Cricket World Cup – England Knocked out, English: A Bhagavad-gita perspective

Disclaimer: This transcript was generated using AI and may contain occasional errors or inaccuracies.

England’s unexpected knockout from the cricket World Cup, a Bhagavad Gita perspective. Before the World Cup started, England was one of the top favorites, was the defending champion, and now England has been consistent only in two things, in their inability to perform and their inability to explain why they are unable to perform. So, even commentators are bewildered.

Various explanations have been offered and considered inadequate. Their players are aging, but then so are Australia’s players. They didn’t have enough one-day experience before the World Cup, but neither did Africa.

And they maybe were overconfident, reckless, but that kind of aggression was the very style that enabled them to dominate and defeat opponents for several years. So, we may wonder what can Bhagavad Gita perspective offer on an event like cricket. Actually, the Bhagavad Gita helps us to make sense of life and cricket or sports in general is a microcosm of life.

The Bhagavad Gita states that when we are not able to explain things in terms of immediate causes, when actions that are expected to produce results don’t produce those results, then we need to look at the bigger picture. The Gita explains that it is not only present actions that lead to present results, there is also destiny plus present actions that lead to results. In sports, like in life, performance matters, but performance is not all that matters.

A batsman might be playing very well, but maybe when the batsmen are non-strikers and the other striking batsman hits and this batsman is caught outside the crease and run out or something like that. What we call is bad luck. That’s beyond the performance capacity of the batsman.

So, essentially, the Gita explains that ma karma phala he tur bhur in 247, do not think that you alone are the cause of the results of your work. If you look at the previous World Cup final, it was an accidental good fortune that enabled England to win. It was a fielder hitting the bat of the running batsman, the ball accidentally going to the boundary.

So, sometimes results come in spite of our efforts and sometimes results do not come in spite of our efforts. So, at such times, if we see the bigger picture, the Gita tells us, stay equipoised. Do not become too elated when there is success and do not become too rejected when there is distress or failure.

Arjuna, in fact, faced a similar situation after the Kurukshetra war, later when Krishna departed from the world. Arjuna was the same person with the same bow and similar situation and he was fighting, his arrows just fell short inexplicably. Similarly, we could say the same English cricket team, the same event and the similar playing style, but they are falling short.

Of course, a cricket match and a dharma yuddha are not comparable, but in principle, here the point is there is no logical, easily explainable factor for addressing the situation. So, Arjuna understood that all ability ultimately comes from God. And when that ability is given to human beings, they can dazzle with astonishing performance and when that ability is withdrawn, then even the best of players can go out of form, even when they do not want to go out of form.

So, Arjuna was able to take shelter of Krishna and Krishna’s wisdom and thereby find solace even in the presence of distress. So, we can pray that the English cricket team and anybody who goes through such situations, when they face unexpected and inexplicable setbacks or failures, they too can find shelter in the wisdom of the Bhagavad Gita and be able to be steadfast in happiness and distress, success and failure. Thank you.