Running and losing weight¹

Quite recently I weighed myself, and I literally cried! Then I ran and walked eleven miles, without taking any food. In a day or two I took off nine pounds. Tomorrow also I will take off another one or two pounds. If I can do it, others can also do it.

There are many, many things which I do to encourage and inspire others. I run and keep my weight down because what I preach, I also want to practise in my life. Many Masters don’t do this kind of thing — losing weight and taking exercise. Their God-realisation will not disappear if they become exorbitantly fat.

The watch stopper²

I saw Snigdha running this morning. She was on one side of the street and I was on the other side. She stops her watch when she stops running, even when she pauses for a minute at a side street.

More bad runners³

Today in Mexico City we went to watch a three-mile race. There were many good runners and many bad runners. But the bad runners were many, many more in number.

A soul's message⁴

This morning while I was running seven and a half miles, Garima’s soul sent me a message. Then two seconds later I saw Garima running. I was running on one side of the street and she was running on the other side.

A divine twenty-seven miles⁵

I still can’t believe that in Puerto Rico I recently walked and ran a divine twenty-seven miles!

The first five miles I ran and the second five miles I walked and ran. Like this I continued, and finally it became twenty-seven miles.

Even from the first mile I was literally dying. My whole body was swimming in perspiration.

The show-off⁶

The other day Anupadi was showing off. For a while she was running near me, and then she went off ahead. Her strides have become longer now. Previously, her strides were so short.

Dog attacks⁷

None of the disciples were attacked by dogs this morning during the race. That was because they were running in a group.

I ran seven miles by myself, and at least four times I was attacked by dogs. Perhaps the reason they attacked me was because I was wearing a red shirt. When they came at me, I stood there very bravely until they stopped barking at me. In one case a dog crossed the street to where I was running, but it didn’t bite me.

Especially when you are running fast, you get alarmed when you suddenly see a dog. If you are running slowly, it is not such a shock. In my case, I was going so slowly — at bullock-cart speed.

Watching the races⁸

I usually finish my running before our races start so that I can enjoy them. Abadh is always far ahead; he does not die. But second is always Abarita, and he always dies while he runs. Kailash and others struggle, but they don’t actually die. Jason never even struggles. I don’t see him even getting properly tired during a race.

When Kalatit runs, he looks like he has some bitter thing in his mouth. His whole face is miserable.

Gayatri is also miserable, absolutely miserable, when she runs. She does not have the misery of tiredness; she is just miserable.

In every race Nilima gives her life-breath at the end. Today she and Karabi were sprinting so fast at the end. They were chasing Nirjhari. Then, in the last two metres, Nilima gave up.

Whenever Nayana sees me, she smiles. Hashi tries to smile, but Chetana does not even try. She surrenders.

Today Garima was very good. When she saw me, she folded her hands and bowed to me. The other day I made complaints that she did not even seem to recognise me while she was running. So this time when she saw me, she bowed.

Observations⁹

If Khudita can run fast, what is wrong with me? I may be fifty years old, but I am not as “thin” as she is. Again, she carries all her extra weight so powerfully. She has physical strength. She is so strong! Such determination she has to carry her body. I am proud of her.

Each disciple-runner has some peculiarity. When I see “tall man” — Adhiratha — how he is struggling! His strides are quite long, but there is no speed inside them. He looks like he is going so fast, but what actually happens? Why is he behind so many people?

The best style¹⁰

I have to be very frank. In long distances Bill Rodgers’ style impresses me most. It is a very good style. He literally flies.

The run in the dark¹¹

This morning I ran seven miles while it was still very dark. When it is dark, you forget about speed. You feel that as long as you continue running, it is enough. The first mile I did in nine minutes and the last was at an eight-thirty pace. Altogether I averaged only a nine-minute pace, so God knows how slowly I ran the other five miles. A nine-minute pace is very bad. Of course, I was not racing. But if it had not been dark, I would have taken off at least fifteen seconds per mile.

