yugoslavia trips

SELF-AWARENESS PEACE RUN Some three years ago, I made contact with two Yugoslavian disc- iples at the tennis court.  I felt compelled to make myself avai- lable to the Yugoslavian disciples, to give them better access to Guru.  Not just the few that managed to come to New York, but the hundreds back in Yugoslavia. When I saw the short video of the 1993 Peace Run in Yugoslavia, I was immediately inspired to say that I would go to Yugoslavia in 1995.  So the following pages are my experiences on the 1995 Yugoslavian Peace Run. Two weeks before I was to leave for my trip to the Yugoslavian Peace Run, I was told I needed to get a visa.  It would be easy I was told, just call them for the forms, and everything would be done in a few days.  I received the application, filled it out and innocently sent it with my passport to Washington. Things were complicated by the fact that, the seven day race was going on the week before I left, and I was helping out every evening after work.  With six days to go before my departure, I got worried.  I hadn't heard anything.  I thought maybe someone in Washington could pick up my passport and visa, and bring them to New York for the end of the seven day race.  I made several calls, and Atmatyagi would pick it up thursday, and give it to Beth who was coming on friday to New York.  Now I could relax. Then I got back from the race after midnight on thursday to a message on my machine from Atmatyagi saying they could not find my passport at the embassy.  After many frantic phone calls I was assured my passport would be available to be picked up by Beth on friday.  I had been told someone would also be at the embassy on Saturday.  I insisted on friday since Beth would be leaving then. Of course when Beth arrived at the race on friday evening she had the same story, no passport. I left the race at midnight, slept for two hours, then went into Manhattan, to catch a four am. bus to Washington. I was at the embassy by 9:50 am. It was completely closed.  By the door were two bells and an intercom system.  I rang each bell and nothing happened.  Then I pressed the intercom, after about fifteen sec- onds someone appeared on the other side of the door.  He then went into an office and spoke on the intercom.  I asked for the person I had talked to the day before.  He said that he was not there, I told him who I was, that the passport was in the embassy and that I would not leave without it.  He buzzed me in and poin- ted me to another office.  He showed me the boxes containing some seven hundred passports and said that he had been looking all night.  I described my passport to him, and when I said British Passport, he threw his hands in the air.  Even though he knew I was applying as a British Citizen, his mind kept telling him to look for an american passport.  He went directly to a pile of five British Passports, mine was the third one.  He told me he had picked up that passport seven times that week, but something made him think that it was not mine. Fifteen minutes after I entered the embassy, I walked out with passport and visa.  I was convinced that the Supreme wanted me to experience the difficulties that the Yugoslavian disciples have getting visas to come to New York. May 15th I worked a short day at the SMILE OF THE BEYOND.  Then it was off to the airport.  Guru was due to come in from London around the time that I was leaving.  Due to a delay in checking my baggage, I was unable to see Guru arrive. May 16th The first part of my journey was to take me to Milan.  On our approach to the airport, we flew over beautiful snow capped moun- tains for as far as I could see.  What an inspiring sight! Caspar, a disciple from Ljubljana, met me in Milan.  He had offered to drive me to the first place I planned to stay, Rijeka in Croatia.  It was about a nine hour drive, but we got to talk a lot, and Caspar had many questions.  There were two reasons for visiting Rijeka, there is a small centre there, and I also happen to have some family from my father's side living there. Gaspar drove me directly to my aunt's house. Although I had not been there in eighteen years, I gave him perfect directions to get there.  Due to an accident with the mail, my aunt had no idea I was coming, so it was quite an interesting reunion. I called Sjezana, my disciple contact in Rijika, she told me that I had a talk scheduled for the next evening.  I was now very tired and the excitement of my trip was no longer keeping me awake. May 17th Last night I slept in the room I slept in as a child, when visit- ing my family in Yugoslavia.  Now it is in Croatia, but the sounds and smells are still the same. This morning, after breakfast, and some conversation with my aunt, two disciples came to meet me at my aunt's appartment. Snjezana, who I had met in New York in august, and Claudio who had been a disciple about a year and a half.  We went and had lunch in town, they were very eager to hear any news from New York.  Then we all went back to Snjezana's house, where I could rest for this evening, and Snjezana could make prasad.  