Today – now modern world is always goal-oriented, in the sense – we want to win the game. Whether it’s life or game, they’re only thinking about winning. I feel that’s a big mistake. People don’t win a game because they want to win a game. Who doesn’t want to win? Everybody wants to win. People win a game because they play well, isn’t it? Any team wins because they play well, not because they want to win. Who doesn’t want to win?
Modern world is always goal-oriented… I feel that’s a big mistake
You know, we say in yoga – if you keep one eye on the goal, you have only one eye to find your way. That’s not a good way to play a game. It’s better both your eyes are on the game. The winning, the cup, the accolades are things which happen because we play a game well. It’s not because we want them, it will happen. Because we play well, it happens. So, it’s always best that we keep our eyes, our body, our mind, everything focused on just one thing. That is when a human being functions at his maximum efficiency.
There’s a beautiful incident in our culture. When Dronacharya is teaching Arjuna and a few other boys archery. He asked one by one, to look up at the tree and aim and shoot at the bird that was sitting there. A wooden bird that was kept up on the tree. And a small dot was marked on the neck of the bird. And Dronacharya said, you must aim at that particular dot and shoot. So when they just pull the string, and they’re just about to shoot, he asked them to stop and asked, what do you see? So they said, we see the leaves, we see the tree, we see the fruit, we see the bird, we see so many things. Everybody said this. And when Arjuna’s chance came, when he was ready to shoot and Drona asked him, what do you see? He just said, I see only one dot.
When one’s vision is totally one pointed, that is when you get there
And it is one who sees only one, when one’s vision is totally one pointed, that is when you get there. When everything in you gets organized in one direction, that is when the best results happen. That’s why when you’re playing a hockey game, it’s not about winning, it’s not about getting a cup back home, it’s not about newspapers, it’s not about fame. Your whole business is just to how to get the damn ball into the goal, every moment of being there on the field. That’s all, isn’t it? As 10 people on the field, just seeing how to get that ball every time in there. The idea is to get it there every moment. They won’t let you get it there every moment. But the whole thing is to just get it there, get it there, get it there.
If our mind is focused on how to win the cup? Will we win the cup or not? Will we win the match or not? I have seen, whether it’s football, or cricket, or hockey, or whatever, many matches are lost before the game is over. Somebody has scored three goals against you. So what? Three goals can be scored in a minute. Oh such miracles don’t happen. It’s not true. It can be done and it’s happened sometimes, isn’t it?
So the business is not how much somebody has scored, or not scored. Whether you’re going to win, or not win. When you’re playing a game, there’s only just one goal, putting that ball into the goal, that’s all. If you just stay this way, at least who we are, our talent will get fully expressed. What we are not, we cannot do. If we do not do what we are not capable of, it doesn’t matter. But if we do not do what we are capable of, that’s a tragic life, isn’t it? Isn’t it so?
If one does not do what he is not capable of, it does not matter. But if one does not do what he is capable of, that’s a wasted life
If one does not do what he is not capable of, it does not matter. But if one does not do what he is capable of, that’s a wasted life. And, when our focus is not one pointed, this wastage will always happen. Because we are thinking about something else. If everything is focused in one way – your body, your energy, your mind, everything is organised just in one direction. A person who is going in one direction will go somewhere. A person who is trying to go in 5 different directions, will not go anywhere. So much time and energy and effort is wasted in trying to go in different directions.
So, if one can just keep this in his mind – there is nothing else in the game, except putting the ball there. It is not about winning, it’s not about the cup, it’s not about anything – it’s just about putting that ball into the goal, that’s all. At least your talents will be fully expressed. If we are not good enough, we have to prepare more. If we are good enough, the results will come for us. That’s all the game is about. But if our talent doesn’t find full expression, that is a waste. That should not happen to us.
