SPORT IS MY RELIGION, WHAT'S YOURS?

What is religion?
According to Wikipedia 'A religion is an organized approach to human spirituality which usually encompasses a set of narratives, symbols, beliefs and practices, often with a supernatural or transcendent quality, that give meaning to the practitioner's experiences of life through reference to a higher power or truth.'

Though there are already many religions in this world I find them deviating to an extreme extent from the purpose they have been created for.Religion has been polluted by many a men during their evolution through the centuries.For certain people who crave for power the most attractive and easy option was becoming a religious head and influencing the lives of innocent people.Many ideas which are against the purpose of religion like Religious superstitions,hatred for other religions have since polluted 'religion'.

In this grave situation if one is looking for a true way to approach the human spirituality , the only thing that springs to my mind is 'sport'. Any body who had played any sport in their life, even for a day, would definitely agree with me. A bare footed, ten year old kid playing football in the street corner with his friends has already experienced the greatest feeling he could ever experience, when he scored the goal and was embraced by all his team mates. He was not thinking what cast or creed his team mates were of. He was not thinking of the money he would earn in future when he becomes a star. He was not thinking about anything except the pure joy of life, derived from his own sweat, hard work and enthusiasm. (of course, later when the kid grew up, he forgot the great feeling. His parents and the society around him say he needs to earn money in order to be called success in life. His religion is so complicated that he never understood it or got answers from it!)

Someone who never played any sport in his life might ask me, what does sport teach you? sport teaches you everything you need to lead your life. discipline, hard work, patience, simplicity, team spirit and never say die attitude. If one does not have discipline, hard work and patience, he could never excel in sports or life. you need to approch both life and sport in a simple and straight forward way. dont think about past or the future. Think of what you need to do right now and do what ever needs to be done right now. In a team there are various members with various qualities. The team does well only when everybody plays together. No matter how brilliant one team member is, if he does not play with the team he would never do well.In a team all its members are equal.Every one is as important as the other. Its the same case with the society. All the members of the society are as important as you. The society will thrive only when it has team spirit. Sport teaches you to never give up. Winning or loosing does not matter. you would always get another chance if you keep fighting. A sportsman never looses his heart when he looses. He becomes more determined and works harder in order to succeed next time, no matter how many times he looses. At the same time when he wins once, he never becomes complacent, because he could loose the next time! Its the same with life. No matter how many times you win or loose in life, never give up. keep fighting.

Sport teaches you the ultimate truth of life. 'Don't give up. Winning or loosing does not matter and it is only the journey that matters'. Practicing this religion is not tough at all. You need to go the play ground instead of a temple or a mosque or a church. you don't read someone's teachings and scriptures, who you dont even know. you don't need to do fasting in order to keep your body healthy.

If I were to become the Prime Minister of India(where i have power to pass laws with out needing the consent of either of the parliament houses :P), the first thing I would do is pass a law stating 'All of the official records of The citizens of India will contain only 'Sport' in religion column. This is in order to solve all the problems created by the conventional religion and caste system. This would solve major problems like reservation,communal disharmony etc,. All the educational institutions would have SPORT as a subject where students will study the philosophies taught by sport, all the great stories of human sporting history etc., Finally, stadia will be built all over the country till their number is more than number of temples, mosques, churches, gurudwaras put together. All the panchayats, mandals, town municipalities, districts, city corporations will have more stadia than the conventional religious places of worship put together.'

If Rahul Gandhi reads my post, I am sure he would be inspired. I don't expect him to offer me the post of PM, but he would definitely make me the sports minister(at least human resources minster) in his cabinet :P. I don't expect the above statement to become true in the near future, so i urge you all to make 'sport' your religion and teach your children about the greatest religion of all.