I watched Tendulkar score 98 against Pakistan in the 2003 world cup match at Centurion. It was an amazing knock; many people (South Africans) who I spoke to on the following working day were equally amazed.<\/p>\n
A lot was written about that innings. When Tendulkar was asked, how he managed to bat so superbly, he simply shrugged his shoulders and gave an awkward smile, unable to give an answer.<\/p>\n
There were other things written about that innings but the words that stuck with me were the term \u2018The Zone\u2019, or \u2018The Batsman\u2019s Zone\u2019. It is about this \u2018Zone\u2019 that I want to talk about.<\/p>\n
Many years ago in the hostel I had come across a book titled \u2018Way of the Peaceful Warrior\u2019 in which the author meets a garage attendant who later becomes his spiritual guru and he calls him Socrates. There is one incident in particular that I want to mention from the book.<\/p>\n
Socrates and the author are sitting in a Gym and Socrates produces this binocular which is quite unique and he asks the author to look at people through it. Surprisingly, when you look at people through the binocular you start hearing (or feeling) the thoughts of the subject.<\/p>\n
Socrates asks the author to point the binocular at many people doing various chores and the author is able to hear their thoughts. After a while Socrates asks the author to point the binocular towards a Gymnast who is about to start her routine.<\/p>\n
The author notices that there are a lot of thoughts going through the Gymnast\u2019s mind as she approaches the floor and then, as she starts her routine, everything goes quiet. The author realizes that the Gymnast has no thoughts going through her mind. Absolute silence. He turns to Socrates and Socrates says this state of \u2018No thought\u2019 is what humans crave for, this absolute state of purpose, when one is totally in sync with ones actions, this feeling of being totally in the present.<\/p>\n
I did not think much of this then, years have gone by and I have travelled a bit, seen many things since then. There have been many similar episodes that I have come across, in my own life and many other people\u2019s experiences. I particularly remember an incident when I scored a goal in my 2nd year B.Sc. I remember receiving a pass from the midfielder and then everything is a blur after that. The next thing I remember is the ball beating the out stretched hands of the goal keeper and into the goal.<\/p>\n
Later I tried to go over the experience and to this day when I replay the incident in my mind I have the same feeling that I had that day, the feeling that when I received the ball I knew with certainty that I was going to score. I don\u2019t remember a thought that said \u2018Aha, now is a chance to score a goal\u2019 or \u2018I can beat the defender and the goalee\u2019. I had no thought in my mind for those few seconds from the time I received the ball to the time I saw it going into the goal.<\/p>\n
I have been fortunate enough to experience some of the greatest maestro\u2019s in music, Pt. Jasraj, Pt. Bhimsen Joshi, Ustad Alla Rakha, Ustad Bismilla Khan, Ustad Zhakhir Husain etc… Many of these performances have transported me to a different plane and I am sure the performer himself is in a different plane. There is almost no connectivity with the world. As if we are in a plane where the matters of the world seem petty and of no consequence.<\/p>\n
Tendulkar\u2019s \u2018Zone\u2019, Socrates\u2019 \u2018No Thought\u2019, and the musician\u2019s \u2018Trance\u2019. Aren\u2019t these the same things? Isn\u2019t this the goal of Meditation? This feeling of being totally in the present. The Now.<\/p>\n
I remember Swami telling us on many occasions. \u2018Don\u2019t follow me, for I may not lead you\u2019, \u2018Don\u2019t go ahead of me, for I may not follow you\u2019, \u2018Walk with me\u2019. Didn\u2019t he mean, stay in the present moment?<\/p>\n
Another thing that comes to my mind is something Gautam said to me after he had attended an \u2018Art of Living\u2019 course in which the guru had said that we spend most of our time either thinking about the past or the future, not of the present. (On further contemplation, I realized it was so true).<\/p>\n
Why does a batsman want to go out there again and again and score? Musicians are almost permanently in the zone, a raag or a taan is always just waiting to slip out.<\/p>\n
I want to re-live the \u2018Goal\u2019 and similar moments of my life repeatedly. I think this is so that we can attain the state of \u2018No thought\u2019, the feeling of being in the present. This state where you are in sync with your actions (body), isn\u2019t this the call that Krishna makes to Arjuna in the Bhagwath Geeta? To act. \u2018Karm karo, Parth\u2019. Its only through action that we can attain this state. Isn\u2019t this the goal of martial arts? The cycle of life urges us to Act; we can only Act.<\/p>\n
I believe these are all the same. The quest to attain the state of Nowness.<\/p>\n
Finally, I cannot end without saying this. After Saturday\u2019s match it sure looks like that the only way India is going to win the world cup is if Sachin stays in \u2018The Zone\u2019 for the full fifty overs, for all the matches.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I watched Tendulkar score 98 against Pakistan in the 2003 world cup match at Centurion. It was an amazing knock; many people (South Africans) who I spoke to on the following working day were equally amazed. A lot was written about that innings. When Tendulkar was asked, how he managed to bat so superbly, he […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-49","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-interpretations","category-thoughts"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.ajayamrite.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.ajayamrite.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.ajayamrite.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.ajayamrite.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.ajayamrite.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.ajayamrite.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":56,"href":"https:\/\/blog.ajayamrite.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49\/revisions\/56"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.ajayamrite.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.ajayamrite.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.ajayamrite.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}