Those Who Want To

"Those Who Want To"

To honour Guru’s fiftieth birthday, the disciples staged a 25-mile run (50 laps) up and down the steep hill on 150th Street. I completed the run in about 5 hours 30 minutes. The next day another batch of disciples took part, and on the third day, Guru invited still others to try. He also said, “Those who want to do it again can do.” I was stunned by the mere suggestion of trying again! As it was, I could barely walk because I was so stiff from my first day’s effort. But something made me try again, taking only 20 minutes longer! This was a real miracle, since inspiration usually operates on the mental plane for me, rather than on the physical plane.

Nemi (New York

Pulling Me Along

Pulling Me Along

Although I never ran before joining Guru's path, in the first marathon I ran, I was the fifth woman overall. I thought, with a little more practice I could be first, and then maybe they would mention Guru in the newspaper write-up. The night before my next marathon, I had some pains and also some doubts. But every time I inwardly told Guru about my pains, he would say in my meditation, "Run, you will win." During the marathon, I felt Guru's force pulling me along and, although I kept expecting someone to pass me, I was the first woman to finish, breaking the tape in 3:26.

Nirantara (London)

My Silent Coach (poem)

My Silent Coach

My silent coach,

You pull me from the chains of comfort

Out into the sanctuary of morning

To tread where you have trod,

Impelled by the verdant hope

Of a glimpse

Of your loving radiance.

Nemi (New York)

Journey To The Unknown (poem)

Journey To The Unknown

A 3,100 mile orbit of concrete, Automobiles and local humanity, Lightly spiced with a hint of nature And fed by the Grace of God, Supported with the efforts of friends Who sympathize with the pain, The joys And the challenges Facing at every moment The handful of Hero-Warriors.

Running, walking, struggling To the beat of their own Undying aspirations Of this fifty-one day Epic adventure, These Ultimate Survivors Of obstacles unimaginable Are proving to humanity With their unparalleled perseverance And adamantine wills That the impossible Can be done, And the Universal Energy Can be unleashed To raise our standards And lift our minds Beyond the limits Of our broken bodies And faithless thoughts, To reveal the Beauty And the Power Of Life's long and arduous Journey to the Unknown.

Arpan (New York)

Inner And Outer Helper

Inner And Outer Helper

In 1979 I ran the New York Marathon—my first. Guru also ran the marathon that year. At the function the night before, Guru gave bee pollen for prasad, which I ate immediately. I felt a tremendous buzz of energy and never slept a wink all night. I felt very tired on the morning of the marathon, but I was happy and excited to be running. However, it was very, very hot, and I started struggling after 10 miles. By the time I reached the bridge at 15 miles, I was ready to lie down and die. All my energy was drained from my body, I couldn't put one foot in front of the other, and I was thinking of dropping out. At this point I heard Guru's voice say very powerfully, "Do not give up! Do not give up!" I also saw a mental image of Guru running ahead of me. I started walking over the bridge and picked up my running again. With about six miles to go, I was wondering how I was going to finish, when one of the official helpers cycled up to me and asked if I was all right. "I'm really hot and I need a drink," I gasped. Water was fetched and for the rest of the marathon, this helper kept checking on me to see if I was still OK. When I finished, he came up to me and said, "Congratulations, you finished! I didn't think you would make it." So for my first marathon, I had an inner and outer helper—perhaps they were one and the same!

Arpita (Edinburgh)

Dare To Take One Step

Dare To Take One Step

This past summer I signed up for the annual Alpine Marathon in Switzerland. It is actually an ultramarathon of 78km (49 miles), with a challenging 2300m altitude change and a time limit of 12 hours. It was not my first Alpine Marathon, but it was my first experience trying it with chronic bronchitis and a lung weakness. I was therefore 100 percent or more dependent on grace, and I kept chanting "Supreme" and "gratitude" all the way.

Suddenly, after about 30 km (19 miles), the pain in my lungs from which I had suffered for the last two months was gone. After the 26-mile mark, up to which we had covered only about one-third of the altitude change, I felt fine but more exhausted than usual. One part of me was just about ready to give up. The other part of me, however, continued chanting and commanded my lips to smile.

Meanwhile, another runner who was walking behind me as I tried to run uphill started to advise me on how to save energy, and he also knew the new route of the race and how to manage the upcoming mountain range in the most effective way. As a result I had enough energy for the last 18km (11 miles) downhill from 2800 meters above sea level to Davos at 1500 meters. This chain of grace enabled me to finish 40 minutes before the cut-off time. Most amazingly, the lung pain I had started with had completely vanished.

This experience reminded me of earlier challenges: swimming across the English Channel despite my small shoulders, running the Marathon des Sables in Morocco despite once being a weak runner, and climbing Mount McKinley with only two years of training and a bronchitis problem. Such experiences have proved to me that these and greater inner goals can be achieved by the same grace—the grace that comes towards us one hundred steps if we just dare to take one step!

Ursi - Geneva.

Countless

Countless

It was only a few weeks before the New York Marathon, and I realised that I had not done any serious preparation at all. I did a long run two days in a row, and the next day I wanted to get in another long run. After about an hour, though, a pain flashed through my right knee and I had to walk home. The knee kept hurting and I could not run any more up until the Marathon. Since I already had a plane ticket and a race number, I did not want to cancel and felt I should give it a try. On the day of the Marathon, I was able to run until the ten-mile mark, when my knee hurt again and I had to walk. We had been told that Guru would be giving prasad at the Marathon Team station at mile 13, so I figured I would walk to there and, if nothing changed, drop out. A bit beyond the Team table, I heard Ranjana call my name. She was pointing further down, where Guru was taking video of the runners. When I had passed Guru and became aware of myself again, I suddenly realised that I was running! My knee pain had gone away. I tried to run carefully and with concentration as if to stay free from pain, and managed to finish in 4:40—one of Guru's countless miracles.

Vasanti (Heidelberg)

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