A wonderful letter from Swami Probuddhananda, General Secretary, International Vedanta Society. Read On friends..........

Dear Everybody,
I want to share an interesting experience with you all. For sometimes in the recent past, Indian sports is on a high. India won the Soccer Nehru Cup played with a overseas team, though it means nothing to some but it is a very big news for people in India because we all know where India stands in the world of Soccer. Maybe India will go on to win the next FIFA world cup whenever it qualifies ,jajajaja, but jokes apart, who knows what may happen the next moment. Then, India won the Asia Cup in Hockey defeating South Korea which was again grand. People who keep track on the women's tennis will certainly know about Sania Mirza of India who now is within the list of top 25 players . There are other names like Viswanathan Anand from the world of chess etc.The latest and the biggest success was the winning of the 20-twenty Cricket world cup defeating Pakisthan in the finals. The match was a delight to watch because it was Pakisthan who was the obvious winner after the first half. But India won. In every winning sequence came the name of a Hindi Movie - "CHAK DE INDIA", a film made on the women's hockey team which electrified the nerves of all the sporting circles in the sub continent. Most of the players in the post match session referred to this film as the key and inspiration to success. The media showed some of the clips of the movie which suggested that it was really worth watching.
So, after the Match between India and Pakisthan which India won brilliantly, I slept with a desire to see the movie the next day in my computer. I saw the movie last night and was very impressed by the way the coach made the players fight for everything, motivated them in such a way that they played for a win but enjoyed every single second in the field. And most importantly they were the winners.
Sports has a great hand in shaping the character of a man always. We talk about sports man spirit which enables every sports man to accept defeat with a smile but again inspires to fight for a win. And if the attitude is right, he does win. I would like to share some of the moments of the film which made this so great and worthy watching everytime.
While coaching the women's hockey team, the coach worked hard with the team. He observed that the players were good when they played individually but when they played as a team they failed for the enormous desire of the players to do something individually. This made the team fail everytime because whenever personal goals come between the team goal, the team is going to suffer a humiliating defeat. He taught them how to play as a team. The ball was important to travel forward not the players. Because in the goal only the ball has to go, not the players. So, one should know how to make the ball travel forward without thinking whether He/she/they is going to hit a goal. He said,
" Pass the ball, let the ball travel forward, its immaterial whether you or she or they travel forward with the ball."
This is the essence of an organization. The goal of ours is spreading the message of Vedanta to the world, to spread the message of love and oneness to the world. It is immaterial where I stand while this grand work is performed. Our goal is to do it, for a grand work, an organization is needed because its not we do it today and forget,this has to continue forever, we have to build a base in this world where people will be born and get liberated never thinking of his/her existence or security for futures to come. For this a large number of people are needed because the future should be restored, ensured that we grow in such a way where we can demonstrate the love Bhagavan had given to us. We will create an environment where people can come and get spiritually motivated and thus know the truth. Today, we all have to stand leaving aside our Personal goals, we have to see our collective Goal. IVS (International Vedanta Society) provides us this opportunity where we can grow into a team. We can love and share and help. To everybody of us, IVS is the ball today because its the only one group that will carry forward the essence of Bhagavan to the future. So, lets all play to hit the ball travel forward while we stand awaiting our turn to hit the ball whenever the need arises. And I am sure everybody will get a chance to hit the ball and score a goal.
The next appealing dialogue was,
" I want those who will play for India. I want a team ."
This is self explanatory. We need people who will play for Bhagavan. Who will play in the way he wanted us to. For His whole life, Bhagavan had worked for a worldwide organization and He named this as International Vedanta Society, a society in the vision, not an Ashram or a group of monks. Its a total team of everybody from every section of the society the world over coming together and playing for a common goal of spreading love to everyone. For a grand work, people should unite together because the greatest power lies within us, we are the people, common but very powerful. We create dynasties, we create revolutions, we are the kingmakers,we make war happen and we make peace, we create differences and we unite , we are the unsung heroes. But, lets all unite again and lets revolt against all those forces which creates difference in human being. Lets all say for once, we are Man, we are God, we are Brahman, We are That. We are love.

"I don't bother about the strength, I am searching the proper attitude."
Though we are small, our dreams are very high, but our attitude is firm. We know that we will make this happen, and very soon. We will do this, thats all. Not do or die, but lets say- do and die.


" You are angry with me because I tried to make you play for each other not against each other, fight not for yourself but for the team."
Lets have this in us. Lets play for eachother. Lets be complimentary to eachother.

" I will be dead but cannot loose."
I need this attitude from you all.

"CHAK DE" means comeon. CHAK DE INDIA - come on India. Lets say,
........................."CHAK DE IVS"..............................
With you forever,
Swamiji..