There I met Snjezana's husband Steve, (who is not a disciple, but is very sympathetic to the centre), and her two children Tara and Una. (I was told that on hearing that I was coming they said "A little piece of Guru is coming".)  It was decided that I would stay in the guest room of the house for the remainder of my visit. At 7pm I gave a talk to a group of sixteen people, ten of which were disciples.  My talk, which was spontaneous after the ,intro- duction, was mainly about meditation, how I became a disciple, and my life as an Ultra runner in the centre.  In this way,I hoped to show a relationship between sport and meditation.  Also to ahow one aspect of the disciple life on a spiritual path. Claudio was my translator.  I had been told that I could talk as long as I wanted.  I seemed to lose my concentration after about 45 mins. (maybe due to jet lag), so I decided to meditate for five mins., take prasad, and then answer questions.  A flood-gate of questions came forward, and before I knew it, two more hours had gone by.  Everyone seemed happy with the evening and wanted me to come back the next day.  Another talk was arranged for two days later, the night before I was to leave for Zagreb. May 18th The first part of the day was a relaxing time supposed to give me a chance to get some rest after my journey.  I spent most of the morning playing with Una and Tara, six and five years old respec- tively.  I had this feel in of being very much at home.  I began to realise that Guru's presence was very strong.  Maybe I am carrying a little piece of Guru with me.  Of course this should be obvious, but in New York, where we see Guru all the time, we lose sight of this. Later in the day, Claudio came by and the three of us went on a sightseeing tour.  I am quite familiar with the town, since I had visited as a child.  We went to a place called Trsat, which is ona high point above the city.  There is a tower that was used to warn of the invading Turks,and a church, built on the spot where a vision of the Virgin Mary had appeared. You can take a bus from the town centre to the church, or you can make a pilgrimage up six hundred steps to the top: we made the pilgrimage.  While walking I got to talk about New York and Guru. May 19th Today is my fourth day in Rijeka, and the third day that we have had rain.  At lunch-time I went to a Peace Run meeting with Clau- dio and Snjezana and some school representatives. Their main concern was that each school would have the torch long enough for all the students to hold it.  It was fun to see them arguing over possession of the torch. Neven from Zagreb arrived in Rijeka on his way to Dubrovnik for the start of the Peace Run.  I got to hold the torch.  I gave my second talk tonight.  I talked for one hour then again answered questions for two hours. I am beginning to realise that there is a very strong need for more and more knowledge about Guru.  Every one is inspired, and their aspiration inspires me even more.  I spend as much time as I can with the disciples, but sadly I leave for Zagreb tomorrow. May 20th Momcilo has come to drive roe to Zagreb, it is a three hour drive, and on the way we pass within ten miles of a town called Donje Dubrave.  This is the town where my father was born. When I arrived in Zagreb, I met two boys named Drajen and Mario who I was to have lunch with and then go sight seeing.  I was then taken to the place where I was to give a talk.  The room was on the second floor of a building overlooking a busy square. Some ninety people came to the talk, and I thought it went pretty well.  Afterwards we did something that was soon to become a tradidtion on my trip: we went out for Ice Cream. May 21st I went for a run at 7:30 with a boy named Danir at a sports stad- ium.  I think that maybe I was tired from all the travelling, anyway he ran me ragged.  It was a source of amusement that he had done so to, in his words,an experienced ultra runner. A meeting had been arranged for 10am at the centre.  It was ano- ther opportunity to spend some time with the disciples.  For 2 hours I told stories and answered questions.  There is such a hunger to know more about Guru, and what it is like to be a disc- iple in New York. The centre in Zagreb is very nice.  It is in a new building and is very clean and bright. Tonight was the regular centre meeting and I got to meet all the disciples after the meditation, and songs and prasad.  It was time for me to tell more stories.  It is so easy to inspire these guys, and the more I inspire them, the more they inspire me.  The Peace Run, which started in Dubrovnick while I was giving the talk in Zagreb, had been mentioned on the radio today. May 22nd Anita,one of the centre leaders, took me sightseeing in Zagreb today.  There is a forest just outside of the centre of the city named Haksimir, it was a great place to walk and talk. On the way to lunch, I was shown the hotel where she hopes Guru will stay when he gives a concert in Zagreb.  There is a shopping mall almost directly beneath the hotel, and the concert hall is close. A special centre meeting was arranged since I leave for Macedonia tomorrow.  