Run and become, become and run, part 2

Run and become

Run and become.

Run to succeed in the outer world.

— Sri Chinmoy

Shry and John McLaughlin¹

No objection²

The father said to her, “Call him by his real name: Sri Chinmoy.” Then he said to me, “I have no objection to her calling you ‘Guru’, but I just wanted her to know your real name. We have some tenants who always talk about you.”

I miss my youth³

I said, “I too miss my youth.”

“How old are you?” asked the man.

“Forty-eight,” I answered.

“I am seventy-three,” said the man.

I stayed there with him for two or three minutes and then I finished my run.

I can beat you⁴

I said, “Easily.”

The little boy said, “Easily, I bet!”

The ticket-giver⁵

After writing out the ticket, he himself sat down at the foot of a tree. He was a very old man, a very nice soul. I asked him, “Do you get joy by giving tickets to cars?”

“No, never!” he replied. “But will you give me my bread and butter? Daily I have to give at least ten or twelve tickets in the morning. If I do not, then my boss will fire me. He will not give me my bread and butter.”

So we sat down and both rested for about five minutes — this is how I run — and then we went our own ways.

Stride instruction⁶

He began demonstrating, saying that after each stride I should pause and press the ground with my toes. “In this way your stride becomes longer.”

He was very nice and demonstrated this for two minutes or so. I did not tell him that I know all the different stride techniques.

The nice guy⁷

He asked me, “Excuse me, which way is the subway?”

I said, “I'm very sorry. I don’t know.”

The old man said, “Never mind, you are a nice guy.”

After I went on about 200 metres, I remembered: “Oh, he is walking towards the highway. How is he going to get the subway there?”

So I ran back to get him. O God, he was coming back; somebody else had already told him to head towards Queens Boulevard.

But when he saw I came back to help him, he said, “I knew you were a nice guy.”

How the world exists⁸

Instead of waiting in the hot pizza parlour, I went outside to do some jogging. After thirteen minutes I went back inside.

The man didn’t have it ready yet. He said, “I didn’t trust you. I thought you wouldn’t come back.” So I waited there, and in five minutes he gave me a pie to take home.

Yesterday I was running while some of the girls were working in the Jharna-Kala Store. Since I know my disciples like baklava, I entered into a store that sold it and asked the man if he could cut twenty pieces in half. He said yes and started cutting. He had cut only two pieces when I told him I would be back. Then I ran a mile and a half.

When I returned, the man was surprised to see me. He said, “I am giving this to you for fifty cents less because I am so surprised to see you.” In his case I was late, but he had it ready for me.

He asked me for ten dollars. I said to myself, “Each piece is 40 cents and there were twenty pieces.” Fortunately, a lady standing behind me said to the man, “That should be eight dollars.” The man said, “Oh, yes, yes. Sorry.”

Now we come not to better but to best. Three weeks ago I received an anonymous letter deeply appreciating what I am doing for mankind, along with a bank check for one thousand dollars. It was a check from Citibank, but for some reason it had been mailed from Maine. So there are, indeed, good people on earth. This is how the world exists. Otherwise, the world would collapse.

Who will feel sorry for whom?⁹

In our last ten-mile race, two older women were running near me. Who will feel sorry for whom? But they finally went ahead of me, even though they seemed to be going so slowly, and I couldn’t catch up to them again.

The insurmountable hill¹⁰

When I saw one particular hill, my reaction was immediately to collapse. Then I saw two of my girl disciples running together in front of me, literally running and jumping up the hill.

I said, “If they can jump like that, why can’t I drag my body up the hill?” And I did finally reach the top.

"Look, mom!"¹¹

He called his mother, but I had disappeared before she could come out of the store.

The race¹²

He said to me, “I can beat you walking.” I smiled at him. Then he started walking very fast for forty metres, but I was still a little ahead of him.

Then I told him, “You run. I can beat you walking.”

So he started running and I started walking. I stayed behind him deliberately; otherwise, I could have easily defeated him.

