Question: In Ultrarunning magazine recently it said that the Sri Chinmoy Marathon Team puts on the best events in the country.

Sri Chinmoy: I am most grateful to them, most grateful to them. But I also know how many things we are doing wrong. There is definitely room for improvement. When we look at the moon, we see that it is perfect at a distance, but up close it is full of holes. A flower can look so beautiful, but as soon as we go near it, we find some imperfections.

We can appreciate someone who is a great tennis star. We say that he has perfect strokes and so forth, but he himself knows how much he can still improve. There are so many areas in which he can improve. In our case also, we know we are not perfect. In fact, we are far from being perfect. So many things we need to learn. But our greatest joy is that we are not giving up. We may not be perfect, but our goal is progress, and we believe that through regular progress, gradual progress, we shall become better instruments of God.

If people appreciate our races, I am extremely grateful to them. But if they say that our races are absolutely perfect, I will be the first to disagree with them. I can only say that we are trying to be better. Each year we are improving. We know the shortcomings of previous years. In the areas where we did not succeed or could not do something according to our satisfaction, we are trying to improve.