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Running forms a crucial part of this guru’s ‘code of living’

Lewis Freedman on running

Daily long runs are part of the basic philosophical and religious teachings of Sri Chinmoy, the spiritual leader with a worldwide following who not only ran 13 miles of Sunday’s Philadelphia Marathon but brought 40 of his students from Queens, N.Y., to aid in the administration of the race.

Chinmoy, 50, originally from India, prefers not to call his organization a religion, but a way of life.

“Religion binds us,” he said in an interview in the Franklin Motor Inn lobby after the 26-mile, 385-yard race. “We call it the code of life, the code of living.”

The code of living taught by Chinmoy, whose 300 students in his center in New York and at 60 other centers worldwide call him “guru,” stresses a natural-foods diet, yoga, meditation and running. “Run and become, become and run,” is a slogan of the group.

“If we run, then we become,” said Chinmoy. “We see our capacities fully manifested. We bring to the fore our hidden capacities.”

Chinmoy himself began running long distances about four years ago. He said he had been a provincial decathlon champion in 1958 and 1959 in India, but as a runner he basically was a sprinter. He had been telling his disciples that it was good for them to run, “and I felt I must also participate. I participate according to my very limited capacity. When I run they [his students] encourage and inspire me.”

Although several followers of Sri Chinmoy run marathons, and he claims a Canadian runner in the 2 minute, 25-second range ¹ among them, Chinmoy seems to have a chauvinistic outlook ² toward mileage volume.

Female followers, he said, should not run more than 45 miles a week. “For men, it entirely depends on their capacity, 75, or 80 miles.”

Because of his reverence for those who use their bodies athletically to inspire others, Chinmoy regularly honors athletes at his teaching center. One such honoree, last year, was Gary Fanelli of Oreland, perhaps the Philadelphia area’s best long distance runner.

Fanelli, who ran briefly with Chinmoy on the course Sunday said, he was the guest of honor at a dinner in New York just before the New York Marathon in 1980. He has since been presented with a song about himself written by the guru’s followers. ³

Running is an important part of the health lifestyle Chinmoy espouses, but it is not perceived as the ultimate end.

The end, “the destination,” said Chinmoy, for his students, is “to become good citizens of the world, to become perfect instruments of God. We try to become good and perfect citizens of the world.”

Although Bill DeVoe of Queens was disappointed he didn’t run faster than 2:25:48 in winning the race for the second straight year, DeVoe called the victory and receipt of the first Jumbo Elliott Trophy “good compensation.”

Chinmoy was not the only notable participant, although like him, former city councilman and Olympic rower Jack Kelly, one-time Olympic steeplechaser Browning Ross and Moses Mayfield, winner of the first two editions of the race in 1970 and 1971, were not in it for the duration.

Ross’ advice to the pack, although not what he practices himself, was: “When the going gets tough, quit.”

Mayfield, 36, employed in the housekeeping department at Temple University, showed up for sentimental reasons. He has been back in training for three months after an eight-year absence from the sport and he ran one loop of the river course, 8.4 miles, looking very strong.

He was not prepared, he said beforehand, to even be tempted into going longer. “l won’t be foolish,” he said. He passed the five-mile point very comfortably in 28:43.

Caption:

Sri Chinmoy
“If we run, then we become”

Published in The Philadelphia Inquirer, Wednesday, November 11, 1981

Corrections:

Following are some inaccuracies in the article.

1 The Canadian marathon runner’s time referred to, is 2 hours, 25 minutes, not 2 minutes, 25 seconds.

2 While Sri Chinmoy recommended that a select group of women runners restrict their weekly training, it was not a general mandate. As early as 1978 some of his women disciples had already run ultra-marathons, such as the 47-mile run on August 27th of that year, and the years that followed. Over the decades, Sri Chinmoy encouraged women to compete in 24-hour races and multi-day events including 7-and-10-day races, and distances of 700, 1,000, 1,300 and 2,700 miles — to the world’s longest certified footrace, the Sri Chinmoy Self-Transcendence 3100 Mile Race. Many of these pioneer women runners went on to achieve national and international rankings. Sri Chinmoy always championed the cause of women’s participation in sport.

