Perfection Journey

“Sometimes I have problems in my knee or maybe in my mind……mostly in my mind.” (laughs)

“I try to dive deep in my heart and take some happiness energy from it.  It helps me so much.”

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Today is the 25th day of the race and from his results over the past 2 weeks Vasu has been finding all the energy and happiness that he needs.  Yesterday he ran his 3rd consecutive day of 70 plus mile.

The 1660 miles he has run in the first 24 days of the race would take him from his home in St Petersburg to Omsk.  For a man so inspired to transcend himself he has a lot to be grateful for.  As of today he is 140 miles ahead of last years pace.

Vasu is in 3rd place.  He is 79 miles behind Galya and 14 miles ahead of Yuri.

“I have gotten many  letters and my disciple friends have written aphorisms for me written by Sri Chinmoy.  Also I have received an article on concentration and meditation.  I have tried to use it and it helped me so much.” Vasu says that his meditations have been bringing him much, aspiration and energy.

“After that I can easily run.”

Nicolai has been a very attentive helper for Vasu throughout the day.  “Usually things are very very good.  He does many jobs and this lets me be more relaxed and not think about many different things.  I am very grateful to have Nicolai.”  Vasu also has another Russian helper who comes later in the day.

We somehow run up behind Ashprihanal as we run into camp.  “He inspires me so much.  He gives jokes and says push, push,  push.  His mantra is push, push, push.”

Click to Play Interview:

vasu

Continue reading “July 8: Deep In My Heart”

“What a great day. I am having a soul’s name anniversary.”

5 years ago today, on July 7 2010, both Atmavir and Baladev received their spiritual names.  For spiritual seekers receiving a name is perhaps their most precious possession.  A way of defining themselves in the outer world with a tangible reminder of an inner identity trying always to come to the fore.

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“It was on a day when I was also having some problems like this.  I had to stop the race and they took me to see Dr. Kumar and than I came back.”

When he arrived one of the race directors handed him an envelop and told him, “you have received a spiritual name.” He stopped for a while to meditate and says, “I was so happy.  That I got my name here at the race.  For us runners it is a privilege to get it here.  Atmavir means hero’s soul.  It is he who has a mighty soul and will attain the absolute.”

He says that he chants his name often when he runs.  “It helps me a lot.”

For nearly a week now Atmavir has seen his big mileage days vanish and his strong subtle stride diminish into a walk.  Almost over night his world shifted.  The ease of his relentless pace that he once seemed to have so readily mastered was reduced to another kind of more pedestrian experience.

But he did not give up and instead simply kept moving.  But with the prospects of 2000 km yet to go still inevitably laying in his way it had to have been hard for this 37 year Czech runner. He has already completed the distance 7 times before.

Atmavir says that he feels that the difficulties he has been experiencing of late have been a spiritual test.  “An inner lesson which I had to go through.  I really suffered physically.  I was walking 7 days straight.  It went so fast.”  But as of last night something shifted and he was once again able to run.  For the last 2 hours of the day he ran, “it gave me so much joy.”

Looking back at this period he feels that he was supposed to have a real experience of surrender. “Very often it is forced.  It is not spontaneous.  Or it is not cheerful.  But this time I felt during those 7 short days, that my soul was very pleased and very happy.  It was the first time that I overcame it with a sincere cheerfulness.”

He says though that from the beginning of the race he has felt his soul intensely within him.

Click to Play Interview:

Atmavir

Continue reading “July 7: An Inner Lesson”

“I am moving a little better.” It is now Kaneenika’s 23rd day of running at the 3100 mile race, and even to a casual observer she is clearly moving well, and in the process not making it too easy for a camera man to keep up with her.

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In 20 years of competitive running in numerous multi day races, 45 year Kaneenika Janakova has not only moved a lot but achieved a lot along the way.  Thousands upon thousands of miles have passed beneath her feet in those years.  In that time she has set records, won events, and proven herself to be one of the very best distance athletes in the world.

Traditionally her premier event has been the 10 day race held each year in Flushing Meadow.  A race that she has won overall on 2 occasions.  It was in 1014 that she set her personal best of 727 miles.  The furthest she has ever run before this race was a 1000 mile event.   But the obstinate hard rectangle, that garlands Thomas Edison High school has begrudgingly surrendered its miles to her.  Its hard surface, glides without notice under a pedestrians shoes, but to runners who become so acquainted to its foibles for 18 hours every day, it is another story.

Kaneenika’s feet have had an intimate contest with the loop around the school thus far.  In the past 22 days she has completed it 2384 times, and has the painful blisters to prove it. Yesterday though she ran 60 miles, the best she has done in 5 days. It was 5 days earlier that she surpassed her record by running beyond 1000 miles.  It was a shock she says. “It was as though the body was surprised at what was happening.”

