He walked into the Smile of the Beyond restaurant this afternoon and simply sat down like any other customer.  At first I was shocked just to see him in this much different world from the one that he had inhabited for the past 40 days, 18 hours a day.  It was not unexpected entirely, but still to see Purna-Samarpan there in a casual place where people ate vegi burgers, read newspapers, and generally watched the world go by he appeared at first to be out of place.

It seemed for me at least like a collision of worlds was taking place.  The world of  divine champions was now suddenly mixing with the mundane material world.

He looked happy and relaxed, and if I am in shock to see him, it is clear that he is far from being in tune with my world of blue walls and air conditioning.  He looks as though a large part of his being is still running around Thomas Edison High school pursuing the Everest of self transcendence.  He is sitting with a few friends and you can tell that this kind of unhurried casualness is something he has not had for a very long time.

He says that in many ways just being there every morning for 40 days straight at 6am was a victory.  His back problem, that seems to involve a disc in his lower spine refuses to co-operate.  It creates pain and numbness and has made running impossible and even walking tedious and difficult.  By 9:30 this morning he knew it was time to say enough for this year.  He probably shouldn’t even have showed up at 6 and yet he did.  The alarm went off as usual and the inner call to come and stand once more on the line was just too strong to resist.

Pradhan will come again and lessen but not remove the pain.  It is a condition that promises no easy fix but with time and rest will sort itself out.  He tells me that he thinks his final mileage was 1885 miles.  It is a long way from 3100 but certainly many many more miles than the 305 miles which was the greatest distance he had previously run in a 6 day race.  His mood is light and he jokes that he has lost weight and gotten a tan over the past 40 days.  Then for a moment you can see his eyes drift back to where he was just a short while earlier.  He says, “It is like coming out of a dream.”

My Supreme Lord,

As the clock gradually approaches midnight, the number of runners on the course rapidly begins to dwindle.  No one is allowed to run past that time and when all the runners finally leave, all the helpers and all the vehicles leave as well.  Quickly the course becomes quiet, dark, and still.  Last night, just as there has been for a number of years on July 23, the course is kept awake all night by the steps of a lone runner who does not sleep but pursues a simple promise made so very long ago.

Arpan has come to run tonight what he calls his ‘Ageathon.’ Today he turns 57 and so at around 12:16 he sets off on a personal odyssey.  He plans to run the same number of miles as the years he has been on earth.  Back in 1978, 31 years ago when he turned 26, it must have seemed like a pretty good idea.  He had already run a marathon and so why not make his birthday special by running another and dedicating it to Sri Chinmoy his spiritual teacher who had inspired him to run in the first place.  Running that first marathon was a great experience.   It also seemed like a relatively simple idea to continue with.  He says, “so I figured every year, just one more mile.  But as time goes by the ones add up.” Stating the obvious he adds, “it is getting a little more difficult.”

He has done this run in many other places over the past 31 years, and like the disciplined and dedicated runner that he is he has never failed to complete his ageathon.  For the past few years he has done it right here on this, the most auspicious of venues, the course of the 3100.  Often he has been on the road with the Harmony run and has performed his birthday runs in far off corners of America.  Doing it here of course is special.  The sidewalk here has felt the countless steps of Self-Transcendence runners add up by the millions over the past 13 years.  Even Arpan himself ran the 3100 here in 2004.

If one looks at running 57 miles by itself, it pales in comparison to the action and deeds of those who inhabit and run upon the course during the rest of the day.  Yet Arpan’s commitment and dedication to running over more than 30 years is an achievement that few can equal or challenge.  Who knows how long he will be able to pursue a dream that is constantly expanding  and becoming increasingly more difficult with each additional year.

Tonight no one will see him as he loops around and around the course.  He will go from one dim pool of street light to the next.  Sleep will taunt him, his legs will feel heavy and weary but he will not stop.  He will look to be a solitary figure on a dark and lonely night but he is not.  In his heart he carries a bright inner promise he made once long ago to his Spiritual teacher.  He will continue on no matter what.  One day his legs may not be able to pursue this sacred promise but surely the inner runner within him will never tire.

