THE REVEALING FINAL STAR INTERVIEW

– By Miss Zay

U.S.A. World Harmony Run (Women’s and Men’s Team)

The Women’s’ Team

When I was summarizing my own experiences of the run with bittersweet emotions of finishing the greatest adventure of my life, I started to become curious about my teammates’ experiences on the run. This is how the idea of this interview was born.

In the women’s team we have had an unshakeable oneness since the beginning, and we really became friends for a lifetime. Maria (from Bulgaria), Anja (from Germany) and myself (Linda from Hungary) did the whole US run, Sevati (from El Salvador) and Svetlana (from Luxemburg, originally from Russia) joined us about a month later. They all got the same questions and here are their answers:

1. What was the most challenging? SEVATI:

On the physical level the heat was the most challenging. On another level, getting along with each other, to try to feel everybody’s good quality, to be happy every day.

MARIA: The psychic level and the emotional level. I found it difficult being disciplined.

ANJA: To always stay in a good consciousness and be nice to other people. Physically somehow I always felt protected, even when I was injured.

SVETLANA: The “heating” (it is the Svetlana’s often-quoted word version of heat - interviewer) on the physical level. I had a headache every day, but I did not want to give up. I knew before I came out it would be difficult, but I wanted to do it.

LINDA: For me the physical pain was the most challenging, because I have been suffering from back pain. There was maybe one or two days when I had no pain, but I wanted to complete my journey. Inwardly the most challenging was to be happy and concentrate less on myself and more on the people who we were doing the run for.

2. How would you describe the team? SEVATI :

Everybody has a lot of heart, oneness. It is like a family.

MARIA:

The team experience is beautiful. Everybody is a real revolutionary.

ANJA: Very colorful, everybody has their own quality, everybody can offer something special, if you put it together it is a very good team.

SVETLANA: It was harmonious, enthusiastic, full of aspiration with childlike spirit and sincerity. (A certain height of spirituality, not very high.) I loved the whole team, I was afraid how I would survive. But now I feel they have become my family and the parts of my body. Sevati is my joy and soul. Maria is my childlikeness and aspiration. Linda is my smile and cleverness. And this German girl is my strength and my vital which I have not been able to conquer yet.

LINDA:

The best team that I have ever been with: the most supportive, the most understanding, the most loving and the most selfless. One cannot dream of a better one. In the girls team we had so much affection to each other. They gave me a lot of inspiration, I will eternally keep them in my heart. When there is such a sincere loving atmosphere around, you can open up easily, and soon you will blossom because you feel happy and safe. We had a lot of fun, too. I have not laughed so much for a long time. And I must mention how grateful I am to the drivers who always worked more hours than the non-driver “potatoes”. This international team was the proof that harmony can exist.

3. What was the most important thing that the run gave you? SEVATI:

I learned a lot of tolerance, to give myself a little more, because I am not so self-giving usually. I felt I was more in the background and I was more involved in the team’s inner life than the outer organization. I felt I was more like an instrument.

MARIA: I learned that my smile can open more hearts and my feet can cover more miles. My eyes opened more for the beauty of the world.

ANJA:

For the first time I was so secure about what I was doing. I knew I wanted to do it. Nothing could shake my decision. I got so much satisfaction, because I was at the right place. When people say how grateful they are I also feel grateful to them and to do this.

SVETLANA:

To be in the team. I felt we were blessed, grace was with us.

LINDA:

Before the run I was not in my happiest period in my life, but now I feel I found a lot of inspiration and enthusiasm again. I feel revived. It gave me the strength to change my life. I also developed a deep trust in human benevolence.

4. Have you changed on the run in any way? SEVATI:

Yes, sure. I got thin, fit, tanned and blond. Just kidding… I became more aware of my pride. I do not know if it is permanent though.

MARIA: I became more brave inwardly and to deal with people on the road at the ceremonies and in the team. I had to believe in people’s goodness. There is an end of every road every journey, there is a solution for every problem, exit of every highway. Every journey has a nice end, everything is manageable. I developed one thing: awareness. I woke up here. We had to be alert and ready to give everything.

ANJA: I will see when I go home. I became aware of some things, which now I am able to change. Good qualities which I am happy about and other things which I want to work on. This run opened me up.

