John Hanc: On the ultra-distance side, you and the Sri Chinmoy Marathon Team have been leaders in expanding the limits of what people can run. Do you think there will be any limit to the distance people can run? Ten years from now will we be talking about a 2,000-mile or a 5,000-mile run?

Sri Chinmoy: No, there is no limit to the distance because there is no limit to human capacity. Human capacity depends on our inner hunger — how sincerely we need something or are crying for something. In the material world, if someone has tremendous greed and wants to become a multi-millionaire, he works very hard and eventually he fulfils his desire. But by possessing the material world, we can never be happy. We can only find joy by serving as an instrument of God and fulfilling His Will. If God wants us to be a sprinter or an ultramarathon runner and if we follow His Dictates, then naturally we will become very happy. It will not matter if we stand first or last. Success or failure we shall place at His Feet. What matters is that we are pleasing God in His own Way. How do we know what God wants us to do? By praying and meditating.

If it is God’s Will for us to do something, there is absolutely no limit to human capacity. One of my students from Washington, DC is thinner than the thinnest. If you see her, it will be beyond your imagination that she can run 1,000 miles. But she does it. Because of her aspiration and heart’s cry, God is supplying her with Grace from Above in the form of inner energy and strength.

In my case, I have lifted heavy weights. In a year’s time I have also lifted 1,300 people using only one arm. Many of them were heavier than I am. I have even lifted two people at once, although I am fifty-four years old and my muscles are smaller than the smallest. How is it possible? I have a mind, and I am the first person to disbelieve it. But through God’s Grace, it is possible.