There is probably no sporting competition in which the support and encouragement of fans and loved ones does not play some vital role in the ultimate performance of an athlete.
Not that long ago when I was more active in running events the sound of someone shouting my name while circling a track or calling out from the edge of a long challenging road always added a powerful lift to my spirits as well as to the energy of my steps.
This kind of encouragement always has the ability to somehow lighten the heavy burden of effort we feel weighted down about our shoulders. Even when you find the last strands of hope slipping away from your grasp a cheer and clapping hands can ignite the embers of your fading dreams. That somehow the goal can be once again brought just a little closer and our arrival there that much more swift when others reach out with their hearts magnanimity and oneness.
No matter how solitary we might be or how indifferent to the world we might think we are, sincere encouragement from another is a truly valuable gift. Our body may be oblivious our mind deaf but our heart will always be aware of encouragement and be uplifted by it. It is also something that never diminishes or takes away anything from the giver. Our bodies may lack at times energy and speed but our hearts can reach within to an unlimited source of strength that ultimately connects us all. Yet we mortals somehow forget or loose the key to open this vast unlimited divinity within ourselves. We all know inwardly that when we help another rise above the darkness we are bringing the glowing promise of tomorrow just a little bit closer for all of aspiring humanity.
Our outer journey
Needs God’s Compassion-Eye
For its encouragement.
Our inner journey
Needs God’s Satisfaction-Heart
To reach its destination.
Sri Chinmoy, Twenty-Seven Thousand Aspiration-Plants, Part 157, Agni Press, 1991.
This morning before the start Pradeep called me over to show me an email he had just received. He was beaming because it had come from someone he did not know and had never met. Of course he has many friends and supporters all over the world as well as from Holland. It really touched him that a stranger would care so much about what was happening to him here. When he pointed to the name of the sender I of course recognized that it belonged to the ever supportive and always caring Laura.
The quiet time before a long day of struggle
Start Day 28
From the inner world,
We can bring to the fore encouragement
To fight against our discouragement.
And, needless to say, our victory is certain!
We can bring to the fore encouragement
To fight against our discouragement.
And, needless to say, our victory is certain!
Sri Chinmoy, Seventy-Seven Thousand Service-Trees, Part 43, Agni Press, 2005.
“Today is a good day to be grateful that the 3100 mile race exists.” Yesterday Pushkar had his best day here in almost 2 weeks. This morning his face reveals both the joy and the burden of having had such a day. As is the case with most who push up against their limits there are often surprises when they find that the edge of their capacity is not as close and as resistant as they thought it might be. Yet sometimes it does not budge as they believed it might and a price is paid. One that may seem exorbitant at the time but eventually impossibility can and does fall if you simply never give up.
This morning he is interested in reading the daily lap sheet. “I am looking a bit at what others are doing, especially the 2 incredible front runners.” He is also curious today about how the others are faring. Particularly those that just not might not be able to finish the race as he most likely will do. He also noticed his own laps which he as a rule never usually does. “Yesterday night 3200 laps. An even number. Still a long way to go and I am trying not to think about it too much.”
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“I like usually Saturday. There is the 2 mile race and in the evening you will have finished a whole week. Tonight we will have completed 4 weeks. I am counting the days more than I am counting the miles.”I ask him about the encouragement he is receiving from friends back home. “It is definitely very helpful, and I am very very very grateful if I receive some message. Also if it is short it doesn’t mater.”
“Also if they think maybe about the race on a daily basis. It is different if you get a message on the outer plane. It can be something just very little. Somehow sometimes it just touches me, and it is really a big big help. “
He describes that the impression that he is not just running endless laps around the school but instead journeying on a spiritual pilgrimage is regularly an image that comes to him as he runs here. “Definitely it helps me a lot. It is a pilgrimage to me.” He says on one level he is trying to do his best as he would in any other race, but on an inner level his attitude here is quite different.
There are ups and downs to each day here for him. Moments when he is absolutely comfortable. “But it doesn’t go on for ever.” He feels the low periods also offer something valuable in their own way as well. At such times he feels it makes him bring forward his inner cry. “The important thing is that I go on and try just to be.”
He feels that some of the runners problems are caused simply by a lack of faith and confidence. “Pranjal got for 2 days shin splints. He did not decrease his mileage very much, so it was not so visible. At exactly the same time I also felt that the shin splints were coming. But I got this prayer, Surrender, Surrender, Surrender. Unconditional Surrender to the Absolute Supreme. Surrender, Surrender, Surrender.
He says that whenever he felt that injuries or problems of any kind were approaching him he would repeat that prayer.
“I also felt that it was not the will of the Supreme that I get shin splints, and I really strengthened my faith.” He believes that when the Supreme requests of us to experience something it is fine..
