Sthithaprajna at the Superbowl

[Guest guest]

Since you are discussing the sthithaprajna verses, I could not resist the

temptation to attach my following article from Smrithi, the Jan '99 CMWRC

newsletter:

 

OH, KRISHNA! HOW DOES A STHITHA PRAJNA SAVOR THE SUPERBOWL?

 

Arjuna peppers Lord Krishna with a lot of questions in the Bhagavad

Gita, but he did not ask the above question, or any other, relating to the

Superbowl. With the battle about to begin at Kurukshetra, Arjuna`s mind

was not obviously on the Superbowl.

It would have done us, the football fans, a world of good had Arjuna

asked this question. Krishna answered all of Arjuna`s questions cheerfully,

and this one would have been no exception.

The Lord would have answered, no doubt, in his usual gentle,

affectionate tone. Nevertheless, He would have told us in plain Sanskrit

that we act like fools when watching sports. Sport is intended to entertain

us, but that is not the way we often experience it! We get ulcers watching

our home teams play. In other countries, fans turn violent and destroy life

and property when their national team is losing. Whence is all this

self-inflicted suffering?

 

Delusion, the Lord oft repeats in the Gita, is the root cause of all

sorrows.

 

Delusion, the Lord would have pointed out, is behind the suffering soul

of a Redskins fan also. To what else, if not delusion, can one

attribute the notion that takes hold in a fan that the Redskins are his team?

Such a notion has no legal or moral basis, so it is right to blame it on

ignorance or Maya! The result of this delusion is a strong sense of

identification with the team. From identification follows attachment-

that is, attachment to the success of the team. There is nothing a fan would

not do to ensure that his team wins, but the only thing he can do is to pray.

Even the Washington Post, it is reported, got into the act recently by

asking some local rabbis and pastors to pray for the Redskins!

 

Attachment leads to suffering. The true and tried fan is so nervous

watching the game you`d think it is his heart, and not a mere football, which

is being kicked and tossed around by the players. When the kicker from the

opposite team is attempting a field goal, the fan jumps up to block the ball

from his living room. With Fickle Fortune alternating her favors between

the two teams, the fan finds himself on an emotional roller coaster. One

moment he is elated at a touchdown by his team, and the next minute he is mad

at a missed block that leads to a first down by the opposite team. At the

end he may be a shattered soul as his team loses in the final minute by a

lone field goal. The suffering fan is, to borrow Shankaracharya`s analogy,

like a drowning man "now going under water and now coming up for a gasp of

air". That is not fun.

 

So, you ask, how does a man-of-realization act differently? Does he

not identify with either team? Without this attachment is it possible to

even get interested in a game, let alone enjoy it? How would have the Lord

responded to such questions from Arjuna?

" Oh, Bharatha", the Lord might have replied, "it is only the wise

man devoid of all attachments who can enjoy the game". The man of wisdom

does not distinguish between players wearing different uniforms. Instead he

sees only the Lord playing through each of them. Having transcended

dualities, he does not see two goal posts at the two end zones, one to run

away from and another to rush towards. His attention is in fact never on the

goal, but always on the present action. When the running back is charging

forward with the ball, he marvels at the power and grace of the runner,

unconcerned with the yards gained or points scored. Undistracted by

anxiety, his mind is fully available to thrill at the precision of a

bullet-like pass by the quarterback or to admire the clever pattern run by

the receiver to fool the defense.

 

Yet, throughout this exhibition of skill and power on the playing

field, the wise man does not sing vainly in praise of any player. Instead he

remembers in supreme love the One who has claimed all strength in the strong

as his own: "Balam balavataam asmi!". Watching sports, like all other

life`s encounters, is also a joyful spiritual experience for the yogi.

 

Concluding the chapter on superbowl yoga, the Lord might have said:

 

" For the man-of-steady wisdom, life itself is a sport; As for

the rest, alas, even sport is not"

[Guest guest]

Hari Om Raju:

 

I believe that it should be 'superbowl moha' and not 'superbowl yoga.' I

wondered why you chose 'RajuAteam' as a username for your aol account

and now I got the answer. 'Ateam' stands for Washington Redskins!

 

Ram

 

RajuAteam wrote:

>

> RajuAteam

> .............

> Concluding the chapter on superbowl yoga, the Lord might have said:

>

> " For the man-of-steady wisdom, life itself is a sport; As for

> the rest, alas, even sport is not"

>