3 The song for Gary Fanelli was written by Sri Chinmoy and sung by Sri Chinmoy’s students.

Interview with Nový Čas

A daily newspaper in Bratislava, Slovakia

Question: Could you tell us what you were talking about during your interview with our President?

Sri Chinmoy: President Kováč was extremely kind and compassionate to me. He was appreciating what I am doing in Slovakia and the Czech Republic, and I appreciated and admired him for his many, many good qualities. I often use the term ‘interdependence’. Your President has such a good heart. He tries to bring forward the good qualities of all human beings and also all nations — the neighbouring nations and nations quite far from here.

Question: Did the President offer any comments about Slovakia’s relations with the Czech Republic?

Sri Chinmoy: About the Czech Republic he said, “We have to coexist. We have to feel that this is our common homeland.” He had such nice things to say about your common history. About America also he said such nice things. American democracy is his source of freedom. Something else most significant he said: that no matter where someone has come from, if he is a citizen now here in Slovakia, he will be treated as one. There is no stranger here.

Question: What is your own feeling about Slovakia and the Czech Republic?

Sri Chinmoy: In my heart, Czechoslovakia is still one country. The Czech Republic and Slovakia are like complementary souls. With their mutual determination-strength, they shall proceed. It is not by virtue of a feeling of competition with each other, but only through self-transcendence that they shall run faster than the fastest. It is only through self-transcendence that we shall become good citizens of the world. Self-transcendence is our goal, and not competition.

Question: Are you personally in favour of the division of Czechoslovakia?

Sri Chinmoy: I am a student of peace. Division is something that I cannot appreciate. If division takes place, it is a most painful experience. I want oneness, oneness, oneness. In a family, for years and years, brothers and sisters live together. When they are young they need one another. Then when they grow up, they want to show their supremacy. One brother thinks he is superior to the other brother. When they were growing up together, that kind of jealousy, rivalry, insecurity, superiority complex or inferiority complex they did not have. But as they grow up, all kinds of unhealthy, undivine qualities enter into them. Previously they said, "If our bad qualities divide us, at least let us try to be interdependent." If they are interdependent, then when they are grown up, they may not stay with their parents, they may live separately, but at Christmas time and on special days, they will meet together.

Here it is exactly the same. Division is not the answer. But if a painful division takes place, then let us try as much as possible to live with goodwill. Once upon a time you were brothers. If you cannot stay together under the same roof, at least try to be interdependent and have utmost goodwill towards one another. If you need something, you will just make a phone call and your brother will come to your rescue, and if he needs something, then you will come to his rescue. So division has taken place, but division is not the final answer. The goal is coexistence, interdependence. By division alone we do not get any satisfactory result.

Question: Do you foresee a time when all of Europe will be united?

Sri Chinmoy: It is not only possible; it is inevitable. Previously the European countries were quarrelling and fighting. Now the European countries are trying to create a oneness-home. Previously, the American states were separate. Now America is one. Australia is one. Canada is one. But when it comes to Europe, each country has its own individuality, its own way. Sometimes when neighbouring countries were practically on strike, they did not get any kind of sympathy from other nations. But now, European countries are having summit meetings and they are trying to feel their oneness.

Europe is one continent. Why should Europe be divided into pieces? Europe is like a tree. This life-tree has many branches. Because of the trunk, there are branches, flowers and fruits. If the branches are cut off, then there will be no flowers, no fruits. Now wisdom is dawning on the European leaders. So many countries in Europe are trying desperately to have a common home. Then Europe will have oneness-strength like America has. America has fifty states, but when necessity demands, they are all one. Here also, Europe now feels the supreme necessity of oneness. There shall come a time in the near future when Europe will have its oneness and the division that we have had for so many years will disappear.

In this respect, your President is showing absolutely the best way: he is appreciating his neighbouring countries, he is appreciating America and many other countries. By appreciating others, we bring to the fore their good qualities and they become strong, stronger, strongest. If I say one nice word about you, you will feel obliged to say something nice about me. But if I criticise you ruthlessly, you will also speak ill of me to your heart's content.

