The outer running and the inner running

Part I — Talks and aphorisms

The outer running and the inner running

The outer running is a burning desire to achieve everything that we see here on earth. The inner running is a climbing aspiration to receive from Above a vast compassion-sky and to give from below a tiny gratitude-flame.

The outer running is an extraordinary success on the mountain-summit. The inner running is an exemplary progress along Eternity's sunlit Road. Success is the ready and immediate acceptance of the challenges from difficulties untold. Progress is the soulful and grateful acceptance of the blessingful joy from prosperities unfathomed.

The outer runner and the inner runner: two aspects of the seeker-runner. The outer runner does; therefore, he succeeds. The inner runner becomes; therefore, he proceeds.

When he succeeds, the seeker-runner gets a new name: glorification. When he proceeds, the seeker-runner gets a new name: illumination.

The seeker-runner's glorification is a beautiful flower that charms and inspires his entire life. The seeker-runner's illumination is a fruitful tree that shelters and nourishes his entire earthly existence.

The outer running is a colossal satisfaction, although at times it may be quite oblivious to the existence-reality of a quiet perfection. The inner running is a perpetual satisfaction in and through a blossoming perfection.

The seeker-runner has a shadowless dream of his full realisation-day in his outer running. The seeker-runner has a sleepless vision of his God's full Manifestation-Hour in his inner running.

The outer runner challenges the Himalayan pride of impossibility. The inner runner smilingly arranges a feast not only with impossibility but also with Immortality.

The outer runner runs through the golden gate and arrives at the sound-kingdom. The inner runner enters into the unique palace, runs up to its highest floor and places himself at the very Feet of the Silence-King.

A great champion

A great champion is he who participates in all the races.

A great champion is he who does not care for the results of the races — whether he is first or last or in between. He races just to get joy and give joy to the observers.

A great champion is he who transcends his own previous records.

A great champion is he who maintains his standard.

A great champion is he who remains happy even when he cannot maintain his standard.

A great champion is he who has established his inseparable oneness with the winner and the loser alike.

A great champion is he who, owing to the advancement of years, retires from racing or terminates his career happily and cheerfully.

A great champion is he who longs to see the fulfilment of his dreams — if not through himself, then in and through others. It does not even have to be in and through his own dear ones; it can be in and through any human being on earth. If someone who could not manifest his own dreams is extremely happy when he sees his vision being manifested into reality through somebody else, then he is a really great champion.

A great champion is he who meditates on his Inner Pilot for the fulfilment of His Will before the race, during the race and after the race.

A great champion is he who sees and feels that he is a mere instrument of his Inner Pilot and that his Inner Pilot is racing in and through him, according to his own capacity of receptivity.

3.

The inner runner

When we run in the outer world, we have only a few competitors, and the competition will last for only a few hours. But in the inner world we have many competitors, and it may take a long time to defeat them. Our competitors in the inner world are fear, doubt, anxiety, depression, worry and similar forces that are all the time trying to rob us of our joy. If yesterday we defeated them, today they will return to challenge us again. Inwardly we may not be prepared for the challenge, but with our little ego we say: "All right, I accept your challenge." Then what happens? Fear comes and runs ahead of us, while doubt holds our legs and jealousy pulls us backwards. If they were fair competitors, they would agree to run properly, but they don't. So even before we start, anxiety comes and strangles us.

If one day we are defeated, we should not feel that we are lost. We must always take failure as an experience. We should not take it as a finished product or as the culmination of an experience, but as part of an experience. If we think that failure is the end of our experience, then we are finished. In a long race, a runner may start out very slowly, and then gradually increase his speed until he reaches the goal. But if he thinks that because his start was slow he will never be able to reach his destination, then he is making a deplorable mistake. So I always say to take failure as an experience that is just beginning.

Unfortunately, after running a little, some people become tired and want to take rest. But in the spiritual life there is no rest. Once we have started to run, we cannot stop. If we grow tired and stop running, then ignorance will just pull us backwards. The forces of ignorance will attack us mercilessly and pull us back into the sea of ignorance.

Since time immemorial, we have been running side by side with ignorance. But now that we have entered into the spiritual life, we are trying to run fast, faster, fastest. Previously we identified with ignorance-night. Now that we are awakened, we are trying consciously to identify ourselves with wisdom-light. If we can become one with wisdom-light, we will assuredly reach our destined Goal -- the ever-illumining and ever-fulfilling Beyond.

5.

Running and the life-game

In the life-game, each soul is running consciously or unconsciously towards the goal of inner perfection. There is not a single individual who has not left the starting point. Now, one individual may be behind another in the Godward race, but all are making progress and running towards the same goal.

