Question: What role should competition play in one's running?

Sri Chinmoy: If the runner is a seeker, then he has a special role. His role is to compete with himself and try to increase his own capacity. But he has to know that he will increase his capacity only by virtue of the infinite Grace of God, if so is the Will of God. So the seeker-runner will try to consciously surrender to the Will of God during his running career.

If the runner is not a seeker, his aim is immediate success and the immediate manifestation of his unparalleled supremacy. He wants to defeat all his rivals mercilessly and, like Julius Caesar, to declare, "I came, I saw, I conquered."