Vivekananda on Sports

Vivekananda loved sports. “And there are lessons to be learnt from that,” says Kapil Dev to MONA MEHTA

 Get on to the field to play    and get physically fit,” is what I imbibed from Swami Vivekananda’s teachings in my school days — and it has stayed with me,” stated Kapil Dev, former captain of the Indian cricket team, while addressing newsmen, just ahead of a World Meet for Peace and Harmony to be held in the Capital, from  September 11-12. The Peace meet is being organised by Ramakrishna Mission as part of Swami Vivekananda’s 150th birth anniversary celebrations, to explore the basis for peace and harmony from perspectives as wide apart as religion, arts and sports.

 Stressing on the vital links between peace and sports, Kapil Dev said that while sportspeople compete and fight against each other in the race for a prize, it is all done within the framework of certain rules — rules that remind you that you must uphold human values first.

 “Sports is about striving to be proud of your performance and not fighting in a negative way; it is about fighting to achieve something, in much the same way that Swami Vivekananda fought preconceived notions of people to make the world a happier and more peaceful place to live in,” he added.

 Back in 1898, while taking a walk in Alipur, a disciple once asked Swamiji: “Why do you stress so much on the improvement ofour physique?”

 Pat came the legendary answer from Swamiji: “Do you consider yourself as men? You have got only a bit of rationality, that’s all. How will you struggle with the mind unless the physique is strong? What have you got besides eating, sleeping and satisfying creature comforts? Thank your stars you have not developed into quadrupeds, yet! Sri Ramakrishna used to say, “He is the man who is conscious of his dignity.”

 So, build your physique first, for only then you can get control over the mind, was what Vivekananda believed in. The Mundaka Upanishad, reiterates: Nayam atma balahinena labhyah — this Self is not to be attained by the weak.

 Not satisfied by Vivekananda’s reply, the disciple goes on, “But, Sir, the word ‘weak’ has been interpreted by some to mean a person devoid of ‘Brahmacharya or continence’. Dull-headed persons have strong bodies. What of that,” he asks.

 Swamiji retorted: “The physically weak are unfit for the realisation of the Self.” He added: “If you take the pains to give strong people good ideas once, they will be able to work them out sooner than physically unfit people. Don’t you find, in a weak physique that it is difficult to control the sex-appetite or anger?”

 The disciple pointed out that there were exceptions to this belief.