It was Thursday. I didn’t have a clue what I could write about for this Monday. I then saw a clip of fans cheering wildly when their team scored and won a World Cup game. They then broke out in song and danced wildly. They seemed to be so euphoric, but were they?
I then naturally looked at the phenomenon through the eyes of śāstra, and that’s this week’s Greetings. I naturally didn’t glean much support for this world obsession from the śāstra, but let me start with the opposite, something I saw that was positive.
Community
The World Cup creates a strong sense of community around one’s team. Anything that helps one transcend the limited or self-centered concept of “I,” such as a sense of community, gives one a temporary relief from the source of all pain, the false ego. I saw that especially in the shared bliss the fans were experiencing when cheering in victory. Of course, you could look at that from many perspectives that would dispel the idea of such a sense of joy as real happiness, and I will. But at the least there is something uplifting about putting something higher than oneself, whether it is family, community or nation.
Ego
The concept of the body as the self is ultimately a mental conception. One can therefore expand one’s concept of the self to one’s family, community or nation. Therefore, a sports community based on enjoying one’s team’s victory is not about putting something higher than oneself, it is rather trying to serve one’s ego by putting oneself, now extended, above others. Rooting for a sports team is therefore material consciousness.
Bhakti is above material designation
Intensely rooting for the team from one’s birthplace strongly fortifies our material designation in terms of the country we have been born in. Bhakti, however, is defined as transcending, not fortifying, such material designations and developing instead one’s identity as the servant of God[1]. The Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam therefore criticizes embracing such bodily destinations, going so far as describing one who assumes the body as the self and the land of birth as worshipable as no better than an ass.[2]
Duality
Suffering is when one’s attachments are frustrated. Being a fan of sports is therefore mostly suffering because of the many teams that vie for a championship, only one wins. The rest suffers. But even the joy of winning, like any material pleasure, is filled with duality, because the more you become attached to something, the more you suffer when you lose it. And eventually, like any championship team, you will soon inevitably join the ranks of the defeated.
Exemplars
Voltaire said that which one appreciates in others gradually belongs to one. Therefore, a society advances by promoting the right exemplars for its citizens to admire. How unfortunate when those exemplars become the heroes of sport, who are rarely good role models, rather than spiritual luminaries, who inspire one to elevate one’s consciousness.
Impedes spontaneous devotion
Spontaneous devotion is called rāgānuga-bhakti. Rāga literally translates to “color,” or “hue.” Rāga-bhakti is that that spiritual practice which colors the mind with deep devotion. A passion for sports powerfully colors the heart with attachment to one’s team, instead of God. It’s an impediment to devotion.
Conclusion through the eyes of the śāstra
World Cup fever has absolutely no value for the serious practitioners of bhakti.[3]
[1] Caitanya-caritāmṛta Madhya-līlā 19.170
[2] Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.84.13
[3] I played Division I sports in university. I therefore personally recognize the value of sports for young people in channeling their passions into something relatively healthy while learning teamwork, sacrifice, and discipline. I am commenting here on its value for serious practitioners of bhakti.