Have the wisdom to use strength rightly || On Advait Vedanta (2019)

Questioner (Q): Swami Vivekananda has said, “First of all, our young men must be strong. Religion will come afterwards. Be strong, my young friends; that is my advice to you. You will be nearer to Heaven through football than through the study of the Gita. These are bold words; but I have to say them, for I love you. You will understand the Gita better with your biceps, your muscles, a little stronger. You will understand the mighty genius and the mighty strength of Krishna better with a little of strong blood in you.”

I have observed that doing physical exercises certainly has an energizing effect on the body and mind both. On the other hand, fitness seems to bring in the danger of becoming even more body-centric. My question is, to what extent is physical strength useful on the spiritual path?

Acharya Prashant (AP): It is peripheral. Do you really find Liverpool or Chelsea players really spiritually inclined, if football were such a liberating force? Does that happen? Really? Then let’s have the Messis and Ronaldos and Ronaldinhos as the ideal figures for the next MAG session (referring to the Month of Awakening program)!

Let’s take the case of Swami Vivekananda himself. When he went to Ramakrishna Paramahansa, did he offer him a football? I understand, it’s a thing with the Bengalis, football, but I have not heard that Ramakrishna was particularly fond of soccer. Or was he?

It is not the central thing. It is one of those things that enable you further, that stoke the fire. But to stoke the fire, first of all you need a fire. Football cannot bring about that spark. Football cannot raise that fire. Once the fire is there, once a man’s consciousness says, “I want to be liberated, I want freedom, I want to know, I want to understand, I want to actualize this birth,” then he says, “What is it that I need to reach the destination? I know the goal is far away, and I very strongly feel I must reach there. What is it that I need?”