HOW
DID INDIA MISS THE CHANCE TO PIONEER OLYMPICS AS AYODHYA-ICS DEDICATED RAMA AND
SUGRIVA?
[Compilation
for a discourse at Sri Ganesha Temple, Nasahhville by N.R.Srinivasan, August
2021]
India, despite its space program and burgeoning population of billionaires,
is still a very poor nation in terms of per capita income, and sport has never
been a priority for the government. The
Indian Olympic Association admits the country has not always done enough to
support its athletes, but says there is more to India's sorry performance than
just a shortage of cash or organization.
Its head, Narayana Ramachandran, says sport is rarely at the top of anyone's agenda - and that includes athletes and their families. Sport has always taken a back seat vis a vis education. Most Indian families would prefer their children became dentists or accountants than Olympians Families tend to give their children more education "The view is concentrate on material education, rather than sport. The basic feeling is that sport doesn't bring the money that is required to run a family. It has also neglected Vidya (spiritual education) that builds in us Yogic power, Manasa (inward concentration), Pranayama (breath control), Ojasa (Prowess) to hit the target etc.
Rama was the most celebrated archer and Sugriva was known for his Dvandayuddaha, Wrestling. Also the word Ayodhics would have been more appropriate than Olympics. Ayodhaya means "not to be fought" or, more idiomatically in English, "invincible". So, Olympics is to compete to excel.
"India
is the birthplace of #pranayama #hatayoga & meditation. Other countries
use it to better their athletes' performances. But not India. It would produce
super sportsmen and women and India would get the place it deserves in world
sports" writes Francois Gautier, commenting on 47th position of India in
Olympic performance. Shockingly, I have not come across any Hindu American who
has taken seriously this global participation following their clan in India,
but for the Talented Seven Indians in Tokyo Olympics 2020 and the brave girls
in hockey though missed the target.
Deepika
Kumari ranked eighth in the archery reminiscent of ancient Dhanurvidya taught
in Gurukulas. World No. 1 Deepika failed to notch
a single perfect 10 from eight arrows while Olympic debutant Jadhav misfired a
six in the crucial fourth set after drilling in three perfect 10s at the
Yumenoshima Park. That calls for focus by all Hindu
Americans on Purification getting rid of
all negative thoughts and focus on the goal, Inward concentration, meditation,
prowess to win the medal, breath control and
Yoga guidance, to join the main stream that are also focused on Yoga
science as booster.
These
are the essentials that are stressed upon and symbolized in forthcoming
religious events in this month--Upakarma, Gayatri Japa and Krishna Jayanti. We
are focused on Prayaschitta (expiation) and Purification (kamokarsheet
manyurakarsheet yajna)on Upakarma day, Pranayama and Japa on Gayatri Japa Day while seeking guidance in Yoga from Yoga Jagadguru
Lord Krishna to develop prowess to win the medal, Ojas about which we will discuss soon as
essentials of Vidya including Avidya, we
discussed recently for Whole Education needed in life.
The ancient
Olympics were held every four years between August 6 and September 19 during a
religious festival honoring Zeus. The Games were named for their location at
Olympia, a sacred site located near the western coast of the Peloponnese
peninsula in southern Greece. Their influence was so great that ancient
historians began to measure time by the four-year increments in between Olympic
Games, which were well-known as Olympiads. It is strange that Olympics was
conceptualized by Greece, divine inspired and perhaps by ancient Vedic couture
that focused on Dhanurvidya (archery), Chakrayudha (Discuss throw), Trisula
spear war (javelin throw), Dvandayuddha (wrestling, boxing) and others, but not
India. Most of these Martial Arts were taught in Gurukulas by Acharyas that
figure in modern Olympic sports. According to legend, Kalaripayattu was
created by Parasurama, who was the sixth avatar of the Hindu deity Vishnu. Many
people believe that Kalaripayattu influenced the well-known Shaolin Kung Fu. Malla-yuddha is an ancient form of wrestling that originated in South
Asia and dates back to at least 3000 BCE through the folktale of a legendary Malay hero who
practiced malla-yuddha. The earliest written records of malla-yuddha is in the
Mahabharata, an ancient Indian epic. By
the time boxing was introduced to the Olympics in 688 BCE, it was a well -developed
and consistently popular sport in Ancient Greece. Today,
boxing still remains as a popular spectator sport and is an essential part of modern Mixed Martial Arts (MMA)
So, I
was also reminded of our Puranas, looking at the achievement of the Talented
Seven Awardees from India! It is reasonable to assume Javelin sport is
developed from the ancient martial-art of spear-throwing in war-fare that was
employed by Yudhishthira and Sahadeva. Boxing and Wrestling again
are training needed as martial arts for dvanda-yuddha in which we have the
celebrated heroes Vali, Sugriva, Bheema, Krishna and others!
