This year marked the 20th anniversary of the completion of Twenty-Seven Thousand Aspiration Plants, the second of Sri Chinmoy’s three epic poetry series. Sri Chinmoy wrote the first poem on July 10, 1983 - just one week after completing the first series, Ten Thousand Flower-Flames - and completed the last poem in the series 15 years later. The series was published in 270 volumes containing 100 poems each.

Sri Chinmoy announced his vision of 27,000 poems even before he had completed his Flower-Flames series, during a trip with his students to Japan in December 1982. The first volume was published in time for Sri Chinmoy’s birthday in August 1983, and he gave the book out as a gift to all of his students attending his birthday celebrations, asking them to try to to feel the poems inside their hearts. Sri Chinmoy finished the final poem on 24 January 1998 while on his annual Christmas vacation with his students - at the time they were in Cancun, Mexico. To mark this achievement, he invited his students who were present to form groups to chant the mantra Supreme 27,000 times.

Sri Chinmoy would always find ways to make his students part and parcel of whatever he was doing. and to claim his achievements as their own. At the time, many of his students around the world came up with fun and spontaneous celebrations to mark their teacher’s achievement. For example, in Canada, his students created a huge red and white Canadian flag made from 27,000 snowballs on a prominent hill near the Parliament Buildings. A Reuters cameraman happened to walk by and took a photo of the flag which ended up appearing in newspapers across Canada the next day. In New Zealand, Sri Chinmoy suggested to his students there that they shake 27,000 people’s hands, giving each of these people a card of poems and a sweet. In the words of Jogyata Dallas, one of the organisers: “This unique challenge quite consumed us for some time. We visited school assemblies, announcing a handshaking-record attempt to honour our Guru’s achievement; stood at escalators in shopping malls with a microphone to introduce ourselves, and armed with a hand-held manual counter to accurately record numbers; visited universities and busy streets; toured towns, distributed 27,000 sweets and gave away 27,000 large cards – each carrying an explanation and a sample sprinkling of 27 poems, like this one:”

If you want to remain always happy,
Always perfect and always fulfilled,
Then always keep inside your heart
A pocketful of sweet dreams.

“Everything about this unusual commemoration charmed people a lot, and left 27,000 spirit-awakening, heart-warming mementos with their 27 inspirational poems scattered throughout this peace-hungry world.”

This year, Sri Chinmoy ’s students held various commemorations to mark the 20th anniversary of the poems’ completion in 1998. At the time, many of his students were very involved in proofreading and printing the books, and they vividly recalled what powerful meditative and transformative experiences they had working with such vast numbers of poems.

The Sri Chinmoy 3100 Mile Self-Transcendence Race is the world's longest certified footrace - however, the race is about much more than records and the outer competition. It is seen by the runners and crew to be more like a pilgrimage - an opportunity to transcend oneself and experience a reality of pushing the body and mind beyond their usual limits. This years race featured entrants from Russia, Israel, Austria, Bulgaria, Slovakia, Scotland and the USA.

Taking just under 45 days, Vasu Duzhiy was crowned the winner of the 2018 Sri Chinmoy Self-Transcendence 3100 Mile Race. It was his seventh straight finish, and the third time he was the overall winner. The epic feat involved averaging 69.4 miles (111.693 km) per day.

The quiet-spoken Russian, who works as a foreman in a lumber company when not running, spoke at the finish about how winning the race is just one aspect of a much bigger picture.

“Everybody who finishes the race is the winner.  I think the race is a game of the Supreme, and we just play our roles.  It makes no difference if you win or you are second or last.  It is just a game that you need to play your own role...
If by running here we are able to inspire others to go to to try new things and go to their limits. To do something in their own life.  To be a better citizen of the world.”

Vasu Duzihy 1

The runners of the 3100-mile race have to contend with the hot and humid New York weather. In addition, they have to face the challenge of running on hard surfaces for up to 18 hours a day for 52 consecutive days. At this race, there is no prize money or commercial presence. Occasionally, some outside media do visit the race, but mostly it involves long days of running around a modest and diverse borough of Queens.

Outwardly, there is little reward for sacrificing two months of your year to come to this concrete block in New York. But, hidden behind the modest outer appearances, there is an inner pull which attracts runners to keep coming back.

Second to finish the race was first-time entrant Kobi Oren from Israel. At the finish line, he explained that during the race he felt the inner necessity to see the race more as a pilgrimage and less as a competitive event. By changing his attitude to the race, he feels he was able to enjoy a very profound experience.

"If it is just to run 1,000 miles three times more then it is worth nothing.  So I thought to myself, I want to do something else.  So when I decided to change after I had completed my first 1,000 miles.  Which I did in a record time of 13 days I decided I had to live differently.  Then came the change.”

