Successful crossing of English Channel
Tatiana Kvasova a Russian member of the Sri Chinmoy Marathon Team successfully completed her first crossing of the English Channel - in a time of 20hrs 13mins; it marked the 47th successful crossing of the English Channel by the Sri Chinmoy Marathon Team in the past 32 years.
Tatiana became a meditation student of Sri Chinmoy in 2004, after meeting Sri Chinmoy during a visit to Russia. Inspired by Sri Chinmoy's philosophy of self-transcendence and the history of the Sri Chinmoy Marathon Team in attempting the 'Everest of long-distance swimming' she undertook intensive training to gain the necessary stamina and speed. Speaking of the experience of training for this epic event, she remarked:
"This (intense) training already made me another person, I have learned to understand myself better, my mind, my body. By working hard in the training and going forward step by step overcoming difficulties you really become a different person, more determined, more confident, and at the same time you become more patient and learn to understand others better."
With relatively little experience of open water distance swimming, Tatiana successfully managed an arduous 20 hour swim with currents her up and down the coast, with the finish insight. Tatiana completed the swim with a crew of helpers from the Sri Chinmoy Marathon Team. Her pilot was the very experienced 'King of the Channel' - Kevin Murphy - Kevin has completed the English Channel crossing, 32 times and was once honoured by Sri Chinmoy in a 'Lifting Up the World With a Oneness Heart Award' for his services to long-distance swimming.
Tatiana from Moscow joins a select list of people who have completed a solo (no wetsuit) swim; she was only the fourth Russian female to make the crossing.
“I do not have any set goal; my goal is self-transcendence. I always try to transcend myself. I do not compete with the rest of the world. I compete only with myself, and I try to become a better human being. This is my ultimate goal.”
– Sri Chinmoy
Tatiana after her 20-hour crossing of the English Channel.
Related
- Report at Sri Chinmoy Races
- List of swims by Sri Chinmoy Marathon Team
New Guinness World Record: World's largest crayon
In honour of Sri Chinmoy’s 86th birthday celebrations, Ashrita Furman and a team of volunteers set a new Guinness World Record for the world’s largest crayon. The giant crayon is 5.22 m with a diameter of 56 cm.
Speaking of the inspiration for this new Guinness World record, Ashrita stated:
“Our teacher came from India to inspire joy in other people. He created thousands of soul bird drawings with crayons in various colours to convey the joy experienced in meditation to others. With tremendous gratitude we are honouring what would be Sri Chinmoy’s 86th birthday with the world's largest crayon.”
Ashrita, manager of a Health Food Store in Queens, New York, holds more than 190 Guinness World records and says the power of meditation and Sri Chinmoy’s philosophy of self-transcendence help enable this unique collection of records.
Sri Chinmoy was born 27 August 1931, and many of his students from around the world come to Queens every August to partake in his birthday celebrations. Amongst other activities, Sri Chinmoy was a prolific artist drawing, in his lifetime, nearly 16 million soul bird drawings - a unique style of art which reflect the soul’s aspiration and inner freedom.
Soul-Bird drawing by Sri Chinmoy.
Photo credit: Sri Chinmoy Marathon Team.
Making progress on Sri Chinmoy's Path
Daulot Fountain from Seattle talks about his early years on Sri Chinmoy’s path and how he began to live a spiritual life.
Spirituality and work
Spirituality encompasses all aspects of life - not just meditation and prayer, but also work.
We may perceive work as just a necessity to make a living. But, with a different attitude, we can also see our job as an opportunity to strive to put into practice spiritual teachings.
Karma yoga is the path of selfless service. In this yoga we seek to make progress through treating work as an opportunity to serve the world, without desire for ego-gratification. If we try to follow this path - whatever our work is, it gives us an opportunity to implement a spiritual perspective to our work and gain a new sense of satisfaction.
"Karma Yoga is the Yoga of dedicated service. In the ordinary life, we have a motive when we work. There is always something we want to achieve. But if our only aim is to please God in His own way through our dedicated selfless service, if we do not care for anything else — not for name or fame or outer success — then this is real Karma Yoga. In Karma Yoga we progress toward union with God through our selfless actions."
