Sports -- All One?
By Madhava Gosh das

I have read the article by Danavir Goswami on sports and herein make a confession: I am actively involved in sports. I coach youth football (soccer), play in an adult football league, and have even fallen so low as to play roller hockey. I want this up front so those who would disqualify me on that basis will be able to immediately.

While I agree wholeheartedly with what Danavir Goswami says about unnecessary sports, I must admit to some interpretational differences of how that is applied in the life of an aspiring devotee. I don't think there is much dispute that professional sports qualify as unnecessary. As a matter of fact, I was the one who coined the phrase "Football is the opiate of the masses,” playing off the outdated observation of Karl Marx that "religion is the opiate of the masses." Religion as a tool of the materialistic rulers to pacify the exploited has been widely replaced by professional sports. In this Danavir Goswami concurs and quotes Srila Prabhupada (all quotes herein are exclusively drawn from Danavir Maharaja's article):

"Unenlightened governments support sports as a means to appease their citizens. The bewildered citizens then do not object to the nefarious activities of the government.

"A government may prevent defection by making life more interesting, by providing bread and circuses, and by encouraging sports, gambling, the use of alcohol and other drugs, and various kinds of sexual behavior."

I’m in agreement so far. Danavir Goswami goes on:

“As we often see, His Divine Grace is expert at establishing sastric principles in a universal prescription. Below he continues in trying to help the inquirer realize the importance of accepting the medicine.

“The formalities are as follows: You should take a vow not to have any illicit sex life. That means sex life should be accepted only by married couples. You should not take anything beyond the group of grains, fruits, vegetables, flowers, milk and milk products, and that also only after offering to Lord Krishna. You should not accept any kind of intoxication, including drinking coffee, tea, or smoking cigarettes, chewing pan, etc. Finally, you should not take part in any gambling, including so-called sports, cinema, theater, or any such entertainment. Then you will have to be first initiated for chanting the Hare Krishna Mantra under regulative principles, avoiding 10 kinds of offenses and following the above regulative principles. (Letter to: Mr. Kair -- Los Angeles 8 July, 1969.”

Here I differ with Danavir Maharaja in his extrapolating that any quotes that say "idle sports," " unnecessary sports," "frivolous sports," or, as above, "so-called sports," are applicable to all sports. The question that needs to be asked is why does Srila Prabhupada always use a modifier when he says sports? Why not just say sports if he meant all variations of sports? Are modifiers really that important? By way of an answer, think of the difference between the terms "Hare Krishna temple" and "temple.” Many religions use the word temple, but Hare Krishna devotees who think of themselves as the staunchest religionists would be quick to point out that there is more benefit in attending a Hare Krishna temple. There is a difference between a Hare Krishna temple and a non-Hare Krishna temple.

Similarly, if Srila Prabhupada is using a modifier when he mentions sports, it is because he is referring to a particular subset of activities that fall under the broader category of sports. Professional sports are actually a business, and utilize, I believe, obsessive amounts of time. This leaves open the idea that there are sports that may be considered differently.

Also interesting in the above quote is that along with so-called sports are cinema and theater, neither modified. As we all know, in every ISKCON temple, plays are put on and cinema is shown in the form of ITV or similar videotapes. Recently, I saw a videotape where Danavir Goswami himself was featured. If exception has been made for use of cinema and theater in ISKCON, despite the lack of a modifier, the possibility of using sports, which is explicitly modified, in a bona fide way, needs to be acknowledged.

The next step would be to see if Srila Prabhupada has given any indication that there are bona fide uses of sports in Krishna's service. In Danavir Goswami's article we find two quotes:

"Just like spiritual atmosphere, Krishna’s friends, cowherd boys, they’re playing with Krishna. That is also playing. And here in this material world the boys they also play football play. But these two plays are different. One is spiritual and another is material… Although sports is not a must for children if they are very serious about spiritual life, Srila Prabhupada did tell the gurukula teachers that swimming and wrestling were Vaisnava sports.”