Kobi Oren 2

While it may be hard to comprehend the inner and outer experience of immersing yourself in such an all-encompassing race, the runners suggest that being cut off from the stressful aspects of ordinary life and becoming dedicated to the goal of self-transcendence on the physical, mental and spiritual planes helps to bring about a very different inner reality.

“For me, it is almost like connecting to a different world.  You become detached from all that you have experienced before.  You become connected to a new world, a new experience.”

Sopan Tsekov 3
2-time finisher from Bulgaria

The 3100 Mile Race was founded by Sri Chinmoy in 1997, evolving out of the Sri Chinmoy Marathon Team's pioneering promotion of multi-day distance events. Sri Chinmoy was a great believer in the physical and spiritual benefits of running, and would come to the 3100 Mile Race course every day to offer encouragement and support to the runners. Sri Chinmoy saw this striving for self-transcendence as process which could give a real sense of satisfaction. As Sopan remembers:

“12 years ago when I completed my 2nd race here in 2006, he (Sri Chinmoy) was giving an interview to a journalist of a local TV station.  It was four hours before my finish and, as I was running by, I heard Sri Chinmoy saying, 'we can be truly happy only when we constantly transcend ourselves, both inwardly and outwardly.'”

Sopan Tsekov

Every year, some of the runners will not be able to quite finish the distance within the allotted time frame of 52 days. The first past of the race took place during an intense heat wave, which challenged even the most veteran runners. Kaneenika Janakova from Slovakia is the women's course record holder, winning the female race in 2017 with a time of 48 days+14:24:10. However, in this year's race, physical difficulties mid-race caused her to slip, and at one point she was over 40 miles behind the daily average needed to finish the race. However, like the other runners, she approached this philosophically and saw it as a challenge to overcome.

“What I am observing is that my miles are not what they should be to finish the race.  But just the same I feel that the more the race is happening, the more I want to continue.”

Kaneenika Janakova 
(after 3 weeks) 4

Over the past few weeks, she has steadily recaptured the lost ground and now seems likely to finish on the last day.

William Sichel hails from a tiny island in the Orkney Islands, Scotland with weather and conditions almost the complete opposite to a humid New York summer. At 64 years old, he is the oldest person in the race (in 2014, he became the oldest finisher at 60 years old).

He is also just a few miles off the finishing pace but is appreciating the opportunity of this unique race - which gives such a range of emotions and feelings - all within the same day.

“This is all such an unusual experience, in every possible sense.  Both athletically, physically, and mentally.  It is such an unusual thing to do.  There are only a handful of people in the whole world that have ever done this.”

“But those are the experiences that you take with you to the grave.  But you have to do them to get the benefit that they will always give back to you.”

William Sichel 5

Related

• 3100 Mile Home page
• The 3100 Mile Race in the Media

Photos

• Jowan - Spontaneous Beauty

Quotes from the runners

- Utpal's blog - Perfection Journey

• 1. Vasu's Finish at Perfection Journey
• 2. Experience every moment at Perfection Journey
• 3. Constant Transcendence at Perfection Journey
• 4. My Dream at Perfection Journey
• 5. Sometimes I am in Heaven - at Perfection Journey

Petra Kasperova from the Czech Republic took first place in the 2018 Sri Chinmoy Six Day Race in New York this April - finishing with a total of 370 miles, at only her second attempt at running a multi-day event. Petra is a meditation student of Sri Chinmoy, who felt that sports and meditation could go hand in hand as part of a fulfilling life. As well as offering free meditation classes and concerts around the world, Sri Chinmoy's students also organise athletic events, and have become especially well known for organising ultramarathon races such as the 6 day race that Petra won.

On the surface, these races are quite gruelling and the runner has to overcome many obstacles. However, as Petra explains, the key for her is just to stay happy.

"I try to go with the flow and do what gives me joy. Because it is about joy! Do not underestimate the power of joy. I mean, suffering and pain is part of it, but overlooking it all should be your fulfilled, joyful you."

Participants in these races are often out on the course for many hours at a time, and so learning to deal with having so much time on your hands is essential. For Petra, the practise of meditation is key:

"(Meditation) has been part of my life since 2010. It has transformed my life and I cannot imagine my life without it. It is something very natural, something that we all can do if we try to stop the constant flow of thoughts flooding our minds. It takes practise, patience, perseverance but it is 100% worth it."

"The techniques can change from race to race and even during a race. I like to repeat mantras, qualities and prayers...I try not to think at all, just to be focused. Repeating qualities like gratitude seem to keep my mind clear and make me more aware of what is going on inside of me and also outside of me...