SVETLANA: I became wiser, more tolerant, more surrendered and more self-giving.

LINDA: After a long injury I started running again, I could overcome the pain, which prevented me from running in the last couple of years. It was a victory for me. I found the child in my heart once again, and I found my peace.

5. What would you change if you started the run again? SEVATI:

There is always some improvement. I would not change anything in particular.

MARIA: I shall never come again…Indeed, many things: improve ceremonies, more interaction with people, more runners, more information about the people, whom we meet.

ANJA: I would not change anything I would just continue my journey.

SVETLANA:

There should be more outside people, not only mayors more runners.

LINDA: First of all I want to get my driving license. If I came out again I would like to change my attitude to be more on the “run”, giving more to the people than being occupied with myself. I would like to be more self-giving.

6. What was most beautiful about the run? SEVATI:

When I was running I was meditating. I felt I could connect with the whole world. My little steps – being an instrument – are able to do something. We are not just running but doing something very important, very tangible.

MARIA: Every step can be the most beautiful: walking on the road, jumping into the lake, hiking in the Grand Canyon, meeting with few Indians, seashells in the Pacific, Mia the harp-player…

ANJA: To feel so connected to each other to feel how much we are connected. Arpan is a very good captain, and the good qualities could spread in the team. I experienced how a team can work together and how strong we could be when we are together. The five girls were very solid.

SVETLANA: The team. I would like to thank everybody, they all gave me a lot.

LINDA: To be part of it. Everybody has something to offer. The offering is very little but the cause is so great that your little contribution becomes important and most meaningful as well. The people whom we met were so friendly and welcoming, it changed my whole perception of the world. They did not know us previously but they offered everything they had: food, accommodation and tremendous goodwill and support. And of course, my dear team was also most beautiful. I feel really honored to be member of this oneness- family.

The Men’s Team

Our U.S.A. World Harmony Run has successfully achieved its goal and the team has returned back to New York, where the run started four months ago. (Congratulations, Comrades!) This interview was given to the finishing men’s team on the last days. Salil, the global coordinator from Australia, Arpan, the team captain from NYC, Damon from New Zealand, Sunabin, from Russia and Jowan from Canada.

1. What was the most challenging thing on the run?

SALIL: You know, it really was not that challenging, there was so much willingness and enthusiasm from everyone. It was not hard, what I could not do, some one else would do.

ARPAN: Getting started was one of the most challenging things this time. We did not have a lot of time to prepare. We had very little left from the last run. We had to get all the vehicles and plan everything almost from ‘square one’. Since it was four years since the last Run, getting the whole process started again, physically as well as mentally, was quite a challenge.

DAMON: Being with the same people and doing the same thing. It was intense like a nuclear unit. Physically it was not really challenging for me. Maybe running in the wind in Kansas and in the heat in Texas was not so easy.

SUNABIN:

The iced tea and the AC. I literally felt cold in every hotel and restaurant.

JOWAN: Overcoming my shyness and talk to people in the ceremonies. I am not comfortable with talking to people. But I enjoyed the running and the other challenges.

2. How would you describe the team?

SALIL: It was really good and it was really harmonious, everyone got along and again a tremendous amount of willingness. People felt tremendous responsibility for the run. I think every person had a tremendous sense of self offering.

ARPAN: I have been on all the Runs and this team was the best in certain ways. It was colorful, enthusiastic, very international, hard-working, dedicated, and responsible. (More drivers would be great next time.)

DAMON: Great. I was only coming for a month, so I decided to stay longer. Everybody really worked as a team. It feels like a family. A family from all around the world, it shows that it is possible in the future.

SUNABIN:

The most harmonious team I have ever seen, a group of aspired people who work together for a dream and for the whole world.

JOWAN: Really good teamwork, no fighting. It was a good mix of people.

3. What was the most important thing that the run gave you?

SALIL: I guess that I could do it. Before we started, I would wonder sometimes: Would I be able to do it? I am grateful that I could. The spiritual fulfillment of doing it. At the end of everyday you have this rich goodness that goes inside you. It is like standing in a water fall with a tea cup. It is a way of getting light in a different way, normally we get experiences more individually. The run gives you an opportunity of getting it from nature and other people, who you would never interact with. It brings forward their goodwill, you are offering something good to people and so are they. It is a big light fest, the communication is in a deeper level, it is much more than you have in a different environment.