Shalya
was killed by Yudhisthira in spear war. After death of
Karna, Shalya was made Chief Commander of Kaurava army. Shalya had boon of
shiva that, in war, whenever his opponent get angry, his power will be
decreased and shalya's power will be increased. So, a calm person or person who
doesn't get angry and be stable in war can kill him. Yudhisthira was
the only warrior in Pandava's army who was capable to fight stable without
getting angry. His name Yudhi-sthira also indicates that. This temperament
is needed in javelin throw inspired by spear war. That goes well with Francois
Gautier’s remarks on Indians’ Olympic Performance. Is it coincidental or
natural that our Olympic champions focused on svachaaturyate
(svadharme) niratah-- engaged in ancient martial arts of India that
dates back to Mahabharata Times.
A javelin is
a light spear designed
primarily to be thrown, historically as a ranged weapon,
but today predominantly for sport. The javelin is almost always thrown by hand,
unlike the sling, bow,
and crossbow,
which launch projectiles with the aid of a hand-held mechanism. However,
devices do exist to assist the javelin thrower in achieving greater distance,
generally called throwers. The word javelin
comes from Middle English and
it derives from Old French javelin, a diminutive
of javelot, which meant spear. The word javelot probably
originated from one of the Celtic languages.
The archery competitions at the Tokyo 2020
Olympic Games take
place in Yumenoshima Park on 23-31 July 2021. There are five medal events for
recurve archers: men’s and women’s individual, men’s and women’s team and,
making its Olympic debut, the mixed team. It is the highest number of medals in
the sport since its return to the program in 1972. These Games were originally
scheduled to take place in 2020 but delayed one year due to the COVID-19
pandemic.
Some obscure sports included in the Olympics are: Race walking,
synchronized swimming and the modern pentathlon which consists of four different
competitions, comprising five very different disciplines. If these sports can
find a place, then yoga, given its popularity worldwide, surely can.
Of the criteria that the International Olympic
Committee (IOC) uses to measure prospective sports, yoga appears to have a
strong case. Yoga has a long history. It has genuine global appeal.
Logistically, yoga would also be an easy fit for the games; it could be
practiced just as gymnastics is, and would be equally appealing.
Some of the leading sportspersons...Tennis Number one Novak Djokovic has attributed his success to practice of yoga, having vegan eating habits and following Hindu way of life. In 2019 US Open, when the entire stadium of 22,000 people including commentators were loudly cheering a veteran grandslam winner, Serena Williams, Gainst a young teenager Bianca, who won in straight sets. When asked how she could maintain her poise in such a hostile ambience, Bianca said her meditation helped. We could see her putting her towel covering her head during intervals. In fact even after missing a shot, she would compose herself for a second or two in the court itself.
The Indian Olympic
Committee has already recognized yoga as a sport. India hosts a yearly National
Yoga Championship, which includes six categories: Yoga asana, artistic yoga,
artistic pair yoga, rhythmic yoga, free flow yoga dance and a professional yoga
asana competition. There is also a little known International Yoga Federation
that holds a world championship title, unfortunately though, Indian yogis have
not yet figured as champions here. Whether it is a lack of awareness or lack of
talent is unclear.
Prime Minister of India, Modi, has established a World Yoga Day and has also been initiator of the largest yoga class in history held on the 1st International day of yoga on June 21st 2015. Perhaps now is it time to target the Olympic Gold.
DOES YOGA HELP AN ATHELETE AN
OLYMPIAN
We all know that yoga, much like the
martial arts, is part of an ancient and deep tradition. In their quest for
greater self-knowledge, the yogis realized our physical state deeply influences
both our mood and mental capacity.
