Sri Chinmoy honours Eleanor Adams, a British ultra-distance runner who had recently won the New York six day race with a new world record of 739.36 kilometres (459.42 mi) Eleanor Adams held nearly 40 world records in a range of events from 30 miles to the 6 Day Race.
Sri Chinmoy lifts 11 prominent New Zealanders, including Rod Dixon, 1972 Olympic bronze medallist in 1,500m, and 1983 New York City Marathon winner, at the Regent Hotel in Auckland, New Zealand.
Sri Chinmoy visits Melbourne 9 March 1976.
Read an account by Kishore Cunningham on Sri Chinmoy's visit to an athletic track near the former Olympic stadium in Melbourne
by Sri Chinmoy
before starting to exercise on his stationary bicycle at his home in New York
My Absolute Lord Supreme!
No more a fault-finding mind.
More a God-loving heart
In every human life, everywhere —
More, ever more.
Published in My Aspiration-Heart Cycles, part 2
by Sri Chinmoy
at his home in New York
My Supreme, my Supreme, my Supreme!
An unconditional self-giver
Is the winner
Of God’s Peace Award.
My Supreme, my Supreme, my Supreme!
Before using a seated double-arm machine up to 140 lbs. with each arm simultaneously.
My Supreme, my Supreme, my Supreme!
My sleepless and breathless
God-gratitude-heart
Is the shortest and safest stairway
To arrive at
God’s Transcendental Height.
My Supreme, my Supreme, my Supreme!
Before lifting 650 lbs. with each arm simultaneously six times. (Total: 1,300 lbs.)
My Supreme, my Supreme, my Supreme!
I shall never allow
My aspiration-heart, my dedication-life
And my God-manifestation-accounts
To ever be empty.
My Supreme, my Supreme, my Supreme!
Before doing sixty-seven one-arm pushes with 700 lbs. (31 right, 36 left)
Published in My Morning Soul-Body Prayers, part 13
Sri Chinmoy walking at Oakland Lake in Queens, New York.
Sri Chinmoy challenges himself with the Bullworker Exerciser at Maddal Circus held on the stage of John F. Kennedy High School in the Bronx. He wears a Madal Bal T-shirt given to him by his disciples who run the Swiss health food company.
Sri Chinmoy finishes the 100-metre race at Sports Day at Fox Hill High School, Bedford, New York, in a time of 15.2 seconds.
Sri Chinmoy jogs 100 metres with Olympic gold medallist Sudhahota Carl Lewis, who racewalks, and then lifts him twice – first, using only his right arm and then, using only his left arm – at Victory Field in Forest Park, New York. This is the first occasion on which Sudhahota is lifted by Sri Chinmoy.
Later in 1988, Carl Lewis would successfully defend his Olympic gold medal title in the 100m in the Seoul Olympics.
– Sri Chinmoy |
Sri Chinmoy offers this prayer at 8:26 a.m. before doing clean and press from the ground up to 45 lbs. with both arms simultaneously. (26 reps). The prayer was later published in My Morning Soul-Body Prayers, part 8.
Sri Chinmoy takes a break during a lifting programme at Aspiration-Ground in Jamaica, New York.
Sri Chinmoy performs his heaviest one-arm lift (one person (Utthal Tindel) plus apparatus weighing 406 lbs.) using a double platform, in Jamaica, NY, USA.
by Sri Chinmoy
I was running in the afternoon at a seven and a half or eight-minute pace. An old man with a pronounced moustache was watching me. He said, "Don't run so fast! You will get tired."
On one street, three or four boys and two or three girls are real monkeys. Each time they see me running, they stand up. They don't cheer me; they boo: "Boo, Guru!" That kind of thing they do! They are bad people, bad people. I pray to God, when I come back, that I don't see them, and God listens to my prayer. When I come back, I don't see them.
When I was running a few months ago, three or four girls who were standing near the street started barking. Human beings started barking at me! Very bad! There are so many nice people in this area, but God's creation is so vast. Always He has to have a mixture of good and bad. Four or five girls and boys are so unkind to me. Each time they see me they have to make fun of me. Again, most of the others are very nice.
This morning I was running on the left side of the street. On the right side a car passed me. It was in the other lane, but just because I heard it coming, I stopped. A stout black man was driving. He gave me a smile and said, "You are right. Always you should stop and watch."
I have been asking the boys to find me a two-mile course to run — flat, without sidewalks and side streets and no more than ten minutes away by car. Nobody has been successful; perhaps nobody ever will be successful. Vinaya last week told me he had found a place. I believed him, and he took me there. God! It was a useless road! He wasted my time, but I forgave him.
