Recently, I was invited by the Athletic Department of my alma mater to offer workshops in peak performance for student athletes and their coaches. At this highly competitive, elite, New England college, winning is the prime target for all twenty-seven varsity teams. Imagine then, the audience’s surprise when I framed the workshop with this shloka from the Bhagavad Gita:
कर्मण्येवाधिकारस्ते मा फलेषु कदाचन |
मा कर्मफलहेतुर्भूर्मा ते सङ्गोऽस्त्वकर्मणि || 2.47 ||Bhagavad Gita
You have a right to perform your prescribed duties, but you are not entitled to the
fruits of your actions. Never consider yourself to be the cause of the results of
your activities, nor be attached to inaction. (2:47)
As I recited this I could see a question mark forming on many faces, “What does that
mean?” I explained: “Your goal,” I said, “is not to win.” A visible uneasiness rippled
through the room—people started shifting in their chairs; some turned to others with
looks of disbelief, “What planet is this guy from?”
I reminded everyone that as a graduate of the college I was well aware of the school’s
national status in athletics, the importance of attracting top competitors from around the
country, and how winning translates into alumni dollars. Moreover, in my private
practice as a performance psychologist, professional and amateur athletes seek me out
because they want to win. So what did I mean when I said the goal is not to win?
That was the question I had when Acharya Shunya offered a discourse on this shloka.
At first it made no sense. After all, I was brought up in the highly competitive world of
American education, where coming out on top is all that matters—having the #1 football
team, grasping the A+, getting the highest SAT score, gaining admission to the most
prestigious college. In America, and throughout most of the world, life is all about
winning. Now, my teacher is opening the crystal clear window of the ancient, sacred text
for a different vista. On the battlefield of Kuruksetra the Lord is instructing, even
commanding, the warrior Arjuna to focus on his duty: to fight the noble battle— slay the
sensory-driven Kurus—and not be stuck in his ego-driven anxiety of “What will happen
if....?”
As human beings we are always in action. Cooking a meal, studying for an exam,
making love, writing a book: we play out our lives on the field of activity. But if we strive
to cook the most delicious meal, to get the highest marks, to be the best lover, to write
the award-winning novel, our focus is not actually on what we are doing, it is on the
result. Put another way: when we are preoccupied with the outcome of our actions we
are in an indeterminate future, not the present. The Lord is instructing Arjuna—and all of
us—to put our entire selves, body, mind and spirit, into what needs to be done now.
When we are fully present, we are committed to our dharma, our duty. We are not
distracted by how we appear to others or what will happen if and when....
And what does Krishna mean when he says, ““Never consider yourself to be the cause
of the results of your activities”? Shakespeare provides a poetic response: “All the
world’s a stage and all the men and women merely players.” We are in the leela, the
play, of God’s design. Ishwara is the producer, the playwright and the director. Krishna
is reminding us there are much greater forces at work that shape the events of which
we are part. And he also affirms that we cannot be idle bystanders (“...nor be attached
to non-action”). Our job it to fulfill our dharma.
How does all of this translate for the student athletes and coaches? What should they
have focused on if not winning? The answer is simple, they have to play the game to
the very best of their ability. Each athlete has this responsibility to themselves, to their
teammates, and to the people who cheer them on: be your best. Whether you win or not
depends on many forces out of your control (the other team’s prowess, the weather,
the time of day—literally, God knows what). Since you have to act, exercise your
dharma, in the moment, at the highest level you can.
One more note: when we go to a baseball game, swim meets, or a tennis match we are
enthralled and inspired by the talent and commitment of all the athletes, by the level and
quality of their play. They represent the best in us. But focusing on the winner by
definition implies that someone is a loser, with all the unfortunate connotations of that
word. In our winner-take-all culture, a loser is less capable, defeated, pushed aside,
ultimately forgotten. While Arjuna needed to slay the ego-driven Kaurav’s—a metaphor
for what each of us needs to do on an inner level—on the field of life we need to play
together. That is the game. Two sides make one whole. We are one.
Acharya Shunya tells us, “We live in a designer universe.” Ishwara has designed
endless opportunities for us to excel and for each one of us to contribute to a world in
which we all can grow and thrive. Play the game. We all can win. This is our birthright,
and our possibility.
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Beautiful, thank you 🙏🏼