When you enter into the spiritual life, it means that you have consciously begun your inner journey. If you are running consciously, then naturally you will reach the goal sooner than those who are still asleep. There are many reasons why you may be inspired to consciously run towards the goal. You may be inspired to run towards the goal because you see so many others who are also running, and this makes you feel that the goal has something to offer. Again, you may want to run towards the goal because you yourself have an intense inner cry. Your inner cry for truth and light and love has increased; so you are running towards the goal. Why is it that in you the inner cry has increased, whereas others are still fast asleep? It is because God has inspired you. It is not that you just come out of your house and decide to run. No, something within you, an inner urge, inspires you to go out and run. And who has given you that inner urge if not our Beloved Supreme?

Spirituality is a one-way road that leads you to your goal. Once you have embarked on your journey, you can't go back. The starting point is gone. Once evolution starts on any plane, you can't go back to the initial point.

If you are consciously running towards the goal, then naturally you want to get there sooner than the soonest. If you want to run fast, faster, fastest, then you have to simplify your outer life, your life of confusion, your life of desire, your life of anxiety and worry. At the same time, you have to intensify your inner life, your life of aspiration, your life of dedication and illumination.

Sometimes when you see your goal in front of you, you think that you should be able to reach it at once, although you may be a little tired. You are tired because your capacity is limited. Nevertheless, your mind wants to just grab the goal. But there is a limit to how fast you can go. Like a runner, you must be careful not to fall just before you reach the finishing line.

7.

We run, we become

In the spiritual life, speed is of paramount importance. In the outer world, speed is founded mostly upon inspiration. In the inner world, speed is founded mostly upon aspiration.

Inspiration helps us run — far, farther, farthest. It helps us run the length and breadth of the world. Aspiration helps us become — fast, faster, fastest — the chosen instrument of our Beloved Supreme.

Inspiration tells us to look around and thus feel and see boundless light, energy and power. Aspiration tells us to dive deep within and enjoy boundless inner nectar and delight.

Inspiration tells us to claim and proclaim our own divinity, which is our birthright. Aspiration tells us to feel and realise once and for all that we are exact prototypes of our Beloved Supreme and thus we can be as great, as good, as divine and as perfect as He is.

Inspiration tells us to become our true selves. Aspiration tells us to become God Himself.

Inspiration tells us to feel what we soulfully have: God's Love, God's Compassion, God's Beauty and God's Peace in infinite measure. Aspiration tells us to feel at every moment that we are of the Source and for the Source. We are of our Beloved Supreme the One and we are for our Beloved Supreme the many. Him to fulfil, Him to manifest, Him to satisfy unconditionally in His own Way is the reason we have taken human birth.

9.

When the New Year dawns

When the New Year dawns, we have to make ourselves conscious of the fact that we have to transcend ourselves this year. We have to go beyond our present capacity, beyond our present achievement. When we have that kind of firm determination, God showers His choicest Blessings upon us.

God always wants us to move ahead; He does not want us to look back. We know that while a runner is running fast, if he looks back, he will stumble. Similarly, if we are constantly looking behind at the year that we are leaving aside, we will think of our sorrow, misery, frustration, failure and so forth. But if we look forward, we will see hope dawning deep within us. Every day in this New Year is equally important. Suppose the runner has to run one hundred metres to reach the goal. After covering twenty metres at top speed, he feels that since he is running so fast, he is going to reach the goal in a second. So, relaxation comes. But once the starter has fired the gun, if the runner from the beginning to the end maintains top speed, then only is he able to win the race. Or, let us say, only then will he really be pleased with his speed, proud of his speed.

When we aspire to achieve a life-goal, we progress gradually. But during this gradual process, we have to maintain the same type of aspiration. Suppose a runner is going to run five miles. When the starter fires the gun, the runner is inspired and he begins running very fast. But after two or three miles, he becomes very tired. Running becomes tedious and difficult. If the runner gives up running just because he is tired and because his inspiration is gone, he does not reach his goal. But if he continues running, he will finally reach the goal. Then he will definitely feel that it was worth the struggle and suffering of the body.

11.

The whole man

Present-day human life, unfortunately, is a far cry from perfection for satisfaction and satisfaction in perfection. Indeed, it offers us a most deplorable picture. Man the body is ignorance. Man the vital is arrogance. Man the mind is doubt. Man the heart is insecurity. But there is also man the soul. The soul, which is inside the body yet far beyond the earth-bound body-consciousness, is the direct representative of our Inner Pilot. Man the soul is aspiration-flight. And finally, man the God is Satisfaction-Delight.

