The Annual Sports and Cultural Meet: Fostering Human Values
Offering ourselves at Thy Lotus Feet, Mother Sai
Fifteen hundred students, two hundred teachers, a host of administrators across the three campuses working in unison – caring not whether it is night or day –whether the limbs ache or the belly growls. ‘Challenging’ is not good enough for them - they have set their sight only on the ‘impossible’; they are out to testify the veracity of the power of faith – the adroitness that concentration can elicit and the will that knows not how to bend in defeat. And all this for just one moment of that one day for the smile on that one face whom we all know as THE ONE.
WHAT is it that inspires these SAI soldiers to march on triumphantly and display their mettle in a daring and dazzling display of prowess in spite of all odds?
The other day, we had a very interesting and insightful discussion in our Awareness class. It was about the amazing experience that we had gone through – Our Annual Sports and Cultural Meet. There were a lot of experiences to share and learnings to be made!
The first point raised by our teacher in the class was “KY, KPT & NK”. Given, that it was a class of MBA students and use of jargons is familiar in many management classes, but this jargon didn’t sound familiar! Well, it stands for Karma Yoga, Karma Phala Tyaga and Nishkama karma. So, what are we talking about?
Everyone in this world is always engaged in Action. Whether you are awake, sleeping, eating, thinking or walking; we are always doing action. But, everybody performs different kinds of actions, depending on the spirit with which he does it.
At the first level is ordinary action. Everyone acts, but for one’s own sake. These actions are for self fulfillment and thus of selfish nature. Before performing, we always ask, “What’s in it for me?”.
At the next level comes KPT, i.e. Karma Phala Tyaga. In this case, the doer of the action focuses his attention not on the results but on the process of the action. But it still remains very selfish in nature.
At the third level comes NK, i.e. Nishkama karma – You don’t have the rights to the fruits of the action but only the right to action and therefore it is selfless. The Bhagavad Gita also preaches the above, through the 25th sloka of chapter 3:
“Saktah karmanyavidvamso yatha kurvanti Bharata;
Kuryat vidvan tatha asaktah cikirsuh lokasamgraham”
‘As the unenlightened, attached to work acts, so should the enlightened act, O descendent of Bharata, but without attachment, desirous of well being of the world.’
And finally, Swami adds the fourth level, which he calls the Pavitra Karma, which is, offering every action to God. This is the highest karma yoga.
Swami, through the sports day, gives all his students and teachers, a great opportunity to experience this Pavitra Karma. Whatever program we do and in whatever way we participate in these celebrations – we do it only for Swami and we offer everything at his divine lotus feet. It’s this very valuable lesson that Swami teaches us all, and it is up to us to live it up for all our lives!
Relating this to my own experience, I remember so many times, when I have put this learning into practice. Truly, had it not been for Swami, I would not have got inspired and could not have performed so well on the final day.
I recall those cold mornings, when I would be nicely wrapped up in my cozy blanket and then it would be time to go for our morning warm up and practice sessions. There were so many times when 
I did not want to go but the very thought that we are doing it for our Beloved Swami made me get up and I would get going! Sometimes I would get bored, practicing the same things so many times a day and I would ask myself the need for doing so much practice. Instantly I would get an answer that we have offer this to God and it should be nothing less than perfect. Swami himself is the embodiment of perfection and he keeps teaching us to aim towards perfection through his ways. As they say, ‘Practice makes a man perfect’, so I would get back to my practice with full energy and enthusiasm. At times my health was not good and many times I would have body pains because of rigorous practice. But I would always think that this body, all my talents and whatever I am today is a gift from the Lord and this is an opportunity to offer my love and gratitude towards Him. So, I would pray to Swami to give me the strength to overcome these pains and to take care of me and thus forgetting all my troubles and pains, I would run for my practice.
Coming back to the Awareness class, next we discussed the Guna Dynamics. I quote here a few passages from Swami Prabhavananda’s book on Patanjali Yoga Sutras, describing in depth about the Guna Dynamics. “Prakriti is said to be composed of three forces, sattwa, rajas and tamas, which are collectively known as the three gunas. Sattwa causes our moments of inspiration, disinterested affection, quiet joy and meditative calm. Rajas brings on our outbursts of rage and fierce desire. It makes us feel restless and discontented, but it is also responsible for our better phases of constructive activity, energy, enthusiasm and physical courage. Tamas is the mental bog into which we sink whenever sattwa and rajas cease to prevail. In the state of tamas, we exhibit our worst qualities – sloth, stupidity, obstinacy and helpless despair.” The annual sports and cultural meet is the opportunity that Bhagawan gives all of us to convert this tamas into rajas which is a stepping stone to reach sattwa and thus our transformation.
In the process of evolution, sattwa is the essence of the form which has to be realized, tamas is the inherent obstacle to its realization, and rajas is the power by which that obstacle is removed and the essential form made manifest. For the sake of illustration, let us take an example of a sculptor. A sculptor decides to make an idol of say, Bhagawan Sathya Sai Baba. The idea of this idol –the form of it which he sees in his imagination – is inspired by sattwa. Now he gets a lump of clay. This clay represents the power of tamas – its formlessness is an obstacle which has to be overcome. Perhaps, also, there is an element of tamas in the sculptor’s own mind. He may think, “This is going to be a lot of trouble. It’s too difficult. I am tired. Why should I make the effort?” but here the force of rajas comes to his aid. Rajas, in this instance, represents the sculptor’s will to conquer his own lethargy and the difficulties he is going to face; it represents, also, muscular exertion which he puts forth in order to complete his work. If a sufficient amount of rajas is generated, the obstacle of tamas will be overcome and the ideal form of sattwa will be embodied in a tangible clay idol. Similarly, the annual sports and cultural meet gives us an opportunity to generate sufficient amount of rajas by undergoing intense physical exertion and by increase our will power so that the obstacle of tamas will be overcome.