He said, “Oh, now we are even.” He could not defeat me when he was walking and I could not beat him when I was walking.

"One, two, three!"¹³

"Don't stop"¹⁴

He said to me, “Don’t stop, don’t stop! It is not allowed. Keep going, keep going. Don’t stop, it is not allowed.”

I thanked him, and then I ran a mile and a half. When I was returning, I thought that the old man would still be there and give me the same advice. So about 100 metres before his house, I stopped for a few seconds and thought of him. Immediately I saw a flash and heard him say in the inner world, “That’s perfect.”

When I saw him 100 metres later, I smiled and he said, “That’s perfect.” He didn’t know that I had stopped 100 metres before.

"Run softly!"¹⁵

"No, never!"¹⁶

Inwardly I said a few times, “I am not going to stop, I am not going to stop.” Then I began chanting out loud, at every step, “No, never! No, never! No, never!” In this way I covered one mile. If people had heard me chanting in the street, they would have said: “Insane!” Luckily, no one was around. Then I ran all the way back home, feeling quite happy.

"You are beautiful!"¹⁷

When I came back from running around 7:30, one of the disciples came to my house to drive me to the playground. As soon as she opened the door and saw me on the porch she said, “Guru, you look so beautiful!” She used the same words as the old man. So in silence I blessed the soul of my laundress for my beautiful outfit.

The old runner¹⁸

A little girl, eight or nine years old, said to a little boy, “Look, look, Shry is running!”

The boy said, “His name is Sri.”

The girl said, “He runs like an old man.”

The boy said, “He is not old.”

The girl said, “But he runs like an old man.”

The saint¹⁹

A black boy said, “No good, he takes away everybody’s money.”

The white boy said, “No, my father said he is a saint like our Christian saints. He never charges any money.”

I didn’t want to enter into their conversation, so I just kept going.

The missing water bottle²⁰

A. said, “Nobody will buy my shoes.”

B. said, “Why don’t you give them to Casey to sell in his flea market? People will be happy to buy running shoes at a cheap price.”

A. put bottles of water at the three-mile, five-mile and six-mile marks. On the bottles it was written, “This bottle is for a runner. Please do not remove!” or something like that.

The next morning A. was supposed to start running at six o’clock. At five o’clock I was out running along the same route. A little before the three mile mark, I said to myself, “Let me go and see whether the bottle is still there.” I knew she had put it near the sidewalk at the base of a drinking fountain. I stopped there to look, but the bottle was not there. “Wonderful, wonderful” I thought sadly. “Somebody has removed it.”

I was about to start running again on the street when one of my inner beings said, “My Lord, please run on the sidewalk.” I didn’t ask why. After 100 metres, right at the 1,500-metre mark on the sidewalk, I saw the bottle standing straight up. Someone had removed the bottle and put it on the sidewalk. Had my inner being not asked me to run on the sidewalk, I would not have seen the bottle since it was quite dark.

I picked up the bottle and ran back to put it in the original place. Then I continued my run.

Seven dollars talks²¹

O God, I know nothing about cars. I said, “I know nothing about mechanics, but please wait. In ten minutes I will be able to send you my chauffeur.” She didn’t understand my English, so I said, “My driver, my driver.”

Then I began running quite fast to look for a telephone booth to call the disciple who drives me around. After 200 metres, I saw an ambulance driver asleep in his ambulance. As soon as I passed him he woke up and said, “Hey, such a beautiful, cool morning. Don’t you know how to enjoy sleep? You woke me up.”

I said, “Friend, can you do me a favour? A girl is having trouble with her car.”

He said, “Pretty girl?”

I said, “Middle-aged lady.” This man was a real joker. I never carry money when I run, but this time I happened to have seven dollars with me. I gave him the money, and the seven dollars talked. He immediately turned on the motor and made a wrong turn down a one-way street heading towards the lady. When I saw him finally talking to the lady, I said, “Now I have done my part. He is a joker, but he will fix her car.” So I continued running.

The policeman²²

I said, “I enjoy it.”

He asked, “Where are you going?”