She says though, “with every lap now I am going beyond.”

“My 1000 mile race was really hard.  When I did it I thought it was the hardest thing I ever did.  I can’t really compare the 2, because this is hard as well.  But there is something different about this race.”

“When I did the 10 day race I am always thinking, can this not be 7, or 8, or 9 days.  But in this race I know I have to reach the 3100, or whatever I reach.  It is not like, can I finish tomorrow.”

Speaking of Ashprihanal’s performance this year, “it is very inspiring.  I am very happy to be in this race with runners like Ashprihanal, Galya, and Surasa.  I can see and feel that everybody is so focused, and that helps me a lot.”

Kaneenika confesses that she herself sometimes looses focus.  “But than I try and go back to my source and try and stay focused.”

“It is quite interesting.  When the construction was happening last week sometimes you  had to go on the road.  As soon as I stepped on the road I felt as though I was lost.  I feel so safe and so secure here (On the sidewalk course.)  Sri Chinmoy created this for us.”

Click to Play Interview:

Kaneenika

Continue reading “July 6: I Am Going Beyond”

“I had 3 experiences with Suprabha.  They all happened in my first race.”

Ananda-Lahari is eager to tel me some stories this morning.  I am more than a little surprised.  After running non stop for the past 3 weeks all the runners at this stage of the race often have little energy or enthusiasm for story telling.  Yet as Ananda-Lahari speaks about events from 10 years ago, his eyes sparkle with added delight.  Something this 39 year old Slovak runner continually confounds me with year after year.

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His ability to remain cheerful is probably his strongest asset in the 3100 mile race.  But as he explains through his experiences, it was not always so.  In 2005, his first race, he speaks about reaching 2700 miles.

“I was just going through the counting station.  People were clapping and going….oh, .. 2700 miles.  Great!”

“It happened that Suprabha was also there.  She said, congratulations for reaching 2700.”

“I replied, it does not give me joy.”  Suprabha than simply changed the topic.  Not willing, it would seem to have a discussion of her beloved 3100 mile race that wasn’t positive. “Than she ran away.”

“For me it was a very good experience.  I realized that there always things to be grateful for.”

For his 2nd story Ananda-Lahari was reminiscing about all the difficulties of his first race.  He felt that he was feeling like he was running slow and was lacking in some motivation.  A helper in the camp suggested repeatedly,  that he should just cross the street for a moment.  Leave the course to see a little garden that was there.  They were insistent.  “You will get some joy and some newness. I was resisting.”

“One day I was particularly slow, so I said okay, I will go and have a look.”  When he crossed back again Suprabha was there.  “Where were you?”

When he told what had happened, she said, “Was it worth it?” Than she simply ran away. He doesn’t know exactly if Suprabha had planned it this way but he immediately got the message.  “Once you know what to do. Once you know your way.  Once you know your direction.  Even if I am slower than the slowest.  Don’t leave your course.  Don’t leave your path.”

“In the first race I was really dying.  It was endless.  It was my last day and I thought, I must get there.  But it felt like time had stopped.  It was the worst possible moment.”  Right than Suprabha passed by and asked him how he was.

“I was like….oh, I have sore knees, my stomach is upside down, I am exhausted.”

Suprabha’s reaction was instantaneous.  As he recalls the moment, Ananda-Lahari starts to jab his finger into the air.  In a surprisingly loud voice he repeats her words.  “Don’t think of it.  Don’t think of it, and she ran away.”

Click to Play Interview:

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Continue reading “July 5: Things To Be Grateful For”

21 days ago 12 runners set off on a magnificent journey here.  They came from countries scattered around the world, from a total of 8 different nations.  None of them are American, and yet like the millions who have made their way to the great welcoming shores of this land for nearly 4 centuries, they are seeking an opportunity which their own countries cannot provide.

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What these explorers seek is of course what we all seek, an opportunity to transcend.  Yet this golden opportunity of running 3100 miles, is one that precious few on earth are ready or willing to take up the challenge.

Still all of us have this beacon inside us, that wants to awaken and illumine us.  One, that some of us are conscious of, and who for others, their earthly slumber does not allow them to awaken yet and strive for their own certain perfection.

On this July 4th holiday Americans awake from shore to shore with the great promise of what America could and should be safe within their hearts.  Yes there will be fireworks and music and a time for silly things true.  But within each person, on this day, and in this country America, a bright promise still burns.

