Marathon Spiritual Meaning

[Danel Potvin]

SriChinmoy believed that running is beneficial to physical health but also can give an inner spiritual fulfilment. Running teaches us determination, focus and reminds us of our aspiration to go beyond our previous limitations. Running is both physically challenging but, at the same time, gives an inner joy and satisfaction. Many runners attest to the fact that running can take us out of an ordinary consciousness and give a glimpse into a state of mind beyond our usual thoughts and emotions.

Self-transcendence is concerned with an attempt to beat our previous achievement and stretch our capacity. This self-transcendence can be measured in a race against the clock, but even if we can't beat our times, we can still strive to make a greater commitment and effort in our training and races. If we are detached from the outer result, we will feel joy from these attempts at self-transcendence. Whilst we may not have the capacity to beat others, we always have the opportunity to pursue our own self-transcendence attempts.

Running brings forward both our outer and inner determination. Running requires effort, focus and the willingness to challenge our body against the distance and elements. To complete a race requires a fixed mindset and determination to keep going.

Running takes us out of our comfort zone. It teaches us that we are more capable than we perhaps realise. To a non-runner, completing a marathon may seem an impossible task, but if we train, we realise we are capable of much more than we realise. Whilst running, we get in touch with a different part of ourself, and we learn more about our inner reserves.

Sri Chinmoy: Running is an excellent way to rid oneself of frustration and anger. If you are really angry with someone, go and run. After a mile or so you will see that your anger has gone away, either because you are totally exhausted or because the satisfaction that you gain from physical exertion has replaced your anger. [4]

A great benefit of running is that it shakes away our mental cobwebs. The dynamism of running helps us to get away from the petty concerns and worries of our mind. Dynamism is a powerful tool to bring to the fore more inner peace. When we are static, we become like a stagnant pool, when we move, it is like a clear flowing stream. The Sri Chinmoy Oneness-Home Peace Run combines both running long distances with an endeavour to share peace. Sri Chinmoy felt the dynamism of running across countries was an excellent way to share peace in a meaningful way. Running brings many of our good qualities to the fore.

Rather than worrying about whether you can beat your competitors, focus instead on your own performance. Can you transcend your previous efforts? - Can you make the best possible effort given your circumstances? If you focus only on your self-transcendence, you will get joy from running - whatever the outer result. You will see fellow competitors - not as rivals, but fellow runners who can inspire your own efforts.

If we meditate before running, we will be conscious of our inner stillness and inner reserves which can help us in the outer running. Meditation teaches us to be one-pointed and bring all our awareness of one aspect. When we run, we can see our running as an extension of our meditation. Just bring all your focus on to the running - the rhythm of breathing. Don't get distracted by thoughts, but just try to be the observer of the running. When the body is running, at top speed, feel at the same time an inner focus and inner equanimity.

"Again, the runner's outer speed has a special kind of poise or stillness at its very heart. An airplane travels very fast, yet inside the plane we feel no movement at all. It is all tranquility, all peace; and this inner tranquility we can bring to our outer life. In fact, the outer life, the outer movement, can be successful only when it comes from the inner poise."

To make running a more meditative experience, we can concentrate on our breathing. We should feel our breath brings in not just oxygen but a divine energy. If we visualise we are breathing in cosmic energy and exhaling tiredness, we will gain more inner strength.

If we value running as a spiritual exercise, then it can become something much more than just the outer running. When running, we can feel we are making inner progress and striving to reach our inner goal.

Jayasalini Abramovskikh talks about the experience of running the Sri Chinmoy 3100 Mile Self-Transcendence Race. In 2014, at her first attempt, Jayasalini became the first Russian woman to finish this grueling race which lasts for 52 consecutive days.

Samunnati Lehonkova is an Olympic marathon runner who took up running at an early age after becoming a disciple of Sri Chinmoy. In this short video, Samunnati talks about how she started meditation and running at the same time, and how she attempts to practise self-transcendence through running.

