Sachin Tendulkar is not God

Sachin Tendulkar is not God. Sachin is a very special person, one that had a talent and was fortunate enough to stumble upon it early in life. Privileged to be one of the extremely few individuals who earn money from the very hobby that gives them joy and happiness, he was also blessed with a supportive family, and a brother who nurtured and supported his talent encouraging him to make it his profession. He was favoured by providence and got guidance from a guru who cared enough about his pupils to instil in them a sense of professionalism, integrity, and duty that is rarely seen these days. He was also lucky to have met and married, early in his career, a lady who has since created a stable and sustaining home front that he can return to from time to time, either joyously or in turmoil.

No, Sachin Tendulkar is not God. Sachin just built on what destiny bestowed him to become a hugely successful individual. Successful people work hard, and they work hardest on themselves: they do not bank on their talent, but on sheer hard work. Successful people don’t criticise others or get into backbiting for sensationalism: they stay focussed on their own goals. Successful people always give more than is expected of them and do not complain. Successful people make others feel important by staying humble: they listen well and give respect in several ways. Successful people stay young and eager by being excited about the smallest aspect of their chosen work. Successful people practise self-improvement by learning everything they can and always striving for perfection. Successful people are confident, optimistic and persistent: they never give up even in adverse situations. Successful people pour their heart into their work, and always give their best enjoying the journey without giving a thought to the end result. And successful people often fail, because failure cannot be avoided when you win so much.

No, Sachin Tendulkar is not God and he never asked to be made one. But his fans, they loved him, and called him a genius, a phenomenon, a master, a prodigy, the pride of India, a gentleman, a natural force, a real hero, a superhero, a warrior, a living legend. Some even say that he binds the very diverse India like nothing but the National flag and Anthem do! As the adjectives ran out, an adoring nation made him God and when even that was not enough, he became religion itself!! Gods do not rest in peace, and like it or not, Sachin had to behave like the God they made him. They test him in every match, every innings he plays, and pronounce judgement every time. Sometimes they threaten to take away the crown they gave him, and sometimes they come back with garlands and offerings. They decide the milestones and then decide when he should reach them, they pray for him and they torment him, they demand from him and they bestow on him, they accuse him of weaknesses that he never denied and they decorate him with virtues he never declared. They burden him with everything they desire and expect, and they say he is God so he cannot complain.

But Sachin Tendulkar is really not God. He is not devoid of human emotions like anxiety, sadness, anger, excitement, joy, happiness; nor is he above materialism and desire. He has never claimed to be. Why make him a God? Is it somehow easier to accept that reaching such heights in a chosen field is not for mere mortals? Is it easier to accept that only the chosen few are capable of such astounding success? God is a power beyond description, the absolute truth, the ultimate source of all energies. All religions show us several paths for the faithful to experience this supreme power. Our Bhagwad Gita has shown one such path and that is the path of Karma or labour. A Karma Yogi is one who does his destined work, however big or small, however important or insignificant, however pleasant or unpleasant, however lucrative or fruitless, with single minded dedication and without any expectation of reward or disappointment. Lord Krishna says that such a Karma Yogi will be walking on one of the paths leading to the supreme power.

Sachin Tendulkar is not God. He is in my opinion a modern day Karma Yogi.

This entry was posted in Uncategorized. Bookmark the permalink.
RSS || Home Page || Author Profile

8 Responses to Sachin Tendulkar is not God

  1. Kunal Vijayakar says:

    Well said, well written and well meant! If you keep writing with this caliber, I will indeed have to say, “Harshada is God”.

  2. aliCIA Fernandes says:

    Awesome work Dr Harshada..looking at a marvellous soul from a complete different angle..sounds like a reflection of your life as well or else it would be difficult to put it down so beautifully as you have….well thought, said and written..

  3. Jyoti Sharma says:

    Very well written and thought provoking article. Will share it with my friends and relatives who start critisizing established players everytime they are not able to perform well or do not win a match. I play only badminton, am not a cricket fan but still understand that inspite of one’s best performance, one may not win everytime. Public and players both need sportsmanship spirit to accept defeat also graciously, then only they can enjoy a sport for the life time and motivate more people to become sportspersons and adopt it as a career.

  4. A very well articulated article. Some of my ad-hoc views….
    Today, to scores of perople, being a “professional’ is simply obtaining a qualification, just another way to get ahead in life, getting a fancy job and more money.
    Sachin on the other hand, is true Professional. One who believes in his abilities, learns from his sucsesses and failures, never under estimates his opponents, respects the rules, has integrity, humility and wears his country’s flag on his heart.
    It is so true that successful people work harder than most. They are disciplined and focused. Unfortunately what most in the world do not see or know, is the sweat, fears, tears and countless failures ,heartaches and sacrafices that have gone into achieving this success.
    It saddens me when people who have never been in his shoes or endured what he has gone through in his carreer call for his retirement.
    To me he is truly a shining example of how a man should live his life.
    I wish him only success.
    Look forward to more :-)

  5. Sumant Khanolkar says:

    Sachin R. Tendulkar is an extremely talented and gifted player who has put his heart and soul to consistently improve his game. He has toiled for what he has achieved today. When other players were partying, he was investing his time in studying the game and thinking of tactics. Often, one has got the impression that he was playing for himself more than for his team. Unlike Brian Lara, who has single-handedly won five tests for his country, to the best of my knowledge, Sachin has not achieved such a feat even once, though he has laid foundation with big totals in many matches.

    Cricket is played by a handful of nations; if Europe and USA were also to play cricket, situation would have been different for India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka and their players I totally agree that Sachin is not a God but is an extremely focused player. We Indians are in the business of creating heros. Sachin certainly has an edge over legends like Sunil Gavaskar and Brian Lara because he started playing at a very early age, is babyish and exudes child-like endearing qualities. Undoubtedly he is a thorough and extraordinary gentleman but to call him ‘ God of cricket’ is absolutely uncalled for.

  6. Prashant Nemlekar says:

    Yes Sachin is not a god. But when god created Humans he wanted them to conduct themselves like Sachin. It is for all of us to be as dedicated to the work we are here send to do and at the same time be humble. Sachin is a lesson to all of us especially celebrities. I am sure Sachin is a person very very close to God.

  7. Priyanka Bali says:

    Awesomely written! What thoughts!! I’m glad to read a perception like this. Would love to meet the writer ..atleast know him/her better. Keep writing. Don’t let this magic go away. :)

  8. Pseckar says:

    to do what you said and achieve that in Indian society which is extremely unforgiving of its heroes, you have to be superhuman, in other words, you have to be GOD!

Leave a Reply to Prashant Nemlekar Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*


*

You may use these HTML tags and attributes:
<a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>

  • Dr Harshada Rajadhyaksha

    In Sanskrit, the word “Prakruti” means “Nature”: the primal motive force of the Universe; Ayurveda recognized that no two humans are alike, and called this basic, very unique, individual constitution, “Prakruti”.

    At Prakruti Sports Science and Physiotherapy Clinic, we provide the environment, expertise, and support required to assist natural healing.

    True healing begins from within the self: Doctors and Healers can only assist along the process. After 22 years, we continue to remain humble in our approach to diagnosis and treatment, our focus remains on the complete wellbeing of our patients, and we continue to promote the prevention of lifestyle-related diseases in the community.

    Our patients’ trust and faith in us, and our honest concern for their wellbeing has been the foundation of our success.