Thanks a lot¹²

The day before we left Mazatlan I was running early in the morning. At one point a small car that was going quite fast came near me and stopped. A little boy five or six years old got out and asked me for directions in Spanish. He said three lines of Spanish, and I could not understand anything. I had been running fast, doing speed work, and I was exhausted. I don’t know Spanish, and I was so tired that I was helpless.

When the boy saw that I didn’t understand him and also that I was too tired to talk, he said very soulfully, “Thanks a lot.” There was no sarcasm involved. Then he ran back and entered into his father’s car.

Another day while I was running in Mazatlan very early in the morning, I saw an American running. This man I had previously seen playing tennis. He was bearded and not very nice looking. He asked me the time, and I said, “Five fifty-six.”

Then he said, “Damn you! Why can’t you say four minutes of six!”

I never use the expression “Thanks a lot,” but I told him, “Thanks a lot,” and continued running.

Long legs¹³

Recently in Bermuda I went out to run at five o’clock in the morning. I was running right in front of the hotel. Seventy or eighty metres I ran. Then I stopped, and then again I ran. I did this seven times. The weather in Bermuda was like Chicago: very windy! At times you couldn’t even walk, so how was I going to run?

There were about seven or eight taxis in front of the hotel. One taxi driver, an old man, was joking with me. He came very near me and was watching me. Then he said to me, “Champ, you have two long legs. Champ, you have long legs, long legs!” I was wearing shorts, although it was quite chilly. He was a gentleman, so he was wearing trousers.

It was so dangerous there. There was no proper sidewalk. I saw so many scooters. How fast they went! It reminded me of our vacation in Bermuda a few years ago.

400-metre standard¹⁴

When I first ran the 400-metre dash in 1944, I did it in one minute. In 1945 my time was 56 seconds and in 1946 it was 54 seconds. From then on, I always did it in under 54 seconds — 53.6 or less. Even in 1961 or 1962 it was still under 54 seconds.

Running in P.S. 86¹⁵

This evening at nine o’clock I went to P.S. 86, and I jogged there for an hour. The witnesses were Databir, Nirvik and Kanan. We went to the large room, and by going from one side to another we found a course that was over three hundred metres long. I passed through the room where the disciples sit at functions and then entered into the big hall.

In this world people can be good or bad. The principal there says that I will be able to run there in the morning or evening for free, without having to rent the building. So he is proving to be a very good man.

Starting again¹⁶

The first day I started running again after being injured, I could only run one block. Then I would have to stop and walk. Yesterday I ran eight hundred metres, and then I walked a little. Today it was better. When you stop running, your stamina goes away totally. It is not like tennis, where you retain your ability to a certain extent. Also, tennis always gives such joy; even if you miss the ball, at least you are playing a game.

Many years ago the Supreme gave me the capacity to run, but He didn’t give me enough time. I was acting like a slave to so many people — every day serving five masters at my various jobs in the ashram. What could I do? I just didn’t have time to practise running, although I had the capacity. Of course, now I have eight or nine hundred masters to please!

In addition to the disciples, I have two more masters: my two dogs, Sona and Kanu. For the last two weeks my little three-month-old Kanu has been blessing me so that I get no peace at night. He just cries and cries. When I finally bring him upstairs, he is so restless. He won’t stay in one place for more than two minutes. Sometimes around seven o’clock he rests a little, but usually until eight-thirty in the morning when the disciples come to work, I am a perfect slave to my little dog.

The unspoken invitation¹⁷

When I was running this morning, I passed by a very fat man about my age waiting for the bus. He was wearing a heavy coat and scarf. God knows how long he had been waiting, and I felt sorry for him.

I was making loud noises while I was running, huffing and puffing. The fat man said to me, “How old are you?”

I said, “Fifty.”

“You are running like a hundred-year-old man,” he said.

After I covered thirty metres more, a thought entered into my mind: “Let me invite him to run with me.” But this was all in the mental world, not in the practical world, and I kept on running.

The two rivals¹⁸

Kirsty and I are two rivals. God is not satisfied with punishing me alone; He has to punish Kirsty also. I can’t run; God has blessed me. Now I see that Kirsty can’t run either. Usually one rival wins. In our case God has demolished both of us. For the last few weeks neither one of us has been running.

