World’s Largest Incense Stick

If your life is swimming
In the river of sorrow,
Then burn the incense of your heart
And inundate your entire being
With Eternity’s Light and Infinity’s Delight.

Sri Chinmoy, Ten Thousand Flower-Flames, Part 81, Agni Press, 1983

test-stick-burning

Trying to harness inspiration in our lives is one of those most illusive of things.  For most of us it’s appearance is fleeting and ephemeral.  Then when it is confronted by our own stubborn reluctance and lethargy it quite often  slips away, before we can grasp it and allow our beings to be surcharged and renewed.  Ashrita Furman seems unique in that he has for more than 30 years now found himself with inspiration as an almost constant companion.

sri_chinmoy_with_ashritaYet when you are like him, seemingly imbued with an almost continual enthusiasm for self transcendence it is not difficult to see why inspiration calls upon him so often. It is his unfailing appreciation for new opportunities to challenge himself, along with a deep inner aspiration for spirituality that has shaped and molded his life in ways, that this once upon a time skinny teenager from Queens never probably dreamed was possible.  Yet even when he was young there were unmistakable hints that his future would eventually lead him towards some pretty spectacular achievements.

“As a kid I was always interested in the Guinness book of records. I never thought I would get in them because I wasn’t very athletic, and I was not even interested in sports.  Then I started meditating with Sri Chinmoy, and his philosophy is that we have to use every aspect of our being to try and get closer to God.  So I stated doing sports and I found, that using different meditation techniques that I could actually break records.  As I broke more and more it became more exciting for me.  I found greater and greater challenges, and I found that really there are no limits.  That if we go deep within and find that inner strength, calm our minds, feel our hearts, then we can do anything.”  Currently Ashrita is closing in on 500 world records since he started in 1979.

Record for 2012
Record for 2012

He has for more than 3 decades now been continually exploring all the eclectic realms of possibility within the Guinness record book.  Achievements that all are as diverse as they are difficult to better.  At the same time his unfettered imagination allows him to create totally original records that Guinness seems happy to accept in order to continually widen the realm of possibility for other wannabe record holders.

ashritaHe says that it is we who set barriers for ourselves, usually within our own minds.  Over the past few Augusts, in honor of his Spiritual teacher, Sri Chinmoy’s birthday on the 27th of month, he has attempted much different kinds of records.  Usually the building of incredibly large things.  Last year he and a team created the world’s largest tennis racket.  But all these big things require the assistance of quite often a large and diverse group utilizing many different skills and talents to order to make it all come together.

This year he is attempting to build the world’s largest incense stick.  One that he says, “is more for joy, for fun.  It is really fun working with a team.  Because usually when you find these obstacles, and we had many obstacles building this incense stick.”

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Songs of Peace and Light

Photo by Kedar

When a singer sings spiritual songs, if he lives the song that he sings, then God will be a living Reality at every second. Otherwise, God will remain in the infinite blue sky and the singer will have to remain down on earth. Then there will be a yawning gulf between God’s Feet and the singer’s head.

In the spiritual life, we are trying to raise our head to the point where God’s Feet will come and touch it. Our head and God’s Feet must be together. Our head means what?

Our head means our song. And God’s Feet means God the Singer. So when the Supreme Singer sees that a song is aspiring to the Highest, then He feels His fulfillment in His creation. And what is the creation? The creation is the unfoldment of the Singer Supreme.

 

Sri Chinmoy, God The Supreme Musician, Agni Press, 1976.

Photo by Pavitrata

There is no way to fully comprehend the lofty impact and powerful significance of  the music that Sri Chinmoy continually created over the course of his life.  In retrospect it is now an almost unimaginably vast wave of almost 20,000 original songs, that continues to flow outward across the landscape of aspiring humanity.

For those who are his students, both practicing and listening to his recordings is an almost a fundamental part of their spiritual lives. One that most could  not imagine to be absent from their daily routine.  Taking a sacred place in their day on the very doorstep of practicing meditation itself.  For most the capacity to meditate for long periods may be difficult and yet singing Sri Chinmoy’s songs has a unique and powerful way of offering a precious trans-formative spiritual experience that few other activities can even come close to offering.

