Perfection Journey

When musicians come to perform near Thomas Edison high school in Queens NY, they are assured that their audience will be uniquely appreciative of anything that they play.

The audience, if you can ascribe that term to the 14 very weary runners here.   By now they have circled the school nearly 2,000 times each.  After 13 days of almost non stop hyper mobility, their senses are so acutely tuned to this world of theirs, that they often are aware of even the slightest of changes in it.

Theirs is now a delicate awareness of the constant ebb and flow of humanity that swirls back and forth throughout their half mile universe.  And it is not just people than they notice.  They are also acutely sensitive of even the slightest change of weather.  A degree up or down, the air pressure rising or falling, or how the slowly shifting path of the sun  as it arches across the sky.

The brightness of daylight falling away accompanied by the descent of night slowly invokes the promise that the 18 hour day of struggle will at long last end.

The gathering darkness now fully promising that the inevitable hand of midnight will soon appear.  Then it just does, rising up with finality, and with no judgement or remorse.  The day is done and now the reward of 6 hours of full rest has at last arrived.

This highly mobile audience listens therefore intently.  Catching notes carried on breezes from far away.  Sometimes distracted by car horns and all the other rumble and roar of the urban chaos, they can still begin to catch the threads of melody as their steps take them inevitably closer.

Than the entire fabric of music is theirs for quite a few steps.  A full phrase of words, a melody almost intact and then it all drifts away behind them.  Consumed once again to the dull urban thunder of the city noise.

Larisa and Natalia performed for about an hour this morning.  I asked them why they came here to play.  “Our life is the beauty of the heart.  In our heart we can find harmony.  What the runners are doing here they can identify with.  The harmony and beauty of this music can enter into their hearts and can help them to run.”

Larisa says that through oneness with the runners they all can enjoy.  “We can feel optimism, enthusiasm, cheerfulness, and inspiration. We are all together, only oneness.  One heart, one soul, we make one big heart together, this is what I feel.”

Click to Play Interview:

Larisa

Continue reading “June 28: Beauty Of The Heart”

“I hope much better.”  I had just asked Vasu how he was.

It is the kind of polite question we ask most people when we greet them briefly on the street.  The person responds with some idle pleasantries and then in the usual dance of etiquette, they in turn ask after your well being as well.

When really asked how they are, even your dearest closest friend it is not often going to launch off into some long detailed discussion about what is really happening in their life.  Most often the usual answer is, “oh just fine thank you.”

When a runner here at the 3100 is asked how they are, you know that no matter how they respond it will not even come close to including all the painful details of their morning, or their joyous experiences and revelations from the previous evening. So much is intensely experienced here at every moment by the runners, on so many levels, it is nearly impossible to express even a small portion of that experience.

A year ago on this same day Vasu had nearly 60 more miles than he has right now.  An amount equivalent to about a full day of running.  His problems back then if any, were minute compared to the burden he has had to cope with the past few days.

Days in which getting the minimum distance of 110 laps were out of the question.  In fact on one day he made 85 laps and on the next 98 laps and then yesterday.

Painful, difficult, but o so beautiful yesterday he pushed, struggled and prayed his way back up to 111 laps.

If the person you met on the street were given a real opportunity to explain or complain about themselves, most likely, once you got them started they then just might not ever stop.

Vasu isn’t that kind of person.  He does not complain nor does he feel sorry for himself in any way.  “Everybody goes through these difficulties and problems.”  In fact he is quite happy for everything that has happened to him here.

He feels that whatever happens to him here, no matter if is pain or if it is joy. It is all just the Supreme having an experience inside of him.

Sri Chinmoy, Ten Thousand Flower-Flames, Part 83, Agni Press, 1983

Continue reading “June 27: An Experience Inside”

Late one night a few days ago as William was taking the short walk back to the house that he shares with Ray K, he probably enjoyed for at least a brief moment that sweet realization that he had just set his first record here at the race.