I was given gifts to carry disciples in Macedonia and Serbia.  Because of the war it is not possible for the Croatian and Serbian disciples to have much contact.  This usually only happens in New York. May 23rd Time to fly to Macedonia.  In the airport in Zagreb, the presence of the U.N. is very evident.  There are several flights (when permitted) each day to Sarajevo. It is a pleasant 90 minute flight to Skopje - the capital of Macedonia.  Here I am met by Vesna (a disciple I know from celebr ations in New York).  I am whisked off to the bus station.  Here we are to get a bus that will take us to the last town that the run will come to that day.  After travailing for about an hour, Vesna realises that we are on the same road as the Peace Run, which had started two days earlier near the Greek border. A few minutes later we see the torch.  Vesna runs to tell the driver that I have come all the way from New York to run and convinces him to stop the bus.  There are family greetings and much joy in the middle of a country road. The run ends the day in a small town, where we are met by the deputy mayor.  It seems the town is hosting a qualifying round of the European Basketball Championships.  The restaurant we are taken to for dinner is the players' hotel.  When we sit down to dinner, many of the players look at us, curiously wondering which team we play for. May 24th Today is my first full day on the Peace Run.  There is a team of ten runners including me.  We have a small van which can just about accomodate us.  The van was provided,(along with the driv- er), by the Ministry of Sport.  The driver's name is Sabo, he likes to play tapes of Guru's music.  He also said that he will stop eating meat while he is with us on the Peace Run. We are running in western Macedonia in the mountains.  By late morning I get to run with the torch.  It is a little harder than I expected, the altitude is tough but the scenery is so beautiful.  When we break for lunch, I once more begin to realise just how at home I feel. I am not in a strange foreign land, I am visiting a part of my extended family. The final stop for the day is a place called Bitola.  It used to be the old capital of Macedonia.  On the way we are joined by a small group of children, running in an assortment of footwear, ranging from sandals, to slippers, to actual shoes.  While runn- ing into Bitola, a story came into my head which will be reprod- uced somewhere in these pages. We are met by three town officials for a small ceremony then off to the hotel.  Vesna gave an interview to local television, and I was introduced as the runner from New York, to say a few words. At dinner, later, the director for Protocol asked that I sit opposite him at the table.  He spoke some english, and he wanted to talk a little about the Peace Run. May 25th Each town that we finished the day in provided us with a hotel, dinner and breakfast.  Also a police escort in and out of each town was provided.  In addition we had one car with two policemen with us all the time. After breakfast, while preparing to start the day's run, a small group of children showed up.  It seemed that they had seen us on TV the night before,and wanted to say hello. After running through some more mountains we came to a valley and a town called Ressen.  It was my turn to run as we got to the outskirts of the town.  I was met by a group of three children who took the torch and ran about 50 metres up the road to another group.  This would keep building until we reached the town square where it seemed that hundreds of kids were waiting.  They just took the torch and ran hard.  The torch was now theirs and they knew exactly where to go. We ran to a lake where we took a break, we were at an altitude of a little over 5000 feet.  When we reached the top we looked down, onto another huge lake.  We managed to collect some snow from a nearby peak and made a snowball. We descended to a monestary called Saint Naum.  I was told this monestary was featured in an award winning movie called Before<br />the rain.  We then ran all the way around to the other side of the lake, to a town called Struga.  A group of kids from differ- ent sporting clubs met us there.  When they took the torch, they sprinted around the town with such enthusiasm.  I realised that night, that I had been burned by the strong sun in the mountains, but the sense of joy I felt far outweighed the discomfort. May 26th Today we ran on quiet mountain roads, visiting only two major towns.  Half way through the day's run, we came to a town called Debar, which is very close to Albania.  In fact, as we crossed a damm to go into Debar, we could see a small Albanian town across the border.  Debar is essentially an Albanian town in Macedonia. Whan we came into the town, there must have been 1000 kids wait- ing for us.  Every child in the town poured out of the schools. In the afternoon we visited another monastery called St. John Bigorsky.  The day ended in a town called Kicevo, the town where Slobodan was born.  A small group of children seemed quite fasci- nated with me.  