- Sri Chinmoy [1]
More videos about work
Related
New women's world record in the world's longest race
48 days and 14 hours after starting the Sri Chinmoy Self-Transcendence 3100 Mile Race, 47 year old Kaneenika Janakova of Bratislava, Slovakia set a new women’s world record for the distance. Her final time was 48 days+14:24:10, averaging over 63 miles for nearly two months of daily racing.
Kaneenika broke the previous women’s record set by Surasa Mairer by over 17 hours. Her performance was also sufficient to finish 2nd overall.
After a difficult opening few days, Kaneenika was a model of consistency averaging well over the required minimum daily distance of 60 miles. She remarked how over the course of the race she felt stronger - despite the accumulation of miles and physical fatigue.
“At the beginning of the race I actually didn’t feel so strong, the first week and maybe even 10 days. But then all of a sudden it felt as though I was gaining the strength. It just all started happening. It was all coming from inside.”
The overall winner of the race was Vasu Duzhiy 51, of St Petersburg, Russia, who won the 21st Annual Sri Chinmoy Self-Transcendence 3100 Mile Race for the second time in 46 days+17:38:22. It was Vasu’s sixth consecutive finish and his second consecutive first place. His performance was all the more remarkable for a serious back accident eight months ago, which left him unable to train and barely able to stand. Speaking after the race, Vasu expressed his joy of competing in the contest.
“I love this race. I don’t know why I love it. I just love it and do it. I am happy here and I am able to do self transcendence. I hope that I can inspire some people to be better citizens of the world. They inspire me and I inspire them.”
Over 100 spectators came to see the finish of the runners who had braved extremes of temperature, sickness, and the unremitting nature of the concrete block which had been their home and sporting pilgrimage for the past several weeks.
On Saturday night, Nirbhasa Magee, a native of Dublin, Ireland finished second man, third overall in a personal best time of 48 days+16:47:01. It was Nirbhasa’s second attempt at the distance, managing to improve his finish time by two days plus 19 hours faster than his previous effort in 2015. For Magee, the spirit of self-transcendence is the essence of the race, remarking:
“It is nice to transcend yourself… I am not leaving anything on the table. It is not like I am taking it easy. What you see from me every day is my absolute best that I can put out
The race continues for a few days with Harita Davies (NZ) and Yolanda Holder (US) within striking distance of finishing the race within the allotted time of 52 days.
Follow the race at:
- 3100 Mile race at Sri Chinmoy Races
- Perfection Journey by Utpal
- Photos of race by Jowan
Everest-Aspiration 40th Anniversary
During a one month period during the summer of 1977, Sri Chinmoy gave 100 talks on aspects of the spiritual life. After a few weeks, these talks were published in a series of four books entitled ‘Everest-Aspiration.’
The talks encompass the core of Sri Chinmoy’s spiritual philosophy - and offer seekers a practical guide to making progress on the path of yoga. These talks inspire, challenge and illumine the aspirant to dive into a real and meaningful spirituality. The book touches not just the philosophical level but also gives the receptive reader an intuitive sense of the spiritual consciousness behind the words.
“Smile, my friends, my soulful friends, smile. Let us smile. True, this world of ours is full of suffering and excruciating pangs, but that is no reason why we should not smile. We must smile in order to unburden the world’s suffering-burden. We must smile in order to diminish its untold pangs.”
- Sri Chinmoy, “Smile, love and claim” Everest-Aspiration part 1, Agni Press, 1977
Related
- Everest-Aspiration at Sri Chinmoy Library
- Sri Chinmoy reads from Everest Aspiration at Radio Sri Chinmoy.
- “Everest Aspiration” Story by Arpan - scroll down to talk ‘Everest Aspiration’ Arpan describes an evening of July 1977, when Sri Chinmoy gave one of the memorable talks during the middle of a electricity power-cut.
On joining Sri Chinmoy's Path
Garga Chamberlain
Garga Chamberlain from Bristol Sri Chinmoy Centre talks about how he came to follow a spiritual life and his experience of being on Sri Chinmoy’s path. Garga also explains what, for him, is the essence of Sri Chinmoy’s spiritual path.
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