All athletes, without fail, are potentially great and good. A great athlete is a little man tirelessly inspired. A good athlete is a simple life sleeplessly awakened. The great athlete in us seeks excellence. The good athlete in us seeks transcendence. Excellence quite often arrives at a dead end. Transcendence always reaches an ever-new beginning and an ever-new dawn. Excellence is success and transcendence is progress. The athlete in us is the discoverer of success and the inventor of progress. The outer world is success-thirst. The inner world is progress-hunger.

What about the poor and ill-fated athlete in us? O poor, ill-fated athlete, your prayer will one day change your attitude towards God's Will. Your ultimate oneness with God's Will will give you infinitely more happiness than the supremely successful athlete can ever hope to achieve.

There are two worlds: the outer world and the inner world. Even so, there are two competitions: the outer competition and the inner competition. The outer competition begins and ends. The inner competition has a beginningless start and an endless finish. In the outer competition, we compete with the rest of the world. In the inner competition, we compete with our fear, doubt, anxiety, worry and so forth. In the inner competition, we compete with our ignorance of millennia.

Just because time and again we have had deplorable defeats and failures, we must not retire from the athletic world. No, only we have to aspire more soulfully, more devotedly and more unreservedly. We are the connecting link between our aspiration and our inspiration. Aspiration we are; inspiration we offer.

Our aspiration-longing is our ultimate becoming. Because we long for something, eventually we become that thing. Our longing is our self-transcendence. Transcendence will always lead us far beyond the domain of cancerous fear and poisonous doubt. Freed from fear, we become great. Freed from doubt, we become good. Greatness influences the outer man. Goodness inspires the inner man. Greatness, no doubt, eventually triumphs; but goodness eternally reigns supreme in the heart of aspiring mankind. Greatness haughtily and incorrectly says, "I have everything. I am everything." Goodness humbly and soulfully says, "My Beloved Lord Supreme is all Compassion to me. Out of His infinite Bounty, at His choice Hour, He will grant me what He has and what He is."

Let us all aspire. To aspire is to widen our horizons. Our eternal journey's eternal cry is man the God. Our infinite Goal's infinite Smile is God the man. Let us share this unparalleled wisdom with the rest of the world and thus liberate bondage, radiate love, lengthen peace and strengthen oneness. Oneness manifests fulness, and fulness is the whole man.

Since we are primarily dealing with the athletic world, let us go to its source: the Olympics. The Olympics are an unprecedented, auspicious, glorious and precious Greece-vision. And what is this vision? This vision is nothing other than world-happiness. Happiness is love bubbling forth into the newness and fulness of true life, illumining life and fulfilling life.

The Olympics tower above all man-made differences. They are infinitely bigger than race. They are eternally brighter than colour. They are supremely better than religion. They are not only constantly one with the evolution-hunger of aspiring mankind but are also humanity's satisfaction-meal and perfection-nourishment.

13.

Who is the winner?

Who is the winner? Not he who wins the race but he who loves to run sleeplessly and breathlessly with God the Supreme Runner.

Who is the winner? Not he whose glory we sing but he who embodies God's Compassion-Light in abundant measure.

15.

Yes, He does.

Part II — Questions and answers on running

Question: Why is it so difficult to progress or excel in sports?

Question: Is there a limit to any record?

For God, this is quite natural, but we call it a miracle. If we feel that something is a miracle, then we have more faith than if we feel something is natural. At night the flowers are closed, and in the morning all of a sudden the petals open. Because we are seeing it every day, we feel it is natural. We go to sleep at night and are totally unconscious. The following day we get up, and we feel it is perfectly natural. Again, one day we don't get up, and then it becomes unnatural; we call it death. But if we take it from another angle, everything is a miracle. After four or five hours of sleeping, all of a sudden we get up, like the flower opening its petals. Everything that we experience, we can take as a miracle. Is there anything that is not a miracle in life?

Question: How much importance should we give to physical exercise in comparison to our regular work?

Question: How do you feel about bicycle training to improve running?

Question: What is a good exercise to strengthen the legs when they get tired from standing all day?

Question: If one is in generally good health, what would cause pain and aches in the body?

Question: Why do we get injuries for no apparent reason?

Again, sometimes in the inner world or in the thought-world you have done something wrong, and this can also cause an injury. Thought can be more destructive than a hydrogen bomb. Wrong thoughts, which are so destructive, may come and attack you, especially your physical, which is in ignorance most of the time. The wrong forces find it very easy to attack the plane which is fast asleep, because they will encounter no opposition there.

Question: Always when I become very interested in the physical and playing sports, I injure myself to the point where I have to stop completely. Why does this happen?

Question: How can we spiritually heal injuries?