For some it is a matter of singing a regular catalog of songs and for others it may be a continuous exploration through a sun bright garden of his music.  One that is filled with thousands of enchanting melodies that each offer their own unique and precious glimpse and entry into the highest regions of our own unhorizoned spiritual dimensions.

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Progress

Click To Play:

[fve]https://vimeo.com/54984908[/fve]

The footage shown in this short film was all shot by myself in 1979 and 1980.  In it Sri Chinmoy can be seen participating in some of the activities he loved best.  His was a life dedicated to serving the world and inspiring people.   For all those who were his students, both in those early years and even now after his passing, his timeless message to the world continues to be a powerful trans-formative beacon.  There is no end to our spiritual journeys, for inevitably we are all searching for inner fulfillment and continual self transcendence.

In the first part of the film he is seen running his own 47 mile race for the first time.  He would come back the following year and run this same race again, even faster.  He did not just talk about progress, he acted upon it in every way possible, and in every activity that he involved himself in.  No matter whether it was art, literature, music, or sports.   In this audio recording, made later in his life, he speaks unequivocally about this.

I am extremely grateful to share this little film with any and all who are inspired by or feel an inner connection with my spiritual teacher, Sri Chinmoy.

Utpal

Transcript of audio:

The recording of Sri Chinmoy’s voice that accompanies this video is believed to have been made between 2005 and 2007. Sri Chinmoy’s remarks (below) have been edited for future publication.

Sri Chinmoy:

There is no end to our inner progress, no end to our inner progress. Progress, progress, progress! My Guru, your Guru, everybody’s Guru is the Supreme. I tell you in all sincerity, the Supreme Himself is progressing. Now, can we believe it? We cannot believe it. Our mind will not believe it. How can the Absolute Highest be progressing? Infinity we cannot measure, Eternity we cannot measure, Immortality we cannot measure. But when God, out of His infinite Bounty, opens up our third eye, we can see that God Himself is progressing. Not only on earth and in Heaven, but in His own highest Reality, I tell you, God is progressing, progressing.

You can say that God is absolute. That is true, absolutely true. But in His absolute Reality also, progress can be made. When God used His Vision to create the universe, His Vision was always Self-Transcendence, Self-Transcendence. Therefore, the terms that we use—Infinity, Eternity and Immortality—He far, far exceeds.

God’s Infinity we cannot believe; our mind will never believe it. The mind can only believe so much. The heart, on the strength of its identification, can go very far. But if we are in the soul-consciousness, we see that the Absolute Supreme Himself is expanding, diving deeper and climbing higher.

Шри Чинмой:

Нет конца нашему внутреннему прогрессу, нет конца нашему внутреннему прогрессу. Прогресс, прогресс, прогресс! Мой Гуру, ваш Гуру, Гуру каждого — это Всевышний. Говорю вам со всей искренностью, сам Всевышний прогрессирует. Но вот можем ли мы в это поверить? Мы не можем в это поверить. Наш ум в это не поверит. Как может совершать прогресс Абсолютное Высочайшее? Мы не можем измерить Бесконечность, мы не можем измерить Вечность, мы не можем измерить Бессмертие. Но когда Бог по Своей бесконечной Щедрости открывает нам третий глаз, мы видим, что Сам Бог совершает прогресс. Говорю вам, не только на земле и на Небесах, но и в своей собственной высочайшей Реальности Бог совершает прогресс, совершает прогресс.

Вы можете сказать, что Бог — это абсолют. Это правда, истинная правда. Но прогресс может совершаться и в Его абсолютной Реальности. Когда Бог использовал Свое Видение, чтобы создать вселенную, Его Видением всегда было Самопревосхождение, Самопревосхождение. Поэтому те понятия, которые мы используем — Бесконечность, Вечность и Бессмертие — Он намного, намного превосходит.

Мы не можем поверить в Бесконечность Бога; наш ум никогда не поверит. Ум может верить только до определенной степени. Сердце, в силу своего отождествления, может пойти очень далеко. Но находясь в сознании души, мы видим, что Сам Абсолютный Всевышний расширяется, погружаясь глубже и поднимаясь выше.