ARPAN: Gray hair(joking), and appreciation for how hungry people are in America for harmony. They had so much enthusiasm to willingly give what they could to us.

DAMON: It is a life changing experience. You learn that if you want to survive you need to operate as a team, rather than what you want. Just go with the flow and surrender. I wanted to run 2 miles fast, but I had to surrender to other factors. It opens your whole perception of life..

SUNABIN: To understand and feel that we can change the world beginning with ourselves, and harmony is, in fact, easily achievable.

JOWAN: It gave me a sense of oneness and energy. I learned more about interacting with teammates and people. I have more faith and hope in humanity.

4. Have you changed on the run in any way?

SALIL: That is hard to say because you're barely conscious of your own change because you are always with your self. There was something that I became conscious of, maybe I became aware of how I affect other people. I am probably quite different from when it started. Growing into it was so effortless there is so much grace. Maybe I became a little more understanding.

ARPAN: It is up to my teammates to tell me how I have changed. At the beginning I tried to tell myself that it is not my run, I am just one of the team members. I tried to be as patient as and as tolerant as possible. I learned how to be more patient and to be as understanding as possible of different ways of thinking.

DAMON: I got a lot of inspiration, a lot of patience, tolerance and confidence.

SUNABIN: Now I have learned what real teamwork means. I have not had this kind of experience before. And I also got tanned.

JOWAN: I have become Superman…As I said before, partly I could overcome my shyness. I felt more oneness and became more opened to people.

5. What would you change if you started the run again?

SALIL: What would I change? I don’t know if I would change anything. Maybe I would ask Uttara to work on the media from the start. The biggest area we can improve on is on the state coordination, in the end it depends on the individual inspiration. The team is great, the media is great.

“For myself?” I would like to do more than the US run; I would like to run more around the world. Some times at the start of the run it took me a few days to get immersed in the spirit of the run, I would like to get there quicker, but I guess it takes a while to be able to absorb the spirit and be immersed. If I could absorb even more it would be better. I wish I could feel that way all the time.

ARPAN: I would probably try to get more people, especially Americans, involved from the beginning. It is such a glorious event that it would be nice for more people to enjoy it and benefit from it.

DAMON: Not much, I would not really change. Maybe more Odouls... I would like to give more.

SUNABIN:

I would improve my running, I would learn how to cook – in terms of having ideas what to cook. And I promise I would never leave my ice cream in the freezer tempting everybody (unless it is labeled: For Anyone).

JOWAN: These are pretty personal questions…Well, besides the improvement of the logistics I would change myself, because World Harmony begins with me. I think I could be a better Harmony runner if I had more enthusiasm, dynamism, purity and patience.

6. What was the most beautiful thing about the run?

SALIL: You know, I thought about this. I do not remember the hardest things because there were so few of them and so many highlights. In the run the highlights are normal, they happen so much that is its really difficult to choose one of them. Maybe some of the spontaneous meetings that happen by chance are the most beautiful things about the run.

ARPAN: The most beautiful thing is to see how Sri Chinmoy’s vision of harmony manifested in this way really works, one step at a time as we passed the Torch from person to person. You could see it in the reaction of the people when they decided to get involved. You could clearly see the natural need for harmony and peace is in all people especially the children. They did not really understand what we were doing exactly, running across all the states, but they felt the expression of goodwill and harmony that we were trying to share. Also, the physical geography gave us more strength and enthusiasm to go on, because the beauty of the Earth itself feeds you.

DAMON: You are inspired and you are inspiring other people. You are receiving so much, but you are also giving a lot. There is a really strong positive force, you do not see before you leave. It is amazing to be part of something so significant.

SUNABIN:

To see how the world reacts to our attempts to be more harmonious and peaceful. The world is ready to offer the same in immense measure, which we are trying to spread.

JOWAN:

The most meaningful thing: I have more appreciation of what Sri Chinmoy is doing. He is more special to me than ever. I am grateful and honored to be a member of the team. Thanks to Sri Chinmoy .

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