Again, you can increase your capacity to tolerate pain. Now you have pain, let us say, but still you run; whereas if you had had the same kind of pain four years ago perhaps you would not have been able to run. Again, sometimes the pain is unbearable and it is absolutely impossible to run. Then what can you do? But if it is bearable, try to run according to your own capacity. At that time, don't think of how fast this person or that person is running. Just go according to your own capacity and remain cheerful. All the time think that you are running only against yourself.

Question: How do you run through inner pain?

If you have inner pain, if you are jealous of someone or are in an undivine consciousness, then the outer running will actually help you. When you are running and perspiring, when you are struggling, at that time the inner pain goes away to some extent. Otherwise, if because you are depressed you don't go out to run, then you are just a fool.

Question: When I run I sometimes get a slight knee pain. Should I stop running at that time?

Question: Sometimes I feel pain in my foot, and I start worrying that if I keep running, I might get a stress fracture. This happens even if the pain is not that bad and I know that probably nothing will happen.

Question: Should we run even when we are extremely tired?

So we have to be sincere to ourselves. If we really feel extremely tired, then we should not run. But we have to make sure that it is not our lethargic mind, our lethargic vital or our lethargic physical consciousness that is making us feel that we are extremely tired. This kind of tricky cleverness we have to conquer.

Question: How can I go faster? I find it so uninspiring to run slowly.

In your case, you do not have to look very far. Your husband runs much faster than you do. You have seen him running fast many times, so you can identify your legs with his. The next time you go running, as soon as you start, feel that you have borrowed his legs and from then on, whenever you want to run, feel that you will be able to use his legs.

Question: Recently, in a mile race, I ran the first two quarters on my pace, but in the third quarter my concentration went.

Question: If someone is near me, I find it easier to maintain the speed I want to maintain. But if no one is in front of me, I find it difficult to concentrate on speed.

Question: Do people really need more sleep when they are training for athletics?

Question: What time of day is best to run?

Question: How do you keep your enthusiasm when you start to get tired and exhausted during running?

While running, do not think of yourself as twenty-five or thirty years old. Only think of yourself as being six or seven years old. At the age of six or seven, a child does not sit; he just runs here and there. So imagine the enthusiasm of a young child and identify yourself not with the child but with the source of his enthusiasm. This is one way.

Another secret way, if you are running long distance, is to identify yourself with ten or even twenty runners who are ahead of you. Only imagine the way they are breathing in and breathing out. Then, while you are inhaling, feel that you are breathing in their own breath and that the energy of the twenty runners is entering into you. Then, while you are exhaling, feel that all twenty runners are breathing out your tiredness and lack of enthusiasm.

Question: How would you describe it when someone "hits the wall" during a marathon?

Question: Why is a short run sometimes less comfortable than a long run?

Question: If your goal is to run fifty miles per week, is it better to run seven miles a day or to vary the distance?

Question: Sometimes for days on end I don't feel like running, even though I know it is good for me. How can I overcome this reluctance?

Question: Sometimes when I start to run I get angry, even furious.

Question: Sometimes I feel like going out for a run, but something inside holds me back. It's like an inner battle going on. Yet when I do run I feel very happy.

Unfortunately, it does not happen this way. The soul will go first, but the heart will not be there. Then with greatest difficulty, the soul will run to find where the heart is hiding. Meanwhile, the mind becomes rebellious and revolts. It says, "No, I won't go behind you." Then the vital becomes absolutely stubborn. It says, "No, I am not going at all!"

What will the body do? The poor body wants to go, but it is not getting any inspiration because the vital and mind are not supporting it. The body wants to go with the soul, so that the outer running will go along with the inner running. But the body sees that the mind does not want to go, the vital does not want to go and the heart does not want to go. Then the body starts doubting if it is doing the right thing. The body says, "If I am doing the right thing in following the soul, then how is it that the heart and the mind, my elder brothers, are not doing it? Perhaps I am not doing the right thing. Perhaps the soul is not telling me the right thing."

If the soul says to pray and meditate, it will be very easy for the body to believe. That is because as soon as we say 'soul', we think of God. We think that inside the soul is God, or that inside God is the soul; the soul and God go together. God has given the message of the inner and outer running to the soul. Now the soul is trying to bring the younger members — the heart, mind, vital and body — along with it. But when the heart, mind and vital do not join with the soul, then suspicion starts in the physical consciousness.

Question: How can we sustain enthusiasm and freshness in our training and keep it from becoming tedious and boring?

Another way to sustain freshness and enthusiasm in our training is to have a sense of a clear, meaningful and fruitful goal. If we keep in mind this meaningful and fruitful goal, then enthusiasm and freshness will automatically dawn. If we value the goal, then the goal itself will give us enthusiasm and freshness. We are not aware of our goal's conscious eagerness to help us reach it. We think that the goal that is ahead of us is indifferent to us. If we can come to it, well and good; if we cannot come to it, the goal is not going to come to us. We feel that the goal is something stationary. But it is not like that. In the case of a spiritual seeker, the goal is always progressive and this progressive goal is more than eager to help us.