Your President is a man of sincerity, a man of integrity, a man of determination, a man of sacrifice, a man of self-giving. So many good qualities he has at his disposal. When he speaks, immediately you see wisdom, compassion and love. When he gave me the Presidential Medallion, I thanked him from the very depths of my heart. Then, while holding the Medallion, I said to him, "In you I see three persons: a friend, a father and a supreme pilot. Your heart of love has made you a true brother-friend of Slovakia. Your soul of wisdom has made you the father of your nation. Your constant sacrifice, inner and outer, for your country has made you its supreme pilot. All your citizens are inside your boat, and you are steering it safely and unmistakably. Your boat is bound to touch the Golden Shore, where there is only peace and peace and peace."

Published in Sri Chinmoy Answers, part 20

Interview with the New Haven Register

After Sri Chinmoy lifted a fully fueled twin-engine Beechcraft plane using a modified standing calf-raise machine, at Tweed Airport in New Haven, Connecticut, he was interviewed by a reporter from the New Haven Register. The weight of the plane, the fuel and the lifting apparatus was 13,040 lbs.

Reporter: You lifted heavy things like planes and elephants many years ago. What made you resume it again now?

Sri Chinmoy: I wanted to see if age has anything to do with physical fitness. I have found that it is our human mind that creates the problem. If we can go beyond the mind by challenging the mind, then the physical body obeys us. But the mind makes us feel that we are very old.

Now I am 67 years old. The moment I use my heart, I feel that I am 20 years old. So I try to use my heart when I do these kinds of weightlifting feats. When I use my heart, I feel oneness with the aeroplane. Everything helps me and everybody helps me when I use my oneness. Whereas if I stayed in the mind, I would not be able to lift heavy weights at all.

The human mind is full of division at each and every level. Our mind appreciates our right hand more than our left hand, for example, even though they are both part and parcel of our body. Since the right hand is stronger than the left, our mind prefers our right hand.

Reporter: Is lifting a plane different from lifting anything else?

Sri Chinmoy: Elephants are totally different from planes! As soon as you see the elephant standing in front of you, you get frightened because it is so huge. The one that I lifted was over 8,000 pounds, and when it was standing on the lifting platform it was only a few feet away from me. When I lift an elephant, for some reason I feel that I need more strength.

When I lift planes, I get a feeling of lightness from the plane itself. Plus I get a kind of inner thrill or joy because I fly in planes.

Reporter: Yes, it is hard to think of an elephant as light!

Sri Chinmoy: The mind immediately makes us feel that the elephant is such a solid object. How will it be possible to lift it? So I do not use my mind at all; I use my heart and try to establish my oneness with the elephant.

Reporter: Does that mean that this 13,000-pound plane was easier to lift than the elephant?

Sri Chinmoy: Strangely enough, even though the plane is so large and heavy, it has a kind of charm. That charm takes away the weight of the plane. I feel that I am flying with the plane. When we think of an elephant, on the other hand, a kind of unfettered fear enters into us. So everything depends on our inner feeling.

Reporter: What are you trying to prove when you do these things publicly?

Sri Chinmoy: I lift these heavy weights to inspire people. Inspiration is joy. You are so kind to come and watch my lift in this bad weather. Perhaps you will mention it in your newspaper or it may come out on your local television station. In this way, we are trying to spread our inspiration.

When we, as human beings, are inspired, we do many good things for ourselves and also for the betterment of the world. If we are not inspired, then we will have nothing to offer to the world. We may even try to destroy ourselves or others. Inspiration can bring us so much happiness and, if we are happy, then we will also get peace. Inside happiness abides peace. If we are happy, then we will not quarrel and fight with others. We will not find fault with them. If you are happy, you will be kind to me and I will be kind to someone else, and from there it will spread. So this happiness comes from inspiration. That is my simple philosophy.

Published in Sri Chinmoy Answers, part 14