Dhoni has taken everyone by surprise by announcing that he might not play the world cup 2015. This statement comes from him at a time when veterans in the game like Rahul and Laxman are still going strong and Sachin is showing no signs of his retirement.
This announcement also comes at a time when Dhoni has successfully captained the Indian team winning the world cup, only for second time in history. Except for the recently concluded series in England, his career has been a very successful one as a batsman, as a wicketkeeper, as a captain, as a player and above all, as a human being.
So, why retirement now, when he can go on for a lot more years? This has something to do with his attitude, which has always been entirely different from others. Though his acts, deeds and words, one can make out that he is an epitome of an enlightened person in life.
For a person, who started his career as a ticket collector on Ranchi railway station, he has indeed come a very long way. He has taken life in its stride and played every moment as it came. Let us look at some of his acts which demonstrate profound lessons hidden in the Bhagwad Gita.
Do your work without expectation of results
This is perhaps the most famous shloka of Bhagwad Gita which says, ‘Karamanye va dhikaraste ma faleshu kadachana…’ This means one should do his duty without any expectations of the results. Because, the moment one’s mind thinks about the results, his efforts get distracted. And that may not bring the desired results. After all, one can only make efforts. It is in god’s hands whether to yield fruits or not. One has no control over the results. Sachin does not score a century every time he goes out to play, though he puts in the same efforts every time.
Every game played by Dhoni has been with a focus only on the efforts without any worry for the results. During the most nail biting finishes, he was calm and cool in handling the pressure, which earned him the title ‘Captain cool’. And this has resulted in his amazing success ratio.
Act like ‘Sthitapradnya’
Bhagwad Gita says that a person should try to remain same in happiness and sorrow, appreciation and criticism, victory and defeat, good times and bad times. This state is very difficult to achieve and is called ‘Sthita Pradnya.’
If we see recordings of only the post match presentation ceremonies at random, we will not be able to confidently say, which match he had won and which won he lost. This is because he appeared in the same mood almost every time. A win never made him ecstatic, nor a loss made him gloomy ever.
Trust others
Bhagwad Gita suggests that one should trust others unless there are reasons not to do so. He trusted all his team mates and made several experiments with them, most of them resulting in a match winning move. He became known for his unknown strategies, which proved to be decisive in the end. Some of them were risky too, but then bigger success required bigger risks.
The last over of the final match of first T20 world cup shall always be remembered for Joginder Singh. It required a lot of conviction, courage and confidence to give the last over to a relatively unknown Joginder, when one more over from the established Harbhajan Singh was still available. Even the world cup finals saw some strange moves from him, which were successful.
Have ambition but not greed
Dhoni has achieved many things in life in short time. If he wants, he can still continue to play for many more years, endorse for dozens of brands and rake in huge money. Today he has some amazing collection of bikes, which continues to be his passion. But he knows that there has to be a limit to everything. One cannot go on and on, in pursuit of only one thing at the cost of other things in life.
There is a family life, which he wants to enjoy. He wishes to fulfill his obligation towards his family as a son, as a brother, as a husband. If he continues to play, he would not find time to fulfill those obligations and it would be too late when he would eventually find time. That is why, often he hints that he is ready to handover the mantle of captaincy to someone else and blissfully retire into oblivion.
Detached attachment
This is the most virtuous quality in an enlightened person. One should not take his position or power, his status and his image for granted. One should be ready to relinquish it at any time. Because, nothing is ever guaranteed in this world. It does not mean that one should not enjoy the power and give up the perks just like that. It only means that one should be always ready to give it up. This is called detached attachment. The best example to show the fickleness of the status is the fate of some Arab leaders the moment they are convicted, the moment 2G scam leaders were caught, the moment Osama and Gaddafi were caught.
Once a person reaches this stage, the life becomes lot more easier. The goals become clear, the path becomes simple and life itself becomes meaningful.
Dhoni may not have read the Bhagwad Gita as yet, but his life has been an open book for people to learn the values of Bhagwad Gita.
Treat everyone equal
Bhagwad Gita suggests that the soul is same in every living being. So, every soul should be treated equally with same respect and divinity. The soul only changes the outer physical body with every incarnation.
Dhoni always treated all his players equal. He was never charged for favoritism in the team. He needed every one to perform in his respective department of bowling, batting or fielding. In fact, he often brought in changes to the team composition, thereby keeping many of them ‘warm’ as the same time.
‘Yada yada hi dharmasya…’
This is perhaps an exaggeration, but I am sure the Dhoni fans would like it. In Bhagwad Gita, Lord Krishna says, whenever there is no righteousness in society, whenever the evil forces start dominating the world, I will appear to annihilate the devil’.
Dhoni entered the international cricket scene when Australia under Ricky Ponting was going great guns. They were almost invincible for around two decades. Every match, every tournament was won by them.
And slowly their merit was getting overshadowed by their arrogance. Which Indian cricket fan can forget that infamous cricket series in Australia, when the Australians went to the extent of cheating and fraud to win the games?
And Dhoni appeared like Krishna on the International cricketing scene to annihilate the Australians. They are now down and out. It may probably take them years to bounce back and regain their past glory. But Dhoni has done his job very well.
After all, his name is Mahendra, which means King of the gods. True to his style, he came, he conquered and he ruled majestically all these years. His charisma can be gauged from the fact that once even Parvez Musharraf was tempted to favorably comment on his erstwhile hair style.
One may read Bhagwad Gita 100 times, but to live a life as described in Bhagwad Gita is always more noble.
Then it really does not matter whether you even read it once or not.
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