About the author:

Tejvan organises short-distance running and cycling races for the Sri Chinmoy Marathon Team in his home city of Oxford. He is also a very good cyclist, having won the National hill climb championships in 2013 and finished 3rd in the National 100 Mile Time Trials in 2014.

Ten years after Sri Chinmoy founded the Marathon Team, he initiated the Sri Chinmoy Oneness-Home Peace Run, a worldwide torch relay run that unites people from all walks of life around a shared wish for peace. This video contains some very touching interviews with the international team of runners as they make their way across all 50 states of America.

Shot in 2011 (the Peace Run was called the World Harmony Run at that time), the interviews take place after the runners have been on the team for a prolonged period of time, and have gained a profound sense of how running for the ideals of peace and harmony have affected their own outlook on life, and their hopes for peace and understanding in the world.

As anyone who has participated in the Peace Run will tell you, one remarkable feature of it is how you come away from the run with a more optimistic view of life and human nature. Running through local communities with a positive message helps to bring out everyone's heart - and their deep inner wish to create a better world. “It was amazing how receptive people are to the spirit behind the run – what’s behind it." Palash Bosgang, one of the international team of runners, says in the video. "The whole concept of world harmony and world peace and how each person responds with enthusiasm.” 

On the other hand, organising a Peace Run, especially one which crosses a whole continent, is also a great challenge, which requiring the runners to rely on living in the moment and accepting the help and support of areas the Peace Run passes through. But, as these runners testify, this challenge can also bring out the best in human nature. 

How running and and peace go together

Sri Chinmoy felt that each and every individual on earth could play a role in making a more peaceful world a reality.

“World peace can blossom throughout the length and breadth of the world only when the world-peace-dreamers, world-peace-lovers and world-peace-servers desperately, sleeplessly and breathlessly long for the full manifestation of peace here on earth.”

Sri Chinmoy

Sri Chinmoy believed peace could be made a reality only when people seek peace within themselves and also share this inner peace with others. This inner peace does not come from retreating from the world, but is very compatable with a dynamic outer life - making running and peace complementary to each other.

“The inner running and the outer running complement each other. For outer running, we need discipline. Without a life of discipline, we cannot succeed in any walk of life. So when we do outer running, it reminds us of the inner running.”

– Sri Chinmoy 1

Due to their shared origin, many members of the Sri Chinmoy Marathon Team have also played a role in organising and participating in Peace Runs. Currently, international teams of runners from the Peace Run are on their way through Russia, Canada, and Germany. You can find out more on peacerun.org »