One day we shall be able to fight against our fate. This year in the New York Marathon we have to do well.

The mountain and the Lilliputian¹⁹

In our marathon today I was watching Sarita run. I thought, “If you have will-power and strength, who cares about extra body weight?” She has tremendous strength from practising for five or six years. Five or six years ago she would sometimes faint when she ran. Now she is so strong!

Sarita and Snigdha were running together. Sarita looked like a mountain and Snigdha looked like a Lilliputian next to her.

The dangers of the sauna²⁰

Last week a very famous boxer fainted after coming out of a sauna. Last year Vinaya’s “sauna” almost made me faint on the street.

Vinaya’s car-sauna is hotter than the hottest. It can kill the strongest man on earth. On that day we drove about ten miles in his car-sauna along my running course on Union Turnpike. After ten miles I got out. When I opened the door and stepped out onto somebody’s lawn, I almost fainted. I told him that the owners wouldn’t appreciate it if I fainted on the lawn, and I got back into the car.

Once I entered the car, I asked him to drive as fast as possible back to my house and not to worry about the police. On Union Turnpike we were going seventy, seventy-five, eighty miles per hour. I am a fool and he is a fool. We didn’t think of lowering the heat or opening the windows. We just went on driving as fast as possible. He said, “Guru, before I joined the path, I did this kind of thing. Now you are asking me again to drive eighty-five miles per hour.” He was so delighted to go back to his old life!

When we reached my house, some boys had to carry me out of the car onto the lawn. One was massaging my head, one my feet. They put ice all over my body, and there were two fans. I couldn’t recognise anyone, and I couldn’t even get up.

My next door neighbour Mrs. Chino came out of her house in a panic. She said that she didn’t want to lose me. “I recently lost my husband and I don’t want to lose you,” she said.

Finally the boys took me upstairs. I closed the door — only to have a more serious attack. I couldn’t keep my eyes open.

I always used to advocate that Amita and others ride in Vinaya’s sauna. Amita says she enjoys it like anything. But for me, Vinaya puts it on the hottest. He wants to show off — to show me how powerful his sauna is. Before I enter into the car, he runs the motor for ten or fifteen minutes. When he shows off and when I show off, where do we stand?

You may ask why my inner beings didn’t warn me that this would happen. They could have, but they knew I was not going to die, and they wanted to give me an experience. This suffering that I went through was necessary; otherwise, I would not have learned the needed lesson and taken the message seriously. Now this message I am giving to all my disciples.

The sauna can be very dangerous if you try to lose five or six pounds all at once. The sauna should be used only for ten or fifteen minutes — not for an hour or two. Eat less and run more: this is the only cure for weight problems. The only answer is to run and then to not eat, to not eat and then to run. In my case I also put weights on my legs and get very good exercise when I walk.

Those who say they don’t eat and still gain weight have to pray to the goddess of air: “Please don’t come near me.” As the Indians traditionally pray to Saturn, “Saturn, please don’t come near me,” they have to pray to the air goddess or the wind god, “Please don’t come near me, because if you come, I gain weight.”

Recently I took some pills which Dhananjaya bought in Mexico. If you take these Mexican pills, you may lose nine pounds but you get unbearable cramps. The other day I took them, only to die. When I got the cramps, I screamed from upstairs for help. Baoul and Databir were outside. They heard me calling, but because of the birds’ screaming, nobody in the house could hear me. Now Dhanu has installed a buzzer system in the house so that I can be heard from upstairs. It rings in every room of the house.

The Mexican pills were not as dangerous as the sauna, but they were still quite dangerous. From now on I have decided, “No pills, no sauna!”

Wishful thinking²¹

I am just starting to run again, but still I cherish wishful thinking! Before I start running, I am hoping to run my fastest. Then, after 400 metres, I stop. I can’t run even one mile! For 400 metres I walk and for 400 metres I run. Then 800 metres I walk and 800 I run.

Today I ran three miles. For the first two miles I walked for 400 metres and I ran for 400 metres. This is what happens when you don’t practise for a month. In Puerto Rico I had a tooth problem and a very high fever, so I couldn’t run. So many other things as well have prevented me from training.

