“In general I think people like to smile. It is a gift that we can smile. Especially when things are going wrong. Then it is the best that we can smile.”
Yesterday Ananda-Lahari ran 113 laps around the school. His day started well before dawn and I suspect that his hours of sleep were minimal. He got up showered and got on a bicycle and rode up a dark road and when he got to the race he parked that bike against a fence.
He then walked over to his chair and readied himself for a very long day ahead. At 6 am he started running along with 6 others whose trajectory of their days is not that much different than his. And yes he ran around the block accumulating a precious quota of 62 miles that when combined with what he has already run over the past 9 days adds up to 538 miles.
Hit the reset button of his life every day and he will continue this routine for another 42 days and yes he will be smiling just about every moment he runs. His smile has the added bonus of quietly lifting the spirits up of those who he passes by. Who may have not even be aware of the slender man who always seems to be running and smiling.
Ananda-Lahari will work hard for each of those laps but he will never forget to smile or forget the precious gift he has been given and which he so generously offers to the world around him.
The board at the start of Day 10
Stillness
Peterson part of the set up crew
Medur
Wei Ming
Rupantar
Vasu and Stutisheel
Harita
Andrea
Wei Ming now in 2nd place
Start Day 10
Andrea did 65 miles
He has 643 miles and leads Wei Ming by 57 miles
Flower
Sanjay made breakfast
Wei Ming ran 62 miles
He now has 586 miles
He leads Vasu by 12 miles
Flower
Ananda-Lahari in camp
Vasu is having some hip problems he ran 47 miles
He now has 574 miles and leads Harita by 10 miles
Double checking that counter knows he took a break
Flower
Swamiji
Harita ran 61 miles
She now has 564 miles
She leads Stutisheel by 26 miles
With Pipasa and Harashita
Flower
Sahishnu getting ready to update the board
Stutisheel ran 60 miles
He has 538 miles
Making friends
Flower
Sahishnu updates the board
Takasumi ran 62 miles
He now has 534 miles
With Nina
Flower
All our fears
Just by challenging them
With a smile.
Thank you Utpal!
======
Smile, my friends, my soulful friends, smile. Let us smile. True, this world of ours is full of suffering and excruciating pangs, but that is no reason why we should not smile. We must smile in order to unburden the world’s suffering-burden. We must smile in order to diminish its untold pangs.
— Sri Chinmoy, excerpt from Everest-Aspiration (Smile, Love and Claim)
https://www.srichinmoylibrary.com/ea-15
======
Imagine! Ananda-Lahari had been running the 3100 Mile Race longer than many of those high school kids he passes by have been on this earth. May the smile-cure always work for him. Gratitude for sharing this!
Very nice music in day 10! Gratitude!
Thanks Utpal, it is nice to see familiar faces every day, it feels we are together wherever we live. Ananda-Lahari is really amazing, every single year he runs this Race, always smiling and enduring everything without complaining. I used to spent some time on Peace Run with him, and no matter what was going on he was always peaceful and calm.
Nirmala (from the other side) and me are watching your daily reports with a lot of joy and oneness! Great job you do, as always!