But if it is our own negativity or lack of receptivity than we should always struggle against indulging in this kind of experience. “I had to be really very focused, that I do not loose track. I was successful and it did not come.”
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He also mentions how a young soccer player approached him a few days earlier while riding his bicycle. He was curious about the race and how Pushkar was able to do it.
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He says it was his first opportunity to give a spiritual lecture in New York. “It was really nice. It was a challenge for me. First with the English and also with a little tiredness in the mind. That you can express why you are doing that and what is meditation. It was really cool.” (laughs)
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Click to play interview
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Friends come in all shapes and sizes
This morning another familiar friend showed up at the 2 mile race across the street. Ashprihanal who has run the 3100 mile race 11 times, ran this morning in a time of 12:39 and placed second. I ask him if he is in shape. “Not in my best shape, no.”
Tomorrow he says he is going to Peru to climb mountains.
When asked what it is like to watch the Self Transcendence race, “It is pretty nice. It is quite good. It is not as exhausting as running it. But still it reminds me that it is a special race.”
When asked if he will return to it….”I think so.”
Click to play interview
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I received a request the other day to mention Oscar Pistorious who will make sporting history when the 25 year old South African athlete becomes the first double amputee to run in the Olympic games in 2 weeks time in London. He will be representing his country in both the 400 meters and in its 4x 400 relay team. For many he is a topic of discussion but for most who can simply appreciate the mountain he has climbed just to be able to compete in such a race little alone his accomplishment of participating fully in the Olympic games is nothing short of miraculous.
“Years of dedication, determination and hard work. I’m so privileged to have the opportunity of representing South Africa at an Olympic and Paralympic Games. I want to cherish every minute and make all my supporters proud. I have an amazing team behind me and it is as much a celebration for them, as it is for me.’
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“Stay positive and don’t take no for answer. If you believe in something you should go for it and live for your dreams.”
Andy Cable is a long time friend and supporter of the race. Since 2006 he tries to drive down from his home in Connecticut and come and spend a full day here, and not just to cheer on the runners but also put some of his own miles around the course. He had heard about the race a few years earlier but at a race in Houston he met Abichal who was going to run the 3100 later that summer. On Abichal’s final day of the race he was inspired to come down and run 100 laps of the race with him.
“It was very moving.”
“It was very moving.”
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He is modest about his own abilities and really just deeply appreciates being able to spend some time, no matter how brief with such an inspiring group as those who run here. “I hope to add to the race by visiting and also not take too much away from it.”.
Today he would like to run 47 miles to honor not just his 47th birthday which will come later this year but also because he believes that the number 47 was very significant to the founder of the race Sri Chinmoy.
He is able to follow the race on the internet but describes that perspective is very harsh if you only just look at the numbers the runners put up. “You don’t experience enough of the race by reading and listening to the blog. You have to come down and see for yourself. “
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He discusses just how remarkable the performance of the runners really is to him. He mentions how the runners here are running at a pace that you would typically find in a 100 mile race and yet they are doing it day after day here. “That is the thing I can’t comprehend. I understand that people do it but I don’t understand all the dimensions of how they do it.”
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Click to play interview
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Charita recites
The Poem of the Day
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| Enthusiasm Awakeners..Click to Playparvati |  |
O my heart,
Your great and good
encouragement-strength
Has rescued me countless times
From drowning in a sea
of self-pity-tears.
Sri Chinmoy, O My Heart, Agni Press, 1988.
Your green frog is cute, but not as cute as the little pink one I found on the path today. It is now sitting on the dash of my car.
So happy to have you back!!! Your musings and reports from the 3100 are always without a doubrt the best, most inpsiring readings on the planet. To regular mortals this race is not really comprehensible. To those that see it, feel it, come to the race, and maybe even run some laps with the runners….it is awe inspiring and truly magical. HOW and WHY is it done.. is the zillion dollar question?
Utpal with your dedication and insights on each blog perhaps these 2 questions might be answered. And just maybe they cannot be answered, should not be answered..only something we believe in, who or whatever that may be; God , Jesus, Jehovah, Bhudda, Ashem, Allah, and Guru Sri Chinmoy, truly knows the depth, pain, joy, love, and magnitude of such an event.
Thank you for coming back, Utpal:) Reading of your posts is so much joy for us. You can create the 3100 miles race atmosphere here. Say, please, each runner that we all are proud of them. And their Father is also proud.
So happy Utpal’s daily reporting is back – I REALLY MISSED it. Pushkar, here is a little encouragement from a couch potato at the other side of the continent. I admire all your inner work that you and all the other runners are doing (thank you for sharing) just as much as I am amazed at the outer accomplishments.