Question: I find that sometimes I go through a period of making very good progress in running: increasing my mileage, feeling great, getting good speed. And then after some time everything falls apart and my running goes downhill.

While you are in this deplorable condition, try to think of the summit which you reached two or three weeks earlier, and try to remember the joy that you felt. Then you will see that the joy you got from your previous achievements will carry you through, and very soon you will not only reach but transcend your previous height. You are not fooling yourself; you are only bringing happiness into your system, and this happiness is confidence. Again, confidence itself is happiness. Try to feel that your problem is just a small obstacle, a hurdle that you will soon overcome. Then you will be able to diminish the frustration that you now feel. Once you diminish your frustration, again in a week or so you will be able to regain your capacity. But if you maintain or increase your frustration, then the problem will linger. It may go on for two or three weeks.

Question: Some days I run much better and faster than others. How can I remain cheerful about my running on days when I cannot run my fastest?

Question: How careful should I be about choosing a running coach? What qualities should I look for?

We unconsciously try to emulate people. Many, many students ruin their lives when they are learning something from their teachers. A teacher may be good in his specific field, but when students become enamoured of the teacher's capacities and the teacher is not spiritual in the vast sense of the term, then unconsciously the students suffer. They lose their ideals. That is why very often I do not advise my students to take special instruction.

You have to be very careful and determine how much you can learn from a teacher without affecting your spiritual life. If you are very good in the spiritual life and start learning from a coach who is not very spiritual, even though you may start shining in your outer running, your life may be adversely affected. It may happen that your goal in life becomes totally different and you start to ignore your spiritual life. That would be a bad mistake. But again, you may be lucky enough to get a good coach. He does not have to be a disciple of a spiritual Master — far from it. He may be a spiritual person and not even be aware of his spirituality. There are many like that. If he has goodness, kindness, a clear mind and a sympathetic heart, then he is more than spiritual.

Question: I find that during races my aspiration varies a lot, sometimes going up, sometimes going down. Is there any way that I can maintain my aspiration throughout the whole race?

But before you start, if you can convince yourself that you are a divine observer and that somebody else is running in you, through you and for you, then fear, doubt, frustration, anxiety and other negative forces will not be able to assail your mind. Once these thoughts occupy the mind, they try to enter into the vital and then into the physical. Once they enter into the physical, they create tension, and this makes you lose all your power of concentration. But if you feel that you are not the runner, if you feel that you are observing the race from the beginning to the end, then there will be no tension, and these forces will not attack you. This is the only way to overcome these forces and maintain the highest type of concentration from the beginning to the end.

Question: Before a 400-metre race I am full of anxiety. I feel afraid of becoming too exhausted, even though I know from experience that this fear is baseless. Why am I so anxious?

But since you have run it many, many times, you know that you are not going to die. The difficulty, in your case, is not actually fear of exhaustion, but a subtle fear that you may not be first, which creates anxiety. You do not actually worry that after 400 metres you are going to collapse and die. That fear would be absolutely baseless. The real fear is that someone is going to beat you.

You have to learn the difference between anxiety and alertness. Anxiety and alertness are two different dynamic energies. With anxiety, you are always worrying about others and comparing yourself to them. But with alertness, you simply want to do the best you can. When the starter is about to fire the gun, you should be alert but not anxious. You should not say, "If he comes in first and I come in last, no harm." No, let him do his best; but you also have to do your best, and this requires alertness.

Question: How can our outer smile help our running?

Question: What should my attitude be when someone else wins a race I am running in?

If I feel sad when I observe someone else winning a race, this will not help me. He has the capacity, so he will win. I do not have the capacity, so I will not win. But if I can appreciate his speed, automatically some of his capacity will enter into me. Through sincere appreciation we gain capacity.

Question: What is a winning attitude?

Question: What do you think is the best attitude for an athlete to have during training and during competition, and how should these two attitudes work together?

Question: During training an athlete sacrifices a great deal of time, and yet on the race day itself he may not be able to do well. What do you think is the attitude he should have towards this sort of thing?

If someone is not a seeker, but an ordinary athlete with abundant capacities, then he should feel that life is not a matter of self-giving or sacrifice. Life is only a matter of giving and taking. When he is training, which means he is preparing himself, at that time he is giving. Then, on the particular day when there is an athletic meet, on that day he is receiving world recognition. So the athlete gives and gives and gives for a few months and then there comes a time when he receives appreciation, admiration and adoration from the world. So how can there be any sacrifice? It is all give and take.