It is a feeling he is going to have the opportunity to enjoy many more times as the race progresses.  As a 60 year old male ultra runner he is currently actively engaged  in the process of essentially rewriting just about all the ultra distance records that exist, not just in Scotland, not just in the UK, but also in the World.

But perhaps what is even more marvelous is that many of the records that William Sichel from Sanday Orkney is establishing here in Queens NY, are ones that he is creating for the very first time.

“I have got all the data with me, all the sheets, all the information.  But I have literally no time to look at it.  All I am doing is collecting the times for every 500 km and every 500 miles.  I have official sheets to chart the times.  So I am handing them over to the race referee at the appropriate moment. Then stuffing them in my bag and forgetting about them.”

If there is anything on his mind most days it is simply trying to make sure he runs 110 laps of the course.  (At the start of Day 12 he has 1219 laps)

“As you know, last night I only got to the magic 110 laps at 5 minutes to 12.  After the race I will sort it all out.  The most important thing is to collect the data and preserve it.  Which I do by photographing the sheets.”

“There is no doubt that from now on I will be starting to set a lot of records.”

Last night William completed 10 days on the course and in that time he has 668 miles.  But the almost incomprehensible greater picture of what he still has yet to do he does not really look at.  “My main motivation is the 110 laps every day, that is the magic mark.  That is a pretty big incentive every day.”

If one were to design the ultimate body for a life time of distance running the creator could probably not have come up with a better or more efficient design, for economy of motion, reliable and durable parts, and an engine and drive train.   That when William gets going in a race he doesn’t really like to stop for anything.”

After the great wad of record sheets are pulled out of Williams plastic binder after the race are all scrutinized and analyzed and examined from top to bottom William could be adding something like 70 more records to the 95 records he currently already has.

As for retirement that is simply not part of his plans.   For the 60 year old William Sichel has every intention of continuing to push on out into the uncharted realms of ultra running.

Sri Chinmoy, Seventy-Seven Thousand Service-Trees, Part 10, Agni Press, 1998

 

On June 26th 1985 Sri Chinmoy at age 54 first started his weight lifting by raising a 40 lb dumbbell over his head.  By November 18 of that year he had increased the weight to 155 lbs.

Continue reading “June 26: Travel The Uncharted Land”

“We have to make choices.  The masses of people they are making a choice to live a comfortable and mundane life.”

For the moment we are walking at a gentle pace.  Minutes earlier Swamaji Parameshanandaji of Bharat Sevashram Sangha, had been almost sprinting around the course.  It is not often that he ever moves around the loop other than with intense purposeful strides.  His face always soft, still, and focused.  Perhaps an occasional thought drifting out into the chaos of the mundane world but when he is running he reflects something else, that is poised, quiet, and at peace.

Any morning he is on the loop he does quite a few laps.  I am not sure if he even counts them all this morning or even on any day or on any year that he has come here to run.  He used to live just a few blocks away but now he lives somewhere out on Long Island.  Getting up in the silent darkness of the suburbs and taking a long rumbling bus that takes at least an hour just to be here at 6.  This morning the sun flickers across his orange running clothes.  Shadows cast by high green tree leaves dance across this moving figure.  One seeking to escape from the mundane world as fast as he can.

“Me coming from Long Island I know that being in the atmosphere of the runners.  It is the best satsang.( the company of the highest truth) “Even the ground is charged.  So the energy is coming from the ground and the atmosphere. So how can we better  live our lives.  Enjoy it, and at the same time move towards our salvation.  This is where we have to be very conscious about it.  This consciousness is in harmony with divine consciousness. I want to be part of that consciousness. I want to just merge into that consciousness.”

“This is a beautiful example.  By running here I am exerting my body.  After some time the mind is sublimated.  Because you can’t be thinking thinking all the time.  If you think of the same thing all the time it makes you mentally tired.”  He suggests that once the mind is quieted you are then able to release a surge of energy.  Once you are no longer caught up in your thoughts.

