Page 31 - NAMAH-Jan-2025

Namah Transforming the Spirit of Competition

the whole ideal and emphasis was totally
different from what we know as competition
today. Only the spirit of the Olympics comes
close to what was embodied here. Even that
is getting soured by money, cheating and
doping. However, it should be noted, the
ashram and school competitions continue
with the same aspiration and in the same
vein even today.
fact is, the time for competition, as we know
it, is limited; it won’t be around forever.
Centuries may pass before it leaves our
atmosphere, but ultimately, the condition
is not in sync with the evolutionary plan.
Furthermore, at the present time, it often
brings calamitous disruption. We have to
look at the whole picture, something that
we are not accustomed to doing. We see
but fragments, only what touches our daily
existence. There is no urgency in anything
else. Are we prepared to sustain a blinkered
existence and maintain the same habitual The emphasis here is all about surpassing
patterns regardless of the Truth? Are we yourself rather than others. Our own capacities
prepared to prolong its misery? Most people must be exceeded and offered. We must
are. Only a slender minority will say, ‘No’. reach up to their very summit. In a sense,
It is too much of an ask. Also, very few will we are only competing with ourselves. The
stop to enquire into what the force is doing to victory is over our nature not over any other
themselves and the world around. Everyone competitors. It is not the ego that wins the races
is wrapped up in their own narrow self- but the transcendent spirit. We do this to uplift
interest. However, it is not just a matter for our physical consciousness to the Divine. We
the future. It is very much in our midst. It is a do our very best and offer the results not to
force for disharmony and is secretly steering the ego, but to the Divine. Everything is but
society to the abyss. an offering to Her. This surely is the only
competition that is worth sustaining.
Collaborative Competition
One day, indeed, the future species will not
Competition needs to be aligned with depend on competition. The urge is a part of
harmony. This is a profound wish of the our predatory past but man’s warped mentality
Mother. It is all about self-transcendence, has given this condition a more savage twist.
not ‘coming first’. Sports competitions were In society today, it has become a source of
regularly held at the ashram school when incredible suffering. It is as if the Asura is
she was with us in her material form. But exploiting the force in an attempt to drive

31