They found that by practicing the
physical postures of yoga, they could become more peaceful and in turn achieve
greater focus. They also found by returning the body to its natural state that
they could dramatically improve physical capacity, part of why many of today’s
top athletes consider it a staple in their training.
Of course, if you’ve looked at a few
yoga videos or articles, you might be skeptical about the benefits; obviously,
even the most intense yoga routine doesn’t compare with something like interval
training or deadlifts.
This is true and part of why,
trainers still include things like sandbag training, hill sprints, and
sledgehammer work in their routine.
The point is not that yoga can
replace conventional (or unconventional) training, but rather how it can
enhance it. By improving not only flexibility but also posture, body mechanics,
and awareness, yoga can make every form of training you do more effective and
efficient.
The
Institute of Yoga Sports Science is supporting Olympic athletes through the YSS
Olympic and Paralympic Sponsorship Program:
“There are of course many factors involved in what makes an
athlete an Olympian, but those athletes that have applied sports-specific yoga
regularly into their training will have the advantage of drawing on resources
that their opponents may not have.
Here are 5 examples of the less obvious ways in which
sports-specific yoga gives athletes the advantage:
1. Breathing Power
How we breathe has a direct relationship to how we perform and yet
performance breathing is generally overlooked within athletic training. Each
sport has different respiratory requirements. When sports-specific breathing
techniques are applied they help the athlete experience and release a whole new
performance potential.
Here are a few examples of how the power of breathing gives
athletes the advantage, helping them to:
- Generate more power and force
- Perform more efficiently
- Experience a greater sense of well-being
- Manage performance nerves.
2. Less Strain. More Gain
In the pursuit of performance excellence, most athletes over-train
and push themselves too far. This is often the stage where injury can occur.
One of the successful approaches we use is to apply a minimal sports-specific
yoga sequence to correspond with the athlete’s periodical training.
By helping athletes move at a different pace and tempo to their
regular training they are able to learn to work with their body rather than
against it. With more control and integrated breathing, athletes experience
moving with less effort. This helps them explore different movement patterns,
which are designed to enhance the movements in their sport.
By working with less strain they gain greater capacity within the
body’s systems, which transfers to greater performance gains in their sport.
3. Where Are You In Space?
The ability to feel the body move through space is a simple
definition of proprioceptive awareness. For an athlete, developing this sensory
awareness can make the difference between winning and losing.
Each sport has specific demands on the senses, whether it is
through a rapid change in body orientation in sports such as diving, or in
table tennis that requires fast hand-eye coordination.
The somatosensory system is connected to deeper neurons within the
central nervous system and provides feedback from the skin, joints and muscles
to inform the nervous system of the body parts being unified in movement.
Other essential factors for athletes to developing this system are
in relation to spatial dimensions, which include size, shape and weight;
surface compliance, meaning hard or soft; and motion, being either active,
passive or related to velocity and direction.
There are other properties, but for now consider the sports that
have these sensory properties within their sporting requirements and ask
yourself, how do you train your senses?
Another important factor to developing proprioceptive awareness is
for athletes to be aware of their team and where they are in relation to them
on the pitch or on the track. Sports like 4 x 100 meters relay need to have a
high level of proprioceptive awareness to perform effectively.
Athletes that include sports-specific yoga into their training
will benefit through learning how to reposition the body in unfamiliar ways,
which retrains the neural pathways. Experiencing a different movement
vocabulary that challenges their spatial sense helps them to develop greater
sensory awareness giving them the performance advantage.
4. Hidden Depths
For an athlete, the most obvious advantage of practicing yoga is
that it includes flexibility and mobility components. However, other advantages
for athletes in practicing yoga that is sports-specific, is that they can
incorporate muscle actions either within poses or the transitions between poses
that include specific concentric, eccentric and isometric movements.
Through sport-specific muscle sequencing, the athlete learns to
activate the deeper postural slow-twitch muscles closest to the skeleton and
experience relief from the more dominant fast-twitch power muscles. Tension is
released and more performance potential gained.
5. A Sleep Strategy
At this late stage in the run up to the Games athletes will have
tapered the intensity of their training. An important addition and a big
advantage to athletes is to include restorative training, which focuses on
relaxation techniques.
