When it feels right to give something a go – seize the opportunity!

Helping two of my very special friends in multi-day races have provided some of the highlights of my life. My friends would be running distances ranging from a six day race to the 3100 mile race run - up to 52 days. Being there for a runner 24 hours a day, assisting them with whatever they need to keep them moving around the course is a fantastic experience.

Although I loved helping the runners it never crossed my mind for more than a fleeting second to enter a multi-day race myself - until one day. The 7 Day Race organized by the Sri Chinmoy Marathon Team had just been changed to a 6 Day Race to be held in May the following year on Ward Island in New York. When I heard about the race this time something deep, deep inside me said - "You should run it." My mind barked "What!"

I had had enough experience with my mind not to let it have a say, it had never thought a training run for more than 2 miles was necessary. I started training in September with daily runs of an hour and longer runs in the weekend. In February I started apple picking so the training schedule changed from running to apple picking for the next two months. This unorthodox training suited me well. I was on my feet all day not only strengthening my legs but getting an upper body workout as well. The added strength helped later in the race when I combined race walking with running. One of the best training aspects apple picking offered me was that I needed to concentrate 8-10 hours a day on a repetitive activity, perfect preparation for running a 1 mile loop course for 18+ hours a day.

I arrived in New York with not much of a game plan. Other runners were discussing what mileage they would do and different strategies. My strategies were to pray a lot, just keep putting one foot in front of the other, stay in a cheerful frame of mind and a good mileage to aim for seemed to be over 300 miles. Music played a very big part in keeping my mind occupied. (Sri Chinmoy's music and River Dance worked well.)

With a lot of Grace I had a fantastic race. Despite 5 ½ days of rain I had no blisters, no lingering injuries and stayed happy for all but 1 mile of the race. Someone was looking after me!

When my mind comes up with every excuse under the sun not go to out for a run and I reflect back on the 6 Day Race, I am still amazed that I covered 2 marathons a day for six days. I am very grateful I seized the opportunity offered and went way beyond where my mind thought I could go.

Moments of Eternity


There are moments, instances of sheer wonder and beauty, capable of kindling and revealing the imperturbable eternity living in our souls.

Instances of eternity filled with splendour, light, love, joy, however manifesting in time and its flow and the discontinual reality of our human, temporal existence, yet oblivious of these self-imposed limits, revealing the true eternal nature of our Innermost.

They live suspended in the spaces of spirit which remain quiet and untouched by the ephemeral and finite, awaiting the receptivity and openness of the human vessel tuning its soul towards its Source.

They are unpredictable, come unexpectedly, unannounced, be it in times of introversion or seclusion or in the bustle of daily activities whose empty torpor and aimless gropings they dissipate and illumine with musings of inspiration, purpose, harmony, light.

The bountiful gift descends, is revealed, opens us to its grandeur, and without expectations, gives us the freedom to be and discover ourselves, with or without itself, whether through awareness or blindness, appreciation or oblivion, gratitude or pride, in the end all different expressions of that unfathomable, endless game of oneness that gives a quality of the unlimited, multiple and infinite to our apparently limited, finite, time-bound self.

A conscious acquaintance with these spiritual realms containing such splendour and beauty irradiates the time-bound which strives for the timeless, keeps my heart afloat in the surrounding ocean of darkness and blindness, in tune with the Light and the Grandeur of my Creator and His reflection in my Soul.

The eternity contained in these fractions of time ignites in me a sense of utmost gratitude, boundless appreciation and love.  

I cannot but equate these instances of eternity as vision, intimacy, communion with the Divinity within, around, above.

All is stillness.
All is silence.
All is being.
All is Beauty, Love, Delight.

(Reykjavík, 08/03/2004)


 

I think every runner has at one point the dream to finish a marathon. In the beginning it is a far fetched dream, but as you start training, it becomes more and more a reality. Then the big day is coming, you are standing at the starting line and …
Hours later you cross the finish line and you are in ecstasy, you did it; a mental barrier has been lifted. Years back, many people thought the marathon runners to be crazy folk, and now you see 30,000 participants in the New York Marathon; marathon running has become something honorable.

After I did my first marathon, I heard about a 700 mile race in New York and I was thrilled about the idea. The problem was, that I thought that I did not have the capacity to do it. But there was a voice inside me that inspired me to try it and I finished it. Gradually I improved my stamina and my mental capacity to run the 3100 mile race. Who would have thought that one day I would run such a distance? With patience and determination and grace, is there anything that is impossible?

The Self-Transcendence 3100 Mile Race, as it is called, is a very special race in many ways and on different levels.
It comprehends:

• the eternity of our progress in life
• the challenge of life
• the endurance we need for our life
• the patience for achieving  something
• the mental poise we need in every situation of our life
• the helpfulness of a positive mind…

What makes this race so special for me is that you can learn so much about yourself in a relatively short time. The distance of 3100 miles has to be done in 52 days, that makes 59.6 miles per day. Everything gets very intense in this race. For 52 days you have to be very focused and endure rain, heat, humidity, injuries and lack of sleep. You are really pushing the limits and you can learn day by day, how to tackle problems in a better way.