Some may have lost hope that the dream has long vanished, obscured by events and actions that seem so contrary to the vision laid down on parchment in Philadelphia 239 years ago.  But what the founding fathers dreamed for this country the 12 runners pursue in both a tangible way, and in their divine pure journey.

So far they all have completed 20 days of the Self Transcendence 3100 mile race.

Tomorrow is a very significant day for the American soul, American heart, American consciousness and American life. Let us all try to be in a very, very high consciousness the entire day.

Those who sing very, very well “America the Beautiful” will sing the song tomorrow. That is my most favourite American song. That song is very, very significant.

July 3, 2002

Continue reading “July 4: America The Beautiful”

They have run so many laps and miles together over the past 18 days that is literally impossible to know just how many.  Whatever the number may be it is a lot.

Galya completed 1309 miles last night.  He suspects that many hundreds of them have been completed with Stutisheel, running at his side.  The scuffing of their feet along the dusty sidewalk creates a pleasing hypnotic cadence. They have both placed a great dent in the tremendous goal they are both trying to conquer.

Stutisheel says, “usually long distance races are quite lonely.  It is good to have a running friend.”

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I ask Galya if he missed not running with Stutisheel a few days ago when he was having some problems.  “I was sad the he was suffering. But I stopped almost each lap to talk with him.”

Stutisheel: “He was asking me all the time how I was suffering.  By the way, every time I feel that I am limiting his speed, I just let him go.  He is faster and more powerful right now.”

Galya: “We have the same speed when we run together.”  He than jokes that the only reason he ran the race this year was because Stutisheel promised to run 70 mile days.

Stutisheel: “Second half.  We have time.”

Galya has passed Atmavir to take over 2nd place.  He says he is just trying to maintain his same orderly pace everyday of doing 70 mile days.  In fact he has not dipped below that amount for the entire race so far.

“I am trying to do 70 miles a day.  What is happening on the board (place) is not so important.  Atmavir is my friend too.  He will start running soon and he can take his place back again.” Atmavir is 43 miles behind.

Galya says he is not comparing his mileage to his previous races.  He does know that his 10 day marks, and both his 1000 mile and 1300 mile personal bests he has broken.

Talking about Ashprihanal, “he is trying to stay ahead of Madhupran (current record holder 2006). I am sad that I cannot help Ashprihanal because I am not so fast.” He says that even though Ashprihanal has not said as much they can see that he has been trying since the start to break the record.  “He can do it.”

Galya says that for several days during the race he had an experience in which he was almost oblivious to the hard sidewalk and all the construction going on around him.  “It was transformed.  It was like I was in heaven.  I was just running and I felt connected to heaven.  I think if I only have this experience this race. This is enough….more than enough.”

Click to Play Interview:

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Continue reading “July 2: More Than Enough”

“I feel it.”

Like everybody who is running the 3100 mile race Yuri is not immune from all the noise and confusion that is now continuing to spill across their sacred path. Yet he is finding something positive is coming out of all the discord.

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“It concentrates you to be inside.  You take all your strength and direct it inward.”  Pointing at a big machine moving past us, “this technology in the outer world is ready to crush you.  But when you are inside nothing threatens you.  The technology that is here blocks your strength.  It is very hard to run.  But when you are inside your strength is infinite.”

“This technology is a very good teacher.  It teaches you very quickly.”

I then ask if this is the case than he must be receiving a very good lesson.

“It forces me to be exactly where I have to be.  It doesn’t allow me to get relaxed.  It doesn’t allow my mind to be floating around in the clouds.  It means I am doing the true inner work within, and that is the way it has to be.”

At his home in Vinnitsa Ukraine he says it is very hard there right now. “That which is happening in my country is also happening inside my heart.  When I am there it is very painful.”  There are so many problems that they all cannot be solved quickly or easily.  “They are being resolved but not so fast. I am one with my country and with my people.” Yuri says he prays that the complicated situation there can be healed peacefully.

“But with my prayer, I always end it with, Let they will be done.”

I mention to Yuri that he is known on the block as the smiling runner.  Each year he seems to get more joy and more experience.  I wonder what he does with these new gifts.

“No, it is not like that.  This happiness and joy is going through me.  The more of it that I give than the more I get in return. That is how it turns out to be.”

Click to Play Interview ( Translation by Lyalya):

Yuri

Continue reading “July 1: When You Are Inside Your Strength Is Infinite”

“There are 2 constructions going on at the same time.  It is only for the strong.”

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Stutisheel, and all the other runners are going to have endure an extraordinary amount of distraction for the next 2 days.  Construction on the school, with its unique hazards of scaffolding and trucks, was an anticipated feature of this years race.  This morning the other shoe dropped.  Large equipment rolled up the street just after dawn and work men starting tearing up the asphalt.  There will be not even one quiet, dust, or odor free place on the course for the next 2 days.