I love identifying myself with the beauty and vastness of nature. I get a lot of inspiration and joy from Mother Nature. I also like to sing songs. I find that when the mind is focused, not roaming about thinking and daydreaming, I feel a constant flow of energy flowing in and through me, my intuition seems to work better, I am more present in the here and now and I feel more conscious of what I am doing and why."

Of course, one big question is why people would want to do these kinds of races. For Petra, these races are part of a quest got greater self-discovery and to be a better person. Her teacher, Sri Chinmoy loved the idea of self-transcendence - that one could get tremendous joy and fulfilment by going beyond their percieved limitations. Petra describes running as part and parcel of our spiritual path... Running is a symbol of self-transcendence, physical fitness, discipline, self-giving... which are all pillars of Sri Chinmoy's path."

"I find that running has made me stronger, not just physically but on many different levels. It is always when we go outside our comfort zones, outside what we think is possible, when we transcend ourselves in any field of life (not just running), that's the time where we need to dig deep, and when we do, we get glimpses of who we truly are and who we really want to be – for a happy self and a happy world."

Petra was recently featured in a new inspirational book 'Superhuman' by Rowan Hooper. The book highlights a range of people who have achieved notable features of self-transcendence. Hooper examines the inner strength, discipline and motivation of these different individuals who have achieved extraordinary things.

Related

• Petra's Victory in the Six-Day Race 2018 at Run and Become
• Six-Day Race at Sri Chinmoy Races
• Superhuman by Rowan Hooper at Amazon

Photos: Utpal Marshall. Perfection Journey (Blog on finish of 2018 race)

Recently Oneness-Dream, an international group of male acapella singers, visited the Czech Republic where they performed the songs of Sri Chinmoy at various sacred sites. They have been touring different countries with acapella performances since 2011, allowing the purity, simplicity and soulfulness of Sri Chinmoy's songs to touch the heart of the audience.

(Sample song from a concert in Croatia, 2015)

The singers came from England, Scotland, Australia, Germany, Serbia, Holland, France and of course the Czech Republic. 

Oneness-Dream were founded in 2011 and have recorded four albums. The singers are drawn from different Sri Chinmoy Centres around the world.

Sri Chinmoy composed over 22,000 songs - expressing a range of spiritual emotions and devotional sentiments.

“Soulful music is the music that wants to eventually transform our consciousness. It carries us into the Universal Consciousness and makes us feel that we are in tune with the highest, with the deepest, with the farthest.”

– Sri Chinmoy1

External links

• Oneness-Dream at Radio Sri Chinmoy

Photos: Kedar

• 1. Sri Chinmoy, God the Supreme Musician, Sri Chinmoy Lighthouse, 1974

Sri Chinmoy asked his students from different Centre to meet together frequently for meditation, spiritual activities and fun that he called Joy-Days. Very often, these happen over a p

On one such recent weekend in Co Wicklow, Ireland, students of Sri Chinmoy from Ireland and England came together. As part of the weekend, different members engaged in a spontaneous creativity project given the simple question 'If I were a book, what would my title be?'. Ambarish from the Dublin Centre collected all of these questions and made some charming videos, which you can see below:

Whatever we do in life — whether we are praying, talking to our friends or participating in sports — we are trying to receive joy at every moment. But joy we can have only when we have a peaceful life. We are all longing for joy, and joy abides only in peace. At every moment we are given the opportunity to feel peace in the depths of our heart on the strength of our prayer-life and our meditation-life.

Sri Chinmoy 1

• 1. Sri Chinmoy, Aspiration-body, illumination-soul, part 2, Agni Press, 1993

 Perfect Health is a new book which compiles the writings of Sri Chinmoy on the subject of health.

Perfect Health looks at the important subject of health from a spiritual perspective. In particular, Sri Chinmoy mentions how our state of mind can have an influence on our body and mental health. This book includes a question and answer section, where Sri Chinmoy advises on practical steps that readers can take to improve their overall health and well-being

Topics include

• How to deal with stress and depression.
• The link between health and karma.
• How to maintain healthy weight.
• How to get the best night’s sleep.

Link between health and meditation.

This book will be relevant to anyone who is interested in a spiritual perspective on life and good health. It gives an insight into how we can cultivate our life energy, peace of mind and live more in harmony with our body, environment. Sri Chinmoy's book will inspire us to gain more satisfaction from looking after and appreciating our health. 

“It is one thing to have good health and another thing to deliberately maintain good health. Unless you are consciously keeping good health, at any moment you may be attacked by some forces. It is like having a large amount of money without knowing about it. If you are not conscious of it, you may easily lose it.”1

Related

• Seeking Perfect Health at Blue Beyond Books

• 1. Sri Chinmoy, The outer running and the inner running, Agni Press, 1984