AGE

Vlady awoke this morning to the sound of falling rain.  Today is his 38th birthday and there are many who might be be disappointed to spend their birthday splashing around all day outdoors.  He has however not a harsh word for the weather.  Instead he calls it compassion rain.  His focus is only on what he has to do today, and for those now rapidly decreasing number of days left in front of him, in order to complete 3100miles.  He tells me that 2 years ago he was also running on his birthday at a 24 hour race.  He starts this special day with a little more than 700 miles left to go.

There is really no place else he would rather be.  Of his experience being here he says, “I am really proud of it.” His fellow runners are also proud of him.  Not just because of his superb performance here but as well because he has seemed to embrace the 3100 mile race experience with every fiber of his being and with all the glowing devotion of his heart.

BIRTHDAY OBSERVANCE

They spilled out of the bus on the Grand Central Service road.  They saw a sign for the off ramp of the Utopia parkway but knew they were not anywhere near paradise.  It was quite clear that the bus that had picked them up in lower Manhattan had now taken the group only as far as an inconspicuous Queens neighborhood.  The group was taking part in a ‘Flux Factory Mystery Bus tour,”  and only the guides,   Jason Eppink and Matt Green had any idea what was happening on this block in which the same dozen runners kept passing them by.  The only thing the group knew for sure was that the subject of the tour was, ‘The Quest for Immortality.”

The group has been told to stay out of the way of the runners as they kept going round and round past them.  They were respectful but it was clear none could understand what was happening here.  I ask one girl what she thought was happening and she replies, “are they training for a marathon?”  Another, who says he is an artist in residence, tells me he has no idea what is happening, but says, “it is an adventure, a great adventure.”  The tour group moves in the opposite direction of the runners and eventually they walk into the open area in front of Thomas Edison High school.  Matt reads from an article on the race that was published several years ago in Harpers magazine.

Matt then tells them that since the race started in June no matter what any of them  have done the runners have only been just here running around this course.  No matter the weather, no matter any other circumstance, they have been living their lives here around this block, in which the Flux Factor group have only just meandered around about half of.  He suggests that they try and walk around the full block themselves and picture what it might be like to see it thousands and thousands of times.  He says, “try and get inside the head of the runners and think what it might be like for them.  How intimately they would become acquainted with this block.” Matt Green talk

I speak with Matt as his mystery tour group starts to investigate more of the course.  He doesn’t remember when he first heard about the 3100 but says that when he read the article in Harpers, “I was floored when I read it. I couldn’t believe this was humanly possible to do.”  This is for Jason and himself the first stop on their first tour.

When they get to the counting area Rupantar starts to tell them more.  He describes self-transcendence as being eternal.   That what you achieve today simply becomes the starting point for tomorrow’s next challenge.  “There is no end to it. You have to draw upon all your capacity and use it during the race.  Everything is accelerated here.  It is like the Everest of running.”Rupantar talking

Eventually some, but not all, will take a slow and leisurely circuit of the loop.  I ask one mystery tour person when they return, what their experience has been like so far. It immediately becomes clear that they are still enmeshed in a cloud of incredulity.  They had noticed the flowers and bits of garbage more than they had noticed the runners.  They saw tidy homes and signs on the parkway that led to other places but had not read any message on the faces of those that passed.  The quest for immortality of course takes more than just one life and more than one loop of a block in Queens.

Oneness, oneness, oneness! Oneness with the temptation-life I do not want, precisely because temptation is frustration. Oneness with the earth-bound life I do not want; for earth-bound life is nothing short of limitation. Oneness with the Heaven-free life I want, for the Heaven-free life is Eternity’s Peace, Infinity’s Bliss and Immortality’s Life.

Excerpt from The Vision-Sky Of California by Sri Chinmoy.

Continue reading “July 19 The Quest for Immortality”

Tomorrow evening when Suprabha retires for the day she will have completed more than 2000 miles.  It is almost impossible to fully understand the miracle of this 53 year old woman from DC and what she has done here and what she seems to be able to continue to do.  Not only is she 14 years older than any other runner here, she is, and has been since the beginning, the only woman to do the 3100 mile race.

A few days ago I saw her running with Agnikana, a young woman from the Czech Republic who is a very talented runner in her own right.  She tells me, “I count Suprabha as my hero.  I think she is on a different level of runners.”

Agnikana is very fast over 2 miles and is in awe of what Suprabha does here.  She says, “I could never do what she does.  I admire her like anything, but you have to be somewhere else to do this thing.  It is not in the legs.  Of course it is about running but you need here something more than running.  Running is just one part, but I think there is a bigger part behind it.”

