Question: What was the worst and also the best experience you ever had while running?

Sri Chinmoy: My latest experience, when I ran ten miles, was absolutely the worst. You can call it a divine curse. During my entire athletic career, which lasted eighteen or nineteen years in India, I never, never had such a deplorable experience, from the beginning to the end. I never had such unbearable knee trouble! And life-energy, if there is such a thing in God’s creation, deserted my legs totally! So that was the worst experience in my entire athletic career.

The best experience I had while I was in India. It was when I ran a relay race. There were four teams, and my team was last. All the other teams were ahead. One of those teams was second best in the ashram at that time, and the ashram’s second best runner was on that team. He and I were the last runners, since the best runners are supposed to be last in a relay. The second best runner got the baton and started running. He was at least ten metres ahead of me, and I still hadn’t received the baton. My friends were literally crying, and my enemies were dancing. But when I got the baton, out of the blue a special burst of energy came. I caught up with my friend in forty metres, and then I went several metres ahead of him. Normally, when we are racing, he will be only two or three or at most, four metres behind me. But on that day, after getting a ten metre head start, he lost to me by seven or eight metres. So that was the best, or you can say, the most joyful experience. The other three members of my team lifted me up on their shoulders and ran into the crowd with me. That is a good experience I won’t forget.

From the spiritual point of view, some of my best experiences I had while I was doing the pole vault. I used to clear a good height; otherwise, I could not have won the decathlon. But my style was horrible. After leaving the ground, when I was at the top of my jump, for a fleeting second I used to talk to spiritual Masters. We used to chat. It was just a momentary experience. And then, when I fell — oh God! Because of my bad style my arms were on this side, my legs on that side and my head somewhere else. My sisters and my aunt used to keep their eyes closed as soon as I began my jump. They didn’t want to see how helpless a member of their family was at that time. But naturally it was a great, great, great, very great experience to talk to these spiritual Masters.

Absolutely the best experience that I have had from the spiritual point of view, I have told many times. It was when I collapsed totally after running four hundred metres and my soul left the body. It went up quite high, like a balloon. But Mother Kali grabbed the soul and put it back into my body. After that, for three days and three nights continuously I talked to her. I could not move an inch, but she appeared at one particular corner of my room and I spoke to her. It is because of her that you people can now see me here in the physical. So, from the spiritual point of view, that was my best experience.