Meditation – Page 7 – Perfection Journey

Day 33: Always Do My Best

“The first time I came to the race was 2005, but I came to the 700 mile race in 1999 or 2000.”

Ananda-Lahari describes his immersion in multi day running not unlike diving into the deep end of a pool when you have barely learned how to swim.

He was used to running on wooded trails while orienteering and distances never longer than 20 km. “This was a giant step for me to run 700 miles.”

“When I did the 700 mile race I was not thinking of any more. I loved the experience.” Because of complications with his visa he could not come to the US for the next 4 years. Instead he says he sought out the longest races possible that were accessible to him there. “I was not trained at all. I used the races for training.”

“Somehow the idea came that I would like to run this race. But I was still not brave enough. I applied but because I did not have a visa they did not take my application seriously.”

“In 2005 I was accepted and I was really happy. I was literally jumping with joy.”

“Always I want to do my best. It is not as though I came to have fun or amuse myself. I always want to do my best in terms of speed and mileage.”

“I always do my best according to my understanding. Sometimes I may not be able to be focused very well. There is always 100 percent performance every day.”

“This surprises me. No matter If I do 40 miles or if I do 80 miles. I always go Wow, good job.”

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Day 32: To Have Peace

“Running has been important to me my whole life. But when I became a student of Sri Chinmoy it seemed running was very important to follow this path.”

“Running became even more important when I started running long distance.”

“You can find peace and tranquility while running We can develop these inner qualities while running as well.”

“I think that when the hard times come while I am running this race. Meditation reveals more to me and manifests more to me. It is during the hard times that are the best for developing these inner qualities.”

“I think we can have peace all the time but we have to invoke this peace and focus on it so that it comes to us. It can be spontaneous but sometimes you must work and aspire to have this peace.”

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Day 31: New Goal In My Life

” When I look at it from the stand point of that it took 26 days to complete half way It feels that it has passed so quickly. But when I look closely at each day, the day feels like a whole month or even a year.”

“Back in my university days my aim was to be selected to be a member of a team which competes in the Hakone Ekiden.( very popular relay marathon competition.) “But I was not selected. I was so beaten by that fact that I stopped running altogether.”

“But then I wanted to have a new goal in my life and that is when I first started thinking of ultra distance running.”

“Now finally to see myself here in the ultimate race in ultra running has become my goal in my life.”

“It is very difficult to say right now at this point whether or not what I will gain when I cross the finish line. Then maybe even when I cross the finish line I still may not know what I have gained. Maybe it is something that I will only realize after some months or even years. At this point I don’t know anything.”

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Day 30: Live In The Moment

“I feel so much warmth here and the people are so nice.”

“I qualified for the race and was invited.”

“When I first arrived I thought that I would compete but now I no longer feel like a competitor. Now I just want to be part of it.”

When asked if the course felt like a new home, “Taiwan is home of course, but many people are coming to meet me here. Strangers are coming to cheer me up, and right now my condition is very good. I don’t have any injuries. I am very happy here.”

” Before I came I thought that breaking records was very important. But now I realize that doing my best is just part of the process. I just want to cherish the experience of being here.”

As for returning and running the race again Wei Ming responds humbly that he would like to but since there are so few places he doesn’t want to take away an opportunity from some other runner who also would like to run.

“I feel as though I am living in the moment. I really like my day to day experiences.” Wei Ming adds that if he was unable to run here again he might like to come back and volunteer.

“I am really enjoying the moments here. If I come again I want to make every moment meaningful.”

This morning a mysterious moment came when Wei Ming brought out a pair of sandals and wrote 3,000 km on them and then tied a balloon to them and placed them by a chair. In a short while it was realized that he was subtly and humbly informing everyone that he was about to set a new standard for that distance and this was his method of letting all of us to know.

The board of course is set up in miles and without Sahishnu present the race statistician the mark in kilometers was not easily visible.

Sahishun was aware of the mark and recorded Wei Ming’s time ws 29 days, 1 hour, 18 minutes, 12 seconds

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Day 29: I Chose To Be Here

“It definitely works it just depends on how totally sincerely you can do it.” A week ago Harita started having some problems with a sore Achilles and I had heard that one of her solutions was to treat the issue with normal therapies but as well focus on her happiness.

“Sri Chinmoy gave a lot of importance to the quality of happiness” Harita adds that she grew up in a family that strongly supported optimism and happiness.”

“Sri Chinmoy said that even if you don’t feel happy. If you smile and pretend to be happy it actually helps to make you happy. It really does. You can be feeling kind of miserable. You just force yourself to smile.”

“Usually there is some little thing to look at. You can look up at the sky. It is so beautiful it looks different then it did 10 minutes ago. There are so many beautiful things if you just look for them. It will help you identify with something vaster, and outside your own small world.”

“Remember I chose to be here. I chose to have this experience. No one is forcing me to do it. Though it may be a difficult time just now it is the difficult times that where the real blessings are more evident also.”

“Physical ailments are complicated. To a large degree they come from your state of mind.”

Harita says that when she started having achilles problems she wasn’t surprised. “The more you can have peace and equanimity, and positivity inside your being. I think people know that.”

“It is just a case of making it happen and remembering it when things get tough. Keep an optimistic and positive outlook. It makes a big difference in your physical well being and state of health.”

