For Swami Nateshananda Saraswati, 70, shooting a basketball remains a meditative practice. In his purvashrama— the life before becoming a sanyasi of Advaita philosophy—he was N. Amarnath, a basketball star who represented India in the 1980 Moscow Summer Olympics and led the Indian team in the 1982 Asian Games. In his prime, scoring field goals brought him immense joy. Today, his ultimate goal is moksha or liberation and oneness with Brahman, the supreme cosmic power in Advaita.
Being at the ‘kuticaka’ (first) stage of sanyasa, Saraswati lives alone in a flat in Coimbatore. The colour saffron dominates the decor, including the bedsheets. THE WEEK visited him on the eve of his trip to Rishikesh Dayananda Ashram ahead of Guru Purnima. “Kuticaka sanyasis live in one place, just abiding in the knowledge,” said the Olympian, who embraced the sanyasi life a year after his wife’s death in 2018.
Saraswati believes that destiny has always taken him on routes he had never expected or foreseen. “There are many talented players who played for India. But how many could become captain,” he asked. “Destiny had that for me, even though my parents named me after the legendary cricket captain Lala Amarnath, hoping I, too, would be an Indian skipper one day.”
Denne historien er fra August 04, 2024-utgaven av THE WEEK India.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent ? Logg på
Denne historien er fra August 04, 2024-utgaven av THE WEEK India.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
William Dalrymple goes further back
Indian readers have long known William Dalrymple as the chronicler nonpareil of India in the early years of the British raj. His latest book, The Golden Road, is a striking departure, since it takes him to a period from about the third century BC to the 12th-13th centuries CE.
The bleat from the street
What with all the apps delivering straight to one’s doorstep, the supermarkets, the food halls and even the occasional (super-expensive) pop-up thela (cart) offering the woke from field-to-fork option, the good old veggie-market/mandi has fallen off my regular beat.
Courage and conviction
Justice A.M. Ahmadi's biography by his granddaughter brings out behind-the-scenes tension in the Supreme Court as it dealt with the Babri Masjid demolition case
EPIC ENTERPRISE
Gowri Ramnarayan's translation of Ponniyin Selvan brings a fresh perspective to her grandfather's magnum opus
Upgrade your jeans
If you don’t live in the top four-five northern states of India, winter means little else than a pair of jeans. I live in Mumbai, where only mad people wear jeans throughout the year. High temperatures and extreme levels of humidity ensure we go to work in mulmul salwars, cotton pants, or, if you are lucky like me, wear shorts every day.
Garden by the sea
When Kozhikode beach became a fertile ground for ideas with Manorama Hortus
RECRUITERS SPEAK
Industry requirements and selection criteria of management graduates
MORAL COMPASS
The need to infuse ethics into India's MBA landscape
B-SCHOOLS SHOULD UNDERSTAND THAT INDIAN ECONOMY IS GOING TO WITNESS A TREMENDOUS GROWTH
INTERVIEW - Prof DEBASHIS CHATTERJEE, director, Indian Institute of Management, Kozhikode
COURSE CORRECTION
India's best b-schools are navigating tumultuous times. Hurdles include lower salaries offered to their graduates and students misusing AI
