3100 Miles of Inspiration

It is always nice to come back to this Inspiration site after some time. Due to a very busy schedule and spending many hours a day at the 3100 mile race in New York I have not been able to enjoy all the posts here that so many people contribute in such creative ways.

I would like to share with you some of the inspiration from this amazing race, or journey really, which was the vision and creation of Sri Chinmoy over 12 years ago. In 2002, when the 3100 mile race was already six years old and I had been helping there quite regularly, I was inspired to write this poem. I printed it out for a Prasad item for my 50th birthday that year and Guru had me read it out at Aspiration-Ground at that time. He seemed to like it a lot, so now I wish to share it again with a larger audience here. After reading it, if you wish to get more inspiration from the 3100 mile race experience, please visit this website for the race: http://www.3100.ws/gallery/

Besides the photo gallery that I and others have been posting there are the amazing blogs of Utpal and the updates from Sahishnu and Medur that most of you already know about. If you have the opportunity to get to New York by the first week of August then you can experience firsthand the dynamic and uniquely spiritual nature of this event.

I wrote the following poem in 2002, two years before I actually ran the race in 2004. Perhaps Guru liked it so much he personally asked me to run the race in 2003. He told me that he felt that I could finish the race and then he immediately asked me, "Is your mind a problem?" Even though I had a bit of tendonitis in my knee that year I knew that my mind, and fear, were the main problem in deciding to run the race. Guru does not ask many people to participate in such a long and difficult running event, but he knew and saw that I had the running and racing background for it as well as understanding the nature and spirit of such a race. But he then compassionately told me that because of my knee problem that I should wait until the next year, which would be 2004.

I did run and finish the race in 2004. It was the perfect year for me to do it as it turned out that I finished on the 52nd day, I was born in '52 and I turned 52 during the race. All due to the Grace of the
Supreme and Guru's inspiration, encouragement and faith in me, and
with the tremendous outer help of all the volunteers who work there
daily, I completed the 3100 mile journey, also becoming the first person over 50 years old to do so. Adequate words of gratitude cannot be expressed when thinking of it.

At this point I cannot describe the experience any better than with the following poem, so enjoy it.

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
These handful of Hero-Warriors.

Running, walking, struggling
To the beat of their own
Undying aspirations
In this perpetually moving
Epic adventure,
These Ultimate Survivors
Of obstacles unimaginable
Are proving to humanity
With their unparalleled perseverance,
Adamantine wills
And unswerving Faith,
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 DeAngelo