Then, three days ago, he said he had found Heaven on earth. Those were his words. I said, "To find Heaven on earth is really something!" So I went to see his Heaven. It was Heaven, according to Vinaya — our old course at my seven-mile mark. His course was full of small pebbles and stones, and it was not even clean. It was very bad, very bad! The other day Lorne took me to a place that he said was extremely beautiful. He said that Kanan was the witness, that Kanan had taken him there. So I went to see the place. O God! It was almost like a highway, with a tiny path for cyclists on the side. Thousands of cars were going by very fast. So how could I run? That was Lorne's place. Like that, many people tempt me to go and see their discoveries, but their discoveries always frustrate me.
Published in Run and Become, Become and Run, part 4
Sri Chinmoy achieves a lift of 500 lbs. using a seated calf raise, and a lift of 1300 lbs. using a standing calf raise in Jamaica, NY, USA. Photo: Pulak Viscardi
Sri Chinmoy runs 4 miles from his house to the National Tennis Center at Flushing Meadows Park in a time of 37:00. He then racewalks another 4 miles at Flushing Meadows Park in 47:20, as part of the Sri Chinmoy Grand Prix races held in New York.
Sri Chinmoy places first in the Sri Chinmoy Tennis Tournament for Priests and Rabbis, in Jamaica, NY, USA.
Two ultra-running legends — Ted Corbitt, widely known as the father of ultra-distance running in America and founder of the New York Road Runners congratulates Suprabha Beckjord as she finishes the world’s longest certified footrace, the Self-Transcendence 3100 Mile Race held in Jamaica, New York. (She is the only woman to have completed every edition of the race from 1997 to 2009. The annual event is sponsored by the Sri Chinmoy Marathon Team.)
Sri Chinmoy running at Games Day at Brien McMahon High School in Norwalk, Connecticut.
During the day, one of Sri Chinmoy’s students Databir Watters, a former junior Connecticut wrestling champion, crawls continuously on his hands and knees for 7 miles in the time of 8 hours 41 minutes.
Sri Chinmoy practises sprinting at Aspiration-Ground, New York.
Sri Chinmoy performs 13,000 crunch sit-ups in 2 hours and 40 minutes, in Jamaica, NY, USA.
Sri Chinmoy hands out prizes at the Sri Chinmoy Grand Prix, held at Jamaica High School Track environs, in Jamaica, NY, USA.
Sri Chinmoy tests out the new grass surface at the track in the gully near Aspiration-Ground in Jamaica, New York.
Sri Chinmoy presents awards at Aspiration-Ground for the 3100 Mile Race. In this photo he presents an award to Ashprihanal Aalto,33, Helsinki, Finland; who finished in 1st place in a time of 46 days+06:55:11
Video by Utpal Marshall
Sri Chinmoy loved running. In his early years in India, he was an excellent sprinter; and in his mid-forties, he took up long distance running, completing 22 marathons and several ultra-marathons, with a best marathon of 3:55:07 in Toledo, Ohio in 1979. He continued practising sprinting up to his mid sixties.
He believed that running could also be an integral part of a spiritual life, and that the inner life and running were complementary. Here are some excerpts from his considerable writings on running:
“Running helps us considerably. Running is continuous motion. Because of our running, we feel that there is a goal — not only an outer goal but also an inner goal.” (1)
“In the morning if we can energise ourselves with physical activities, then we can accomplish so many things during the rest of the day. That is why I say sports and physical fitness are of supreme importance. If we neglect the physical and let the body become weak, then the mind also becomes weak.” (2)
“Runners deal with freshness, freshness of the mind. While they are running, nature is helping them. Every day, early in the morning or in the evening, runners go out to practise in the street or at a track. When you run, it is just you and Mother Nature. From the sky, light is flowing. Here, there, you get so much inspiration. Everything helps you to achieve your goal.” (3)
Sri Chinmoy – Beyond Limits
by Animesh Harrington
One group of runners that not only competes in races but also organises them for other runners of all standards is the Sri Chinmoy Marathon Team. Though Sri Chinmoy races are known widely throughout Australia as some of the best organised and friendliest runs around, not much is generally known of the man who is the inspiration behind these events. Read more...
Statistics on Sri Chinmoy's running from 25-metre races to the 47-mile ultramarathon, Sri Chinmoy competed in almost 500 events during his athletic career in the West. Read more…
Listen to the live recording.
Duration: 26 min. 31 sec.
June 1st, 1979
Pacific School of Religion
Berkeley, California, USA
Transcription from the original live recording.
0:02 Dear friends, dear brothers and sisters, dear distinguished professors and deans, here we are all seekers. We are sailing in the same boat, the boat that carries us to the Golden Shore of the Beyond. Nothing gives me a greater sense of satisfaction than to be of dedicated service to the seekers, for I am also a seeker, an eternal seeker, a seeker of the infinite Truth and Light.