I answered, “Somebody has put water at this spot to drink.”

The policeman said, “Don’t you want to drink it? Aren’t you thirsty?”

I said, “No, I am not thirsty.”

“Go home and sleep,” he said.

A great runner²³

I kept caressing the dog. The owner said, “Dolly, do you want to become a great runner like this gentleman?”

I said, “How I wish I could become a great runner!”

The mysterious hat²⁴

The show-off²⁵

His older brother said to him, “Don’t say that. He is a very great man.”

The younger one said, “My daddy is far greater.”

The older boy said, “Our daddy is not as great as he is.”

The younger one said, “No, he is just showing off.”

“Don’t say that, don’t say that, don’t say that!” the older one told him.

When I was coming back after covering one mile, the two children were still playing. The little one again said to me, “You are just showing off. Go home, go home!”

The older brother got furious and shouted, “Don’t say that! Don’t say that! Don’t say that!”

The priest²⁶

I stopped and said, “Father, why do you swear?”

The priest said, “Why not? All the time I see people like you running, running, running. Why don’t you run inwardly? You don’t believe in Heaven? By running in the street, do you think you will be able to go to Heaven?”

I was in a joking mood so I said to the priest, “I will find Heaven everywhere except inside your tongue.”

He said, “Who are you, after all?”

“I am an ordinary man,” I answered. “As you see, I am just a runner.”

The priest said, “Why do you have to run?”

I said, “I am getting ready for the New York Marathon.”

“You dark fool!” he shouted. “Look at your head, look at your head.”

“It seems I have more hair than you,” I said.

He said, “Like you, thousands and thousands of fools will be running in the New York Marathon. Go back to your running. I shall pray for your salvation.”

I said, “Perhaps you need salvation more desperately than I do.”

Then the priest swore again, “Damn you!” and crossed himself.

The queue²⁷

An elderly lady saw me and came up to me. “I am sure you are going for the marathon,” she said. “Look, my husband too is going for the marathon.”

Then she called her husband over and introduced me to him. I had a long talk with him. He came from Cleveland, and this was going to be his seventeenth marathon. Sixteen times he had run, but this was going to be his first time in Greece. He told me his time in his first marathon was 4:17. Now he does it in three hours or 3:15.

He was advising me to do hill work. “You must do hill work if you want to become a good runner. Nobody can become a good runner without doing hill work. If you want to increase your speed, if you want to strengthen your legs, if you want to have long strides, then hill work is the only answer.”

I thanked him deeply.

The Philadelphia man²⁸

He said, “Friend, are you going to run the marathon?” I smiled at him.

Then he said, “I am going to run. I come from Philadelphia.”

I said, “Philadelphia gave me a very sad experience. I went to Philadelphia to run the marathon.”

He said he was also there and gave up after thirteen miles. I said, “At twenty-one miles I gave up.”

So in the same marathon where I gave up after twenty-one miles, he gave up after thirteen miles.

He had run one other marathon somewhere else, he told me; his timing was five and a half hours. So my ego came forward. I said, “I am not so bad.” O God, in two more days what would happen!

Then we talked for a long time. Since my timing is a little better than his, I felt quite at ease talking to him.

Then the Cleveland man came up and joined our conversation. He was very sincere; he was not bragging, only advising us what to do.

My Japanese companion²⁹

At every moment you are at their mercy, even in the park. I don’t know how, but they manage to drive right into the park itself. There is no street or anything; far from it. But they drive right into the park, and so speedily. Then they leave their cars there while they go to a party or some place. And we are trying to run there!

Inside the park an old Japanese man — very short, very skinny — started following me as I was running. I thought I was shorter than the shortest, but he was practically at my shoulder. And he was very old.

With such affection, such affection, he started running with me. Then we started talking. He told me all about his running experiences. I was very happy.

He was about 70 years old and he said he had come all the way from Japan for the marathon.

He was staying at the same hotel that I was. There were quite a few Japanese staying there. They all had come to run.

