The status of divinity is not earned by narratives…
I remember in 1990s, India lost planes full of Gold to loans and interest. The films were extremely boring. Music was often stolen. Political morale was at all time low. Two Indian prime ministers were assassinated.
The whole of India was depressed. It seems that the spirit of India was giving up on India. But amidst this dark and sad depressing phase stood out a young boy. He was fearless, ready to fight and willing to take on the best in the business.
When the car negotiates a U turn, it needs the road’s grip the most. India needed someone reliable, someone who wouldn’t give up despite all odds.
This young boy took the onus. He took blows, went through pains, gulped the insult of failure but did not stop. Slowly India started to invest its hope in this boy.
People would watch him play, praying for his success like he was a son or friend or brother. Girls would express their crush on him and the boys behind those girls would feel the urge to perform like him.
This boy was no longer a talent to watch. He was something more. Every home in India felt he was like a family member, many still feel the same. It is surreal, almost silly but still true. It is normal in India. Indians easily talk about Buddha or Rama or Krishna or Jesus or Muhammad or any other person as if they come for dinner every night. We Indians respect but we love more. So we kind of have a right over people we admire. Western minds would not understand this.
This boy had become the polar star for every lost ship in the dark ocean. While he was there, it felt like India was never in trouble. He was not just a national icon; he was a national treasure.
The whole bunch of celebrities in India were corrupt, either financially corrupt or morally corrupt. Politics was full of hypocrisy and corruption. Even the boy’s teammates were named in corruption and match fixing. But this boy was sublime, he was beyond this. His integrity was beyond question. His passion was unparalleled and he was prepared to work like crazy and strive for success.
When the heavens were collapsing with other stars in India, this boy was unfazed. He was strong, striving to succeed, not prepared to give up and absolutely focused. In front of him, others seemed like fillers. They simply vanished when this guy rose, just like twinkling stars cease to be visible even before the rise of the Sun.
People would talk about him with passion. Name him ‘sachya’ or ‘tendlya’ like he was a childhood friend. And this boy took it all. He was not going into the rhetoric of what people call him. He saw that millions pray for his success. He was determined to strive for the prayers of unknown millions. He treasured their love, their prayers. In fact, I now feel that he literally feasted on the love he received. It now seems that he did not truly ask for an iconic status or great respect. But he did not miss any opportunity to hold hands of people who went beyond normalcy to show their love for this boy.
In Ramayana, there is a story two monkeys who were with Rama. These monkeys, in their childhood were very naughty and had the habit of disturbing a sage. The sage would submerge into water and mediate without breathing. The monkeys would throw stones into water and though the stones descend slowly in water, they still hit and disturbed the sage. When it kept happening again and again, the sage got angry and cursed the monkey that the stones they throw would not drown in water.
When Rama wanted a path through ocean to bring back his wife, he was praying the ocean for allowing him to go. The ocean told Rama that he need not worry that these two monkeys can throw stones and that shall be a road.
If you note the miracle here, what was a curse for the two monkeys, has turned into a blessing. This defines the stature, the God status of Rama. He who joins Rama, even his curses turn into blessings, even the inabilities turn into gifts. This, I think can be taken as a criteria to recognize the stature of divine human beings. If you can turn the shortfalls into something to cherish, you are in that league.
The tale of this boy named Sachin was similar, though on a much smaller scale. Ordinary sad, depressed people would watch matches on TV hoping that at least here, their team wins.
These people are unknown but millions in number. All they wanted was respite from their painful routinized boring life which was almost becoming a curse for them. These people found hope in Sachin. In 1990s, people would just watch Sachin. They only prayed for him to do well. Limited egos and suffering selfs across India were praying for Sachin and Sachin took their energy and converted it into his strength.
A man frustrated with his boring routine and trapped life, prays that his child would do something special. A spark of genius shall come into being if not through him then through his child. People prayed for the act of genius to come from Sachin.
A child says that if you beat me, my brother shall teach you a lesson. The kid has pain of being beaten. He seeks relief through bravery of his brother. People prayed for the spark of bravery to through Sachin.
This is surreal but even volcano works like that. The lava and gases do not exist only at the point of eruption. It is spread all over. But its expression is seen at a certain point. Sachin was the expression of aspiration of millions of Indians.
When Sachin was young, he went to a city in India for a match to be played next day. Somehow a family managed to sneak through the security and met him. The lady told him that he reminds her of her brother who was away. It was Diwali and sisters would feed sweets to their brothers and pray for the success. She asked Sachin if she could do that to him like he is her brother. Sachin said yes. The lady was very genuine and Sachin was moved by her simplicity. Tears rolling down his cheeks he thanked her.
