The game’s not about the goal

[1]

Amrit Sadhana [1]

Why do people play sports? Is it a diversion from the drudgery of life, a recreation or a pleasant pastime? Maybe all of that. Originally sport stemmed from the natural urge to express the body and enjoy its agility. But this playful activity now has become so competitive that it creates more stress than it recreates. That is because the goal has become more important than the actual play. This is true not only of sports but the whole fabric of modern life.
Basically, education that is imparted is goal-oriented; it injects poisons like competition and ambition into children, so when they grow up they are completely programmed to fight and win and never lose.

I grew up listening to the famous quote by James Russell Lowell, which my father loved a lot: “Not failure, but low aim, is crime.” Always aim high and think big. But what about enjoying every moment? Nobody mentioned that.
This kind of conditioning takes away the joy of living. It was Osho who for the first time emphasised being totally in the moment. “Squeeze all the juice out of each moment of life,” he says, “for there is no goal; the pilgrimage itself is the goal.”
It was such an eye-opener and a game changer. So there is no goal? Oh, what a relief! The whole burden of achieving was off my chest.
Now the sports psychologists and coaches are teaching their coachees the same thing: be in the moment. It creates a state of consciousness, which is called “the zone”. This is a zero point. It is defined as having a higher level of concentration and being totally engrossed in an endeavour to the point where time almost stands still and outside distractions almost disappear. At some point, whether in sports or in life, most people have experienced being so deep into the job that outside distractions seem to disappear.
Recently, celebrated golf player Shiv Kapur was at the Osho Meditation Resort, Pune. His attitude took a 180-degree turn after he did Osho meditations. He said in an interview, “I was too bothered about the results and just forgot to enjoy the game like I did when I was a child. The game used to be so much more fun and somewhere down the line, I started treating it like a daily job. However, post my visit to Osho in Pune, I’ve begun to look at the game differently. I’m beginning to enjoy it and I am not too worried about what happens in the end.”
If every person imbibes this attitude, life will be much more fun and stress-free; the result will follow the action like a shadow.

Amrit Sadhana is in the management team of Osho International Meditation Resort, Pune. She facilitates meditation
workshops around the country and abroad.