A confusing race²²

Today we went to run five miles in the marathon held in Eisenhower Park. It was all confusion! The police car made a wrong turn, so the first ten runners who were following it had to run a half mile more.

The course was five loops, so it was very confusing. Pahar and Nirvik could not follow the signs. After running five miles, we ran 400 or 500 metres extra!

Cahit Yeter was running, and he was very happy to see me. Among the disciples, Christopher ran for twelve or thirteen miles. Trishul was exhausted because he had already run two other races recently. This was his third race in three weeks.

Ketan was with us in the back seat while we were driving. Databir kept asking Ketan for directions, and Ketan immediately gave readymade answers.

There were about thirty disciples, mostly Canadians, who went to see our performance and cheer us while we ran.

They don't run²³

All the girl disciples say that they don’t run very much. But then I go to my four-mile point and see somebody like Kirsty running. In this way I catch them.

Today, at my three-and-a-half-mile point, I saw Nirjhari running. So I know she ran at least seven miles.

Walking shorts²⁴

Chayanika made me some very warm shorts, and I went race-walking in them this afternoon. She has proved that spring is here, at least for today.

How is your business?²⁵

When I was race-walking, Dhanu’s car was following me. There were some distinguished people in the car: Nirvik, Ila, Garima, plus Trishul. I covered many miles.

When I had covered only 500 metres, a young boy smiled at me and said to me, “How is your business going on?” Now, what is my business?

Later, a young man offered me a can of beer. I smiled at him. He said afterwards to the people in the car that there was much protein in beer.

Old man, keep going!²⁶

After I finished race-walking, I was doing speed work in front of my house. Three very nice black men said to me, “Old man, keep going, keep going! Some day you will do well.”

Abhipsa's light²⁷

While I was walking, I saw Abhipsa at a distance. He had on a Bill Rodgers running suit, and the back of it was shining.

Once a seeker was misusing his occult power by showing light, so Sri Ramakrishna took away the light. Ramakrishna did the man a big favour. But Abhipsa was not misusing his light, so I didn’t take it away.

Hillwork²⁸

I do so much hill work! Today I did two miles in this area, and then I went to Yonkers and ran another two and a half miles. In Yonkers there are frightening hills.

Dhanu was driving, and Databir, Ila and Nirvik were in the car. They are all witnesses.

The blind runner²⁹

This afternoon I went to Yonkers to run. The marks for the Westchester Half-Marathon have now become nearly invisible, so Dhanu couldn’t follow the proper course while driving near me in his car. I saw the marks, but I had more faith in him than in myself, so I followed the car.

After half a mile, I realised that he had made a wrong turn. Then we retraced our steps until we came to a particular side street. I remembered from our previous training runs that it was the correct street, so I was looking over my shoulder at the car and signalling for Dhanu to come. He was ahead of me forty or fifty metres. While I was still looking backwards, I started running in the street.

Two young boys were passing by — one was running and the other was cycling. The boy who was cycling went right onto the sidewalk to avoid me and said to the other boy, “Can’t you see this blind man? He is looking in one direction and running in the other direction.”

The other boy said, “He can’t do a thing.” He didn’t listen to the other one and kept running on the street.

Dobbs Ferry Hills³⁰

When I run near Dobbs Ferry, I start near the Hudson River and run for three miles. The first mile is all uphill. At one point I run fifty metres straight to the top of a hill. Right at the top I am always attacked by dogs.

Once Nathan was bragging that the hills he runs in Arizona are very steep. So I told him, “You come with me.” At first he didn’t want to admit that the hills I ran were steeper. But when I started barking at him, he confessed that these were steeper and more difficult.

The runners club³¹

The other day, when I was in the car on my way to do hill work, I saw four girls at the one-mile mark — Tina, Christine, Diane and Irene. Instead of running, they were standing around in a circle.

Later, I heard that they have a club. They run together every morning. After one mile they meditate before going back.

The snakes³²

Children have no sense. In the beginning of the three-mile race in Long Island, they criss-crossed back and forth like snakes.

