Function Honouring Lelihana Olesya Zykina, 400-Metre Olympic Champion
On 26 August 2007, Lelihana Olesya Zykina, 400-metre Olympic champion, was honoured at Aspiration-Ground meditation garden, when the Singers performed a song dedicated to her. Excerpts from the afternoon follow.Sri Chinmoy (after giving Lelihana a framed photograph of himself sprinting in Viet Nam): I started my 400-metre run in 1944. Most of you were not born. My time was one full minute. Then the following year I cut off four seconds, 56. Then I went to 55, then 54, then 53. My best performance was 53.6 – not bad! I started at one minute, and ended in 53.6. That was the day of the famous story I have told about Mother Kali bringing my soul back into my body.
Each time I ran 400 metres, the first 300 metres were at a very good speed. Then the last 100 metres, O God – bad, very bad! After I finished practising or competing in 400 metres, I would be lying down, with pain all over my body. O God, 400 metres used to kill me, kill me.
All right, now let us hear from our champion. When did you start running 400 metres, and what is your best performance?
Lelihana (translated by Lotika): When I was 14 years old, my first 400-metre run was 1.05 minutes. When I was little, once I was asked what would I like to run: 100 metres or 400 metres? I don’t know why, but I said 400, and since that time I always run only 400 metres.
Sri Chinmoy: Very good, very good. Then what is your best performance?
Lelihana: 50.15.
Sri Chinmoy: I am cutting jokes now. In my defense, our 400-metre track was cinder. A cinder track is not as fast as a rubberized regular track. Second, I was brought up in an ashram. When I was a child in Chittagong, I came of a moderately rich family. But when we came to the ashram, everything – money, properties, everything – went to the ashram. I did not have running shoes. I ran barefoot. Barefoot, cinder track, then for food, just rice, dhal and one vegetable. I had not one but three disadvantages.
(Referring to Ranjana, his personal secretary, who was sitting next to Lelihana): Ranjana is our all-round champion for over 25 years. Her 400 metres is under one minute.
Ranjana: 59.7.
Sri Chinmoy: Once upon a time, I used to run 100 metres. I would give Ranjana quite a few metres head start, and I used to defeat her. But then in our Sports Day competitions, she was first in 100, 200, 400, 800 metres walking, long jump, shot put and discus. Her discus was so beautiful, like the Olympic champions, the way they throw. Only they throw much, much farther than she did. But her style of discus throw was super-excellent.
In so many items she stood first, first, first. For how many years? More than 25 years. And how old is Lelihana? She is 26, and Ranjana stood for over 25 years as champion. My supremacy was for 16 years, but Ranjana’s supremacy was for a quarter of a century. And her coach was Sri Chinmoy. All of the items I taught her. In those days we gave so much importance to Sports Day. This year I would like if Lelihana could run with the disciples. One race she could run seriously, and in the other she could give the other girls a 40-metre lead. Then we shall see. She will defeat them easily. What was your best time in 100 metres?
Lelihana: Under 11, but it was not an official time because I never officially ran 100 metres.
Sri Chinmoy: It could be 10.7. O God, you have defeated me. My unofficial time was 11.3, 11.4 for many years. With the same judges, at competition time it was 11.7. I have run many times 11.3, 11.4, but in competition time, what happened? It was 11.7. Then I did decathlon. I stood first two years in a row. The third year, rain came right before my performance in pole vault and ruined everything – alas, alas, alas. Then I lost by 34 points. After pole vault was the 1500-metre run. During the whole year, I never practised 1500. I only ran it on competition day, so it was not a strong performance. Anyway, I lost.
Sri Chinmoy told the well-known story of having faith in Mother Kali and standing first in a pole vault competition at the Sri Aurobindo Ashram in 1944.<html><a href="#fn14" id="fnref14">14</a></html> He also told the story about having faith in an inner message from Sarada Devi, which enabled him to obtain the visa he needed to come to America in 1964.<html><a href="#fn15" id="fnref15">15</a></html> So you see how faith works. The same thing will happen in your life millions of times. If you have faith, you are going to succeed. Do not struggle. Do not use the doubting mind: “Oh, Guru can’t say these things.” If you are sure that I have said something, if you have a dream about something I have said, take it very, very seriously. That means I am there, I am there. Always have faith, faith, faith, faith. If you follow the spiritual life sincerely, then have faith – faith in the Supreme and faith in your Master. Otherwise, life will not give you satisfaction. Like that, I have quite a few stories where eventually faith reigned supreme. The last story about faith: It was in 1946 or 1947. When I used to practise long jump, I used to do my best performance in practice time: 6.20, 6.25, over 6 metres – again, with no shoes. But can you believe, in competition I was never able to cross 6 metres. My highest is 5.83 or 5.84, I cannot remember. Never, never was I able to cross 6 metres – never! Under 6 always, but in practice, 6.10, 6.25, using the same long jump pit as we used for competition. One day I was practising at another long jump pit, just by the side of the Bay of Bengal. Nobody was there. Our long jump pits were a little over 7 metres, not 8 metres, because nobody did more than 6 metres. Within me somebody said, “Look at the Bay of Bengal, and pray to the Bay of Bengal. Then you will see the result.” I looked at the Bay of Bengal for a minute or even less and prayed. Can you imagine? I did the long jump right from the board, and I crossed the sandpit, about 8 metres. Nobody may believe it, but I believe it because within me somebody told me to look at the Bay of Bengal, to look at the water, and pray. Believe me, I crossed over the sandpit, one metre more. And you know, if you do not land in the sandpit, you can get hurt very badly. In my case I was protected by the prayer. I did not get at all hurt. I completed 8 metres that one day, once, because I did not argue with the inner message. I did not doubt, but I had faith. The Bay of Bengal was perhaps 20 or 30 metres away from me, and I looked at it and prayed. Then I jumped 8 metres, and I did not get hurt at all. Look at this! When I did not argue with the inner voice, this is what happened. I was very happy – only once in my life, in 1946 or 1947, I jumped 8 metres. I am coming back again to the same word: faith. Faith is indispensable, indispensable. If you use the mind, the mind often doubts. But faith is the most important thing in the spiritual life. If you have faith in your Master, the Supreme, our Lord, then there is nothing that you cannot accomplish. <html>
<hr /> <p id="fn14"> Several versions of the story appear in various books by Sri Chinmoy, including: <em>Carl Lewis: The Champion Inner Runner.</em> New York: Agni Press, 1991; and <em>The Inner Meaning of Sport.</em> New York: Agni Press, 2007.<a href="#fnref14">↩</a></p> <p id="fn15"> Several versions of the story appear in various books by Sri Chinmoy, including: <em>God Made, God Moulded, God Shaped.</em> New York: Agni Press, 2013; and <em>The Path of My Inner Pilot.</em> New York: Agni Press, 2015.<a href="#fnref15">↩</a></p>
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<a class="source-title" href="crh" title="" >Sri Chinmoy, Concern: A Reality of the Heart, </a>Agni Press, 2025
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