Inspiration News

[fve]https://vimeo.com/53147087[/fve]

About 6 years ago I was part of a team that attempted to create stories about the life of Sri Chinmoy and also about some of the many activities that he inspired his students to take part in. At that time it was difficult to try and keep up with his schedule and also to try and choose stories from so many of those who were inspired by him.  Now, anyone with a smart phone and a little know how can create and upload a video.  Back then though we tried to create a program that would not be unlike one you might see on a typical news program.

Time slipped by and the program fell by the wayside until about a year ago when my friend Kedar suggested we try and start again.  I was hesitant as to do something as difficult as this but there seemed no other option than to try.  One of the last things Sri Chinmoy reminded me was that his path was about Self Transcendence.

It would need help from many people and in particular my editor Padyatra had to steer the project through lots of technical and logistical hurdles.  More so I wanted the program to be really and truly from around the world.  That it reflect the life of the Sri Chinmoy center in many places.  This one by chance comes very close to doing just that.  Many people contributed and helped to make it all happen.  I am deeply grateful.

If you have time try and see it all.  It is just about 20 minutes long.  For now this blog is just a temporary platform for the show.  There are 4 great stories here and there just might be one that inspires you.   I hope in the not too distant future that there be more.

much thanks

Utpal

47 Mile Race 2012: A New Summit of Perfection

Start of the 47 mile race 1980

But before you start, if you can convince yourself that you are a divine observer and that somebody else is running in you, through you and for you, then fear, doubt, frustration, anxiety and other negative forces will not be able to assail your mind.

Once these thoughts occupy the mind, they try to enter into the vital and then into the physical. Once they enter into the physical, they create tension, and this makes you lose all your power of concentration.

But if you feel that you are not the runner, if you feel that you are observing the race from the beginning to the end, then there will be no tension, and these forces will not attack you. This is the only way to overcome these forces and maintain the highest type of concentration from the beginning to the end.

This is what I do. As a runner I am useless, but right at the beginning I try to become an instrument and make myself feel that somebody else, my Beloved Supreme, is running in and through me. Right at the beginning of the race I offer my gratitude-heart to the Supreme, and at the end, after I finish the race, I also offer my gratitude.

If I can offer my soulful gratitude to my Inner Pilot before the race and after the race also, then there can be no frustration, no decline of aspiration. The aspiration and power of concentration will remain the same throughout the race.

 

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

Everyone who has ever stood on a starting line of a race has felt themselves enveloped by their own unique blend of hopes and prayers and their almost unavoidable opposite companions, doubt and fear.  Felt that at last that what was now lying just before them, was a real opportunity to bring to life a dream that had yet to be realized.  One that they had felt steadily growing within, with each new day of training, and that now was at last the moment when they would really achieve and perform their very best.  That at the end of the day they would reveal something that they had felt already existed in a subtle way within, but that now it would at last take shape and form and become a new reality.

The irony of course is that while your life force roars and thunders throughout your physical frame, within you, the best part of you seeks out the still vast island of peace that is always present. To somehow keep a delicate balance between what we see, what we feel, and what we want to become.  There is a mystery in how it is possible to remain completely calm, despite the darting thoughts that swirl and buzz about like angry bees.   Trying to focus on really only one thing, that now you are about to commit to giving your all.  Unleash the power that comes from the relentless long miles of training.  Bring together all the discipline and all the sacrifice and focus all that you have over the distance that stretches now directly before you.  To now reach and attain a new goal.

It has just gone past midnight on August 27th 2012.  A large group of runners are preparing themselves for the 32nd running of the 47 mile race.  It is a perfect night to run.  The air is still but not hot and the humidity is low so it is an almost ideal conditions to run a personal best.  Tonight  the weather will be a friend to all and not a relentless silent adversary.

This race is not defined like most with thoughts of competition but by oneness.  Here, when one achieves something remarkable than that victory is not lost or withheld from everyone else, who has also dreamed and strived for self transcendence.  It is quality that can be shared and celebrated  equally by all.  For we all seek the same ultimate goal.  When one has inspiration it does not diminish when it is then offered to all those who also tirelessly seek out their own steps to transcendence and perfection.

Everyone who runs here or even helps out will all try and do their best this night.  Try to set a new mark for themselves by bettering their times or perhaps make the night one long sweet meditation.  Reach out for the luminous threads of promise that can pull us forward on our very long inner journeys.

Vajin stands at the front of this group of runners.  There is none around him who would dispute his right to stand there, and there are none who don’t share, a not so secret hope, that he in particular have a very good night of running.

