Their meals are basic, and only twice a day. Their workout routine is yoga, looking inwards, and understanding their mind and body. Here are the monks from Coimbatore who will be the wonder of this morning’s race
The monks from Coimbatore’s Isha Yoga Foundation get ready for their Mumbai marathon debut on Saturday. Pic/Poonam Bhatija
If you've woken up post-race this morning, you’ve probably missed the spiritual touch to the city biggest annual racing event — The Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon.
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Eleven monks from Coimbatore have landed in the city to run the race even as they raise funds for the education of tribal children from the interiors of Tamil Nadu. Their gear is simple: the robes they spend their days in and, instead of fancy footwear they will run barefoot (kind of also in fashion these days). Better yet, their timings are in the coveted, below two hours spot.
Yet, the first observation about the city has nothing to do with the event. “Mumbai is so uptight, people need to smile more. The other day when we arrived in the city, we saw a bunch of kids and started playing ball with them, people were so surprised at the spontaneity. A friend very rightly pointed out, only the children and teens are smiling and enjoying, why are the adults not smiling?” says Swami Trikala, 31. Among the 11 monks is Swami Patu, 37, the fastest of them all. At the Wipro Chennai Marathon held on January 8, he ran the half marathon, 21.09 km in just 1.37.54, making him the 11th rank holder among the 3,659 runner.s
The group credits their pace and fitness to “rigorous yoga and a good diet”. Patu, who joined the Isha Yoga Foundation in 2008, says, “I also do 720 topukarnam (sit-ups) a day, which gives me a lot of strength.” Another monk in one of the earlier marathons had finished the half marathon in 1 hour and 45 minutes. The robes, the monks say, is the most pure and comfortable way to run, and set yourself free. “People ask us if our dhoti will fall. In so many marathons, that has never really happened. It’s the best form of clothing when it comes to running. It’s cotton,” Patu adds.
The daily routine has them wake up at 4.30 am and do hatha yoga and kriya yoga for two hours. “Then we go about doing the normal chores of the ashram. Once we return we play games between 4.45 pm and 5.45 pm. Then, again start with our yogik kriya,” adds Trikala. Hatha yoga, he explains, includes postures and asanas while kriya yoga includes chanting of mantras, and deep concentration exercises. “That’s where all our strength lies. The center of all the power is stored in these exercises and the correct combination can do wonders,” he says.
One of the most important tools however, remains ‘angamarda’ which gives these monks says gives them a great amount of power and strength. “This is the most fast paced form of yoga. In this form, we understand our own weight and strength. Through several postures, we lift our own weight, which is extremely difficult. Before understanding the world, we should understand our own mind and body,” says Swami Rashmin, 28.
Maa Saketa, the 36-year-old yoga guru at the center, says their diet is quite simple, “but most effective”. “We have two meals a day, one is the brunch at 10 am, and the other is the dinner in the evening at 7 pm. The brunch includes millets and farm fresh vegetables which are boiled or raw and fruits, soaked groundnuts and salads, and the dinner includes porridge and fruits again. It’s the same every day,” she adds. Maa Saketa is the only woman monk to be running the marathon. “Initially I was shy. Had I not been a monk I couldn’t imagine coming out in such a big city and taking part in this event, running along with thousands of people. It would have been scary, but after understanding the world through yoga, through meditation or ‘dhyaan’ I got rid of those inhibitions. Now I can do what I want. I want to send across this message to each woman, that you are everything your mind is capable of imagining. If you are living in a cocoon, it’s high time for you to come out and be a part of something big.”
The monks’ life back in Coimbatore is simple. Choosing to live this way has filled a ‘void’ that earlier they struggled to find. Mumbai based Swami Vishuda, coordinator from the city, who engaged in a typical Mumbaikar lifestyle, was an engineer before taking up monkhood. “I would go to clubs, party. Everything was sorted but there was this one thing after the other that I was chasing. I would never be satisfied with what I had, I would keep looking for the next big thing, and this void was finally filled when I chose this. I evolved, I transcended,” says Vishuda, who will also be running.
Talking about ‘running with a cause’, Maa Saketa says, “Through the Mumbai marathon, we get exposed to a bigger network. If you are listed as one of the NGOs in their website you get to meet several people who might be interested in donating to your cause. Of course if you win the marathon, you get that money to use for your cause as well, but the marathon acts like a network channel for prospective donors, which is why, this is all the more significant. If we can light up a child’s work but running, we will. We will do all that it takes.”
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