Here at this point I have to say that the longer the race is, the fitter your mind has to be. You can create so much energy when your mind is cheerful and poised. When your thoughts are running amok and are becoming negative, you are loosing your energy and you are just seeing negative reasons to continue. At this point meditation is very  helpful, it helps you to control your mind and gives it a positive momentum.

I want to tell an incident from a runner. At a 100km race in Vienna a friend of mine was running and he had done already 70km and he felt quite fresh, when his wife came and told him, “You look tired, you will not be able to finish the race.”
Sure enough five kilometers later he had to quit; the power of the mind.

During the race it is like a roller coaster, you have your ups and downs. Is it not the same as in day to day life? There are days we do not want to go out of the house, and life seems like a barren field. But if you continue you see that even after a very long tunnel you are going to see the light again. You just have to hang in, look for the positive and you will be rewarded. Here in the race you get plenty of opportunity to practice this experience and overcome it again and again. After such a race so many problems seem to be negligible, non-existing.

I simply love the opportunity to get this intense training of problem-solving drills. At the race you can not back off; you are confronted with the problems and you have to find a solution, or it will haunt you the next day and the following day.
In normal life you go and watch a movie or do something else to escape of the problem. Not at the race - "Face the problems and solve them!" is the motto.

You have to start the 3100 miles with your first step and many are to be followed. If you always think of the whole race, your mind can not take it, so you have to break it into smaller portions, laps, hours, days… so it becomes digestable. Similarly, in our life if we think of everything that we have to do, then it looks like an impossible task, so we also have to start with the first task, the second…until everything is done. Is this race not a great teacher for our life?

Sri Chinmoy took a very personal interest in this race and came nearly every day to encourage the runners. Everytime he came to the race I feel my spirit lifted and it gave me additional physical power. 

Al Howie, an ultra-running legend in the 80's who became the first person to finish the 1300 mile race organised by the Sri Chinmoy Marathon Team. He said, "Every time I am coming here and I am running a race, I am leaving as a better person." Yes, that is why I am also running this race - to become a better person.

My name is Devashishu and I live in London. When people ask me what I do, I find it difficult to give a concise answer. Currently I teach English (TEFL), I promote music and sports events, I write plays and perform in a music group, I do security work, I conduct surveys, I assist in the instalment of sundials and water features and on top of this I spend a third of each year travelling the globe – a jack of all trades and master of none. The one activity that has been a consistent part of my life for the past twenty years is the giving of meditation classes, through which I have earned not one penny but have discovered wealth of a different nature. 

In fact, when someone asks you ‘What do you do?’, they are actually asking ‘Who are you?’ They hope that from your response they will have a better knowledge of who you are. But in my experience, we know very little about our own existence, let alone of those around us. I grew up with meditation, and due to its capacity to imbue the journey of self-discovery with tremendous joy and strength, it has remained an integral and constant element in my life. 

I give meditation classes on the authority of my teacher, Sri Chinmoy. I am a seeker, and as part of my spiritual discipline, I have been given the opportunity to share my experiences and my limited knowledge with other seekers. That ‘sharing’ plays a vital role in my own journey of self discovery.  

When we start to meditate we soon become conscious that we are dealing with an infinite source of energy, an infinite intelligence. Through the regular daily practice of simple techniques, we develop our capacity to conduct that energy. This development of capacity is an expansion of consciousness. If you imagine a vast lake then through our meditation we are creating a passage or a river. But for there to be a river and a constant flow of water there needs to be an outlet to the sea. That outlet is vital to the health and vibrancy of the river. In the silence of meditation we discover a profound source of peace, light and bliss and we need to offer these qualities to the world around us. This can be done in a number of ways and for me the meditation classes have provided the perfect way. 

I have been fortunate to see many countries and to date I have given classes in the UK, Ireland, France, Austria, the Czech and Slovak republics, Poland, Greece, Romania, Russia, the Ukraine, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Cambodia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Japan, the Bahamas, Brazil, Mexico, Canada and the United States. 

Despite what we see and hear on our daily news programmes, I have discovered a world of astounding beauty. In each and every place I was greeted with the warmth and hospitality that I have come to know as the universal hallmark of the human heart. The ideals of compassion and friendship are valued by the majority of the people with whom we share this planet. There are many cultures, races, religions and political viewpoints, and in spirituality we find a common ground that far transcends the illusion of separation and limitation. In all human beings there is a profound thirst for satisfaction and it is in meditation that we can find a true and fulfilling way to slake this thirst. 

I am very grateful for the opportunity to give meditation classes. When I am standing before a class I feel the tangible joy and satisfaction of my teacher and am reminded that I am, indeed, the eternal student.

- Devashishu Torpy

Video on Meditation