As to how he has ended up being here, “being at the right place, at the right time and meeting the right people is God’s grace.”  He feels that this capacity to recognize these precious and pivotal moments in our lives is one we all should try and develop.  “I take full advantage of it.  That is wisdom.”

As to why there are not more out here to experience this transformative  atmosphere, “they are not ready.”  Each person is moving at their own pace towards the goal.  “We have to respect them for that.”  We can pray that more people find inspiration but he adds, “that is the way it was meant to be.”

He said it is great spiritual figures like Christ, Krishna and Sri Chinmoy, that stimulate that world to seek out the higher parts of themselves.

“Everybody who is part of this team is going to get the benefit from the sacrifices that they make.  This is so beautiful.”

Click to Play Interview:

Swami

Sri Chinmoy, Seventy-Seven Thousand Service-Trees, Part 26, Agni Press, 2002

Continue reading “June 25: That Is Wisdom”

“I am trying to keep it simple.  I am going back to the philosophy of my first race, one day at a time. And I have one addition to it.  Yesterday never happened.  Which means it is always today.  Tomorrow will take care of itself.”

Three years ago when Sarvagata entered the race for the first time he had a phenomenal if not unprecedented entry into this epic journey called the Self-Transcendence 3100 mile race.  He not only set the new record for a first timer but also came in first, in 44 hours and 13 days.

It was a time that ranked him 5th overall amongst all the great champions who have been victorious here.

In this sacred place where the frailties of human life are regularly dismissed and ignored. In this place where champions like Sarvagata instead cry out for the limitless powers within themselves,  that bright portion of our being not encased in flesh, or concealed in thought, or hidden by the boundaries of our finite world. In this place where your own divinity is revealed with each step taken towards the ultimate goal of perfection.

“It was like riding an elevator right to the top.”  His glorious first experience here in 2011 was a thrill not just for Sarvagata but also as well for all who saw in his performance a real miracle unfolding in plain sight of the world.  A hint that perhaps of even greater miracles yet to come.

But just as it does for everyone who runs here, the race provides experiences and lessons that you might not always exactly want or enjoy.  The challenging and transformative experiences experiences that ultimately you still need to have happen to you.  So in 2012 it was a great race for Sarvagata but he says, “sometimes I used the stairs.”  He came in second in 46 days and 3 hours.

“Last year I was learning the plans of the building.” (laughs) “I was learning different ways to go to the top.”

His time of 50 days and 14 hours placed him in 6th place overall.  A position he neither begrudged or made any sign of complaint of.  He holds too dear the experience of running here.  There can never be criticisms or remorse for this most precious and sacred of experiences in his life.  One that cannot be conveniently categorized in any of the ways that we usually like to organize or  to label experiences with.

“That is why I have come back for the 4th time.” He says the experience so far this year has been a combination of taking the express elevator at some times and at others having to take the stairs.

“I am looking around more and looking deeper inside.  So everything is increasing.   It is a good feeling I must say.”

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

Continue reading “June 24: Deeper Inside”

“I am just doing something.”  Teekshanam adds, that he is not categorizing his performance so far in the race as neither bad nor good.  “I am just doing something that feels good.  If it feels good than you are okay.”

His is a soft and thoughtful voice, and though he is tall and slender he moves forward with gentle almost silky strides.  Despite all the polite calm and poise he is demonstrating here, there also appears to be a lot more to Teekshanam than meets the eye.

That perhaps just beneath the meticulous and measured exterior is a wealth of inner strength and fortitude like the unreleased power of a silent giant.  That once this power is put into motion and given direction than he can just go on and on, without worry and without complaint.

He was born in Moldova but currently lives and works in Geneva.  He tells me that  his Mom and sister following the race back in Moldova and wants to be sure that his Mom is not worried about him.

After 8 days of running he has managed to make 485 miles.  A terrific number but is also one that he is perhaps only vaguely aware of.   To all the bean counters and statistic takers it is an extraordinarily good performance for a first time runner of this race.  He did 111 laps yesterday, 60 miles.