You can sense from everyone present that there is a collective wish that Vajin will tonight at last break the race record.  One that is startlingly great but one that is also very old, and in many eyes stood for too long.

It has dangled so far above and out of reach for 32 years.  So long now that it has seemed to be for many an almost unimaginable goal to reach. Many think that tonight however it will be broken at last. Those that do, have good reason to believe that this is finally possible.

Vajin, 2 years ago showed everyone that he had the determination, strength, and skill to create his own new mark of transcendence, when he ran 5:15, just 6 minutes shy of the record. Over the past 2 years he has trained hard and ran well on many long mountain trail races.  He has performed superbly with top ranked trail athletes in races around the world, and now, on this August night has dedicated himself to not just transcending himself but also to offer a precious gift to his late spiritual teacher.

To create for runners, who run this race next year and quite possibly for many years to come, a new summit of perfection.

Continue reading “47 Mile Race 2012: A New Summit of Perfection”

47 Mile Race 1980: It Is An Offering

Sri Chinmoy: My longest distance was 47 miles. I did it twice. Now I no longer do it, but every year about three hundred disciples of mine from all over the world come here on my birthday and run 47 miles. Being the spiritual father of the family, it gives me tremendous joy when I see my spiritual children run 47 miles. The number 47 is very important to me because in 1947 India got its independence. With this run we are celebrating our inner freedom.

Sri Chinmoy heads out of the gate of the Jamaica High School track and then takes a sharp right turn that leads up a short hill.  It is just past midnight and on this hilly hard course, that meanders around the school.   He will make this same turn and run this same hill and all the rest of the the whole long course 40 more times before his journey will be complete.  When this photograph was taken It was just moments after the 47 mile race had begun.  This will be the 2nd time he has run the race and on this occasion he is trying to beat the time he ran in the race the previous year (12:41:48).  The year is 1980 and Sri Chinmoy, a  a few minutes earlier, had just turned 49 years of age.

The young men and women who now run beside and about him will also run on this same course with him throughout the long warm August night. Each one finding their own tempo and pace and each trying to give of themselves in every possible way, outer as well as inner, to the challenge of running this very unique 47 mile race.

The race is now just in its 3rd year but already has become a most important event both to Sri Chinmoy and to his disciples.  Each time starting at midnight on August 27th.  For some they are running it for the first time and for others it is a race they have tried to run every year, each time trying to improve upon their previous times.

No matter how you look at it, 47 miles is a long way to run. But there is something more important about this race that did not exist in any other running event throughout the rest of the year.

For each step taken here on the gritty cinder track and on and on over the winding asphalt road,was not just taking us to a hard fought finish line but also to some new found place within ourselves.

It was for something higher that we all reached for.  A yearning goal  that continues to beckon and inspire a new generation of runners now several decades later.   It is a destination that originates not in the mind but within the very depths of our own hearts.  An inner call that asks for all those who participate to extend themselves as much as they possibly can physically and to also, over the many hours and miles on the road, try as well to explore the unlimited dimensions of our inner world as well.

And then there is something more important still that made us run.   For all Sri Chinmoy ‘s students it was a chance for us to offer something deep and personal from within ourselves to our beloved Spiritual teacher.  Offer some small part of us to he who also ran beside us.   For no matter how difficult it was for us to reach the finish line he too was also out there with us, throughout the night and well into burning brightness of the morning.

Yet even as he ran on and on throughout the night we also felt that it was he who was running in and through us.  And further more it was he who was also leading us much further still, and continues to do so, on an endless journey that leads well beyond the distant shores of our own lifetimes.

I am not in this photograph but I too was there that night and also on many other warm August nights and on many other years, running this same course. There are some who might still recognize the faces of those who ran here that night, but if they do not, they cannot help but see the strength and power of a youthful fit Sri Chinmoy.  Witness just how much he loved the sport of running, and also how much he loved to inspire and be inspired by his students.

For myself and all the others  who pushed on through the depths of a long dark night there was no race or athletic event that meant more to us than running the 47 mile race.  From its very first year and for all the years that followed it felt like a way to offer gratitude and thanks to our Spiritual teacher.  That he himself was running the race himself was a priceless experience for us all.  One that demonstrated in a powerful clear manner, that in every way possible he would inspire, guide, and nurture, all those who followed his path.

