{"id":769,"date":"2013-04-24T13:00:02","date_gmt":"2013-04-24T17:00:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/vnn.org\/vaisnava-news\/?p=769"},"modified":"2023-01-04T18:43:02","modified_gmt":"2023-01-04T23:43:02","slug":"wrestling-for-krishna-a-meditation-teachers-journey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vaishnava-news-network.org\/vaisnava-news\/wrestling-for-krishna-a-meditation-teachers-journey\/","title":{"rendered":"Wrestling for Krishna: A Meditation Teacher’s Journey"},"content":{"rendered":"
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April 23, 2013 (VNN) – by Sarvabhauma Dasa via Back To Godhead Magazine<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\"wrestling1\"<\/a>How inspiration to become a devotee of Krishna came from two unlikely sources: an interest in wrestling, and words from the founder of Transcendental Meditation.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

As a student, I competed in the sport of wrestling for eight years, from 1963 to 1971, but happiness eluded me. In high school, even when I won the California Interscholastic Federation championship at 123 pounds, I felt strangely empty inside. At the University of California at Berkeley, wrestling was a diversion, but I couldn’t forget the Vietnam War and the countless problems that hung over my generation.<\/p>\n

Seeking inner peace and satisfaction, I learned meditation while in college. After graduation I trained to be a teacher of Transcendental Meditation (TM) and taught it for a few years. One day at a meditation retreat in Murren, Switzerland, five thousand feet high in the Alps, I saw a two-volume, cloth-bound translation of the\u00a0Srimad-Bhagavatam\u00a0<\/em>published by the Gita Press, Gorakhpur, India. Curious, I opened one of the books somewhere in the middle and read.<\/p>\n

A wrestler named Canura was addressing Krishna and Balarama.<\/p>\n

O son of Nanda, O Rama, You two are well respected by courageous men and are both skillful at wrestling. Having heard of Your prowess, the King [Kamsa] has called You here, wanting to see for himself. . . . It is well known that cowherd boys are always joyful as they tend their calves, and that the boys playfully wrestle with each other while grazing their animals in the various forests.<\/p>\n

\u2014Srimad-Bhagavatam<\/em>\u00a010.43.32, 34 (BBT translation)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Since I identified myself as a wrestler, chancing upon this particular passage about Lord Krishna’s affection for wrestling\u2014my first experience of the\u00a0Bhagavatam\u2014<\/em>was a real coincidence.<\/em>\u00a0Previously God had seemed distant or unreachable, but now at the retreat visions of wrestling with Krishna sometimes appeared in my meditations. Imaginary or real, these encounters were ecstatic, altogether different from grappling with ordinary human beings.<\/p>\n

At the retreat’s conclusion I passed through the Swiss resort town of Interlaken, where Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, TM’s founder, was giving a lecture.<\/p>\n

\"wrestling2\"<\/p>\n

When I entered the hall, the bearded Indian teacher declared, \u201cTheBhagavata Purana<\/em>\u00a0[Srimad-Bhagavatam<\/em>] is the topmost Vedic literature.\u201d<\/p>\n

I left Switzerland and moved into a meditation center in Marin County, northern California, but my enthusiasm to teach meditation was waning.<\/p>\n

Then I thought,\u00a0Why not read the book Maharishi had praised?<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It was late summer, and I camped out on a friend’s wooded land in the foothills of the Sierra Mountains. After about a month, when I completed the\u00a0Bhagavatam<\/em>\u00a0I began to understand that real perfection lies in devotional service to Lord Krishna, not\u00a0siddhis (<\/em>mystic powers), fame, materialistic religiosity, sense enjoyment, or even liberation.<\/p>\n

Read Full Story<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

April 23, 2013 (VNN) – by Sarvabhauma Dasa via Back To Godhead Magazine How inspiration to become a devotee of Krishna came from two unlikely sources: an interest in wrestling, … Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":770,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":10,"footnotes":"","_wp_rev_ctl_limit":""},"categories":[15,2],"tags":[306,307,569,305,304],"class_list":["post-769","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-world","tag-bhagavatam","tag-maharishi","tag-notice","tag-transcendental-meditation","tag-wrestling","entry"],"yoast_head":"\nWrestling for Krishna: A Meditation Teacher's Journey - VNN - Vaishnava News Network<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"How inspiration to become a devotee of Krishna came from two unlikely sources: an interest in wrestling, and words from the founder of Transcendental Meditation.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/vaishnava-news-network.org\/vaisnava-news\/wrestling-for-krishna-a-meditation-teachers-journey\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"VNN Staff\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/vaishnava-news-network.org\\\/vaisnava-news\\\/wrestling-for-krishna-a-meditation-teachers-journey\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/vaishnava-news-network.org\\\/vaisnava-news\\\/wrestling-for-krishna-a-meditation-teachers-journey\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"VNN Staff\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/vaishnava-news-network.org\\\/vaisnava-news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/697219dd9c21dd216a0ea9f7de1cc9c9\"},\"headline\":\"Wrestling for Krishna: A Meditation Teacher’s Journey\",\"datePublished\":\"2013-04-24T17:00:02+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-01-04T23:43:02+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/vaishnava-news-network.org\\\/vaisnava-news\\\/wrestling-for-krishna-a-meditation-teachers-journey\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":467,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/vaishnava-news-network.org\\\/vaisnava-news\\\/wrestling-for-krishna-a-meditation-teachers-journey\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/vaishnava-news-network.org\\\/vaisnava-news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2013\\\/04\\\/wrestling1.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Bhagavatam\",\"Maharishi\",\"notice\",\"Transcendental Meditation\",\"wrestling\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Featured\",\"WORLD\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/vaishnava-news-network.org\\\/vaisnava-news\\\/wrestling-for-krishna-a-meditation-teachers-journey\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/vaishnava-news-network.org\\\/vaisnava-news\\\/wrestling-for-krishna-a-meditation-teachers-journey\\\/\",\"name\":\"Wrestling for Krishna: A Meditation Teacher's Journey - 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