The following day also we ran together. I always make complaints about my strides, but his strides were shorter than mine. I ran two miles with him, very slowly.

I saw him once more after the marathon. He took seven hours and fifteen or twenty minutes. He was so delighted that he had completed it. Who would not be proud of him!

Looking over the battlefield³⁰

I said, “Since I came all the way, best thing is to die on the battlefield.”

But when you are in the car, the battlefield is not a real battlefield. Only when you start running, when you are on the ground, is it a real battlefield.

When I saw it in the car, I still had a little hope that I would be able to manage it. Secretly I had a little hope that I would be able to finish it. O God, the actual day was something else!

Well-wishes from a friend³¹

He is a far better runner; I was so honoured.

Then he started giving me advice. He said, “You have to drink a lot, drink a lot.”

It was so hot — really very, very hot. Everybody had told me that the weather would be very cold. But no, it was really hot.

So my Cleveland friend said, “Drink a lot, drink a lot; otherwise, you won’t be able to make it.”

My Philadelphia friend — God knows where he was! But he would appear very soon.

Caught by surprise³²

Many people were surprised. They were just chatting and all of a sudden they heard a sound: “Boom!” Many people were murmuring, “It is not time, it is not time.” But we ran.

The loop³³

Some were running at a five-minute pace, and others were running at a 13-minute pace. So the fast runners who were finishing the loop were blocked by the slow runners who hadn’t reached the loop. They could not go fast because we were blocking the way. I felt sorry for them.

After two miles I saw my Cleveland friend. I was only 200 or 300 metres inside the loop, and he was completing it. He was practically 1,200 metres ahead of me. He had made the loop, but he was being blocked by the slow runners. He was almost furious. I don’t know, but his face was not normal at that time. Even then, when he saw me he waved. I was so grateful to him.

Now the fool in me — I don’t know how or why — also started running fast. When it was three miles, my time was under 21 minutes. I said, “Is it possible?”

When I completed the loop, I looked back and, O God, there were so many people behind me — hundreds of people. At that time all my pride came to the fore! “I am a great runner, because so many people are behind me.” I thought some had not even come to the loop. “I am completing three miles and, God knows, still they haven’t completed two miles.” And at least 300 or 400 were way ahead; God knows where they were.

But I felt sorry for the excellent runners, because they had to cross through the bad runners like us. We were disturbing them on the way.

Terrible! Terrible!³⁴

The next 200 metres were not downhill but flat, and then again it went up for practically half a mile. Next it went down — this time not even for 100 metres — and again up.

Like this, when I came to nine miles, I felt miserable. I said, “What am I going to do?” Luckily, at that time it went downhill for about 800 metres. I was so delighted, so happy; at last there was an oasis in the desert.

O God, after 800 metres it went up again.

From five and a half it started, and for the next fourteen miles it was only hills. And you won’t believe me, but there were no downhills. At most it would be flat for 100 or 200 metres and then it went up, up, up. There were three hills that were at least, at least, one mile long.

People were cursing and dying.

One young man was lying right on the street — not on the sidewalk but right on the street — massaging his knee and saying, “Never in this lifetime will I run again.” Terrible! Terrible!

Some fast walkers³⁵

One of them was mischievous enough to laugh at me. He was laughing at me because I was running and he was beating me while walking. But after two miles I saw him; he had become so tired that he went to drink ERG or water, and he did not appear for a long time.

Quick, quick, quick³⁶

Sometimes old people — at least ten or fifteen years older than me — were going ahead of me. There was no competitive spirit on my part; only my admiration was coming forward. “These people are older than me and look how they are doing.” They had such short strides — about half the length of my strides — but quick, quick, quick.

The exerciser³⁷

Ruhhh, ruhhh, the motor man³⁸

I didn’t have the capacity to go ahead of him, and I didn’t want to decrease the little speed that I had. So I said, “No, let me go at my own pace.”

For about three miles, he went on making that noise. Then afterwards he disappeared. He didn’t go ahead of me; perhaps he stopped running.