An athlete practises seriously for three or four months, and then during the competition he has to show his capacity. If he does poorly, he may think, "Oh, I made such sacrifices for so many months. Now what a deplorable result!" But it was not a sacrifice. He was only giving for a period of time, and now he is receiving the result in the form of an experience. The seeker who recognises his inner oneness with the rest of the world will not feel sad and miserable if he does poorly. Only he will say, "I did what I could during my practice, and now the result I am taking as an experience. Whether I was first, last or in between, the result has been given to me by my Lord Supreme as an experience." This kind of experience — both success and failure — is absolutely necessary for everybody in every walk of life.

Question: Does an athlete who has spiritual purity have greater capacity than an athlete who does not care for the spiritual life?

Question: Many great athletes tell of having experiences of higher consciousness in the form of visions of their performances or oneness with the elements. Where do these experiences come from?

The spiritual life is like that. People who pray and meditate most soulfully get tremendous joy while they are praying and meditating. They do not expect to get some result at the end of two or three hours which will make them happy. Praying and meditating itself gives them joy.

There is also another reason why God gives them these experiences. Sometimes the father shows the child a hundred-dollar bill and says, "All right, take it." The child is so happy, so excited to have a hundred-dollar bill because for him even to get one dollar is such a difficult task. Then the father says, "Like this I have a bundle of hundred-dollar bills. If you study and go to school now, and when your studies are over, if you start working, you will be able to get this wealth. But first you have to earn it. Right now I am only showing you that such a large amount of money does exist." For a child, a hundred-dollar bill is something very great. He cannot imagine that he will have that much money, let alone a whole bundle of hundred-dollar bills. Similarly, an ordinary person, even if he is a great athlete, will be so pleased and excited if God gives him an inner experience. God is telling him inwardly that he has to practise spirituality, that he has to pray and meditate and work hard in order to earn this inner awakening, this inner wealth.

Question: What should athletes do, from the spiritual point of view, to increase their performance?

Question: Does the concentration that athletes use help them in any way spiritually?

Question: Is it better to concentrate or meditate when running a marathon?

Before running, however, meditation is good to make the mind calm and quiet so that wrong forces do not enter. When you meditate, your mind acquires some poise. Then, while you are running, if you can bring forward this poise, it will help you overcome the mental frustration that often comes while running long distances. When you are running long distances, all kinds of frustrating thoughts will come and make you feel that what you are doing is useless. Or the mind will say, "Oh, this is boring," and you will not want to take one more step. But if you were able to meditate earlier in the day, then you will have acquired some solid inner strength that will carry you mile after mile. Also, meditation teaches you how to empty your mind of thoughts. And if you can keep thoughts out of your mind while you are running, it will help you tremendously — far beyond your imagination. At that time a new creation will be able to dawn inside you, and this will give you added inspiration and receptivity.

Question: Suppose a race is very close and the capacity of two athletes is the same, but one of them is aspiring. Does God's Grace let the one who is aspiring win?

Question: How can we effectively channel physical energy into spiritual energy?

Question: Why do some runners love running while others hate it?

It is all a matter of interest. Somebody may have interest in only one item. Again, he may be interested in two or three things. I may like one kind of food best, but if I eat the food that you like, I am not going to die; and you are not going to die if you eat the food that I like. It is only that each individual has developed different interests. If someone does not like to run, he may still run, but he may not be as good as someone who runs all the time with real enthusiasm.

Question: What are the best qualities of running as opposed to playing tennis?

Question: I consider myself a tennis player, not a runner. On the one hand I get more joy from playing tennis, but on the other hand I get more satisfaction if I run a marathon. Why is this?

The grass is always greener on the other side. To accomplish something that is more difficult for us to do gives us much more joy. If we have a tennis ball to play with, we will start looking for a basketball, just because we don't have one. But if we had a basketball, we would start looking for a tennis ball. Again, some people will say that they need both a tennis ball and a basketball.

Question: How can we benefit spiritually from training for and running marathons?

Question: Does the triathlon have any spiritual or symbolic significance?

Question: Sometimes I feel that running a marathon is like the struggle of life.

Question: Why do you encourage your students to participate in and to organise endurance events like triathlons or long-distance races?

Question: What is the spiritual purpose of competitive sports?

Always there should be a goal. Having a goal does not mean that we have to try to defeat the world's top runners, far from it. In the spiritual life, there is no competition. But there is something which is very essential, necessary and inevitable, which we call progress. Our goal should be our own progress, and progress itself is the most illumining experience.

Let us say that we want to make progress; we want to transcend ourselves. Now, if somebody else is with us, immediately his mind or our mind will think that we are competing. In the ordinary life, we compete with others to gain supremacy. But in the spiritual life, we are not in competition with others. We are only trying to transcend our own capacity.