Again, we have to know that there is a great difference between competition and progress. When we want to compete with others, sometimes we adopt foul means—by hook or by crook we try to win. Then we bring to the fore our feelings of rivalry and almost animal propensities, animal qualities. We are only thinking of how we can defeat others, how we can lord it over others.

But when we are competing with ourselves, we know that we have to purify our inner existence in order to improve. So here is the difference. When it is a matter of self-transcendence, we have to depend on our inner purity, inner love, vastness and oneness with the rest of the world. We try to develop universal goodwill, whereas, while competing with others, we may not have those feelings. At that time, we may see others as rivals, we are on the border of enmity with them.

It can be as if we are fighting with enemies when we are competing. But when we are trying to transcend ourselves, we cannot fight with ourselves. If we can go ten steps ahead today, tomorrow we will try to cover twenty steps, and the day after thirty steps.

Sri Chinmoy, Run And Smile, Smile And Run, Agni Press, 2000.

Continue reading “47 Mile Race 1980: It Is An Offering”

My Heart’s Perfection-Flame

Photo by Bhashwar

I play tennis every day
To join my Lord’s Vision-Play.
I am the surrender-ball:
All joy in a body small.
Tennis, tennis, tennis game,
My heart’s perfection-flame.

Sri Chinmoy, I Play Tennis Every Day, Agni Press, 1994.

“Guru loved tennis.  Guru gave us a lot of joy when he played tennis, and he got a lot of joy playing tennis.  So we thought by making the worlds largest tennis racket we would give other people joy.”   This conversation with Ashrita, took place a little more than 5 days before what would have been Sri Chinmoys 81st birthday on August 27th.  Around and about him a crew of boys is busily shaping rather ordinary bits of lumber into something quite unbelievable.  Though it really doesn’t look like it now, in a short time it will somehow all come together making a world record 50 foot long tennis racket.

For several years now Sri Chinmoy’s birthday has been an inspiration for Ashrita and others to create something extraordinary in honor of their late Spiritual teacher.

Last year Ashrita organized the world’s largest floral garland which extended around Flushing Meadow.  This year he decided that building a 50 foot long tennis racket, “was as big as we could do.”

When asked whether or not the Guinness record people ever get amazed at these ideas for new records he says no.  “They have seen it ALLL.  They are serious about it.   They just want to see that it has been done properly.  They gave us permission to use a wooden racket as the model.  That was the conditions.  It has to be made completely to scale, and of the same exact materials.”

“It is a huge challenge but it is going to be amazing when it is done.”  At different times of the process the crew size has varied but by late afternoon everything stops.   The team has been careful about not working into the night and disturbing the neighbors.”

Photo by Prashphutita

Back in the 80’s Sri Chinmoy played tennis for hours every day, with quite a few of his students who were good tennis players.  Ashrita was one of those and I asked him why Sri Chinmoy enjoyed playing tennis so much.  “He loved it.  He was an athlete, and I think he just loved to move.  He made progress.  He got better and better, until his knees started getting bad.  I think it was also a way for him to relate to people on a human level.”

He says that it also gave joy to people who were also there to watch. “It was a way for him to show his love and concern and affection for people, and he loved the exercise.”

He says that whenever he played Sri Chinmoy he never had much time to think about the experience.   “You were just constantly running from side to side and front to back.  There was no thought.  You were just in the moment and trying to get the ball back.”

At this moment with the time remaining there seems like an almost insurmountable amount of work yet to be done but Ashrita says.  “Somehow it will get done.  The big work is done.  Now you might say is just the finishing touches, although there is quite a bit of finishing touches.  I think we are there.  When it is done it is fun, when it is finished.  The actual process is rewarding and it feels good.”

Ashrita interview

ashrita

Continue reading “My Heart’s Perfection-Flame”

Presence of the Master

There is a stubborn sadness in my life that seems reluctant to leave.  It is not constant and yet as time passes it’s dark press upon my heart seems  to grow ever more subtle, and yet, seems reluctant to fade entirely.  Time is always the great healer of our self imposed problems, when just about every other cure is doomed to fail.  I know too that I am the source of this stubborn dark emotion.  It comes from both my lack of receptivity and some unevolved part of my being that desperately wants to continue to cling to a different time and reality then the blessed here and now.