The Philadelphia man's victory³⁹

After eighteen miles there was another bus. All together, there were two or three buses carrying those who had dropped out. Another bus invited me to enter, but I said, “No! It is better to die.”

The chorus⁴⁰

When it was twenty-one miles, out of the blue, five songs I heard all at once. It was absolutely a chorus; the music was on! How can I get five cramps at a time? The pain was excruciating. I was helpless, flat, dead! Some of the disciples were helping me. One of them was seated and, with a sponge, was pressing my leg with cold water, while another was pushing my toes forward. How hard, how quickly, the first one was massaging me! And afterwards, four or five times he did it again. Even now it frightens me when I think of the pain — excruciating!

After that experience I started walking. Slower than the slowest, a quarter mile I walked. Again the pain, so again I walked.

Running is forbidden now. Just walk, walk as slowly as possible. When it was twenty-three miles, another new friend came — right here in the neck. I couldn’t breathe in; neither nostril was functioning.

O God, this was really unbearable! With the previous pain, at least I was able to breathe in, so I felt that there was something going on. But when it started in this muscle, I was not able to breathe even. Too much, too much!

Some people — I think, nurses — came up, but we didn’t take their help. I said, “I have got my help.”

When it was twenty-five miles, a strong desire arose: “Oh, let me run at least the last mile.” It was a desire, nothing else. As soon as I tried, all the cramps said to me, “Where are you going? We are still alive.” Such pain!

I thought 800 metres, 400 metres, 100 metres I would run. Finally, when it was only twenty metres, the officials were asking me to run. I tried, but I knew if I had run, I would have dropped right there and fainted, so I just dragged myself. I wasn’t even walking — just dragging my body. Anyway, I managed to finish.

Stop!⁴¹

And a horrible thing! They allowed the vehicles to run along the same route. After eleven miles it was so difficult to run. When we had only six miles left, we had to run in the city of Athens. There it was infinitely worse.

You are running this way when, all of a sudden, from the side street cars will enter. Policemen hold the runners and let the cars pass. Here we are dying to reach the destination one minute sooner, and the policeman will say: “Stop!”

The rogue⁴²

One man who came in was a rogue. He was about sixty. He came in quite fresh and did three somersaults. He was so happy.

He was jumping — one, two, three. Most of the people didn’t believe that he had run the whole course. His number was missing, but he said that he had the number. God knows!

Brrrr!⁴³

"Stop, my son!"⁴⁴

The garbage-can man⁴⁵

The lost taxi driver⁴⁶

I am the one who never knows anything about giving directions. I said to myself, “O God, save me, save me!” Then I said to the taxi driver, “Make a right turn and go to Jamaica Avenue, and then ask people there how to go to Atlantic Avenue.”

The driver said, “I see the Van Wyck Expressway and Atlantic Avenue when I come from Kennedy Airport.”

I said, “Yes, you have to make a right turn.”

I was so proud of myself that I was able to give him the correct information.

The mockers⁴⁷

The big man⁴⁸

The sub-three marathoner⁴⁹

The devoted jogger⁵⁰

The lost child⁵¹

Well-wishes from the bus driver⁵²

He was a very nice, bearded black man. I said, “Are you talking to me?”

The driver said, “Yes. Every day I see you running before five o’clock in the morning. I see you at least two or three times every day, but I have not seen you for a couple of days. What is wrong with you?”

I explained, “I am relaxing before the New York Marathon.”

He said, “Good luck! I see you don’t give a damn about cold or rain. People enter into my bus cold and frozen and I save them, but I see you running in such cold. For the last couple of days I have not seen you.”

I said, “This is on my route, but recently I have been running very few miles.”

When I was leaving the bus he said, “Lots of luck to you.”

A gentlemanly bow⁵³

The Con Edison worker⁵⁴

What is a Con Edison man doing calling me like that?

Who is my disciple in Con Edison?

The sanctioned prayer⁵⁵

Today I was returning home after running only one mile. When I had only five hundred metres left, I saw someone running very fast on the other side of the street. In silence I said to him, “I am not envying you. Go ahead.” I looked carefully and saw it was T. But this time he didn’t greet me. I thought, “Had it been H., he would have greeted me.”

