An afternoon of suspense and delight unfolded – or should I say ascended – on the afternoon of August 27, 2009 at Aspiration-Ground in Queens, NY as Ashrita Furman set another Guinness World’s Record – this time for the world’s largest lollipop.

I was in New York to observe the anniversary of the late spiritual leader Sri Chinmoy’s birth along with over a thousand other meditation students gathered from around the world. The biggest highlight of the festivities – and I mean biggest in a literal sense – centered inside one giant lollipop created by Ashrita Furman along with a team of over 20 helpers. Their goal – to create the world’s largest lollipop and set a new Guinness World’s Record.

They more than achieved their goal, besting the weight of the previous world’s largest Jolly Rancher lollipop by about 2,000 pounds. The lollipop weighed in at 6,706 pounds and involved the construction of a large frame for the lollipop mold and the melting of sugar and corn syrup in 100 gallon containers.

I came out to watch the lollipop get hoisted into the air with a crane and took the above photos of the record-breaking moment.

Ashrita, the helpers and the staff from the hoisting company worked together to determine the best way to lift the lollipop off the wooden frame and into the air. The lollipop was sticking to the wooden backing it rested on and I found it so inspiring to witness how the team from the hoisting company became completely engrossed in figuring out the best approach to getting the lollipop airborne. They seemed as invested and committed to success as the Sri Chinmoy Centre members who had spent the long hours making the lollipop. Watching this teamwork in action made the time pass quickly as I waited to get the photo of the lollipop upright in the sky.

While I watched and waited, I also kept staring at the enormity of the lollipop and imagined the magnitude of sweetness embodied in it. The colorful happy birthday message to Sri Chinmoy and the reproduction of one of Sri Chinmoy’s countless bird drawings added to the charm. Just looking at it made me feel like a child again.

And the symbolism of the sugar sweet resonated with my spiritual outlook on life. How many countless times have I experienced grace, blessings and forgiveness in my inner life of relationship with God? I think even a lollipop of this size cannot replicate the layers of sweet memories woven into my 24 years of spiritual journey inspired by the philosophy of spiritual teacher Sri Chinmoy.

Sweetness embodies
Ecstasy, light, delight
And Immortality.
-Excerpt from Seventy-Seven Thousand Service-Trees, Part 16 by Sri Chinmoy

Read more about the lollipop on Kedar’s fascinating Inspiring News blog and in an India Post news article online.

And yes, in case you were wondering, I did taste the lollipop after the photo shoot of the event was finished. It tasted wonderful. It tasted sweet.

On Tuesday, April 14th in New York,  he set a record for recitation of a poem written by Sri Chinmoy that was translated and read out in 111 languages. He was joined in this record by students of  meditation teacher Sri Chinmoy, themselves  from around the world, gathered in Queens, New York for a spiritual retreat. The record-breaking poem recitation took place at City Hall Park in Manhattan. Attired in sashes that displayed their language to recite, participants read the poem in 111 languages – some of which were completely unfamiliar – like Picard or Dzongkha. The previous record for multiple language recitation involved 79 different languages.

The Poem “Precious” by Sri Chinmoy from his classic book of poems entitled My Flute reads:

Precious beyond measure is God’s Will,
None can undo its Power.
Precious beyond measure are man’s tears.
They alone can hug God’s Hour.

Precious beyond measure is man’s love,
Unveiling his golden face.
Precious beyond measure is God’s Gift:
His all-fulfilling Grace.
-Sri Chinmoy

Why is this poetry recitation record like a home run with bases loaded? By setting this latest record, he also reached the pinnacle goal of 100 Guinness World Records held simultaneously. Through the years he has achieved well over 100 records, but some of the categories have been subsequently broken by someone else. Reaching this record on April 14th catapulted him into a new realm – the first person in the world to hold 100 simultaneous, active and current Guinness World Records. Guinness World Records Editor-in-Chief Craig Glenday, attended the event and commended him for his extraordinary footing in the world of Guinness.

