First we play…then we’ll meditate

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Via our News tab (thanks WGiiA) we get a tantalizing glimpse of what might have been if only India had fielded a World Cup Team…of Hindu ascetics. From the Associated Press:

Peep the footwork on the right. Put this guy in for Ronaldo.

If I worked for Addidas I would have my new ad campaign right here. Those feet just need some free shoes.

53 thoughts on “First we play…then we’ll meditate”

  6. maybe they’re practicing for hindu version of “the cup.”

    so far, they’re luckier than their cambodian buddhist counterparts, who’ve received this stern advice:

    Cambodian monks warned away from World Cup

    The chief monk in the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh has warned his charges away from the World Cup, but said that if they must watch matches, they should do so quietly. “Nobody should allow monks to watch the World Cup or bet on the games,” Non Ngeth said Monday. “But because of the world’s new technology, it is hard to ban the monks from watching the games because World Cup is too famous,” he told AFP. “If the monks cannot avoid watching the games, they should not scream and cheer as they watch,” he said, adding that those who did enjoy the football spectacle would suffer bad karma. “Buddha’s rule does not allow monks to watch or to play games. Those monks who are found watching World Cup must be punished and kicked out from their pagodas,” the capital’s supreme religious patriarch said. There are more 40,000 Buddhist monks in Cambodia. The World Cup matches, which kicked off in Germany last Friday, have been widely broadcast across the Southeast Asian kingdom.

  7. Excellent pictures. These dudes could have been the clumsiest players, but the beauty of football pictorials could make even the worst look half decent. Big clue — look where the players’ eyes are, comfortable players usually have them within a foot of the ball’s vicinity.

  8. Legendary ones however, like Ronaldinho, have an instinctive feel for the ball and always keep it in their peripheral vision while scoping out possible throughball situations, so the ascetics could be pretty awesome as well. Shrugs

  10. The dude in the picture on the left looks like he’s doing a Brazilian style step over to dummy for a back-heel pass….

    Sadhudinho!

  11. they obviously haven’t touched the ball at all. they’ve managed to levitate it purely through their ritual dancing and intense mental focus.

    i also love how the white-haired sadhu actually played with and held onto his shawl for as long as possible before realizing it was hampering his style. or maybe he put it on for extra inspiration.

  16. I wondered if they were doctored too. What do others think? Any expert on this sort of thing?

    Hey, even if doctored they’re fun anyway! Then they’re ‘art’!

  17. It’s all fun and games until the onlookers realize

    that the goal they have sought for so long

    can only be found within themselves…

  19. There’s some serious marketing GOLD in these here pictures. I’d get a marketing whiz on this right away to pitch it to Nike, Adidas, Reebok etc to boost their Indian subcontinent market penetration strategy. This is like a Thomas Friedman wet dream.

  20. Finally they read Vivekananda: You will be nearer to Heaven through football than through the study of the Bhagavad Gita

  21. Woah, how can the World Cup compete with Bhagwan Ball??

    Other possibilities: Begging Bowl; Non-Soul Not-Cupped; Sanyasi Soccer…

    Wait! I’ll groan for you…

  22. any AP photographer who doctored photos to this extent, and without mentioning that it was doctored, would be in big trouble.

    “Good show Mr. K.”

    second that.

  28. photo may not be doctored….. but the scene itself mite have been, rather than being normal….

  30. Those are beautiful, but it doesn’t strike me as all that strange except that it’s impressive given their apparent age. If you’re a Vaishnav, you could even make a case that it’s a devotional art to maintain, much like garland-making and cooking. If Krishna wouldn’t like soccer, I don’t know who would.

  33. Not doctored…BBC etc wouldn’t allow it.

    Awesome stuff!

    I just read an article about some head monk in Cambodia telling his monks that they would suffer bad karma if they indulged in the world cup! At least indian sadhus get their ‘dum maro dum’ on and can kick the ball around without worrying about being held back at the gates of heaven etc.

  34. Pictures are real. I just saw a TV report with video on one of the News channel in India, and boy, this Sadhus can play, at least some of them!.

  36. People who doubt whether these pictures are doctored are victims of their own subjective preconception mechanism. Reasoning evolving from thought processes attributed to pre-established concepts existing in oneÂ’s subconscious as the truth, will always suffer from anomalies if the truths or ideas that aided in such an evolution are erroneous. Here the picture of Sadhus enjoying a game of Football has triggered anachronistic thought processes in many unsuspecting minds. These minds are provoked by the sight of events that are perceived as mutually exclusive; hence the dissonance and mistrust. The hidden, raw, absolute truth is that Football is an Indian game and these Sadhus are partaking in a ritual that they have nurtured at its purest form for generations. White people who ruled India stumbled upon this beautiful game and manipulated it by adding shoes and fancy clothes to fit the demands of mainstream media and capitalistic societies. A ritual that is supposed to be performed barefoot has become a convoluted commercial circus. The Football World Cup is a morally defunct enterprise that is fuelled by greed and vested interest. By watching it, we are allowing our souls to decay to a state where ethics cease to exist and chaos reign. I can see the truth, why canÂ’t you? Also, I think Ronaldo is fat and Roony looks like Shrek! Peace.

  37. UberMetroMallu:

    QUITE RIGHT! I bet that if we conducted a deeper investigation into the reasons for India’s withdrawal from the 1950 World Cup, we’d find that FIFA officials were perfectly willing to let India play barefoot, but that righteous and brave young India demanded that EVERYONE play barefoot, as per the customs of the ancient game (which, incidentally, the sadhus had to keep secret for hundreds of years during Muslim rule – THAT’s what they were doing in the mountains). THIS is the demand which FIFA (oppressive closed-toed bastards that they are) must have turned down.

    Long live barefootball!! Long live the Golden Goal Age!!!

  38. awesomeness.. sadhus dont need viagra in their old age..they get everything in their daily “booti”, not to be confused with booty

  42. Swami Ranganathananda (who passed away last year at 96) of the RK Mission is known to have played some ‘mean’ footballer and volleyballer himself.

  43. If only the US team had played as well!..why they wnet 4:5:1 is beyond me.. sigh…..

  44. I bet that if we conducted a deeper investigation into the reasons for India’s withdrawal from the 1950 World Cup, we’d find that FIFA officials were perfectly willing to let India play barefoot, but that righteous and brave young India demanded that EVERYONE play barefoot, as per the customs of the ancient game

    What makes you think this isn’t India’s 1950 team? 🙂

  45. In the first pic they are wearing shoes/slippers. In the second one they aren’t. We haven’t progressed much since 1950, have we? 🙂

  46. sadhus need to live it up a little… maybe they are moving from renunciation to the middle path

    You are confusing Sadhus with Sanyasis. The latter is the one who renounces. Sadhus are worldly meditators. A nuclear scientist can become a sadhu after retirement.

    So yes, Sadhus can play soccer.

    M. Nam