"Ultra, ultra!"³³

While I was running the three-mile race, a man was looking at me out of curiosity. He said, “Ultra, ultra!”

Then, just as I was crossing the finish line, they made an announcement that I was finishing.

After the race a photographer from a Long Island newspaper came to take my picture.

Mantra from Heaven³⁴

During a two-mile race in Alley Pond Park, I saw a husband and wife who were also running. After twelve hundred metres the wife was unable to keep pace with the husband, and she wanted to give up. But the husband was encouraging her to continue. He was saying, “This is discipline. If you don’t have discipline, you can’t accomplish anything.”

I thought, “This mantra that he is saying is absolutely descending from Heaven. God is speaking to her through her husband.” I was so moved.

Tanima's descent³⁵

This morning I was running up 150th Street. At one point I saw Tanima the great going down the hill — driving.

Rejean's handshake³⁶

Rejean won the two-mile race in Cunningham Park today, and they gave him only a handshake. If the organisers of the race did not plan to give the winners anything, why did they charge a dollar fee to enter?

Since Rejean was the best runner, he should have shook their hands as hard as possible. Then they would have remembered his handshake. They might have forgotten his running, but they would never have forgotten his handshake.

So victory today went to Rejean. Abadh was second. Then just a little behind was Utpal. Nirvik also did well. He has broken his previous record.

Great master and great disciple³⁷

Nirvik and I are great. First we ran a one-mile race in Eisenhower Park, and then we went to Central Park and ran five miles of hills, all up and down. Then we ran in the Green Leaves and Ripe Fruits race. A great Master and a great disciple! The only difference is, the disciple massages the Master after running, even while he himself is dying.

Good morning, sir!³⁸

I started my running-journey this morning at three-thirty. Then I ran again at five o’clock, doing hill work. A lady who was out with her dog said, “Good morning, good morning, Sir!”

Early in the morning is the best time for running. There is no car problem. You can run in the middle of the street.

Starve unto death³⁹

If you want to lose weight, there is no middle path. Buddha spoke of the middle path. But if you want to lose weight, you have to go to the extreme — starve unto death. Then you can fly when you run.

Saturday I was under a hundred and forty pounds. Then I ran in a two-mile race. During the race I felt that I had conquered the world, but after the race I felt tired and exhausted. Then relaxation started, and I gained four pounds.

Baoul's trance⁴⁰

Today Baoul meditated so well. He was waiting in the car to take me running. I entered into the car and called his name. Still he did not come out of his trance. He remained fast asleep.

Compensation⁴¹

Today I was running very fast, taking long strides. Each stride was at least fifty inches, going up to sixty-two.

The man who lives across from me was out with his dog. He was on the sidewalk and I was on the street. He always greets me first. But this time we just looked at each other. I did not recognise him, and he did not recognise me.

When I saw him enter into his house, I came to know who it was. Then I felt miserable. I said, “Every day he greets me, but today he did not greet me. “Baoul went to speak to him. He was very sad that he had not recognised me. So we both felt sad. I went home and felt sad, and he went home and felt sad.

Later I was playing the esraj on the porch, and he happened to be outside. I raised my hand, and he smiled. In this way we compensated.

Mistaken identity⁴²

Today when I was riding in the car, I saw someone running. I said, “Look at this girl. Definitely it is one of our people.”

O God, when the runner turned around, I saw that it was Kanan. Luckily he didn’t hear what I had said. I did not want to disturb him because he was going for a long run. Therefore I deliberately did not call him to come join us in the car.

The laggard⁴³

Today for the first time Chidananda followed me in the car when I was running on my loop. Twice I looked around but I didn’t see the car there. Then I saw that his car was a hundred metres behind me. Usually people driving with me stay only twenty or thirty metres behind me, but he was a hundred metres behind.

Resolutions⁴⁴

Even in the face of injuries or poor health, I will not give up running so easily. Now running is unbearable. So first I have to make it bearable, then enjoyable. It is my wish every day to run at least five miles at a stretch and ten or twelve miles altogether. And once a week I will do at least three miles of hill work.