As usual I was going very slowly, at my Indian bullock cart speed, so T. passed me and continued on his way. When I finished, I saw somebody practically hiding at the foot of a tree across the street. He gave me the biggest smile and folded his hands. I said, “My prayer has been sanctioned.” It was T.

An invitational run⁵⁶

I said, “No, I can’t run with you. You will run fast. I am running long-distance.”

So I watched them. They were starting with one hundred or two hundred metre dashes. It was their morning run. Every day they run and many people in the park watch them. Their strides are quite good.

Dogs are everywhere⁵⁷

The Japanese tradition⁵⁸

Then, when I was really tired, I saw an old lady about sixty years old running. She bowed down, and in her case I felt that I had to bow down also.

The Madras run⁵⁹

One, two, three, four, five, six sodas I drank one by one. The owner laughed and laughed.

I said to him, “Why are you laughing? You go and run twelve miles!”

He said, “I won’t be able to run even half a mile.”

Harry runs, you jog⁶⁰

An old man waiting for the bus saw me and said, “Oh, you look like my friend Harry, only he is taller than you. But you are not running; you are jogging. My friend Harry runs, but you are not running.”

The miserable runner⁶¹

The other day I saw V. and, as usual, she did not smile. A few minutes later I saw K. and she did smile. When V. runs she is not irritated, but she is miserable. Once I even shouted at her when I saw her running, but still she ignored me!

Mistaken identity⁶²

Today I started my speed work. This morning I was running a very short distance, and in front of C.'s house I saw someone who looked exactly like T.

I said, “T., T., T.” three times. Then I said to myself, “It can’t be T. If I call him three times, how is it that he won’t answer? The strange thing is that he didn’t even nod. I came near him and, O God, it was a different person.

My puddle experience⁶³

After five miles, one of the boys running with me became tired and didn’t want to run any farther. While I was barking at him, I ran into a puddle. For five or six steps it was so cold! Such agony!

When we completed seven miles, that same disciple said, “Now can we go?” I said to him, “We will take a taxi,” but in the back of my mind I knew we would run another seven miles.

Now, one of the boys was wise. He saw a diner. So he said, “I wonder if they have hot chocolate.” Three of them stopped and had a hot chocolate, and then we started running again. The disciple who had said he was tired was running behind us. All of a sudden he became inspired and started going ahead. So I barked at him. “Either run fifty metres behind me or ahead.” Again, I ran into the same puddle going back the other way.

Two or three miles later I saw that disciple and another of the disciples. They had taken off their jackets and left them on the street. People didn’t care for their jackets, so they picked them up on the way back.

Editor's preface to the first edition

Sri Chinmoy regards running as a perfect spiritual metaphor. “Try to be a runner and go beyond all that is bothering you and standing in your way,” he tells his students. “Be a real runner so that ignorance, limitations and imperfections will all drop far behind you in the race.” In this spirit he has inspired countless individuals to “run” — both literally and figuratively.

“Who is the winner?” he writes in one of his aphorisms. “Not he who wins the race, but he who loves to run sleeplessly and breathlessly with God the Supreme Runner.” As a fully God-realised spiritual Master, Sri Chinmoy has consecrated his life to this divinely soulful and supremely fruitful task. At the same time, on an entirely different level, he has made some significant contributions to the sport of running. He was the inspiration behind several long-distance relays, including a recent 300-mile run in Connecticut and the 9,000-mile Liberty-Torch run through all the states held during the 1976 Bicentennial. He has composed several running songs, which his students have performed at a number of races. His students have sponsored Sri Chinmoy Runs throughout the U.S., Canada, Europe and Australia as an offering to the running community. Moreover, Sri Chinmoy has encouraged his followers around the world to take up running as a means of overcoming lethargy and increasing their spiritual aspiration on the physical plane. Two hundred of his disciples, for example — most of whom were novice runners — completed last years’s New York City Marathon.