She adds, “what I admire about Suprabha is that she is surrendered to everything.  If it is raining, it is great that it is raining.   If it is sunny, it is great that it is sunny.  She is positive about everything.  This is something I really love about her.”

Do not run with the mind. Even if today you fool the mind, tomorrow the mind will come back with redoubled trickeries to make your life miserable. You should say to the mind, “You stay with your trickeries. I want to play with my heart-toy, not with you. You consider your toys as beautiful, but I don’t agree. In those days I was a fool; I enjoyed you. But now I am wise. I want to enjoy my heart-toy. The heart-toy always brings me happiness and newness, newness and happiness.”

When you run, if you can make yourself feel that inside your heart Somebody is running or your heart is running or you are running with your heart, then tiredness disappears, the power of distance disappears. Only the power of oneness, oneness, oneness with God’s Will appears.

Excerpt from Run And Smile, Smile And Run by Sri Chinmoy.

Continue reading “July 18 A Bigger Part Behind It”

There is another endurance sport going on now that regularly captures a world wide audience of millions.  There are 20 teams of 9 members each in the Tour de France this year and since 1903 millions have lined the scenic highways of France to watch. (photo courtesy of Zehnfinger)

Most seem to like the vantage of viewing the race on the steep uphills so that they can observe the riders for just a fraction of a second more, as they make their often painful ascent up a mountain pass.  Scott Martin wrote,”To be a cyclist is to be a student of pain…at cycling’s core lies pain, hard and bitter as the pit inside a juicy peach.  It doesn’t matter if your’re sprinting for an Olympic medal, a town sign, a trailhead, or the rest stop with home made brownies.  If you never confront pain you are missing the essence of the sport.  Without pain there is no adversity.  Without adversity, no challenge.  Without challenge, no improvement.  No improvement, no sense of accomplishment and no deep-down joy.”

Professional bike racing is of course nothing like the 3100 mile race.  The 12 who run here will never receive a yellow jersey, a large endorsement check, or outer acclaim of any kind.  They will have pain, they will have adversity, and they will have a joy experience that will resonate within themselves and in their lives for lifetimes to come.  All who strive for self-transcendence at first believe it is all their own effort that allows them to proceed.  Ultimately they realize that the doer is not themselves at all.  It is only with their heart’s surrender that they will succeed.

Tirtha is here this morning after arriving in New York last night from Germany.  She says, “I had to come out.”  When she arrived last night she says, “I just dropped my bags and came.”  She has come for the weekend just to be part of the race first hand.  She is now an experienced multi day runner herself and knows something about what it is like to be out running for days and days.  She also knows that the 3100 is a much different experience than the 10 day race she has now run twice.

She often used to be in New York at Fathers day and so on many occasions was here when the race had just started.   She points to a spot on the sidewalk where she says she used to stand.

God definitely wants you

To be more than a mere spectator.

He wants you to take part

In His Cosmic Drama.

Excerpt from Twenty-Seven Thousand Aspiration-Plants, Part 152 by Sri Chinmoy.

Continue reading “July 17 More Than a Mere Spectator”

It is never a good idea to be complacent.  There is no upside to it really unless you enjoy being surprised and shocked and perhaps even worse, find yourself wandering down familiar dark corridors.  The 3100 mile race has a way of inspiring and refreshing you sometimes that you never dreamed was possible.  All the runners have turned the corner well past the half way point and for most it is just now a final 1000 mile sprint for home.  I was talking with Ananda-Lahari this morning and he was telling me about an experience he had with Dr.Pradhan just the day before.

He was testing his muscles when at one point he says to him that he has detected that he does not have enough gratitude.  When I heard Ananda-Lahari say this my mouth just dropped.  It is one of those little jewels of wisdom that carries profound weight and is also one, that not just 3100 mile runners need to have in their hearts and lives.

He tells me that when he heard it his reaction was, “this is really cool.  It was kind of shocking in the first moment.  You don’t expect from a Doctor that he is going to speak about that.”  He realized with that diagnosis that he had not been working on that quality enough and the prescription will in the end, profoundly change his day and perhaps even the rest of his race.

The outer running is a burning desire to achieve everything that we see here on earth. The inner running is a climbing aspiration to receive from Above a vast compassion-sky and to give from below a tiny gratitude-flame.

