Cricket and Spirituality

I used to be critical of those ardent cricket watchers glued to the television for hours, until I heard a spiritual friend of mine explain the connection between the above. Let us take the philosophy behind both Cricket and spirituality before we analyze the devotees of both the spiritual world and the cricket fans.

In either case conditioning of the human mind to a certain level is needed to progress in the respective field.

In spirituality many times a blind faith is needed to stop questioning the rituals and orthodoxy practiced irrespective of their logic. For example ignore the tons of milk and milk products poured over stone idols all over this poor country and several such acts. Logic is that my fore fathers were doing it and so I do it ignoring the fact that the temples were in fewer numbers and so was the population in the olden times. So the wastage was minimum.

Today’s situation is different with the population explosion and so is the case in the number of temples in corner to corner.

Similarly, what is wrong if you are one of those millions of lazy fellows who hour after hour, day after day, year after year watch sitting in one place as a couch potato one man throwing a ball on another holding a bat with a dozen fellows standing watch. Capping it all a person in a doctor’s outfit stands all the while waiting for someone to do something. He is often unmoved like a stone to the cries and howls of the bowler, or throws his hands across like a mad man or showing a finger towards the sky once in a while reminding the crowd that God is up there.

But how these two poles apart subjects get interconnected?

1) The three stumps behind the batsman

These are the three tools to condition the mind (Gyana, Bhakti, and Vairaghya)

Gyana	Knowledge	Knowledge of the game	Knowledge of the supreme
Bhakthi	Devotion	Devotion to players	Devotion to God
Vairaghya	Renunciation	Ignoring pending work	Detachment to material

These three are not independent they are inter related so two rollers connect the three stumps.

2) The six balls in an over represent the Shat Gunaas or the six bad qualities or virtues hindering the advancement in life.

1)	Kaama	Lust	or	Carnal love
2)	Krodha	Anger	or	Temper
3)	Madha	Egoism	or	Conceit
4)	Matsara	Jealousy	or	Rivalry
5)	Moha	Infatuation	or	Excessive Desires  or  Dilution
6)	Lobha	Greed	or	Stinginess

The intellect of the human mind has to tackle them to lead a good life.

3) The bat held by the batsman is the intellect to deal with the above six disturbances to divert them and not get affected or bowled over by them and give up to bad was of life.

-If the batsman just tries to keep blocking the balls and not scoring any runs the team can never win.

-If he just taps them and keeps running for singles, the overs pass as wasted, with no sign of victory. More over running up and down makes him tired and drain his energy.

-The batsman instead should try his best to hit the ball with all his tact and strength to drive the ball away beyond the boundaries and the stand for fours and sixes so the path to victory opens. (Like kicking away the bad thoughts with the intellect

-If he fails at least to block the balls and let it touch the stump he is gone forever from the innings. There is not even a certainty of another innings. It is suicidal. That is why the batsman walks away with head hanging down tucking his bat under his arm pit in shame.

Who knows that there would be another life after death?

Now what is the position of the spiritual seeker the batsman in real life?

While discharging the duties a karma yogi faces the six virtues listed above one by one to corrupt his righteousness.

-Instead of hitting hard and driving the bad qualities away as soon as they show up, any hesitation slowly tempts him to succumb to desires. He ends up just like the batsman. He makes no progress towards the final salvation.

Sucked in the whirlpool of the birth and death cycle he is born again and again in one or the other of the millions forms of life like the millions of fools who keep watching the two dozen fools playing with a ball and bat.

In all this drama there is one absolutely renounced soul. Who is it? – The God in the spiritual world.

A totally detached spectator with any actions or results. – The Umpire in the cricket world. A totally detached man with the victory or failure of either team but attached to the remuneration he gets anyway.

But there is a special class totally spiritual cricket fans whose hands never lay down the snacks and beer cans. Every loss of the wicket is like a bite. But every boundary is a kick

I revere those devout cricket fans. T.K.Jagannathan – Bangalore – tkjagannath@gmail.com – 8884931796

About the compiler of the article on Cricket and Spirituality 

“With superb local remedies at the backyard why reach the west for medicines loaded with side effects”

T.K.Jagannathan

A post graduate engineer taken VRS as a corporate executive in 2000. He then undertook a course on Vedanta and Yoga in Sivananda ashram at Rishikesh. At Rishikesh outside the ashram he learnt from some sadus, exponents in the art of Yoga and Pranayama specific therapeutic aspects for relief for a few chronic ailments. Ever since he has been teaching Pranayama, fusion of Yoga and Pranayama in Bangalore.

During his regular summer visits to Canada he has been conducting classes at the Chinmaya mission Ottawa, Canada and also in other places in North America. His courses on Full Pranayama, fusion courses like Arthritic cycle, are computers pain in the neck? , tone up the joints head to toe, Yoga for diabetics have been welcomed by many.

Apart from the above he has to his credit the following

Musical translation of Sant Purandara dasa’s devotional songs from Kannada to Tamil, Saint Tyagaraja’s devotional songs from Telugu to Tamil.

He has to his credit as a writer. Short stories in English and Tamil

A book on “Sri Ganesh” is published by Pustak Mahal in 2010.

Tamil Translation of the book on Pranayama  published by Sri Arbindo Kapali Shastri institute of Vedic Culture (SAKSHI) .

Translation of Dr.R.L.Kashyap’s English books to Tamil

Rig and Yajur Veda Taithiriya Samhitas.(SAKSHI publications) (6 out of 26 volumes already printed)

Was the Editor of The Senior Citizen’s Post for 3 years

He can be contacted at tkjagannath@gmail.com and on 8884931796