Question: Does the spiritual life actually change the physical form?

Question: How important is it for a spiritual aspirant to remain physically fit?

In the past, people cared for the fitness of the body because they knew that if they had a healthy body, then they would be able to stay on earth longer. If they were spiritual people, they felt that a healthy body would enable them to continue praying and meditating for many more years. Today also we know that if the body is full of sickness, then we will not be able to pray and meditate well. For weeks and months we may suffer both physically and spiritually.

We have the body and we have the soul. A spiritual person has to give equal importance to both the body and the soul. If he pays attention only to the body, if he becomes physically strong but spiritually very weak, then for him there will be no peace of mind or inner happiness. Again, if he pays attention only to prayer and meditation and neglects the body, then his body will not be a fit instrument to reveal and manifest God. In the morning he will try to pray to God, but he will have to stop because he has a headache, upset stomach and so forth.

Question: Is the practice of sports contrary to spiritual tradition?

You are praying in the morning and then you are going out running. So everything you are doing together. This moment you are taking a step with your left leg; the next moment, with your right leg. Outer running you are doing and inner running you are doing. Inwardly you are concentrating and outwardly you are taking exercise. So for you, the body and the soul are going together.

Question: Would you say that today people are turning to running as a kind of supplement to their spiritual lives?

Question: Does running increase the spiritual purity and speed even of unaspiring persons?

Question: How can running help me overcome my spiritual weaknesses and impurities?

Question: Can running help get rid of frustration and anger?

Question: Does inner running help our outer running?

Question: For a serious runner, is there any difference between aspiration and ambition?

Question: In running it is helpful to have a coach. Do we also need a coach for inner running?

Question: Did God really intend everyone to run?

Question: Do both activity and meditation form the essence of your teaching?

We do not believe in living either a life of solitude or an ordinary human life — the so-called modern life that depends on machines and not on the inner reality, the soul. We try to synthesise and harmonise the outer life and the inner life. The outer life is like a beautiful flower and the inner life is its fragrance. If there is no fragrance, then we cannot appreciate the flower. Again, if there is no flower, how can there be any fragrance? So the inner life and the outer life must go together.

The body is like a temple and the soul or inner reality is like the shrine inside the body-temple. If the temple does not have a shrine, then we cannot appreciate the temple. Again, if we do not keep the temple in good condition, then how can we take proper care of the shrine? We have to keep the body fit, and for this, running is of considerable help. If we are physically fit, then we will be more inspired to get up early in the morning to meditate.

True, the inspiration to meditate comes from within, but if we are healthy, then it will be much easier for us to get up at five or six o'clock to pray and meditate. In this way the inner life is being helped by the outer life. Again, if we are inspired to get up early to meditate, then we will also be able to go out and run. Here we see that the outer life is being helped by the inner life.

Both outer running and inner running are important. A marathon is twenty-six miles. Let us say that twenty-six miles is our ultimate goal. When we first take up running, we cannot run that distance. But by practising every day we develop more stamina, speed and perseverance. Gradually we transcend our limited capacity, and eventually we reach our goal. In the inner life our prayer and meditation is our inner running. If we pray and meditate every day, we increase our inner capacity.

Question: What does your slogan mean: "Run and Become, Become and Run"?

But once we have become something, that is not the end. Still we have to go forward, because we are eternal pilgrims. Everything in us is transcending. It is like a child. To learn the alphabet is his first goal. He studies and learns it. But will he then give up? No. His second goal is to go to school. Then he wants to go to college.

Question: How does your philosophy of self-transcendence, in which you state that mankind should strive for progress instead of success, apply to the up-coming Olympics?

The presence of all the great athletes at the Olympics represents a great opportunity. When an athlete has to compete with the rest of the world, there is every opportunity and possibility that he will transcend his own capacities. This is what is of paramount importance, and not whether he defeats others or not. God, the Author of all good, will be extremely pleased with the athlete only when he transcends his own capacities. We are all God's children, God's creation. If one of His children transcends himself, then the Father will be the happiest person. But if one member of the family defeats another member and gets joy while the other person becomes miserable, then where is the Father's joy?

If we are one with the rest of the world, then we feel joy in others' joy and their sorrow is also our sorrow. But most of us have not yet attained that consciousness. So it is always advisable for the athlete to keep in mind that he is competing with his own previous record. If he can transcend his own achievement, then it will be a true gain and a true achievement for the whole world.

What is of paramount importance is the individual's attitude. The athlete has to feel that he is establishing a new record not for his own glory but in order to increase the capacity and improve the standard of the world. The winning athlete has to feel that he is representing all of humanity. Then, with a devoted and soulful heart, if he can soulfully offer his achievement to the Supreme Athlete, his Source, at that time he is doing absolutely the right thing. If this is his attitude then let him try his utmost to break world records. But if he wants to defeat the rest of the world only to bask in his own glory, then he is making a deplorable mistake.