The outer running is an extraordinary success on the mountain-summit. The inner running is an exemplary progress along Eternity’s sunlit Road. Success is the ready and immediate acceptance of the challenges from difficulties untold. Progress is the soulful and grateful acceptance of the blessingful joy from prosperities unfathomed.

Excerpt from The Outer Running And The Inner Running by Sri Chinmoy.

Picture by Bhashwar December 1979

Continue reading “July 16 Try to Value Everything”

For several weeks we have been playing a little game between the two of us.  He has been counting down the days until the new Harry Potter movie was to come out.  He tells me the number of days to go and I say simply, We will go at midnight when you are finished.  This morning he greets me with a very enthusiastic, “Today.”  My answer, “let’s go now.”

The Half Blood Prince will be the 6th movie in the saga of Harry Potter and his magical friends at Hogwarts school of magic.  For Diganta Adhikari this will be his fourth installment of the Self-Transcendence 3100 Mile Race.  He is a big Harry Potter fan but most certainly he will not be going to the movie tonight or any time soon.  There is the little matter of completing 1,213 more miles.

He has been listening to all 7 of the Harry Potter books on his MP3 player over the last 2 years and is no longer certain if he has heard them all 2 or 3 times.  It is also not clear how much he really listens to the books as he runs or instead just lets the words flow through his mind to help keep his thoughts calm.  The very real journey he is taking with his physical is so difficult there can be no fault in finding some momentary simple pleasure in a world of innocent fantasy.

Image from WikipediaIf perchance he might lose track of reality then some of the words spoken by the Master of the Hogwarts school can from time to time bring his world back into perspective.  Dumbledore once said, “It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live.”  Diganta of course is living his life very large at the moment.  He is 93 miles ahead of last years pace.  Dumbledore also said, “Where your treasure is, there will your heart also be.”  To see him run here this morning on a day when millions are clamoring to go to the movies and he is instead really only thinking of putting one foot in front of the other.  When you see how lightly and patiently he runs each new lap it is clear that here at the 3100 it is unmistakable where his treasure and his heart both can be found.  They are in each new step he makes along the way.

Continue reading “July 15 How to Look Beyond”

The day begins with the course bathed with soft golden light.   The air is sweet, light and cool, in other words it is a perfect day for running long and far.   Shortly after the race starts I will spend time with Push tookar who is running here for his second year.  At one point he will recount what it was like 10 days earlier when America was celebrating its Independence day on July 4th.  He will admit that in the beginning of his trips to the U.S, that he had very little understanding or real appreciation of America, which is so much more different than the tranquil ordered world of his home in Switzerland.

There is only one American running the race and that is Suprabha.  All of the 11 others come from distant places across Europe and also Australia.  Pushkar will tell me of a special moment when he came to feel in his heart a real appreciation for America that had taken a long time to develop.  For these runners who have traveled so far the only glimpse of America that they are able to have or even have time to appreciate is this hard half mile block in Queens.  They do not get to see the purple mountains majesty, the fruited plains, or the amber waves of grain.  For almost two months this is their world, and other than a microscopic commute to and from from the course, they see nothing else of this vast country.

There is a daily flood of cars sweeping to and fro nearby and many come to the nearby fields for sports, and school, and all kinds of other recreation.  None of these runners could be enticed from this block no matter how grand and scenic the vistas they might be offered.  Some individuals might claim that there are countless better locations for the race to take place but still it happens here.   The truth is probably that it could not ever take place in any other location because in some mysterious way this is the home of the 3100 and there can be no other.  Sri Chinmoy created it and placed it here and here it shall remain.

In the early 19th century there was a visitor to America named Alexis de Tocqueville.  He came at a time when there was no motel 6, JFK airport, or really very many visitors of any kind at all.  He was considered a great observer of the young nation and wrote two significant books on the American experience.  He would say of America many deep and insightful things.  “America is great because she is good.”   He also wrote, “Life is to be entered upon with courage.”  If there are more courageous individuals than those who run here I do not know who they might be.

There is a unique and deep inner experience that is to be found here.  The runners all have their roots so far away and yet for a short but significant part of their lives they live it here on four inter-twined American streets. Their hearts may be traversing the inner worlds but their feet are not.  Sri Chinmoy once wrote: