Sri Chinmoy runs a 2-mile race in a time of 15 min. 51 sec. at Flushing Meadows Park, Queens, New York.
Stories from the Five-Mile Race
by Sri Chinmoy
The sign of the cross
During the five-mile race today a gentleman was ahead of me. All of a sudden he stopped and turned around and said, “Are you Sri Chinmoy?” I was panting and no words were coming out of me. So I gave him a smile.
He said, “You are Sri Chinmoy!” and he made a cross sign on his forehead — not on his chest. He was very happy to see me. Then he ran with me for about two hundred metres. But he felt that he was a better runner so he went ahead of me. I was just behind him.
Closed-mouthed
At the two-mile point two women were running near me. When I was passing by, one of them was so excited to see me. She said to the other one, “Do you know who that is?”
The other one said, “Who?”
O God, the first woman who saw me wouldn’t answer because I was coming very near them and she didn’t want me to hear. Perhaps she was afraid of the pronunciation, afraid that she would be embarrassed.
Then, when I was about five metres ahead of them, the lady said, “Sri Chinmoy.” But when I was running next to them, she wouldn’t tell her friend who I was.
The five-mile race
Mitali completed our five-mile race today. For Mitali to complete five miles is really something! Her better half, Boiragi, was so happy that she had finished. I also was so delighted! I was clapping and clapping. On other days when I smile at her, she smiles, but today she was dying, so she could not smile at the finish.
Mitali was my first competitor when I started running and the second was Nemi. Like that I competed with about ten girls. Pranavananda’s assistant, Susan, gave me a very hard time. I ran and ran trying to pass her. At one point she went to drink water and I was very happy that she had stopped. I didn’t go to take a drink. O God, after drinking water, she got extra energy! So my intuition was totally wrong. I didn’t even dare to think of defeating her after that. But after covering a few hundred metres, she finally slowed down. Then, with Kritagyata, I had to struggle for at least four hundred metres to pass her.
After four miles I thought that all the worthless runners were behind me, so I didn’t have to worry. My ego was quite satisfied. Then all of a sudden I saw Sarama. I couldn’t lose to Sarama, so I was praying to my ego to come forward. Then my ego listened to my prayer and I defeated Sarama. It is a great achievement to beat Sarama. I didn’t know she was so far ahead of me, but I passed her at the four-mile mark.
After four hundred metres, whom did I see? Ilona! She was making noises: “Eee, Eee!” I said to myself, “Wait, wait.” Then during the fifth mile I ran so fast that I went two or three hundred metres ahead of her. She was nowhere near me at the finish.
Published in Run and Become, Become and Run, part 6
Bringing down the Ceiling
Comments by Sri Chinmoy
on his weightlifting
Today was my highest lift for 250 pounds in each arm. I have changed the position of my hand. I have brought it forward one inch so that the dumb-bell has more balance.
You will see that my screaming is nothing in comparison to when I first started. In those days I used to bring down the ceiling! The whole room used to vibrate.
Published in A Mystic Journey in the Weightlifting World, part 3