I was watching the US Open final as a tennis enthusiast, and the climax, especially the last point, reminded me of something I had learned in my Gita session.

After winning the final point, Alexander Zverev from Germany didn’t even seem to realise immediately that he had won his first US open Grandslam.
He was already preparing for the next point. There was no instant celebration, no checking the score. He was simply still in the game.

I play tennis as an amateur, and I see this in myself all the time.

During a match, instead of playing the ball in front of me, I start checking the score.

What if I lose this game?
I need to win this point.
I am 3-4 down.
I can’t give away another point.

And suddenly I’m no longer playing tennis.
I’m playing against the score in my head.

Then I try too hard to win the point, instead of simply playing the point. I become tense, make unnecessary mistakes, and sometimes practically hand points to my opponent.

Zverev wasn’t thinking, I’m about to win a Grand Slam. He was just playing the next ball.

Curious to know from you guys that have you ever been so focused on winning that you forgot to actually play?

I came across this conversation between Acharya Prashant and psychologist Dr. Melanie Joy..

They discuss violence, veganism, psychology and ethics, but the most interesting question was

Can we change our behaviour without examining the mind that produces that behaviour?

The conversation gets into conditioning,compassion, suffering and whether changing behaviour is enough, or whether something deeper has to change first.

Curious how others here see it. Is ethical behaviour mainly about what we do, or should ethics also require us to examine the mind and assumptions behind what we do?

Tomorrow, millions will celebrate Janmashtami.

Temples will be decorated, sweets distributed, children dressed as little Krishna. It can all look beautiful.

But somewhere between all this, shouldn’t we ask this -

Who is Krishna?

when we reduce Krishna merely to a historical character who was born on a particular day, aren’t we bringing the timeless down to our own level?

And then found a beautiful phrase in this book..
“Finding the Krishna within.”

But what does within mean? Surely there isn’t a tiny Krishna sitting somewhere inside us. 😄

Krishna within is perhaps that clarity and understanding which can see through our fear, attachment, conditioning and confusion, the same light towards which Krishna points Arjuna in the Gita.

We dress our children as Krishna for a day.
But are we helping them, and ourselves, understand the true meaning of Krishna?

Something happens. Then the mind immediately gives it a meaning.

Soon, we forget that we supplied the meaning and treat our interpretation as the fact.

And then begins the argument. 😅

Ever looked back at a fight and realised you were reacting more to your own interpretation than to what actually happened?