Tamara told me that they liked my hat, which was a brightly coloured one that I bought in Washington DC, two days before I left for my trip. The van was to be used in a kayak competition for the next few days, so we had to drive to Skopje that night, to return in cars the next day.  We left Slobodan and Koce behind in Kicevo. May 27th Some of the runners on the team have changed: we lost three, and picked up two more.  Most of today was a quiet time running in the country, and around a small lake.  By early evening we reach- ed the last two towns of the day.  The people of the towns had organized things so that small groups of children would carry the torch the whole way.  Some of the kids would continue to run with us after they had run with the torch.  So by the time we reached the last town at nightfall, we had a huge group.  We are now close to Skopje, capital of Macedonia.  I am stopping at Toni's: his parents are very nice, and his mother is a great cook! May 28th Today we made our run into Skopje.  The police escort made a lot of noise to let everyone know that we were coming. We were met in the centre of the city by a large group of kids and a balloon painted by the children with symbols of Peace. After the ceremony a large group of runners,(everyone wanted to run), set off out of town towards the Yugoslavian border.  The last stop was a town called Kumanovo just 12k from the border. Tonight I visited the Skopje centre, and make a phone call into Yugoslavia to make arrangements for my visit there. May 29th We stopped just a few metres from the border to wait for the torch which was just behind us.  We met with a small group of UN troups, who had heard from our advance crew that the torch was coming.  They had a video camera, and wanted to make a video as the torch came by.  They got quite excited when the torch'finally arrived.  Then on to the border.  Between the two border controls we met the Yugoslavian group of runners.  Srojan, who was organ- izing this part of the run, had heard that I had had a little problem with my visa in Washington.  He said that the border guards were so into the run that they were prepared to give me a tourist visa on the spot, if I needed it.  We had a beautiful ceremony between the borders with everyone singing the Peace Run song.  Then it was fond farewells to the Macedonian disciples, and on to Yugoslavia. May 30th Today we have a bigger van, it is a little more comfortable, since we have a large team of runners.  When we arrive in towns for ceremonies, the children read poems that they have written about Peace.  Quite often local dance groups perform traditional dances.  I am being asked to say a few words, so I usually offer greetings and best wishes from New York, the home of the Peace Run, plus a few words about what the Peace Run means.  Our last stop is Leskovac where we have a centre.  After trying to give a TV interview, I am taken to the hotel, where everything has been unloaded.from the van, which has returned about 60 miles to the town that we started from that morning.  It seems that my fanny pack,(which I said would never leave my side), is still in the van.  I am assured at dinner that everything will be alright. May 31st My plan was to see the torch leave early in the morning, and then take a bus to Nis after breakfast.  I am told that my fanny pack is found and is to be brought to Leskovac later.  So I dec- ide to delay my plans.  It gives me a little more time with the disciples. When I go to pick up my pack I am told a very interesting story. It seems the van driver found the pack and when he looked inside Became quite scared.He realised that it was mine,and knew that it Was very important.It contained my passport,money and other important Documents.He had a friend who is the driver for an important minister For the region.This minister contacted the mayor of Leskovac,then sent The pack with an official letter in his private car. I then took the bus from Leskovac to Nish,where we have a centre,and the torch was to arrive that night. I got to spend some time with some New and old disciples In the early evening the torch from Leskovac,and another torch that has come from Bulgaria,arrived. I talked at the ceremony and gave one radio and one TV interview.Then I wastaken to a small studio to give an interview to an all sports station.The interviewer noted,after the interview,that I was very happy,and was very impressed with that. I said that after more than 20 years of practicing meditation,I was quite Happy with my life.After more talk of meditation,we parted with the Interviewer saying that she would try some of the simple meditation Techniques that I had told her about. A special meditation had been arranged quite late at the Nish centre. This gave me an opportunity to spend some quality time with the disciples.                       June 1st After one half more day in Nis, I took a bus to Belgrade, where I am to give a talk, and spend some time with the disciples. On arriving in Belgrade, I was taken to the office where I will stay.  The office is the nerve centre of the Peace Run, so it is quite active.  