No competitiveness³³

Early in the morning I walk at a 20-minute pace — very solid. One morning, when I had covered a mile, all of a sudden I saw a lady pass by me. She had a bag on her shoulder. My ego came forward. How could she go faster than me, carrying a bag on her shoulder? O God, I tried to defeat her.

That was the morning I had taken an oath that I wouldn’t go very fast. After five minutes, I saw another lady. This one was running for the bus, and she also was passing me. I said, “This is too much!”

Then I walked very fast. I was on the street and she was on the sidewalk. I managed to pass her, but it made me very tired. Was it worth it? In three or four seconds, again she was going ahead of me. I asked myself, “Why did I compete with her?” Then I decided not to compete with her anymore.

From:Sri Chinmoy,Run and become, become and run, part 16, Agni Press, 1985
Sourced from https://srichinmoylibrary.com/rb_16