1:26 As you know, I am advised by my esteemed friend, Dean Foster, to speak on the meaning of discipleship today. This is a most significant subject and, therefore, I offer him my gratitude-heart.
2:02 Now, who is a disciple? A disciple is a seeker, a truth-seeker. Who is a disciple? A disciple is a lover; he is a Heaven-lover. Who is a disciple? A disciple is a server; he is an earth-server. Who is a disciple? A disciple is a fulfiller; he is a God-fulfiller.
2:41 The meaning of discipleship today: now if we want to know the meaning of discipleship, we have to focus our concentrated attention on the role of a disciple. The role of a disciple is quite simple, of course, if we follow the path of the heart and not that of the mind. The role of the seeker is to give what he has and what he is. What he has is an inner cry. This cry is birthless and deathless. He offers this birthless and deathless inner cry to his Pilot Supreme for His infinite Light, eternal Peace and immortal Bliss. What he is? He is a devoted and soulful instrument. He wants to help mankind see the beauty of the Infinite in the very heart of the finite. He wants to unite earth’s helpless cry, helpless cry, and Heaven’s endless Smile. He takes it as his bounden duty to serve both Mother Earth and Father Heaven. Undoubtedly, he is a chosen instrument of the Absolute Pilot Supreme. Here to manifest the eternal Truth is his constant cry, constant hunger.
5:25 Yesterday’s disciple, today’s disciple and tomorrow’s disciple: yesterday’s disciple was simple and humble. Simplicity was his outer life, humility was his inner life. Simplicity and humility inundated his entire being. Today’s disciple is complicated and argumentative. Complication and argumentation reign supreme in his life, day in and day out. Tomorrow’s disciple will be the fastest spiritual runner. His code of life will be to run and become, and become and run. He will run in order to succeed; he will become in order to proceed. At times, he will run and reach the Goal; at times, the Goal will come to him. When he reaches the Goal, he will be blessed with the transcendental Pride of the Absolute Supreme. And when the Goal reaches him, he will immediately sit at the Feet of the Absolute Supreme with his heart’s soulful gratitude-sea.
7:40 In the days of yore, the disciple was advised and encouraged by the Master to renounce the world. Renunciation was taught right from the beginning when the seeker or the disciple came to the Master. The Vedic seers of the hoary past, and also the Upanishadic seers, offered a supreme message to the world at large: “Enjoy through renunciation — Tena tyaktena bhunjitha.”
8:40 Everybody wants to enjoy, for satisfaction is of paramount need. Now, they came to realise that satisfaction can be achieved only through renunciation, there is no other way. This world of ours gives us things that do not last; their life-breath is very short. Sooner than the soonest, everything dies. So, they taught their disciples not to run after material objects. Everything here is an illusion. Nothing can last and nothing will last permanently. What is the use of running after things that will not last for good? So, the students were taught the message of renunciation.
10:01 Then there came a time when the message needed some transformation. The twentieth century and a few centuries before, the sages, the seers, the spiritual Masters have come to realise that acceptance of life is of paramount importance, not rejection.
10:33 If we renounce the world, if we renounce the body, vital, mind and heart, then what are we going to do for our Beloved Supreme? We say we love God. We say we want to please Him. If we want to please Him, if we want to fulfil Him, how can we reject or renounce the world? This world of ours, as it is, must be accepted. First we accept, then we transform. Needless to say, this world is far, far from perfection. But unless and until we accept the world, we touch the earth-arena, we touch the sufferings, the pains, the imperfections of the world at large, how are we going to change the face and fate of the world? Therefore, we must needs accept the world.
11:46 Our mind is full of doubts, worries and anxieties and so forth. Our mind has to be transformed. Our vital quite often is destructive. We have to have a new vital, which is dynamic. With a dynamic vital we will be able to run the fastest, dive the deepest and fly the highest. Our body is lethargic; our body enjoys ignorance-sleep. It has been sleeping for millions of years, yet it wants to enjoy this ignorance-sleep. Now, the seeker in us tells our body to wake up. Again, the Upanishadic seers taught us how to inspire the body with inner dynamism by repeating the soulful and powerful words of incantation.
13:08 Uttisthata jagrata – Arise, awake!
Prapya varan nibodhata – Until the Goal is reached, do not stop!
And this Goal is for whom? Not for the weakling!
Nayam atma bala hinena labhya.1
13:32 The inner Goal can be achieved only by the powerful souls. Not for the weakling, the Goal that satisfies our inner world and outer world; the Goal that quenches our Eternity’s thirst.
14:06 Today’s disciple cannot satisfy us. Yesterday’s disciple could not satisfy us. Tomorrow’s disciple also perhaps will not satisfy us. Why?