But here I would like to mention, just for the sake of completion, that reaching sattwa is not the ultimate goal. Chapter 14 in the Bhagavad Gita talks in detail about the guna dynamics. Verse 14.19 says:
“Nanyam gunebhyah kartaram yada drastanupasyati;
Gunebhyasca param vetti madbhavam so dhigacchati”
‘When the seer beholds no agent other than the gunas and knows that which is higher than the gunas, he or she attains to My being.’
Verse 14.20 further builds on the above saying:
“Gunan ethan atitya trin dehi dehasamudbhavan;
Janma mrtya jara duhkhaih vimuktah amrtam asnute”
‘The embodied one having gone beyond these gunas, out of which the body is evolved, is freed from birth, death, old age and sorrow, and attains to immortality.’
Swami Prabhavananda’s explains the above by saying, “Thus, a man is said to have transcended the gunas when he does not hate the light of sattwa, or the activity of rajas, or even the delusion of tamas, while these prevail; and yet does not long for them after they have ceased. He is like one who sits unconcerned, and is not disturbed by the gunas. He knows that they are the doers of all action, and never loses this power of discrimination. He rests in the inner calm of the Atman, regarding happiness and suffering as one.”
Well, the learning’s from the sports meet are virtually endless. Everyone gets his own share of lessons; Lessons in team work, brotherhood, mutual cooperation, hard work, detachment, unity and harmony. One gets to learn how to get along and work with different kinds of individuals. Also, all of us are involved with various kinds of activities and we get to learn and showcase a variety of talents and skills. For example, the maintenance team does plethora of jobs. It is the back bone of all events. Whether it is stage
decoration structure or building of the torch vehicle or the amazing dancing Ganesha structure that was built this year, all is done by the maintenance boys. One of them share’s his learning experience, “We learn detachment. We work for week’s altogether for making these structures, but after they are shown to Swami and offered to His Divine Lotus Feet on the final day, we no more associate with them. They are dismantled the very same evening. We also learn a lot of team work, mutual cooperation and unity. Boys don’t bother about food or sleep until the work concerned gets over. Once the work is over, all the boys go together to have food.”
There is a lot of team work that happens, but all with ease! Why? Well, using management jargon I would say, that the individual goal and the organizational goal is very well aligned, because it is only one – To please their most Beloved Swami.
Further, every event and especially the dangerous or shall I say the more adventurous ones, reinforces and strengthens everybody’s faith in Swami. There have been numerous instances when it was only for Swami’s grace that major accidents have been prevented. Even this time one of such accidents happened during the jeep stunts event. This is what the student who experienced this accident has to say: “It was during one of our evening practice sessions that Swami had come. We performed the criss cross (4 jeeps, from 4 opposite directions crossing each other at considerable speed, in the shape of a ‘X’). After this session, Swami commented, “there is enough space between the jeeps, good!” I just thought that Swami out of his concern for us was looking at how safe it was for us to perform the event. Anyway, things moved on. On the final day, as we were about to put up our performance, this comment passed by mind. I brushed it aside, took Swami’s name and started off. As we prepared for the head on swerve (two jeeps, at a speed of around 50 kmph, were moving towards each other), I got a little late in moving out from the path of the jeep coming from the opposite direction. As a result, it hit the back of my jeep. All this happened in a split second and there was a big sound. Anything could have happened, but our Mother Sai was there watching us and saved us from the accident. Only then did it strike me that Swami had already warned us during the initial practice session. We did not understand then but this has taught me a great lesson that every word uttered by Swami has profound meaning and significance for us.”
Like this, the sports meet gives us an opportunity to build up our self confidence, that is, reinforce our faith in ourselves and our faith in God. As the famous saying goes,
“Act as if everything depends on you,
Pray as everything depends on Him.”
Another brother shares his feelings, “Devotion to the Lord should get translated into action. Not ordinary action, but action that is prompted by a mind that is filled with love for God and is surrendered to His will. Though this seems to be a Herculean task in the spiritual path, I found that each one of us, while performing daring events during the sports meet, actually lived this ideal even without consciously realizing it. Oh, the beauty of it!”
Thus, the annual sports and cultural meet promotes the development of Human Values. As Swami says, “Self transformation in spiritual sadhana can be achieved by the 5 D’s, which helps us to take a ‘U’ turn in our lives.” These 5 D’s are – Dedication, Devotion, Discrimination, Discipline and Determination and all of these are aptly reinforced by the annual sports and cultural meet.
I would like to relate here another brother’s experience from the Institute Brass Band. He says, “
Life is not a race, do take it slower.
Enjoy its melody, before the song is over.
The members of the Institute Brass Band deem it their greatest fortune to perform in front of Swami and more importantly for Swami. What culminates as performance is the fruition of efforts spanning the whole of the semester. What inspires us? The answer expresses itself as easily as an approving smile from the Lord and the acknowledging gleam in His eyes observing ‘His boys’ perform. On numerous occasions, to various dignitaries, Swami has, with maternal pride, directed their attention to this group of students declaring –“These are My boys”. That is the leitmotiv of the bond the band shares with their Swami.”
The annual sports and cultural meet has been a tremendous learning experience for all of us. Swami has so playfully given us an opportunity to experience these wonderful learnings. We thank our Beloved Mother Sai for giving us this learning opportunity and also pray to him to give us the strength to put this into practice, all our life. I would like to conclude with Swami’s Quote:
“Dedicate yourself to every work without ego,
To take you to true Devotion and
Develop Discipline within.
Discriminate every work
And in turn move on with Determination
To experience Divinity”
-- Baba
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