Photo by Shradha

More than 4 years have now swept past since Sri Chinmoy left us.  His sudden departure from this world was a shock, not just those who called him their Guru, but also to many many others.  Spiritual seekers around the world who saw him as a spiritual beacon and inspirer of all those who sought to reach new heights both inwardly and outwardly.  His departure churned up a great wave of sorrow that spilled across the globe and touched all those with whom he had made an inner connection.

This sorrow however is such a useless thing, and certainly not what Sri Chinmoy would have wanted of anyone who admired, respected or loved him.  Nothing is ever to be gained by fruitlessly chasing down tears.  He saw joy as the only true avenue in which one could confidently move forward and continue to attain and fulfill all our own spiritual goals.  In retrospect, he certainly had accomplished all that he needed to do on this earth.   He shared the richness of his life with all and required not another year, month, or day in which to do it.  Most importantly, it is his inner connection to his followers that is in fact still intact, and is as bright and illumining as it has always been.  His capacity to nurture and inspire remains as rich and as powerful as always.

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Self-Transcendence Swim Run 2011

Harriman state park is just 30 miles away from all the heat and hub bub of New York city. Summer has its slender golden period that stretches invitingly between Memorial Day and Labor Day. Before and after these magical dates summer does not officially exist to most folks. While this window of time remains opens however many feel obliged to take advantage of the opportunity and to flee their life in the city, which is so often defined by concrete and stress. A state park has either access to the ocean or a lake, and is always conjoined with a beach.  This combination of natural elements is for many then the ideal destination to escape to. Harriman State park has its gorgeous Welch lake as its showpiece, and nearly 47,000 acres of unspoiled forested splendor. With its tantalizing proximity to the big apple it is not hard to visualize the sweaty hoards spilling onto the freeway and heading north to find sun and solace on its wide flat beaches and a generous expanse of nature trails. Yet after Labor day this mass exodus abruptly slows to a trickle. Harriman state park and particularly Lake Welch become still and almost desolate. Yet nature nature is not constrained by the fickleness of a calender and continues to offer its quiet charm and primal beauty throughout the year. It is in this unique setting that for the last 3 years that the Self-Transcendence Swim Run has taken place. It is an event that so far has not attracted unwieldy numbers and yet the number of entrants while comfortable offers a real challenge for individual as well as teams alike. In describing the event the web site is clear and accurate about what the swim run has to offer. Through a well marked and beautiful course, home-made lunch, medals for all finishers and especially a large community of committed and encouraging volunteers we try to offer a race atmosphere where beginners and veteran athletes alike can excel and transcend their own previous limits.

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The 47 Mile Race, 2011: A New Generation

The passage of time is usually never very kind to the human condition. As the calender keeps shedding each worn out month the discarded pages pile up into stacks of years.  It is then that the tap tap of age upon our shoulders seems to grow ever more insistent.  Trying usually, without calling upon much effort, to convince us that we can and should go slower and do less as we grow older.

Sri Chinmoy 1980 photo by Bhashwar

Yet Sri Chinmoy himself never surrendered to age and certainly hoped that his students would not listen to the braying frailties of our bodies, or the gibbering reluctance of our minds.  There can be no better examples of this philosophy in action then Gaurima, Arpan, and Dipali who even after 30 years of continuous competition have never found any excuse not to still step up and enter this most special and uniquely challenging midnight run. Their memories are rich and full with moments when Sri Chinmoy not only watched with admiration from the sidelines but even back to the 2 years when he ran this race himself.

The 47 mile race has never lacked having an enthusiastic crowd of eager young participants.  All willing to step off into the unknown realm of distance running and discover their own precious experience.  Some dreaming and training just for that moment when they can push off  from the starting line at midnight on August 27th.

Now over more than 33 years the track and road around Jamaica high school have tested and taught hundreds of runners some unique and fulfilling hard fought lessons.  Each participant is inevitably confronted  with not just the challenge of running an ultra distance but more importantly they are inevitably confronted by the simple truth, that by going deep within is also the answer to succeed in going not just 47 miles but also covering the total distance of one’s life.

Continue reading “The 47 Mile Race, 2011: A New Generation”