“Srila Prabhupada: Avoid toys as much as possible; you can allow the ball, football (soccer).We used to play, in our childhood, as game called kit-kit.(Conversation with teachers in Dallas, March 4, 1975; Srila Prabhupada on Gurukula; Pp. 87-88: BBT.”

Here is clear instruction that swimming, wrestling, kit-kit type games and football (soccer) can be used in Krishna's service. So although Danavir Goswami probably very sincerely believes that, “no matter how we manipulate it, sports is sports and that means nonsense,” Srila Prabhupada himself differentiates and authorizes some use of sports, in a balanced manner.

Of course we need to keep it in perspective, and here again I fully agree with Danavir Maharaja that it is easy to start with a little bit of sport, and then let it take over one's life. This can be difficult for an individual to judge, so I believe there is a place in ISKCON for devotees like Danavir Goswami who take a very staunch stand and don't get involved, because this acts as a needed example and counterbalance to the danger of overindulgence.

An interesting point comes up in the discussion of kit-kit about how the game requires no paraphernalia. For those in the education field or parenting who are looking for a variety of similar games to engage children and don't have elders to draw on for the lost heritage of pre TV games that every culture used to have, the book Handbook of American Indian Games from Dover is just loaded with ideas.

Although not denying that sports are most commonly used in a mundane way, there is also no denying sports may be spiritualized.

As Danavir Maharaja quotes:

“And here in this material world the boys they also play football play. But these two plays are different. One is spiritual and another is material." (Lecture: Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.7.16-- Vrindavan, September 14, 1976).”

“RECREATION

“The Bhagavad-gita talks of regulated recreation (yuktahara-viharasya).

He who is regulated in his habits of eating, sleeping, recreation and work can mitigate all material pains by practicing the yoga system. (Bhagavad-gita 6.17)

“In essence this usage of the word recreation (viharasya) refers to sexlife. The meaning therefore is; ‘One should be regulated in eating, sleeping, sexlife and work.’ Regulated in the sense of restrained or temperate. But Westerners, unfamiliar with the term viharasya, think ‘recreation’ refers to sports. Since Srila Prabhupada did not allow his students to engage in sports of any kind, the devotees were understandably confused.”

Note here that we have seen that some sports were allowed by Srila Prabhupada. Therefore, actually the verse above as it is directly makes perfect sense and isn't at all confusing. Sports need to be regulated. Simple. It’s straightforward.

Danavir Maharaja continues:

"’Where's the regulated sports?’ they thought. They were thinking that the verse of Bhagavad-gita endorsed or recommended a yoga practitioner's moderate indulgence in sports. Consequently, it is no surprise that a devotee asked for clarification when the topic came up in studying Bhagavad-gita.

“Devotee: What is recreation for a Krishna conscious person?

“Prabhupada: Recreation? Dancing. (laughter) Come on, dance with us. Is it not recreation? And when you get tired take prasada. Do you want more recreation than this? What is your answer. Is it not recreation?”

Now here, if we don't take the more obvious meaning that recreation means recreation, but instead accept Danavir Goswami's explanation that recreation means sex life, then Srila Prabhupada equating dancing with recreation really is confusing, as it does seem he is using the word recreation to mean something other than sex-life. It makes more sense with recreation meaning recreation not procreation.

As far as how to regulated sports, this brings us to Danavir Goswami's point that sports are just for kids and not for adults. He states:

“If sports are to be indulged in, they should end at ten. Children ten years and older, on the contrary, should be engaged in services such as cleaning and gardening, etc. Srila Prabhupada gave the example of child Krishna collecting dry wood for His guru. If sports continue past this age, they will seriously hamper one's chances to advance in spiritual life. Serve now, sport in Goloka.”

