1️⃣ In many developed countries, women’s sporting achievements form a major foundation of national success. In India, however, girls are often discouraged from sports, and the conversation about them tends to get reduced merely to their clothes or their bodies. What deeper beliefs are at work behind this? Using some recent examples, explain how lokhdharma plays a major role in this. In our country, sports have not become an integral part or a necessity of life; instead, they are treated as a separate and secondary pursuit. A popular saying that has been passed down for generations is, "If you play, you'll be ruined; if you study, you'll become a nobleman." Children grow up hearing this repeatedly. Whenever a child spends too much time playing, parents often ask them to stay indoors and focus on their studies. As a result, many children develop the belief that playing is a waste of time and that only academic success matters. This is one of the reasons I have observed in my own life as well. I played many different sports during my childhood, but I was never able to pursue any of them seriously or develop real skill. Girls, in particular, receive very little encouragement to participate in sports. Our social conditioning has traditionally assigned them the roles of cooking, managing the household, and bearing children. In my own family, my sister was an excellent runner. She competed up to the state level, but after that she was pressured to prepare for a government job instead of continuing her athletic career. Once she secured a job, she was married, and now she is expecting a child. Gradually, her life became absorbed into the conventional social pattern, and she drifted completely away from sports. One reason behind the issue of clothing in sports is that women in our society lived under the practice of ghoonghat (veil) for a very long time. Although this tradition has weakened in cities, its influence still remains strong in many villages. Another major reason is the lack of education. Without education, people are more likely to follow superstitions and inherited beliefs unquestioningly. They often lack the courage to ask whether what they have been taught or are expected to follow is actually right or wrong. 2️⃣ Why does Acharya Ji call the body the ego’s first colony? Acharya Ji calls the body the first colony of the ego because the ego derives its very existence from identification with the body. As long as one identifies oneself with the body, the ego continues to assert, "I exist." In reality, however, the ego has no independent existence of its own. It is false and survives only through this mistaken identification with the body. 3️⃣ Do the places where you work or study encourage you to play sports? If you play any sport, do share your photo or video on the community. At present, I have completed my college education. However, I would like to mention that from my very first year of school until the end of college, I never received genuine encouragement to participate in sports. I observed that sports events were indeed organized, but they were mostly a formality. Excelling in sports requires consistent practice, and that cannot be achieved in just one or two days. Since these events were conducted merely to fulfill institutional obligations, very little attention was given to proper training or long-term development. As a result, sports were never treated as something truly important or deserving of serious commitment.
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