I question Teekshanam a little more about what it means to feel good.  He has had little sleep and he is just a little less than 2 days from running farther than he has ever run before.

“It feels good from the point of view of the overall experience of what you are trying to do.”

He first heard about the race about 10 years ago, and thought at the time, “this cannot be possible.  But because so many people have done it so many times.” From learning about what others had done he began to see that it just might be something that he could do.  He humbly adds that it might not be something he could even complete on his first or even second attempt.  But given the opportunity of taking part then he would try his best.

“Eventually it is possible.”

As we talk there is a gradually overwhelming crescendo of noise as the siren of police car screams it’s way towards us.

I wonder whether all the noise and quite often confusion created by the ebb and flow of humanity would disturb him.

“You would think so at least at the beginning of the race.  But as the race progresses it becomes part of the experience.  It doesn’t stand out any more.”

As we talk Pranjal rolls past us with his heavy shuffling strides.  Of runners like that who have been here for so many years Teekshanam is in awe.  “It is incredible.”  Runners like Pranjal he describes as being one of the pillars of the race.  “Just to see them doing it, and doing it so perfectly and so unconditionally and also being so willing to help others.  Especially help beginners like myself.  That is real good.”

Many things that would bother many of us when we are trying to run he has to accept, because there is no alternative.  Avoiding children on careening bikes, students on their way going back and forth to school in an adolescent daze.  He has even been asked for directions.  “So you have to explain things to people.”

“You have to let cars go first when they come out of the driveway of the school.  You just do the normal thing that you regularly do.”

“This place is what we make it to be.  If feels different here because it also has such a  history.  So many runners have invested their heart and soul into running on this course.  Sri Chinmoy the founder of the race himself also invested so much personal time and energy into it, to support the runners.”  He describes an aura that exists here.  “It is beautiful to be on this course.”

At this point despite everything, he is simply happy to be part of it and be able to accept all the challenges and opportunities. that have come his way so far.  “I think it is the right thing for me to do at this point in time.”

Click to Play Interview:

Teekshanam

Sri Chinmoy, Seventy-Seven Thousand Service-Trees, Part 40, Agni Press, 2004

Continue reading “June 23: Doing Something”

“When you run this race you open up the world within yourself.  In this race the runner finds out the essence of his place in this world, and you also find out the meaning of your existence for humanity.”

Each of the 14 runners has their own unique and individual way of describing what running 3100 miles means to them.

From the moment Yuri started the race for the first time last year it was clear that each step he ran here on the course was for him part of a sacred pilgrimage.  One, that despite the obvious grinding familiarity of circling the same half mile block of concrete was also revealing something new to him at almost every moment.

Over the years and as well into this one, many of the runners who have been part of this great odyssey would agree at least in some part with Yuri’s words.  Being part of something so difficult simply has to change you in profound and unpredictable ways.

At the same time when you are drifting out past the very limits of human fatigue, and every little bit of your physical existence is racked with pain and suffering, making a grand claim about entering the glowing infinite realm of reality within yourself.  That most likely would not be the first choice the runner would use in describing what is happening to them.  Even if you have the presence of mind to take note of the experience at the time.

What ever the reason that each runner selects as the inspiration to come here and and be part of this journey it has to be a powerful and a good one.  Once they are out there at 6am each day at the starting line than anything and everything can and will happen to them.

If each runner is prepared, fortunate, receptive, or maybe just a lucky recipient of boundless grace then they will cover the complete 3100 miles before the 52 days are up.  Along the way perhaps as well taking new and profound strides towards their own perfection.

Sri Chinmoy, Twenty-Seven Thousand Aspiration-Plants, Part 39, Agni Press, 1984

Continue reading “June 22: The World Within”

“It is perfect.  The sun is shining and a runner is running,” says Sopan to me this morning, as he jogs with light shuffling steps beside me.

