So many experiences⁷

Each and every place we visit, we enjoy. Each country has something unique to offer us. Is there any country that we did not enjoy?

In Egypt I enjoyed boating on the Nile River. I was able to climb up two pyramids. In the evening they look so nice! It was very, very difficult. I was almost crawling, perhaps.

So many experiences we had. Ambassador Nazareth came to Egypt and we honoured him. He was my boss at the Indian Consulate for five or six months. Ambassador Nazareth is the one who said, “In a forest there are many, many trees, but one tree goes so high — high, higher, highest. That particular tree sheds light and illumines the whole forest. This is Sri Chinmoy.” Who ever thought that a junior clerk at the Indian Consulate would become a tall, taller, tallest tree shedding so much light?

During those four or five months when he worked at the Consulate, Ambassador Nazareth used to walk so quickly and so smartly! His wife’s name is Isabel. They were so nice, extremely nice to us.

My dearest Mr. Mehrotra saved my life! Everything he did for me, because he saw something in my eyes. All the requirements he discarded: I did not need degrees, I did not need other qualifications, because as soon as he saw me, when I stood in front of his door, he saw something in my eyes. Then he became my saviour. Now he is my dearer than the dearest brother. And Ambassador Nazareth saw me as a huge tree. These are my two Consulate bosses.

We met with Fred Lebow of the New York Road Runners Club in Egypt. He was very, very nice to us. With Fred Lebow we established such a good friendship. For three or four years the Road Runners Club used to hold a spring track meet called the New York Games, with races of 100 metres or 200 metres. Each year I would open the Games with a meditation. One year Fred Lebow was kind enough to wait for me to arrive so that I could open the Games. Then Sudhahota Carl Lewis sang the national anthem while I meditated. That was all Fred Lebow’s doing. Fred Lebow went to Heaven. It was a great loss for us. Then we found our own way and started running our own marathon.

It was in Rome, I think, that I received the Fred Lebow Cup, presented by the organisers of the Rome Marathon in his honour. That was absolutely the largest trophy.

One year I remember I joined one of Fred Lebow’s walking races. Even in those days my right knee was not straight enough, so my style was not good. Fred Lebow saw it, but he was my friend, so he did not say anything to me. He just said that I was not walking properly.

Behind me was my dearest Subarata. Although my knee was bad I was going quite fast, but it seems that Subarata was doing something wrong. They said that the judges would give one warning. In my case, the judge did not tell me anything; he just observed me. Then he disqualified me and I was out of the race. Twenty or thirty metres behind me was Subarata. I was so happy to see her! Alas, when she came to the place where I had been disqualified, she also was disqualified! I said, “What is this?” She was walking absolutely perfectly. I did not see anything wrong. In my own case, God alone knows what I was doing; but poor Subarata was also out of the race. I was so sad that, like me, Subarata was also fired! Both of us were out.

When we had races around the lake at Rockland State Park, where we now have our marathon, Subarata always used to try be four or five metres behind me.

Coming back to Fred Lebow, our very first meeting was in the famous Flushing Meadows Park. There was a short race and I went to watch. I was standing at a particular place. Fred Lebow was digging or doing something in the ground. All of a sudden he came up to me and said, “Are you Sri Chinmoy?”

I said, “Yes, I am Sri Chinmoy.”

He smiled at me and shook hands with me, with such affection and love. I knew nothing about him. The disciples told me that he was the head of the New York Road Runners Club and the New York City Marathon. That was Fred Lebow.