To bolster this conclusion Danavir Maharaja uses the following quotes from Srila Prabhupada:

"The older children [ten years of age and beyond] should be given more difficult tasks, such as cleaning the park, gardening, or some work.Not like the young children." (From Satvarupa dasa Goswami's notes on Srila Prabhupada's visit to Dallas, May, 1973; Srila Prabhupada on Gurukula; p. 87: BBT 1984)

"Regarding the older boys, [ten years of age and beyond] they can do gardening engagement and other brahmacari engagements, study and manual work. And, as soon as they can read Sanskrit and English, they should read our books, such as Bhagavad-gita As It Is. By cleansing the temple and growing flowers their attention in this way be always in Krishna consciousness. That will save them from the clutches of maya." (Letter to: Dayananda: -- Bombay 16 October, 1973)

"Our grandmother used to engage us for watering work, these pots. And that water was brought from down, two, three stories down, and we used to bring and put. That is good exercise and sport also, competition between children. (break) . karma jyayo hy akarmanah. Everyone should be engaged. That is supervision." ( Morning walk, Mayapura, March 12, 1976)”

These are all very nice quotes, but they speak of broadening children's lives, not narrowing them. There is no mention of quitting sports. Srila Prabhupada just plain doesn't say it, so the quotes don't support Danavir Maharaja's premise.

From my own experience raising teenage boys, it is as teenagers that sports become even more useful as a means for channeling excess energy, teaching discipline and regulation, and helping their overall development. My observation is that of second generation devotees the kids who get involved with disciplined sports are much less likely to get involved with substance abuse than those who don't.

In any case there is bound to be a big hue and cry over this. Personally, I think the biggest idle sport in ISKCON is debating. If this does turn out to be some pivotal issue in ISKCON, and there is a split, look for me in the football playing branch of the Lord Chaitanya tree. Whether the branch that permits no sports flourishes more than the branch that permits regulated sports, time will tell. I do know that sports are deeply engrained in modern culture and believe regulated sports will have a much broader based appeal if we are trying to make Greater ISKCON inclusive rather than elitist.

Danavir Goswami says in the section of his article entitled, “SAKAMA AND NISKAMA DEVOTEES,” “Gambling is allowed occasionally in Vedic culture for the ksatriyas. Ksatriyas, like demigods, have a passionate spirit of enjoying this world, controlling people and things in this world. The demigods and ksatriyas who take the license for this type of enjoyment, are, nevertheless, content to remain in the material world. Such mixed devotees are called sakama devotees or devotees who are still affected and motivated by material desires.

“Another type of devotee is the pure devotee or niskama devotee. Such devotees have no material aspirations and it is expected that they will return to the abode of the Lord after completing their services in this lifetime. ISKCON is especially meant to foster niskama devotees. This is shown by that fact that the Founder-acarya of ISKCON stipulated that the initiates should not participate in sports or gambling. He wanted to generate niskama disciples.”

“Here Danavir Goswami seems to believe that the goal of ISKCON is to be liberated after this lifetime, and that participating in sports bars one. Well, I guess I'm barred, and will be stuck here birth after birth, only hoping there is a football branch of the sampradaya to do some service in as long as I am here.

As for Danavir Goswami and other swami's sitting around and trying to figure out if regulated sports should be in the socio-economic structure of Greater ISKCON as it manifests, this is natural as we see in another quote from his article.

“In the Western countries old men, retired from active life, debate about useless socio-political schemes. All these and other frivolous activities are included in the prajalpa category. Intelligent persons interested in Krishna consciousness should never take part in such activities (Nectar of Instruction: 2 Purport)”

As for me, I have more faith in my own conclusions of what Srila Prabhupada said about how to raise my kids and live in the world than those of some swamis who have had no practical experience of doing so and whose experiment with gurukula ended so disastrously. I apologize this got much longer than I ever intended, but I have one more confession to make; after reading the list of things Danavir Maharaja considers gambling - I am a bird watcher, and unrepentant about it.

© CHAKRA 16-December-2000

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