The taxi driver⁴⁵

The day before yesterday, around three-thirty in the morning, I was running by my one-mile mark, near the place where you make a turn on Main Street to go to Flushing Meadow Park. A black man was driving by in a taxi — at that hour! He stopped the taxi and said, “Excuse me, can you give me a can of beer?” I said, “Thank you.” Then I just kept running. That was the only man I saw there. I ran two or three more miles, but I saw only one more car.

No bite, no bark!⁴⁶

This morning I ran two miles. The wind was killing me. As soon as I started, I met my old lady friend with her dog. First she said with tremendous anger and frustration, “Why are you running in this weather? It is freezing!” She was speaking with her German accent.

Then she said to me, “No bite, no bark, my Pauly!”

At that moment her dog started barking. I said, “As long as there is no bite, I don’t have to worry.”

But she got mad at her dog for barking.

The green light⁴⁷

This morning I covered fourteen miles. After I had run eleven miles, I was running slowly while crossing the street at a green light. A very old, fat cab driver wanted to go against the red light. He said, “Mister, can you run a bit faster?” I showed him that I had the green light. He said again, “What, you can’t run faster?”

He was so fat and old! I don’t think he could have run eleven miles.

All in a week's work

On Monday I ran twenty miles. First I ran twelve miles in the morning. Later I ran another mile. Then, coming back from the dentist, I ran two and a half miles, and at night I ran another four and a half miles.

On Tuesday the snow was killing me. I could not run in that kind of blizzard.

On Wednesday I ran four miles.

On Thursday in the morning I ran seven miles, then half a mile and then three miles. I was showing off. Bansidhar was running with me on Union Turnpike. He is a good runner. During the three-mile run I was taking such long strides! Then, when we came to the last four hundred metres, my strides were sixty-five inches. Later Bansidhar said it was difficult to keep up with me. So yesterday I completed ten and a half miles.

Then today, fourteen miles! Altogether I walked only sixty metres. After seven miles I walked twenty metres. Then, after ten miles, I walked forty metres. If I had done only thirteen miles, the pace would have been 9:23. But the fourteenth mile brought the average down.

Short girl, long strides⁴⁸

Yesterday I was enjoying Pragati. She is such a short girl. How can she take such long strides? As I ran by her, she looked down at my feet. She did not realise that I was also looking at her feet, watching her strides.

The soul's blessing⁴⁹

This morning when I was returning home after running five miles, all of a sudden somebody’s soul came to me and asked for special blessings. I said, “All right. I am dying now, but you need blessings.” So I blessed the person. Then I said, “I hope you do really well in the 12-hour walk.”

Two seconds later I just raise my eyes, and I saw that same person right in front of me. It was Sunanda the great. She is the only one whom I saw while I was running today. Her soul had come to me one second earlier.

Editor's preface to the first edition

Sri Chinmoy’s interest in running dates back to his youth. At the ashram, or spiritual community, where he lived from the ages of 12 to 32, he was the top-ranked sprinter and, for two consecutive years, decathlon champion. It wasn’t until the fall of 1978, however, that he first became interested in long-distance running. Since then, he has pursued the sport with the same one-pointed intensity that he has brought to his various literary, artistic and musical pursuits. For Sri Chinmoy, running — like writing, painting and composing — is nothing but an expression of his inner cry for ever-greater perfection: perfection in the inner world and perfection in the outer world. “Our goal is always to go beyond, beyond, beyond,” he says. “There are no limits to our capacity, because we have the infinite Divine within us, and the Supreme is always transcending His own Reality.”

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.

In the year he has been running, Sri Chinmoy himself has completed seven marathons. He averages about seventy to ninety miles a week, with most of his running done late at night or in the early hours of the morning. During his runs he has been chased by dogs, accosted by hooligans, greeted by admirers and cheered on by children. Sometimes he has had significant inner experiences; other times he has suffered deplorable outer experiences. As a spiritual Master of the highest order, Sri Chinmoy views these experiences — both the divine ones and the undivine ones — with a unique perspective. The running world is nothing but the human world in microcosm, and Sri Chinmoy’s reminiscences stand as a remarkable commentary on the whimsical, poignant, funny, outrageous and, above all, supremely significant experience we call life.