It is very early on a quiet bright Saturday morning, the 21st of June.  It is a date that smacks of special significance for most of us.  For it is the day with the most hours of sunshine of the entire year. (Southern Hemisphere people you will get your chance again in 6 months time)

But in what has to be a strange irony, just now as the days gradually grow just a little shorter, and offer up less and less of their light, the race itself has barely just begun.  The colossal distance still remainging in front of the 14 runners here feels almost like completing it will take an eternity.

In his first 6 days here, Sopan from Bulgaria has run well.  He has managed to complete 385 miles, which in most runners logs books would be an impressive number.  But when you still have 2800 more miles to go, in the grand scheme of things, for Sopan, as well as all the others, they still have an unbelievably long distance yet to run.

Sopan is a young man, at 33 he is the youngest runner in the race and yet what is even more incredible is that he first ran the race in 2005 and again in 2006.

When he completed the race in 2005 he was just 24 and set a still undefeated mark of being the youngest to ever accomplish this feat.  For good measure he came back the following year, and by running the race in 50 days and 13 hours took more than a full day off his own record.

Now if Sopan had been the sole author of his own life, from those two victorious years until now, no doubt he would have authored a great and glowing adventure for himself.  One whose plot included coming back each and every year and championing the distance, and improving his performance each time.

Give any of us the opportunity to direct the events and course of our lives and than no one would ever write into their script such things as  disappointment, injury, and struggles of any kind.

The mortal in all of us is more than accustomed to suffering and hardship.  It is a condition though that very few of us would deliberately care to seek out, and then ascribe ourselves to rounds of any kind of torment.  I am not trying to describe any of those conditions to Sopan or what happened in any of the times he attempted the race in the intervening years.

But last year he achieved a special kind of victory in that he was able to stay the entire time at the race and managed to complete 2831 miles in 52 days.  A performance that amply demonstrated not just his dedication to the Self-Transcendence 3100 mile race,  but also showed just how much heart and courage he really has. To not give up in a situation where clearly completing the full distance was not going to be attainable.

On the sidelines we can clearly see the miles, but runners like Sopan are seeking out something much more significant than just a long tally of numerals on the board.  “I come to make progress here.  This is the reason I came back after last year because I felt I made so much progress inwardly.”

“But there is one thing that drives me to push myself.  I really want to finish at least one more time.  I have waited for so long.”

Sri Chinmoy: Self-discipline is of paramount importance. Self-transcendence comes into existence only by virtue of self-discipline and meditation. In our day-to-day life we like to derive happiness from what we do and from what we are. Here, although outwardly these four runners are completely tired and exhausted, they feel that this is a new way to make themselves happy and to make themselves proud of their own lives.

Sri Chinmoy, Sri Chinmoy answers, part 12, Agni Press, 1999

Continue reading “June 21: Make Progress”

When Fred Lebow visited our 1,000-mile race, he said we are so efficient. I laughed, because at every second we are having a heart attack!

He told me that we are making history. It is so true; the race is a real victory for America. Where else can they hold this kind of race! And this year it was won by an American.

-8 May 1986

Sri Chinmoy, Run And Become, Become And Run, Part 18, Agni Press, 1996

Almost 40 years ago when the Sri Chinmoy marathon team held its first 1000 mile race it was an event that was not just historic but one that opened the eyes, and lifted the spirit of anyone who saw it, or even heard about it.

How shocking. The world was just getting used to the exploding popularity of the the 26 mile marathon and now here was an event of such staggering proportions and magnitude that it nearly seemed impossible to do.  Yet it wasn’t and now that 1000 mile distance has expanded to something even more incredible and even more impossible, 3100 miles.

The true miracle is that for each of the past 18 summers it has continually drawn athletes from around the world to come and take part.   To challenge themselves at something that the human body is simply not capable of doing.  Yet thankfully science does not ever have the last word in self transcendence, or in the divine yearning we all have within us all to reach and strive for our own perfection.

