s oneness.   You can offer good will or even just good intentions but more importantly you must not leave without taking from it as well.

Take from it as much inspiration and illumination as you can.   So that when the next time a heart dream beckons for you to come.  You do not hesitate even for a moment and allow it to disappear without even trying.

My Lord Supreme,
When I pray to You,
I see the sky lifting me up
High, higher, highest.

.
When I meditate on You,
I see the same sky descending
Slowly, steadily and unerringly
And touching my earth-existence
Most compassionately.

.
My Lord Supreme, You are telling me
Not to be afraid of the Unknown,
But to love the Unknown
And become one with the Unknown,
For this unknown Reality
Will not remain forever unknown,
And my life’s perfection
And my heart’s satisfaction
Will grow in it.

.
My Lord, make me ready
And make me worthy
Of Your blessingful Promise to me.

.

Sri Chinmoy, My Sweet Father-Lord, Where Are You?, Agni Press, 1999.

 

Continue reading “July 1: Love The Unknown”