14:26 Yesterday’s disciple said to the Master, “Master, give me the capacity. If you bless me with capacity, I shall please you.” Now, the seeker, the disciple, did not want to go further. He did not tell the Master that he would be more than willing to please the Master in his own way.
14:54 Today’s disciple says to the Master, “Master, I am giving you a golden chance. Do please me first in my own way. I give you my word of honour, tomorrow I shall please you in your own way. But you have to please me first; and I have already given you a golden, supreme chance.”
15:22 Tomorrow’s disciple perhaps will say to the Master, “Master, let us please each other. You give me something significant and I shall give you something significant. I shall give you my life’s sleepless service. You give me your soul’s Himalayan realisation.” Here also, the disciple has managed to forget the message of unconditional reality. All conditional — Master has to give something to the disciple, then only the disciple will give the Master something else.
16:17 Therefore, yesterday’s disciple could not fulfil the supreme task; today’s disciple cannot; and tomorrow’s also failed. But, in the distant future — it may take millions of years — there shall come a time when the seeker-disciple will be ready to please the Master in his own way. The seeker-disciple will be able to identify himself with the supreme prayer-message of the Saviour Supreme Christ: “Father, let Thy Will be done.”
17:19 Here the message of surrender comes to the fore. Unfortunately, the present-day world is scared to death when it hears the word ‘surrender’. Now, in the spiritual life, the surrender that we speak of is not the surrender of the African slave of the past to their masters. It is the recognition of the Infinite by the finite. A tiny drop recognises its inner identity with the vast ocean. And it enters into the ocean and becomes the vast, infinite ocean itself.
18:24 Here, in the spiritual life, nobody is compelled to surrender. But everybody has an inner urge to grow into the Infinite. As the tiny drop grows into the Infinite, even so, the finite consciousness of ours can eventually grow into Infinity.
18:56 Surrender and freedom are always at daggers drawn. But if we dive deep within, we feel there is no difference between the two terms, between the two concepts, between the two so-called realities. They are the obverse and the reverse of the same coin. Before we accepted the spiritual life, we enjoyed freedom in a special way. We fulfilled, or wanted to fulfil, our earth-bound desires. We felt, perhaps, we had the capacity and potentiality to be another Napoleon or Alexander the Great or Julius Caesar to voice forth, “I came, I saw and I conquered.” This is at least the positive way of looking at the reality. Otherwise, if it is the negative way, then we would have cherished and admired deep in the inmost recesses of our heart the destructive message of Hitler and Stalin.
20:38 Now, we entered into the spiritual life, the desire-bound life we gave up. We enjoyed freedom, whether it is freedom or not, we enjoyed something in a limited way, and the after-effect of it was total frustration. Therefore, we needed a kind of escape. Or, we can say illumination dawned on us. Therefore, we entered into spiritual life.
21:12 Here, unfortunately, we feel that we are surrendering to somebody else. We have no freedom of ours. But I wish to say, freedom is always there. You have only changed the course of the game. Previously you wanted to fulfil yourself by fulfilling the desire-life. Now you want to fulfil yourself, please yourself, by fulfilling the aspiration-life.
21:54 Here, nobody compels, or can compel, a seeker-disciple to follow a spiritual path or to listen to the advice of a Master. He comes to the Master on the strength of his inner urge. Then he sees himself as an exact prototype of his Master’s divine consciousness. He knew perfectly well that once upon a time he enjoyed freedom in his own way. Now, also, he is exercising his freedom in a different way. When we lead, we enjoy freedom. Again, when we consciously, soulfully, deliberately and unconditionally follow, we enjoy another kind of freedom.
23:01 So here, his inner awareness, inner development, inner sense of truth compel him to follow a higher life, a more illumining life, a more fulfilling life. Therefore, the question of surrender does not arise at all — only, a new kind of freedom he enjoys. He is enjoying a new kind of freedom. He follows his own higher reality. He knows that the Master knows a little more than he does, so therefore he is following the Master. It is a new freedom. He does not have to kiss the dust of his Master’s feet. He knows, he and his Master are inseparably one and here on his own, to fulfil his own divine longing, he is staying with the Master. And he knows perfectly well, there is only one Master and that Master is the Absolute Supreme. And the Master who is in the physical form is only a representative of his real Guru, the real Master.
24:58 In the spiritual life: God for God’s sake. Right from the beginning, if this message a seeker can embody, can reveal and manifest at every moment in his life, then only he can be a perfect choice and supreme instrument of the Beloved Supreme. There shall come a time when our Mother Earth will be inundated with the seeker-disciples who will carry the banner of unconditional surrender, which is nothing other than conscious and constant, inseparable and unconditional divine oneness with one’s Master.
– End –
Endnotes:
1 Sri Chinmoy translates the Sanskrit phrase Nayam atma bala hinena labhya as “The soul cannot be won by the weakling.”