The history of the world is writ large with so many monumental stories of greatness and infamy, of joy and of suffering.  We are all buffeted by the waves of life that swirl around us and in one instant push us down and in the next lift us up.

While at the same time our very existence, and our own personal history most likely the rest of the world will probably never pay much interest in at all.  It is we ourselves who must cherish each and every one of the precious and sacred moments in our lives.

Our eternal task remains simple, never give up on each step we take towards our perfection, whether it be faltering or bold, a tiny speck or a great transcendent leap. That is the only history that we truly need.

The world may not see, or notice, or even care much all what we do with our lives.  But each life is important, not just to the one who lives it, but also to the glowing Supreme source which created it, and now asks, and inspires us all to keep continuing to rise up and keep moving ever towards the beyond.

Last night around 10pm a little piece of history was created when Baladev went into the lead of the race.

Sri Chinmoy, My Christmas-New Year-Vacation Aspiration-Prayers, Part 52, Agni Press, 2007

Continue reading “June 20: Making History”

During the 6 and 10 day race in May in Flushing Meadow Zulma showed up to help.  “I got there and I told them that I had never counted in my life.  So I went to one of the counting booths and I said, how do you do it?”

It can get pretty chaotic during the race because there were close to 80 runners going around the 1 mile loop 24 hours a day.  From the moment she sat down and looked at the steady stream of runners coming endlessly towards the counting booths, she says, “It was amazing.”

From the beginning she found herself being inspired.  “To see all those people concentrating and having a smile on their face.  Doing this all with such beautiful hearts and with such grace from God.” The first time she came she helped out for 2 hours but really wanted to come back and take a full counting shift.

Not really sure how it happened quite this way, but she came at 9 in the morning on the day she had signed up for and ended up staying until 9 that night.  She counted for 12 hours straight.

We are chatting casually and it is just a couple of hours into the race, but at the same time she is keeping really focused on her runners.  The clip boards in front of her all neatly stacked.  Once she has recorded a lap then that clipboard is placed back at the bottom.  William Sichel comes through the camp and she calls out, “William, got you.”  When I ask her how is he doing she says good.  “He has 22 laps already.”

Her help, like that of all of those who come to the race and offer some service whether it be big or small is really significant and important.  I am curious what she gets out of it.  “I am getting a lot of motivation and love.  Love like I have never felt before.  There are some special feelings that I just can’t describe because it is something like a vision.  I never thought it could be happening in this world.”

“A lot of people here are working for World harmony, for peace, to get bliss, to get light. I thought this is amazing.  I need to keep doing this.”

Zulma has practiced silent meditation for some time now but describes her experience helping out at the races as, “another kind of meditation.  One kind of meditation is when you are silent in your mind and in your heart.”  Being here the mediation is, “my heart, my mind, my vital, and the feeling that I am surrendering to God’s will. I think that is the most important, surrendering to God’s will.”

When she signed the counting book she signed her name to the first empty line she could find.  At the time she didn’t know exactly what time she had volunteered for, just the day.

When she asked one of the race directors what time she was supposed to come today they told her 6am.  When they told her this time she says she went, “OOOOOOh.  I said, O my God, that early.” They told her that if she wanted to change the time it would not be a problem.  “I said no, that is God’s will, I will do it.”

I ask her to describe the difference between Flushing Meadow and here.  “This place is like a magnet for me.  Sometimes when there is not a race, like October, or January I like to pass by.  I love to come and pass by this place.  I can feel something around here.”  Sometimes she just drives by and at other times she parks and likes to walk around the loop.  I just imagine everybody coming here and doing it.”

“When I see all of these runners who come from far far away to do so many hours a day.  There surrender to this race is amazing.  It inspires me to just go on and on and on.”

Click to Play Interview:

Zulma

Sri Chinmoy, Seventy-Seven Thousand Service-Trees, Part 33, Agni Press, 2003

 

Continue reading “June 19: Surrender To This Race”