I got to meet many disciples who are familiar to me and a lot who are new.  Boy am I having a great time I June 2nd This morning I got to work a little at the office .  Then I was taken to lunch, and then to give an interview for the TV.  The interview was to be given for Studio B an all sports station. It is a new station that is situated in the tallest building in Belgrade.  After the interview, which went very well, I had a look at the city from 20 floors up.  It was quite amazing, and the people at the studio were very nice. After some rest time, and a little snack, it was time to give my talk.  The group at the talk was quite small, about 20 or so, but one  man in the front row seemed quite fascinated.  He asked many questions and took lots of notes.  He seemed quite keen to attend follow up classes.  All the disciples seemed quite pleased with my talk.  Everyone is so pleased to have me there.  I am being showered with a genuine love from the disciples. June 3rd This morning is Runners are Smilers at a park in New Belgrade. A boy named Nenad met me at the office and we ran to the race. He ran hard, but my experience in Belgrade was easier than my experience in Zagreb. This is a free day for me, so I got to go sightseeing.  I was taken by various disciples to see many famous places, in both old and new Belgrade.  I was told about a concert hall called the Sava Centre where Guru was scheduled to give a concert in October of 1991. The concert was cancelled, but the Sava Centre has kept the reservation open.  They that on three months notice that Guru can give a concert there, so who knows about the future? June 4th Three torches are arriving in Belgrade today; one is the western torch which started from Montenegro, two is the central torch which came from Macedonia, then combined with the Bulgarian torch and the third has been following the Danube. I met up with the central torch, which left Nis four days ago.  While waiting with the team to come into the ceremony, two men from the BBC came over with a camera to ask what was going on.  They filmed a litt- le, then went on their way.  Finally, the other two torches arri- ved, and we went into the ceremony. At the ceremony, a representative for all four reigions practiced in Yugoslavia spoke.  They all proclaimed that the Peace torch was for everyone, and said many positive things.  At the end of the ceremony, two torches left.  One following the Danube, the other going north to Sulotica.  Both were to meet just before the Hungarian border. I stayed in Belgrade by the request of the disciples.  So I could attend the sunday night centre meeting.  I got to meet many of the boys who had been on the run, and hear many inspiring stories.  I was given some presents, and many farewells and 'thankyou's. June 5th Now it was time to rejoin the run. The torch that was following the Danube now had two teams: a boys team in a blue van, and a girls team in a white van.  I was to travel by bus with Branko form Nis, and Irina from Belgrade to meet them in Novi Sad. The region we are in is called Voivadina, it is very flat and thus very easy to run.  We finished the run for the day in a town called Odzaci, it is the town where Tyagananda was born.  Several young children, who are learning english in school, have found out what my name is, and are following me everywhere saying my neme.  I have my own fan club! June 6th The first part of the day we ran through many small towns.  In some places children would line the strrets and shower us with flowers.  We would collect the flowers and decorate the vans. Shortly after mid-day we crossed over into a region called Kajina it was  devastated by the war about four years ago. In this forst town, a small dog came to bark at us, and then quietly began to run along the side of the road, following the torch.  We thought that once we left the town, he would go home. We had 35km (22m) left to run that day.  When we stopped for a break, he stopped: when I tried to pick him up and put him in the van, he would not let me.  He did let us give him some water and would only eat some nutrition cookies that we had.  He stayed with us the whole 35km until we got to Vukovan.  This place had been completely devastated by the war.  Many emotions came to the fore, and it was impossible to hold back the tears.  A young boy adopted our running dog and took him home. We could not stay in the one hotel in Vukovar, so we spent the night back in the hotel where we entered Kajina.  It had beauti- ful riverside apartments overlooking the Danube. June 7th It rained really hard during breakfast, but the sun was shining when we left Vukovar.  We had groups of three runners each, about every 200m when we were running in Kajina.  After only a couple of hours we were crossing back into Yugoslavia.  During the cour- se of the day we passed through a region that was home to many storks, and at times these very large birds would fly overhead. This was my last full day on the Peace Run before going to Slov- enia.  We finished the day in a town called Sombor near the Hung- arian border. In the hotel, at dinner, we had one large table to ourselves, no officials just the two teams of runners.  