Philosophy Behind Sports :- Why Sports?

Hello Everyone,

Let me tell you an interesting thing.

One of the lectures of Swami Vivekananda from his well recorded book ' Lectures from Colombo to Almora' states that

'Playing Football yields better spirituality than reading Geeta.'

Yes. You heard it correctly. You are much more spiritual while playing football rather than reading geeta. How come? What was the reason Swamiji believed like this?

Swamiji is not asking anyone to throw away the Gita and just play football. All he is saying is both are necessary but playing football yields better result than studying the Gita. Now let us look at why he said this.

Bhagvad Geeta, the celestial song of gods, considered as the summary of all the vedas and shrutis, is ofcourse a holy book to read. But, alas, we humans just 'read it'.

Thus our first conclusion is that reading something surely is less vibrant than playing something.

Now, the main teachings of Geeta are :-

1. Karma Yoga ( Union in Actions )

2. Bhakti Yoga ( Union in Devotion )

3. Jnana Yoga ( Union in Clarity )

When you read Geeta,

If you read with complete focus and complete concentration, at the end, you just 'know' about these concepts. Applying them to your field of action is just a far off step there. Hence, first you barely sit down to READ Geeta, then, only if you grasp its correct meanings, you learn about these Yogas mentioned above, and THEN ALSO, its in your hands whether you really want to apply those concepts in your worklife or not!

Whereas,

When you play football...

You are completely devoted to your team no matter whatever your position is. Your main motive is just to serve the team positively in whichever way possible. You are damn clear, damn focused and damn devoted.

In this way, consciously or unconsciously,

You do not ONLY read the principles of Geeta, but without even reading them,

You actually practice them!

I also play football and after knowing about this philosophy my perception towards playing football has been dramatically enhanced.

This principles, you actually practice in sports. This is my own experience!

I remmember,

In 2019 I went to Surat at State Level Tournament of Baseball. We were so lucky team that fixtures directly sent us in quarter finals without playing a single match!

Our first match came at 3 PM afternoon. We were so light headed and joking that our lack of seriousness and sportsmanship ended up knocking us out of the tournament in the very first match itself. We lost against Rajkot Rural with a horrendous margin.

Again, after 3 months of the event, we got a chance to play State Level Softball Tournament at Godhra ( Softball is almost identical with Baseball ).

We trained like brutes, every morning at 6. We were thousandfold improved than our previous results. We were confident, still we were focused and alert. Results?

We won 4 matches consecutively back to back and in semi finals we also got a revenge from the Rajkot Rurals. We defeated them with unimaginable margin of 19-4 score and we were still playing on and on. The refrees ended the match as it was obvious that now Rajkot could not comeback. They gave up.

We were in the finals. We knew that previously we had lost in our very first match.. And we had lost bitterly.  But here we were in finals!

And we lost the finals actually. Nevermind. We learnt something, We earned something.

This has happened in football too.

Whenever I perform terribly, it is very hard to accept that. It is just impossible to believe that someone else actually outperformed us. Believe me, it is very very hard to control ourselves in defeats, in insults. Still, the very next day, we are ready, as fresh as a lily, to play again.

We are actually now addicted to blows.

Everyday, we practice discipline, we practice teamwork, we practice self control, we practice focusing.

Oh, those are children, mere babies, who just read Geeta!

The blessed one is he who actually practices all the principles of Geeta in a mere play, mere sport!

Be playful, be a sportsman.

Not just a sportsman of any game.

Play this grand design, this glorius game of life!

Swami Vivekananda once said,

"May I be born again and again, and suffer thousands of miseries so that I may worship the only God that exists, the only God I believe in, the sum total of all souls—and above all, my God the wicked, my God the miserable, my God the poor of all races, of all species, is the special object of my worship. "

"Salvation? Give it to the monks. Let me play around till everyone is enlightened. My every breathe is for the service of others. I shall inspire men from everywhere around the globe to work."

Play. Just play. Play for play's sake.

What the hell do I get from writing these blogs every tuesday? I am doing that constantly for around 11 months now. Why? To get 10 views?

I play. I'm in love with this celestial game.

Thanks,

Daksh Parekh.