For a veteran like Stutisheel I am curious if it bothers him, all the commotion.  “It is still shocking, no matter how many times you have did it before.  Of course you can say it extends your limits of everything.  Of accepting, of transcending, of patience, of everything.”

“From the outer point of view it is what it is.  I feel though that we (the runners) have enough power to dive deep within, and not be distracted so much.  This is the case when you are really in the heart.  When you are in your own inner world.  Than it is not a distraction.”

“I love to say, the divine earthly and divine always go together.  You cannot escape anything.”

“I believe we have enough inner power, enough inner strength to come through all our difficulties.”

When asked if everything is going as usual for him.  “There is no usual race.  Every race is unique.  Maybe your previous experiences can help you a little bit.  To avoid some bold mistakes.  Otherwise you cannot predict what will happen.  You just need to be receptive and never give up.  All the usual things that save your life.”

“There are things that do not change from race to race.  For example the full moon, and I am already walking.”  Stutisheel seems to be adversely effected by the moon.  Yesterday he managed 60 miles and finished the day with 1010, but he has been walking much of today. He laughs, “nothing new in this. I believe there is a special experience behind this.  Outwardly I have difficulties when the full moon comes.  I don’t feel that I am fighting with it or having negativity.  But otherwise I admire the beauty of the full moon.  It is something I don’t know, but am just trying to go through.”

I mention how much he seems to be enjoying the companionship of Galya on the course.  “I have been waiting for this for 5 years.” On some mornings if they are running together they have been telling jokes to the Enthusiasm Awakeners singing group.

Galya: “heh Stutisheel, I suppose sometimes that you think that I am a perfect idiot.”

Stutisheel: “O no, no.   Nobody is perfect.”

“Always something new.”

Click to Play Interview:

Stutisheel

Continue reading “June 30: Extend Your Limits”

“I am making a very special thing.  It is a juice made of carrots and apples.  It is full of vitamins and it is very good for runners.”

Klara says this with such enthusiasm and warmth that I almost think for a moment that I have stepped out of the every day world and entered a sweet, wonderful, new reality.  Like Nirjharini herself, who has crewed the kitchen at the 3100 mile race for 11 years, this little kitchen I just walked into is like nothing most of us have ever seen before. And yes the food is divine.

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It is not the stoves, sinks, and refrigerators that separates it from the from the mundane every day kitchen.  What makes me feel that I have entered some bright portion of heaven, is instead the warmth and love and patience, that permeates the spotless room.  It is a consciousness, for lack of a better word, that also seems to be part and parcel of every single aspect of the race.

The 5 girls who make up the core team of cooks work astonishing hours and create dozens of unique individualized portions.  Keeping the runners charged and fulfilled  for all the 18 hours they are on the course.  This all means that there has to be a very strict schedule from 5am and than on until 9:30 pm.  The runners themselves each have such unique needs and restrictions.

Nirjharini is giving me the grand tour, which I confess also included, a very large and very cold green smoothie drink.  Over on the far side of the kitchen, with her hands thrust deeply into a refrigerator full of greens, is Mandra.  She is doing so in order to make more of said delicious green smoothie, as a large portion of it disappeared mysteriously during the first minutes of my visit to the kitchen.

Mandra works as well in a restaurant back in her home in New Zealand.  She first came 5 years ago and had a very nice experience.  “It is like a oneness family.  Everybody looking after each other.” She says she is not an expert cook but finds working here a wonderful opportunity to learn from others.

The runners she says all have special needs and those needs change. “Nirjharini is  wonderful at making things possible.  We have a wonderful setup so we can do just about anything.”

The 2 girls who are not here right now are Karnayati and Hastakamala.  Of Karnayati she says, “she is most wonderful and I am extremely grateful to her.  She makes sure that everything is clean.  She is an amazing dishwasher.  It takes a lot of time.”

“OOOPS !”

“The food preparation really has to ready be on time.  The runners are really hungry.  Every 2 hours the food has to go out.”

“Hastakamala is here for the 2nd time.  She is wonderful. She is also a very nice cook.  I find we have a very great team this year.”

Compared to her cooking job in Norway, “here we make a lot of small and different things.  You have to pay attention, and than there is the packing up.”

“The whole race is wonderful, but when I see them finishing.  I am just so happy for them.  But for myself I could do this the whole year.  I love it.” Before leaving Nirjharini added that the most important ingredient that she, and all the other cooks try and add to each recipe and dish is love.

Continue reading “June 29: Divine Food”