Interviewer: The one time I did my longest race, ten miles, I remember it was a little bit of an emotional roller coaster. After perhaps three miles I thought, "This is great! I can run 26 miles. I can do a marathon." And then after six miles I thought, "Oh my gosh, my knees are going to ache; my feet hurt. I'm totally exhausted!" I just went up and down. What would you tell your disciples to help them deal with the low part?

Sri Chinmoy: I tell my disciples that they have to use their wisdom at every moment. Sometimes we are physically tired. Sometimes we are mentally tired. Sometimes we are emotionally tired. Sometimes we are tired without any rhyme or reason. Often our mental lethargy makes us feel that we will not be able to complete the race or, if we complete the race, nothing special is going to happen. There are so many ways that our mind can convince us that it is useless and unnecessary to continue. The mind makes us feel, “I am just killing myself without any specific purpose.” If mental lethargy or our own unwillingness tortures us, we must not surrender to these wrong forces. Our motto is, “Never give up!” Only after we have given everything that we have and everything that we are, can we give up if it is absolutely necessary. Otherwise, we are making the most deplorable mistake. Most of the time there is every possibility that we shall be able to arrive at our destination. And once we arrive at our destination, it is we who will be the happiest and the proudest person.

From:Sri Chinmoy,Sri Chinmoy answers, part 12, Agni Press, 1999
Sourced from https://srichinmoylibrary.com/sca_12