Question: Why are athletes so appreciated in today's world?

Question: If a person is already very good in any one field, say in sports, should he spend all of his time in that field or try to broaden himself, even though that may sacrifice his athletic capacities?

Question: How can an athlete who doesn't have any artistic ability develop it?

Question: Why is long-distance running becoming more popular in America these days?

Whenever America takes up something, it is only a matter of time before it does that thing well. Now that America has accepted long-distance running, it has improved tremendously in this area. How many excellent, excellent, super-excellent long-distance runners America has already produced, although long-distance running has been part of the American consciousness only for the last few years. Frank Shorter, Bill Rodgers and so many others have immortalised long-distance running in the consciousness of America in a few short years. When the consciousness of a country accepts a particular thing, that is the golden time. Ten or twelve years ago it was all short-distance running. But now is the golden time, the opportune time, for long-distance running in America. Several years ago, who cared for the 24-hour races or 50-mile and 70-mile races? Even in the newspaper, one rarely saw anything about ultramarathons. The ultramarathon almost did not exist. But now it is common. All over the world, in fact, there is such interest in long-distance running, especially marathons.

Question: You say that America is interested in speed. But sometimes I think that America is running without knowing where it wants to go.

I appreciate America for its dynamism. If you are dynamic, you run towards your goal. If you do not know where the goal is, then you may run from this side to that side. But it is better than to remain static. Americans are running. They may not be sure of the goal, but they are constantly on the move. They go to one side and run into a wall and get hurt. Then they go to another side and the goal is not there, so they get another blow. But at least they go.

Comments about the World Masters Games¹

In order to make progress we have to be with the world, in the world and for the world. There are many things which the world does that we do not approve of — such as wars and so forth. But we do like other things. We like peace, love and the feeling of oneness. Because of our feeling of oneness, because of our love of peace, we have come to the World Masters Games. People from various countries have come to these Games to show their feeling of oneness.

These Masters Games offer us a special message. They make us feel that even though we may be forty, fifty, sixty, seventy, eighty or even ninety years old, we are still God's children. When someone is fifty years old, it is very difficult for him to think of himself as a child. For us to think of ourselves as children is very difficult because we have developed the mind. But the Masters Games help us feel that we are truly children, for it is only children who like to play. People who are advanced in years will stay home and watch television or read newspapers, but children have boundless energy. They have hope, they have ambition, they have determination. They want to become good, better, best.

Most of the time, elderly people feel that they are finished products, that their life is over. So they don't have any hope or promise. But the Masters Games show us that elderly people can have hope and promise. It shows that elderly people can become inseparably one with children, with the new generation.

We are here at the Masters Games to make ourselves feel that we are children — God's children. For it is only children who have higher goals and make progress. Old people have given up their goals and are only waiting for death's hour to strike. But the people who are participating in these Games are telling death, "We are not ready for you, for we have still many things to accomplish here on earth. You are knocking at our door at the wrong time!"

Question: Do you feel the World Masters Games will ever become as popular as the Olympics?

So it is quite possible that eventually the Masters Games will be as popular or even more popular than the Olympics. Most of the athletes are not expecting to break any record; they are happy just to participate and get innocent joy. But many Olympic athletes will go home really miserable because they had come for a gold medal and perhaps did not even get the bronze. But in the Masters Games, even if your place is last, you are very happy.

It is like the difference between amateurs and professionals. In tennis, for example, as soon as people become good players, they turn professional so that they can become millionaires overnight. Then the real joy goes away from the game. In the Olympics, the athletes are not getting money; they are just getting gold medals. But still, much of the joy has disappeared from the competition. So many people are looking for name and fame for their countries, and the prestige of all the countries is at stake. The countries spend thousands and thousands of dollars on the athletes, and there are so many businesses that act as sponsors. But in the Masters Games, everybody came at their own expense just for the joy of competing. If they can continue like this — doing everything at their own expense — then they will continue getting pure joy and giving pure joy to mankind.

Part III — Running for children

Question: What do you feel about children running long-distance?

These children will live on earth for many years. Right now let them do sprinting. Let them do 50, 60 or 200 metres; let them do 400 metres or 800 metres maximum. But children's lung capacity and heart condition may not be strong enough for long-distance running — especially children who are in their formative years. Perhaps doctors will say that long distance running is good for children, but I feel it may lead to some serious problems and is very dangerous.

Question: But parents want their children to bring them glory.

Question: But there are some famous athletes who began running marathons at a very young age.