I sat at the head of the table. I am affectionately known as the grandfather of the Yugoslavian disciples, so it seemed appropriate to sit at the head of the table. After dinner we all went for a walk around the town, a very fam- ily kind of thing to do.  When we got back to the hotel, and made a call to check in with travel arrangements, I found out that I was scheduled to give a talk in Ljubljana on the very day that I would arrive there. June 8th                      •  •                        • We were awakend at 4:45am, since we were scheduled to start run- nig at 5:30am.  My hotel room was on the 8th floor, and when I looked out of the window, I could not see anything for the fog. The first hour or so was quite mystical, with the torch-glow surrounded by fog.  The sun soon came out and we met up with the torch from Subotica.  For the last hour or so the two torches ran together to the border.  When we arrived at the border, we were early.  While we waited for the Hungarians to arrive, I got to get acquainted with the disciples from Sulotica. They asked me if I could possibly be in Sulotica for a Joy-Day in two days time.  I said that I was sorry, but I was scheduled to be in Slovenia at that time.  Plans were quickly made to make a detour to Sulotica on my trip back to Novi Sad, where I would get my bus to Slovenia later that day. The ceremont with the Hungarians was great: I, of course, was asked to say a few words.  When we got to Sulotica, I was stunned at how beautiful the town and centre was.  The disciples were so sweet, and so happy to have me visit, even though it was only for two hours.  As I was leaving, and looking at their faces, I realised how special it was to share with them Guru's light. When I got back to Novi Sad, I had about three hours to spend with the disciples there, before going off to the bus station to get the bus to Ljubljana.  Up to now I had been heading out on the Peace Run, now I was making my first journey back towards New York.  It was hard saying goodbye. The first part of the bus ride took me to Sombor, and to the border where I had been just twelve hours before.  I was to spend about 6 hours in Hungary. It is not possible to cross directly from Serbia, through Croatia, to Slovenia anymore:so you have to travel through Hungary. June 9th I arrived in Ljubljana at about 7:30am, after a 13 hour bus ride. Caspar met me at the bus station, and took me to his home for a well earned rest.  Then he took me sightseeing.  After lunch, and a quick trip home to shower, it was off to give my talk.  The talk had been set up as a last minute thing when Caspar had ta- lked to the Croatian disciples.  Eight seekers, and five discip- les were there.  It followed the usual pattern: I talked, and answered questions for two hours.  Then I spent one hour talking with the disciples.  The evening ended with the usual trip for Ice Cream. June 10th I now have the chance to run for one day on the Slovenian Peace Run.  Each day is much shorter than my previous run,(about 50km), but still a lot of fun.  We ran with a group of kids, that came from the town we were to end the run in that day. They had about eight runners in their own van, and we were four in a car. The countryside was again very beautiful.  The plan was to arrive at our final town Ptuj, at half time in their Soccer Cup game.  I made an annoncement on the PA system about the significance of the torch, and a local school ran the torch around the soccer field.  I was then whisked off to a local radio station, where I gave a fifteen minute interview live on the air. June llth The run was supposed to meet up with the runners from Zagreb, on the next day's run.  It had been decided that if I went, it would be too difficult to get a train back to Milan in time for my flight to New York on the 12th .  So when Gaspar and Lauro left with the torch, I and a boy named Samo stayed in Ptuj.  We had a couple of hours to sightsee before catching our train home.  The original town of Ptuj is from Roman times.  In the few hours that we spent in Ptuj, and on the first few hours of my train journey, before he got off, Samo asked me a lot off questions. My journey back through Italy, to Milan, was like a trip through Sheakespeare.  Passing throug places like Venice, Padua and Ver- ona.  It seemed to be raining almost all the way.  The end of my trip was closing with rain. A boy named Roberto met me at the train station, it was so nice, he had brought me sandwiches and fruit.  He took me to a place to stay, before going go the airport the noxt morning. June 12th It's time to go back to New York.  Roberto picked me up at 6am to take me to the airport.  Now I am on the flight back home carrying with me the love of all the Yugoslavian disciples.  Also the delight on all faces of all the children and others that I saw on the road with the Peace Torch.  Most of all I carry with me a re-discovering of what it means to be a disciple of Guru's. And to carry Guru's light to his world family. Thanks and Gratitude to Guru.