Last year Vasu set a personal best in this race by breaking his previous record by 1 hour and 15 minutes. In fact in each of his 3 previous races he transcended himself each time. For we impatient voyeurs on the sideline, a handful of minutes extracted from 47 plus days of struggle seems almost incomprehensible. A blink, a mere wisp of time and space, a fragment that our minds can barely hold to, but is still one which we can so easily measure and calculate.
To Vasu however, that 75 minutes was pure bliss, something that revealed the eternal. That absolute act of self transcendence is at the core of why he continues to strive and struggle so hard, each and every time he comes. That fragment of time for Vasu represents a kind of perfection of transcendence. One that has inspired him to come again and again. To seek out a glimpse of heaven in the hardest race on earth.
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“On the physical plane I am having some problems with my knee.” Vasu reaches down and points to an area just below his left knee. His feeling of late is that even though it has been so bothersome that he has had more than 4 days of difficulties he believes the source of the problem is a mental one.
“I think this is my mind.”
His idea for a cure is a simple one. For nearly all of us his strategy is easier said than done. “I need to be more in my heart than in my mind.” Vasu says that it helped when he started listening to some recordings of Sri Chinmoy’s music. “It became a little bit better. Now sometimes I can run.”
As we are talking he is moving well. Yesterday he completed 66 miles. He has a 9 day total of 598.
“Sometimes it is very painful and I cannot walk. I would take rest. But now it has become better. I can run a few hours.”
A friend also showed him some exercises. “It helped a little bit. Nicolai did massage and that also helped.”
Vasu describes the best help he received took place 2 days ago on Father’s day. He felt as though he received some extra grace or compassion. He is not sure exactly what. He was able to run a little more. He ran 63 miles that day compared to 58 miles the previous day. “It was even more than the minimum. Before that I could not do it for 3 or 4 days.”
I ask a hard question. Does Vasu get unhappy when he experiences these tough times. “Not exactly. Sometimes I receive more inwardly. When I concentrate on my heart I feel love and the presence of Sri Chinmoy. More than the usual way, when I run.”
I ask Vasu if he loves the race. “I think everybody loves this race.” He accepts and appreciates all aspects of this great struggle. “Without the hard part we cannot feel good.”
“During the hard we can dive inside.”
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