“I think I felt it last week. There was a point when I was able to do 100 laps.”
That point of course was when at last Kaneenika was able to see that she would be able to complete all 3100 miles of the race. She is rightfully cautious as she expresses this optimism. There is still the very real job of taking on the last 421 miles over the course of the final 8 days.
But last night she did 55 miles when she only needed to do 52. Many, many, of Kaneenika’s friends and supporters are taking deep calm breaths now, though likely their fingers are still crossed and held behind their backs.
“When I could do over 100 laps my confidence came back. I feel better now.”
“It is still not over. There are still a lot of prayers to say and miles to run.”
“The first part of the race seemed easy. It was easy sailing. So then after that it changed a lot. I had to go more deep within. I had to get more strength from inside. It wasn’t as though I wasn’t getting it earlier.”
I then ask Kaneenika what it was like when she realized last year that she would not be able to complete the distance.
“It took me a while to accept it.”
She then relates a very powerful experience she had at that time last year when she saw right in front of her what looked like a movie of her life. Scenes that all came, starting from the very moment she had become a student of Sri Chinmoy right up to that point in the race.
It was not in her imagination she says, but was projected right out in front of her.
She says that the experience reaffirmed her belief in what she was doing. “The movie showed me the real meaning of this race.”
“I am trying to be more tolerant… more compassionate….. more humble. How to have more gratitude and also how to have more peace in my life. I can’t say that I know how to do all these things by now. I feel as though I am making progress.”
I then ask for her thoughts on Surasa. “I think that it is just the experience that we all are having. I think this years race is harder for everybody, in some ways. Surasa has always been an inspiration for me.”
“I used to watch her before I started doing these races. I also did a few races with her and I experienced her doing her world record in the 1300 mile race. I always admired her determination and her childlike consciousness and surrender.”
Then Kaneenika describes an experience she had before she got to the half way mark. She was running along the course across from Jamaica High school.
“All of a sudden I felt this peace descending. It was so strong for me. I don’t think I have experienced anything like that before.”
“So this peace is descending on me and I then I felt so much peace inside but also at the same time so much power and confidence. That was very striking for me.”
You can make the fastest progress
If you can say,
“I came into the world
To love God, only God.
I came into the world
To serve God, only God.
I came into the world
To manifest God,
Only God.”
Click Below to see Dipali’s Race Tips:
The Board
No vehicles on Tuesday
Still early
Janos changes the day to 45
A tired rose
Kaneenika arrives
Vajra leaves
The van comes
Rupantar makes his video
Ashprhanal needs a yogurt
Ananda-Lahari getting ready
The girls
Start Day 45
First steps
It is a beautiful morning at the race. Nice temperature and humidity.
Nearly missed
Yuri ran 72 miles
He now has 2945 miles
It is not clear if he is running so hard to stay in front of Ashprihanal who is 19 miles behind. Or to beat his mark from last year which he is 23 miles behind
Either way he is running very hard
Across
Ashprihanal ran 76 miles
He now has 2926 miles
He is also running incredibly hard and focused
“Boy have we been waiting a long time to be in the spotlight. Our act is hard to follow.”
Everybody wants to fly
Atmavir also ran 71 miles
He now has 2850 miles and is 75 miles ahead of last year
By the camp
Vasu ran 65 miles
Vasu has 2806 miles
He should finish on Friday
Vasu
Informal meeting involving mangos
Elegant and green
Kaneenika did 55 miles
She now has 2679 miles
By the fence
Surasa did 57 miles
She now has 2605 miles
Still trying her best
Peppermint Patty
Baladev
Baladev did 47 miles
Uddipan helping Baladev
He now has 2422 miles
Poems of Sri Chinmoy read by Baladev:
Service road
Sopan did 43 miles. He now has 2353 miles
Clover
Stutisheel did 36 miles
He now has 2282 miles
The hard edge
Ananda-Lahari did 45 miles
He now has 2231 miles
Hard and soft
Anubha and friend counting this morning
The big picture
I ask Hastakamala to ask herself a question…….”Am I grateful to God?”
“Yes, I was just reading about it. Guru said, God can be happy with you, Guru can be happy with you, but if you are not grateful, then you will not be satisfied yourself.”
“I am hankering after satisfaction. In everything I do. To be happy and satisfied with everything I do.”
“It is not always present.”
The webcam at 9:30 pm. Yuri has passed 3000 miles and has 3005. Ashprihanal has 2988 miles. Kaneenika has done 46 miles since this morning.
Interview by Nirjharini
Click to Play:
“Service definitely makes me happier. This is my 3rd time here.”
“I love food, and I love cooking, and I love that kind of service.” At this point Hastakamala wanted to make clear how much she likes working at, ‘My Rainbow Dreams,’ in Canberra. She also wanted to pass on a big hello to all her Aussie friends and others.
“I am happy to be here and it is phenomenal what the runners do. It is beautiful here because everybody comes together. It is a whole community. People from all around the world combined with the local people. It is very powerful and unfathomable thing that is happening.”
Click to Play:
Poem of the Day read by Hastakamala
Click to Play:
Enthusiasm Awakeners
Click to Play:
God has already given you
More than the necessary capacity
To do everything He has asked you to do.
Just dive deep within.
An inexhaustible source
Of energy and capacity
Is waiting there for you
Not only to receive
But also to become.
Sri Chinmoy, Ten Thousand Flower-Flames, part 92, Agni Press, 1983
Thank you Nirjarini for this very interesting interview with Utpal! So nice to hear the story behind this great blog. And all the best for all the runners on their last “downhill” miles. Even those who will not be able to complete the 3100 – what an amazing spirit to just keep going, lap after lap, and not giving up, even if things are moving slowly and are harder than the hardest – you are such beacons to the world! And world-transformers with every step you take… Thanks for the daily updates and great interviews Utpal, the birds and squirrels, nature`s beauty and the wonderful poems in each post.
Nirjharini, what a perfect idea to put our great reporter on the other end of the spectrum. You did a perfect job – good questions – it was interesting to hear a little bit about how Guru works through each of us to bring forward our own hidden capacities and make them blossom. And in Utpal’s case you also see how far reaching one person’s
self-transcendence spreads across the whole world.
Thank you Guru, thank you runners, thank you organizers and helpers and thank you Nirjharini and Utpal.
Utpal, apart from your inspiring interviews I also love your conversations with your various animal friends along the course.
Much gratitude
I would have missed that there was an audio interview with Utpal had it not been for the comments. So if you, too, have missed it. Go back to under Utpal’s picture and click “listen to play”. I benefit greatly from Utpal’s daily dedication to this Amazing Race — so it is enlightening to hear some back-story. Thanks, Nirjharini!
Now, may I ask Utpal to transcend his past years 52-day perfection-journey? And ask that he report on the finishing ceremony that is held one day after the race finishes?
With gratitude and great respect!
Thanks both Utpal and Nirjarini for this interview