The national flags are flying full mast and those of other nations too. Mounted on cars, taxis and trucks, they flutter in all directions. Large corporate and public buildings display lavish décor all over, as if celebrating Christmas without Santa Claus.
The mass media and TV broadcasters are heightening the anticipation as they countdown to this world spectacle. Wherever one looks and wherever one goes within the cities of South Africa, the unmistakable signs of the Fifa soccer World Cup are visible. Aside from the Olympic Games this soccer extravaganza is the largest, costliest sporting event, and certainly the most widely viewed.
Hundreds of thousands of visitors will converge on this country to support their nations competing for the ultimate prize in football, the World cup. But what does this all mean for devotees of Lord Krishna? Can we learn something from this experience?
Is this the ultimate in Maya (illusion)? Is this evidence to show how strongly attached people are to their places of birth, based on the temporary material body? Should devotees remain cynical of all this crass commercialism that promotes strong bodily affiliations, and shun it?
Whichever way we look at it, anyone practicing Krishna consciousness has to live and function in a world of duality. The same can be said for all followers of religion. Yet while being faithful to a certain religion, people would do well to see where these sporting events benefit our society in areas that religion does not.
Religion generally has a poor image when it comes to worshipping or sharing of beliefs across faith lines; religious people are usually exclusive to their own faiths in their “own” gods. The “beautiful Game,” as one soccer legend called it, has the ability to unite players and supporters of all faiths. It is known here in South Africa which has a very high crime rate, that there is a reduction in certain crimes when say, the national team plays.
On the world stage this simple game of kicking or hitting a spherical object around on a grassy playing field can help reduce built-up political tensions, as we see sometimes on the sub-continent in games of cricket played between India and Pakistan. Matters of religion are not much help in these situations.
So while Muslims, Christians, Buddhists, atheists and agnostics play together as sporting teams, and multi-faith supporters watch them in good spirits, is there any spiritual system that has the same, if not, more power to unite the peoples of the world?
There is one method, but the results of this method are hardly noticeable. In fact it requires deep faith to recognise the results. And for the general public and the mass media these methods are an un-newsworthy set of events, because the philosophy behind it evades usual common sense.
Just like covert military special forces who go into specified areas of the world only known to a few who see the bigger picture, yet the general public knows nothing of their heroics, in the same way, this method actually acts on everybody yet may not show visible signs of influence. For these reasons this method is the most underrated, least reported and unsuspecting story never to be told by the mass media. It is the greatest story never to be told.
People do not realise it, but when a Harinama chanting party joyfully dances along the streets of a neighbourhood, the sacred names of God as chanted via the Hare Krishna mantra actually allows everyone, willingly or unwillingly, to connect with our common father. It is a unification force.
While these huge sporting events confer certain social benefits on a large scale, and unite people with a common language of football, the chanting of Hare Krishna achieves much more unity in many far flung corners of the world simply by letting people hear the divine sounds of Krishna’s names.
It may just be a temporary phenomenon to hear the Hare Krishna mantra perhaps for a few seconds, but the benefits are eternal. It is strange to know this, but the form of religion most recommended for this age of quarrel and hypocrisy as started by Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, and is the prime benediction for mankind, is also often the least understood, and the least detectable.
Lord Chaitanya knows this method is the answer for all the divisiveness created by human false identity. He knows that real lasting unity can be attained between people of different faiths. And when these Harinamas are expanded to become the famous Ratha-Yatra festivals the unity is even greater.
Just as soccer has been called the “beautiful Game,” if ever an influential commentator, statesman, a leading Christian evangelist, or a learned imam refers to the Ratha-Yatra festival as a ”Beautiful Festival,” in acknowledgement of the power of God or Krishna’s names to unite people, then we’ll know that some understanding of Harinama sankirtana has been achieved.