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Day 28: Dare To Try

“There is always something to learn, but I believe people need to be interested or have a connection to what they are watching.” Stutisheel was referring to the possibility of people who are observing this race from far and wide can learn something about themselves and be inspired.

“It is such an unfathomable race, an unfathomable inner journey. Of endurance, of coping with challenges, and of staying positive no matter what comes.”

“When Sri Chinmoy invited me to do the race in 2004, I had only a slight idea that I could do 5,000 km after my previous longest distance of 100km. But it somehow became possible.”

“I see that many obstacles we have are just in our own minds. That we limit ourselves. By nature we are limitless, because we are soul, we are spirit. If we are able to connect with our own higher force I believe there is nothing we cannot do.”

Before the interview concluded Stutisheel told a story from 2006 when, his wife Atandra received her spiritual name from Sri Chinmoy. “We were so happy.”

“We were just like kids. Walking together and smiling like we were in the 7th heaven.” Stutisheel describes Sri Chinmoy’s unique ability to connect to and inspire people.

“I remember this moment every time I have hard times. Sri Chinmoy’s smile. He wants us to be happy, and it’s easy actually.”

The board at the start of day 28

Camp

Clock

Soap bubbles

Stutisheel

Wei Ming

Harita

Andrea

Start Day 28

Andrea did 72 miles

His 14th day above 70 miles

He now has 1915 miles

Flower

Swamiji

Wei Ming did 63 miles

He now has 1731 miles

Running well

Flower

Guess who wants to play

Vasu did 62 miles

He now has 1670 miles

Flower

Sri Chinmoy Ultra Photo

Medur marking a laundry bag

Harita did 60 miles

She now has 1657 miles

Doing well

With Brahmata

Flower

Counting

Jason

Takasumi did 58 miles

He now has 1609 miles

With Nina

Flower

Some of the boys after 2 mile race

Sahishnu

Ananda-Lahari did 48 miles

He now has 1534 miles

Flower

“I hope all the runners see me in my new 3100 mile race shirt.”

We are all truly unlimited, if we only dare to try and have faith.

Sri Chinmoy, Lifting Up The World With a Oneness-Heart, Agni Press, 1988

Day 27: An Inner Call

“I take every day at a time.” Andrea is hesitant to confirm that he is having a great race. He once again had another 70 plus mile day which puts him in the stratosphere of running standards here at the 3100 mile race.

“I am doing my standard somehow. It is not extremely well but I am happy. I keep fighting to keep the 70 mile average and so far it’s been okay. Now lets see what happens.”

As for the times he established last year he knows he is close.

“Normally I put it in the background, and let nature takes it’s course.”

Andrea has a very expressive face. He says, “I think it is about my attitude.” Andrea believes he most often feels he is challenging the race as though it were a battleground.

“So I don’t smile so much. Many time people tell me I should smile more.”

“I take it as a duty somehow and I can’t say I enjoy it so far. Let’s see later on what happens.”

“I am competing not only with myself. I have this inner call somehow for self-transcendence.” Andrea confesses that at the beginning of the race that was not his intention. “I wanted to take it easy but when I learned I had the same pace as last year I realized I had to do the job.”

When asked why he sprints off the starting line, “I want to show myself that I am sharp. I am ready. I want to go all the way. I don’t want to lose time, to fool around. I take it seriously. That’s the reason why I sprint.”

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Day 26: Try To Go Forward

“I think it is just like in our life. It goes up and down the same as the race. We try to never give up.”

“I think I have had many experiences this time, which I needed. This race is very similar to my first race in which quite a lot of things happened.”

Last night Vasu ran 51 miles. Interestingly only 3 out of 7 runners managed to make 60 miles yesterday.

“I am trying to transcend myself in numbers but if I cannot then I will try and transcend myself inwardly. I am trying to go forward and forward.”

In about an hours time Vasu will reach 1550 miles the half way point in the race. I ask if it will be significant for him.

“This is a 3100 mile race. 3100 miles is the main goal for me. The other numbers are just like steps for me to reach my goal.”

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Day 25: I Really Love The Experience

“This is the longest race in the world and I am here. It is an honor and I really value it. I really love the experience, and I am really happy that I am here.”

This answer could come from no one other than Ananda-Lahari who now in his 17th straight year at the event on his 24th day has completed 1359 miles. Now most days he walks with an occasional spurt of running.

” I think for all of us we just don’t have enough gratitude. We are unable to value life at all most of the time.”

At his first race in 2004, “I was happy like anything. I knew it was going to be a super hard experience. But I was really thrilled and really happy. There was no doubt about doing this race.”

Ananda-Lahari says that during the early races he was thrilled at the nearly daily visits of the founder of the race Sri Chinmoy. “Somebody may say, ‘So what.’ But for me when I look back on my life it was really significant.”

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Day 24: I Am Being Helped

“The significance of the race for me has not changed. It has always been to complete the distance .”

Yesterday Takasumi ran 60 miles giving him a 23 day total of 1372 miles. At the end of an additional 3 days of running here the crucial half way point will have been reached. Takasumi has just to continue exactly what he is doing now in order to be on the happy side of the math.

“Physically I am kind of confident. I have done a lot of races. I feel as though I have trained well but in reality the race has been challenging physically. It doesn’t go in the way you suspect.”

“Mentally I feel stable but it goes up and down. When I am down what I do is take a nap and then feel refreshed. Fortunately my wife is very cheerful and really supports me and that’s how I mentally cope with the challenges of the race.”