On The Path

About Self-Transcendence And Miracles p2

A delightful ten minutes later, I had managed to limp back to my seat on my stiff legs and reclaimed my seat.

But I was not able to enjoy it for long.

"Walking meditation."

Oh, my.

I loved walking meditations, but today was not the perfect day for anything involving moving.

Groaning, I forced the aching muscles of my legs to once more carry the full weight of my body.

Needless to say, it took me much longer than usually to cover the about fifty meters it took to get down to the court.

Which was why I ended up in the very back of the line of girls that started moving upon a nod of Guru's head.

During the slow, meditative walk across the court and towards Guru I focused within, to keep and strengthen the peaceful sensation flowing through my body.

I also tried to spot our Master, who was sitting in his reclining chair at his usual spot within the blue little hut at the far side of Aspiration Ground.

Of course, as everybody else was trying to do the same thing, it was rather difficult to actually catch a glimpse of Guru. But as experience had taught me that getting annoyed or impatient at the fact would only lower my consciousness and take away all my peace, I concentrated on being surrendered and grateful for the fleeting moments that I did manage to see him. With usually happened right before I reached the white line in the sand that served as a boundary of Guru's side of the tennis court and as a turn around point for our current walking meditation line of girls.

The third time walking towards Guru brought me right in front of him.

Guru did not smile.

Nor did he look at me – or anybody else – since he had already entered a deep meditative state as was obvious with the way his eyeballs were partially hidden by their lids.

During the first few minutes of the walking meditation, Guru had still looked at every girl passing him. But then I quickly reminded myself that how much I profited from a meditation never depended on outer circumstances, but solely on my own receptivity and state of mind.

After all, Guru was always aware of what was going on within each one of his disciples, as his meditative power and consciousness easily permeated the entire Aspiration Ground.

At this thought, joy lightly spread through my body, making me oblivious of its past-seven-miles' heaviness.

In fact, the thought crossed my mind briefly, my legs don't feel all that heavy... almost as if the stiffness were gone... Nah. That's probably just because I'm walking on even ground.

But when I reached the point where the walking-meditation line hit the stairs leading up to the bleachers on the boys' side and dispersed, I realized that the lightness in my body had been more than just a feeling born from a good mediation.

In order to test the realization, I started skipping up the steps.

Yup. No pain. All of a sudden, my legs were perfectly flexible once more.

Wow, I thought, deeply impressed. Guru must have taken away the stiffness during the meditation! And he did not even look at me. Which just goes to show...

The evening of that day, we had another set of races. And again, Guru asked for a seven hundred meter sprint and seven miles.

Which I won't describe in detail, because it was basically an exact repetition of the last day.