Self-Transcendence 3100 Mile Race

“I get some peace, joy and I offer my gratitude to Sri Chinmoy.  After that I get some more energy, and I can run faster, faster, and faster.” There are times in most of our day to day lives when it appears that our world increasingly becomes more complex and confusing.  There is a part of us inside that yearns for peace, sweetness, and simplicity.  But despite our best intentions, not to take the tangled path we quite often do, and end up in a place where peace is even further away. Since 2012 Vasu has been coming to the 3100 mile race each year and been using the hard half mile loop to strip away the extraneous parts of himself that do not give him joy or fulfillment.  His life here is all about simplicity, devotion, and an incredible amount of dedicated hard work. Continue

Earlier in the morning I asked Ananda-Lahari if he had any stories he might like to share.  I thought he might recall some memorable experience from the many years he has run the race.  Never once thinking he would come up with proof of the existence of the almighty. “On one hand it was really funny and on the other it was really touching.  It is a really nice story for me. One day Kodanda was riding his bicycle next to me during the race a few years ago.  He was holding in his hand a piece of watermelon.  He was looking at it and saying, if this is not proof that God exists than what else.” “How can such a thing be created from dirt.  Look at its beauty.  You could feel and you could see that these were not just words.  He was really feeling and appreciating this creation of God that came from dirt.” Continue