Spirituality And Football

Spirituality and the game of Football,

What’s up? Are you up to the muddle?

Believe it, there are parallels, Spirituality & soccer. 

“You’ll be nearer to heaven through soccer,

than the study of the Bhagavad Gita”

Qoth the greatest sage, Vivekananda.

‘Thou art unfit’ for the spiritual journey,

without the requisite strength of mind & body.

‘A player & a seeker’ both undergo tough trials,

The patience & perseverance surely pays.

 The ‘ball’ signifies one’s own ‘ego’,

Team members, family & friends, with whom we go,

Your trust in teammates certainly helps,

Blissfully, win the match of happiness.

Players in the opposition are obstacles,

anger, pride, hatred & haughtiness.

See the ‘goal post’ of universal consciousness,

There, thou ego, ye soul submits.

Coach is our ‘guru’, who teaches us,

From his mistakes on the field, a player learns.

And the referee? He’s Karma & its laws,

For playing, he reinforces the correct rules.

The audience is the society that reacts,

Post any performances on the fields.

Every ‘Life’ is like a ‘Game’, and

A game that has started must end.

So long as a player engrossed in the game,

There’s the illusion of limited time & space.

Like every player, designated roles one hath,

Forward, midfielder, so on and so forth.

The game of soccer is meditation on the run,

In the moment, a player is, for the entire duration.

A good spectator watches with detachment,

for him, no wins & loses, but only excitement.

Through this, I solemnly salute Sri P Venkatesh,

For discovering the lovely ‘metaphor’ to cherish.