Did you know that Ashrita’s world record breaking abilities warrant an entire chapter in a book written about the history of the Guinness Records phenomenon around the world?   Getting into Guinness : One Man’s Longest, Fastest, Highest Journey Inside the World’s Most Famous Record Book by Larry Olmsted provides an in-depth look at Ashrita’s record-breaking activities in its opening chapter – “Meet Ashrita, Record Breaker for God.”

Read more about the record in this post at the blog InspiringNews.org and in the New York Daily News. Watch a short video of Ashrita’s poetry record at the website of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

Ever since a couple of days ago when I read Ashrita Furman’s blog post about his recent Guinness record for pushing an orange with his nose, I have been pondering the spiritual life lessons it offers me. In this post Ashrita describes that he decided to try to improve on his own Guinness World Record for pushing an orange with your nose for the distance of one mile. He sometimes makes a second attempt on a particular record because someone else subsequently improved on his previous record – such as the world’s longest pencil.

In this instance, his record for the orange still held and he decided to do it again simply to see if he could improve on his own skill achieved in August 2004. What better lesson in the philosophy of self-transcendence is there? Nothing compelled him to improve on the time of 24 minutes 36 seconds set in 2004 except his own thrill in competing with no one but ourselves. He wrote, “since nobody had broken it in a few years, I decided to go after it myself.” This spirit exemplifies Sri Chinmoy’s fundamental teaching that self-transcendence offers a fulfilling and meaningful path in life. Sri Chinmoy states,

“What gives life its value
If not its constant cry
For self-transcendence?”

Even though Ashrita describes that pushing an orange with your nose is quite difficult and can even leave you slightly bruised and bloodied, he took up the challenge. This in itself is a powerful life lesson to contemplate and consider how it applies to our ordinary and not so ordinary daily activities.

Beyond this message of self-transcendence, an even more powerful wisdom beckoned to me after reading this story of breaking the orange push mile record for the second time. Ashrita chose to attempt a record in which Sri Chinmoy was present the first time he set it. Now that Sri Chinmoy passed away on October 11th, having his teacher as an outer witness to the event was no longer possible.

Ashrita’s first orange nose push record was done inside the JFK airport, Terminal 4. Sri Chinmoy visited him during this effort and he describes that he felt powerfully blessed and encouraged by the presence of his beloved spiritual teacher as a witness to the record.

I am guessing that it is not a coincidence that Ashrita decided to break this particular record once again now that Sri Chinmoy’s physical presence is no longer possible. If Sri Chinmoy were to witness this second attempt, it would be an inner subtle reality, not a face-to-face interaction.

Since the airport terminal was not available like back in 2004, his first new attempt at the record was undertaken on an outdoor track under less than ideal conditions. In the blog post you can see a photograph of how Ashrita’s face got scraped and scratched by the rough surface. He missed the record by only 11 seconds so decided to try again to find an indoor surface and a very unripe orange to roll more quickly along.

He ended up doing it a local shopping mall in Queens and he describes that part way through the attempt he realized his time was a little too slow to break his own record. He stopped to meditate and invoke Sri Chinmoy’s inner guidance. After this prayer, a completely new technique of pushing the orange magically emerged and his speed significantly improved. He broke the record by almost 2 minutes doing it in 22 minutes 41 seconds.

Ashrita’s experience offers tremendous inspiration and solace to all of us who are students of Sri Chinmoy. By having the courage to recreate a record that previously included Sri Chinmoy’s physical presence and blessings, he gave us all the chance to see how Sri Chinmoy’s blessings and guidance still operate in our lives despite the absence of his physical presence. Through a simple moment of heartfelt prayer and meditation, an entirely new and improved method of pushing the orange emerged from the inner realms.

Sri Chinmoy’s last poem in the final book sold while he was still on Earth states:

“My physical death
Is not the end of my life -
I am an eternal journey.”

Ashrita’s new orange push record vividly demonstrates this truth. In our lives, Sri Chinmoy’s presence is and will forever remain eternal.

Related Post from my Blog at the Sri Chinmoy Centre:
Ashrita Furman balances 700 eggs for a new Guinness Record.
My Photos of the World’s Largest Pencil.