As their opportunity to compete gets closer, the realization that
the 4 years of intense training, challenges and sacrifices made can sometimes
create anxiety rather than elation. This can cause athletes to lose sleep and a
loss of sleep means a loss in performance potential.
The addition of a sports-specific relaxation technique, which
includes a positive affirmation combined with breathing, can be an invaluable
tool for the athlete to use during the night.
Those athletes that have learnt to relax and switch off will be
more refreshed and ready to perform to their highest level.
A regular yoga practice can give the
participant the following and more: Increased
Power, Better Endurance: Better Balance/Proprioception, Better Injury
Prevention and Enhanced Recovery.
Finally (and perhaps most important
of all), regular practice dramatically enhances our clarity and focus.”
Why does this matter? As Ultraman world-champion, Rich Roll states,
“When you look at the highest level of sport, all athletes are incredibly
talented and train extremely hard.
So what distinguishes the Olympic
champion from the ‘also-ran?’ The mind.” Practiced regularly, yoga can give you
the awareness and mindfulness you need to take both your training and your
performance to the next level.
Of course, the list goes on and on.
In addition to the above, yoga has been clinically proven to improve immune function,
balance hormonal balance and improve stress management, all extremely
beneficial to athletes.
Put together; you can see why so many
professionals have come to consider yoga every bit as indispensable to their
training as strength or conditioning.
"Yoga is something we have had with the team for a few years
now," U.S. coach Mark Grim Mette has said, "but
Shiva and his wife know yoga well so they have been facilitating those sessions"
The below Olympians take yoga practice to the next -- and, very
often, gorgeous -- level, proving that there is so much more
to Olympic gold than the judges' score or the time on a clock.
The Handstand Guru: Jamie Anderson: The 23-year-old snowboarder told the Today show that she always
practices yoga. "My favorite poses are variations on the handstand and the
scorpion," she said. "You have to use your whole body, it's physically
and mentally challenging. You have to find your balance in this uncomfortable
position, so when you do it, you feel like you're really
overcoming an obstacle.
The Future Instructor: Heather McPhie--The freestyle mogul skier says she most values the mental benefits
of yoga. "Not only is it helpful in keeping my body feeling good,"
she's said, "it is also a really good way for me to connect, slow down
and get back to being present." If she wasn't an athlete, she told Lululemon, she'd want to give back as a yoga instructor.
The Blissologist Go-Getter: Chandra Crawford: The Canadian
cross-country skier admires Eoin Finn of
Blissology Yoga, where practitioners deepen their awareness of inner joy in
order to achieve personal goals. On winning gold for the first time, Crawford
said, "I was overwhelmed. But that presence of mind to get to that point
came from my yoga-like focus on every moment, every stride, making it my best. I was totally immersed in the
process. It really speaks to taking your practice into every aspect of
life."
How could we have overlooked such a HUGE FEAT by Deendra Jhajjaia?
Javelin thrower Devendra Jhajaria epitomizes an invincible spirit. The now 40-year-old track athlete has always perceived the glass half full, bringing home one laurel after the other despite unimaginable challenges.
Jhajharia is the only Indian to have ever won two gold medals at any Olympic or Paralympic games – one at the 2004 Athens Paralympics and another at the 2016 Rio Paralympics. He has held a world record (62.15m in javelin throw) and is the first para-athlete to be given the prestigious Padma Shri. In 2004, he was also awarded the Arjuna Award for his contribution to the field of sports in the country.
Farewell to Tokyo Olympics 2020
As we close Olympics with
sacred seven medals for the first time,
let us thank the Almighty for a brighter and better future!
Thanks to Thee we ended in
sacred seven
Lord, you watched over our
athletes during Olympics!
Gave them courage and
confidence, to do their best;
Filled them with a spirit of
fair play:
Made them gracious in winning;
Made them brave and proud in
their attempts.
Gave them the joy of Your
Kingdom,
Where everyone’s gifts are
honored and celebrated.
Keep them safe and strong under
your protective care.
We ask this chanting raising
our voice
To Vidhartara, who creates and
sustains
All creation and watches their actions
While we focus on Yoga
seeking Manasabala Tejobala Ojobala!
Om Sahanaavavatu sahanau bhunaktu
sahaveeryam karavaavahai
tejasvinaavadheetamastu
maa vidvishaavahai
Om Shanthih Shanti Shantih
--NRS
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