Gary Muhrcke's Advice
remarks by Sri Chinmoy
Databir went to the Super Runner store to buy me new running shoes. The owner, Gary Muhrcke, is an excellent runner who was the winner of the first New York Marathon. He knows me well. When he found out the shoes were for me, immediately he took off 20 percent.
Then Databir told him that I wanted to bring my weight down to 131 pounds to run the New York Marathon. Gary is five feet eight and a half inches tall and weighs 125 or 126 pounds. He said I should come down to 125 and then, to get strength, eat before the marathon and come up to 131. He also said I should not run more than 40 miles a week before the marathon. So I am listening to Gary Muhrcke’s advice. I am trying to come down in my weight, and I will not run more than 40 miles a week.
Published in Run and Become, Become and Run, part 12
Sri Chinmoy at the start of the Sri Chinmoy 7-Day Race held in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, Queens, New York.
Remarks before the first 7-day race
by Sri Chinmoy
My dear seven-day race runners,
You are brave, very brave, exceptionally brave, divinely brave, supremely brave. Only the brave can and shall win the ultimate goal, which is birthless and deathless satisfaction. This birthless and deathless satisfaction you already have in the very depths of your souls. Now you are bringing it to the fore through your adamantine will-power and your sleepless self-giving to the outer world of running and to the inner world of becoming. Being a truth-lover and a seeker of the ultimate Truth, I wish to tell you that you are doing something most significant not only for yourself and your own life, but also for all those who love the outer running and the inner becoming.
You are the pioneer-runners. You are the brave soldiers. You are tomorrow’s pathfinders. You are supremely courageous by virtue of your divine self-giving to the running world. I am very, very proud of you and very, very grateful to you all. My heart of joy and my life of infinite gratitude I am offering to each of you as you start on your way.
This is a seven-day race. The number seven has a very special significance for those who study spirituality. According to the Indian way of thinking, there are seven higher worlds and seven lower worlds. Since we are human beings, we have already passed beyond the boundaries of the seven lower worlds. Now we are climbing up high, higher, highest in the seven higher worlds. Each of the seven higher worlds has a very special kind of delight — oneness-delight and fulfilment-delight — to give us. Each time we step into a higher world, we enter into a world of ecstasy. Each time we climb higher, this ecstasy increases. All the time we are dealing with a boundless and limitless ocean of ecstasy; but although it is an ocean, still it increases, for God the Supreme Runner at every moment is increasing His own Capacities, His own Light and His own Delight.
Although this is a seven-day race, please do not think of all seven days while you are running. Think of only one day at a time. Then, do not even think of one day; think of only seven hours. Then, for a few minutes, think of only one hour. If you can mentally divide the race and break it down into separate parts, you will get much more energy and much more joy while running. Every time your mind decreases the amount of time you have to run, you will get tremendous inner strength and vigour. So do not keep in mind seven days. Go at your own pace, but mentally divide the race to make the distance as short as possible. In this way you will always have inner strength and be able to run throughout.
Published in Pioneer-Runners of Tomorrow’s World-Peace-Dawn: Ultramarathon Running and Self-Transcendence
A Marathon in Under Two Hours
by Sri Chinmoy
at Aspiration-Ground, Jamaica, New York
Paul Tergat, the world’s fastest marathoner, covered the distance in two hours, four minutes. His record is four minutes over two hours, so my prediction is still hanging in mid-air!
I am praying that one day he or somebody else will run under two hours. Whoever runs under two hours will be given by me a very special honour, plus I shall meet with his plane fare and all his expenses, whether he comes from Kenya or anyplace else. I shall honour him most lovingly, cheerfully and proudly.
Who knows, who knows? There will be someone in the near future. I do not want to say in the distant future — no! In the near future, someone will be able to fulfil my prediction.
* Sri Chinmoy honours Paul Tergat with the ‘Lifting Up the World with a Oneness-Heart’ Award on 2 November 2005.
Published in My Golden Children
Race Prayer
by Sri Chinmoy
True, true, true,
True, true, true —
A pure thought
Can remain unchallenged
In my aspiration-heart.
Sri Chinmoy offers this prayer in New York at the start of a 2-mile Self-Transcendence Race.
Published in My Race-Prayers, part 3