Next day Sachin smashed a century. After that, every time Sachin went to the city, he visited his new sister and she would feed him and pray. Sachin never failed in a match in that city for over a decade.
This is not just one incidence. People looked at Sachin as one of their own but with an unparalleled genius. People with limited abilities would pray for this genius. He would respond with very humble and very mesmerizing sincerity. The energy of dissatisfaction of ordinary people would trigger something special in Sachin again and again. The genius shall find an expression through performance. Sachin would score hundred and people would say we won the match. The magic of victory came into everyone’s life frequently with Sachin’s magic.
Masses do not have genius. But masses have tremendous energy, unaddressed passion and tremendous sense of life. Genius has his limited energy but enormous potential. When the energy and prayers of masses feed the genius and the genius humbly salutes those prayers, harmony is achieved. This is when the great energy of masses manifests through enormous potential of a genius. There have been other cases of genius too. But Sachin’s simplicity and humility gave a supremely dignified status to the prayer and aspirations of ordinary people. This ensured that flow of energy and prayer for Sachin was never in any shortage.
Humanity has seen some people who are hailed as God or God like. Why do people call them so? Through the grace and divine knowledge of those people, ordinary people around them found something tremendous. A man’s desperate prayer reached Jesus and the water turned into wine, is a gospel. Sachin does not stand that stature. But he surely has sprung miracles in his work. People saw that their aspirations turn into reality with Sachin’s genius. This is why people call him God of cricket. Sachin won hearts but never did he try to impress minds. This is another symbol of something God like in action.
It is also a significant attribute to vibrant nature of civil society in India. While the western society believes that Jesus has come and gone. Life has moved on. They are assuming that the coming of God or son of God was a one time phenomenon. It is like the process of God is not a living process. This entire narrative basically means that God is a part of stagnated process.
The same is true for Islamic society. They believe that Allah gave the divine message through the Prophet Mohammad. This implies that this era is living a humanity without any presence of God. This effectively means that acts which a Muslim would not do in front of Prophet or a christian would not do in front of Jesus, they are free to do it now. The humanity is deprived of God now and hence it is okay if you do things which you do not feel right about.
India, on the other hand understand or seeks to understand the process of working of God. How people with limited abilities miss the divine existence beyond limits and that results in inherent frustration. And this frustration can turn into prayer and strengthen one with greater ability. This would help him unleash his genius. This is like saying that something divine inhabited the human body for a while and worked its magic.
This makes the life right now fully alive. This life is not deprived of God. But in fact it is fully aware that God is not a stagnated phenomenon. It manifests through us, mostly without our knowledge but in some cases with awareness of that individual.
This is what makes India an alive society. No matter what your views are, you will always see that India brings something which defies your logic. This is how your horizons of understanding expand and this is no less than an act of God.
The awareness that existence or arrival of God is possible — through an act, or art, or bravery, or compassion or through mere existence in human body is possible again and again, anytime; this awareness makes India absolutely conspicuous and vibrant amongst all societies.
You may believe in God or you may be an atheist. You might believe that your God was the ultimate, final truth or you may think he can come again in some other form.
But can you understand a civilization attributes God status to a fish? When life was stuck with aquatic plants, the first fish born is also called God. Why? Because it brought up or rather invented a new form of life, new dimension of life. In India God is discovered in every step of evolution. And it says that even the inanimate stone sculpture is still beholding the same existence. Idol worshiping or making a living being an idol is not an idle process for India. It makes India prepared to face God any day in life in any form. This is significantly revolution for the other civilizations.
Coming back to Sachin Tendulkar, today he tweeted that Indians shall take care of India. Those who know nothing should say nothing. We do not need a western activist or singer or a porn star to tell us how to live and what to value. We see life and understand what is hidden truth behind it. Just the fact that the protestors are not ready to discuss farm laws on point to point basis, has told entire India that this protest is fake.
And today, Congress cadres are blackening his photos, condemning him on roads to prove their loyalty to Rahul Gandhi. These people do not know that the same party and its policies had put India in that horrible condition in early 1990s. When the Moon blocks light from the Sun, Solar eclipse takes place. Some might say that the Moon won over the Sun. But when the eclipse is over, you see the Sun again. But the Moon is nowhere visible because it does have not its own light anyway. Sachin’s tweets are read because of his work, his iconic status which he has made himself with his achievements and his genius. He may be right in his views, he may not be. But he is self illuminated one. Rahul Gandhi on the other hand has yet not found his own light. Should Rahul Gandhi find his own light, he and his followers would stop attacking others for petty political benefits.