A film that explores the spiritual significance of running in different cultures across the world. It includes the Gaolo-San bushmen in Botswana, the legendary Japanese gyoman-san running monks, the Navajo runners in the deserts of Arizona, and the runners of the Sri Chinmoy Self-Transcendence 3100 Mile Race in Jamaica, Queens, New York.

Abhejali Bernardova, of the Sri Chinmoy Marathon Team from the Czech Republic has swum seven of the world's toughest stretches of open water, including the English Channel. She has also recently published a book about her swimming exploits in Czech entitled: "Until the Water Runs Out?" For a recent podcast after the book publication, Abhejali shared her thoughts on training, inspiration and meditation.

I started to go to University and I started to run really slowly. I remember my very first run and I just left my house and I ran around the block, it was like five minutes and I felt okay, I started running. Then I increased the distance. It was like twenty-five years ago so there were no, not that many races like there are now and the Sri Chinmoy Marathon Team we started organising races, six hours, twelve hours, 100k. So when we did organise these races I wanted to try them out and see how far I could go. So from those five minutes I went to 3k, 10k then a marathon and then that six-hour. Then I still felt I could do more. So, it was just nice to widen my limits or my so-called limits. In a way, it was growing really slowly and then we organised a twenty-hour hour race and then actually I was helping my friend in New York and she ran a race that was one thousand miles long. It was in a park on a one-mile loop and I remember running a marathon after she finished the race maybe a week later. And I ran a marathon on the same loop and I remember that it was my easiest marathon ever because it was twenty-six laps whereas she had to do one thousand laps. So I could totally see how if you change your perspective, if something feels difficult then just look at it from a different side or different height. So that was my easiest marathon.

Is that when doing back to back training, six hours on Saturday, six hours on a Sunday, you could wake up feeling so sore and tired, what are you tips for recovery? How do you make sure that you stay injury free when you are doing endurance training of this length?

My main goal I would describe as really knowing myself, what I am, why I am here, what I am supposed to do and just being me. Being the best version of me and getting better every day, becoming a better person.

Sri Chinmoy was a pioneer of ultra-running and encouraged athletes to challenge their limitations through a philosophy of self-transcendence and going beyond the limits of mind and body. Sri Chinmoy taught that by challenging our limits, we could do something that we previously thought impossible.

To this end, ultra-running is an excellent vehicle for runners to transcend their previous limitations. Sri Chinmoy himself ran several marathons and ultra-marathons. In 1977, he founded the Sri Chinmoy Marathon Team which was a pioneer of multi-day running in the 1980s and today continues to organise The Sri Chinmoy 3100 Mile Self-Transcendence Race.

Perseverance is hard. As one who has fought a losing battle with the practice of running, I can only gape in slack-jawed awe at those who have the spirit and endurance to run a 10k, let alone a marathon. Hence, it is a sobering comparison for me to acknowledge that our journey of faith is a spiritual marathon, not a sprint. The exhaustion of life can easily weigh us down, tempting us to throw in the towel and give up the race. Thankfully, Scripture does not leave us in the dark about how to endure these struggles. In the book of Jude, we find two realities about perseverance that we must keep in tension if we are to persevere in faith.

Perseverance is the Believer's Responsibility. If we as believers do not take the time and energy to remain faithful, we will fall away. It is not feasible to simply float along for a lifetime on the euphoria of a conversion experience and early faith. It takes hard work on our part to avoid falling away. This is mentioned several times in the New testament. 1 Tim. 6:12 calls us to "fight the good fight of faith," and Heb. 10:35-36 confirms that we "have need of endurance."

Perseverance is God's Work. We cannot live a full life of faith on our own. God plays a huge role in our perseverance. Jude reminds us that the Lord is able to "keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy" (Jude 1:24). God does not foist the entire responsibility of faith onto our shoulders. "He who began a good work in you will be faithful to bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ" (Phil. 1:6).

Believers can't expect to sail effortlessly through life's spiritual marathon. Life gets exhausting and gritty even for the most faithful followers. We have to make a conscious and painful effort to keep running after Christ and not collapse. But if we seek diligently to endure, God will provide us with the strength to persevere and keep running onwards toward the goal.

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