Praggnanandhaa: So, during the game...
so, when there is some critical moment, I used to get very tensed.
So, we were speaking about this ‘responsibility is limitless.’
If I'm conscious maybe I can avoid it, but if I'm not, like, sometimes it's on and off.
But if I'm not conscious, if I get tensed, is there a way to come out of it like immediately?
Sadhguru: Hmm. See... what is tension? Let's understand this.
You can call it tension, you can call it stress,
you can call it depression, you can call it manic depression,
you can call it misery, or you can call it madness;
tension or stress means a limited amount of madness, actually.
Small variation... I mean, small sample you're having of madness, isn't it?
Essentially, your thoughts are bombarding you at a pace that you can't handle.
Suppose you think I'm representing India;
too much tension – 1.4 billion people's expectations on your head will kill you, okay?
Your parents' expectation will kill you.
Don't worry about all those things.
You just have to play this one move right, isn't it?
The tension is coming because, “Am I winning? Am I losing?
Will I get the trophy? Will I not get it? Will I get this?
What will happen to me when I go back?”
With all this, you will be less than yourself.
This is the only crime you can commit when you're playing a game: you are less than yourself.
If somebody is better than us, they will win. What to do? Hello? It's all right.
Somebody is better than us, they will win. What can we do about that?
But we are less than ourselves – that is a crime;
that crime if you do not commit, rest is okay.
I know that is a whole training in the world,
how this Praggnanandhaa wants to win all the chess games in the world.
Don't do that, don't try to win all the games in the world.
This one move you must do it right, that's all. Hello?
How do you win all the games in the world? Only in your dreams you can do that. Hello?
In reality you can only make one smart move, isn't it?
They're not even allowing two at a time, are they? Only one.
So, only one smart move you have to make;
you don't have to make the next one, and the next one.
Well, you try to foresee where, what will he do, all right?
What will he do you can foresee, to some extent, but you still don't know.
You still don't know – you may be expecting him to make a very intelligent move,
you may make a dumb move, but if you're thinking he's very smart,
and you have to be smarter than him,
you will miss the dumb move, and that'll be the biggest mistake, isn't it?
So for this what you need is, to be conscious.
To be conscious means, the more... see, this is the nature of the mind.
Why people's minds are just running away beyond them is,
it is like, why somebody is running to the toilet every five minutes is,
they've eaten something bad. Yes, or no?
So if you've eaten something bad, one way to stop it is take a tablet,
do this, do that, and stop; that's one way if it's an emergency.
But the most significant thing to do is, stop eating that bad food which upsets you.
So, the same goes for your mind. The bad food that you can eat is,
you identify yourself with something that you are not.
When I say that, we've gone through the Inner Engineering,
the body, the mind, everything we gathered, isn't it?
You being a chess player, you've gathered over a period of time.
You were born a chess player? No.
So, just to sit here as a life, and look at it with the best possible way.
And what we figure, we figure. What we don't, we don't, isn't it?
But our ability to figure something is greatly reduced
the moment we have unnecessary level of thought process.
So, you handle only one move at a time.
When you practice, you practice all the moves, whatever.
But when you're playing, only one move; this move, if you do it right,
and wait to see what the other person does, that's all there is, isn't it?
And when the other person does, you have no conclusion about ‘this is a great player.’
Don't even look at their face.
“This is a great player, this is an idiot, this is this, this is that.” Don't do all this.
Just look at this, where is he putting it? That's all that matters, isn't it?
So I'm saying, your presence of mind for the game
is more important than any plans that you've drawn up.
All these plans and stuff is to flex your mind,
so that you're conversant with everything.
You're conversant with all the things that can happen on the board before you go there.
How many million ways they can do it, into whatever extent you can,
you're trying to figure it out before the game.
But when you sit for the game, it's only one at a time, isn't it?
Because if you don't know the game and you sit there, of course that's a different game.
You know the game – now all you have to do is to be alert to what's happening.
For this you don't need any great plans.
Well, maybe you've figured out what is his natural tendency, how he plays the other person,
so what you should do, but... be conscious about it, don't give too much importance to it,
because he may surprise you. He may surprise you with a brilliant move,
or he may surprise you with a stupid move – both happens, isn't it?
Brilliant move if he does, how to counter it? We should have thought it out.
But if he does a stupid move, if you miss it, that means we will become double idiots, isn't it?
Hello? Because always you're waiting for that stupid move to come.
So, you don't think about all these things, you just pay attention, that's all.
Human attention is paramount importance, not human thought.
Human attention – you want to hit a ball, you want to move this,
your attention, how keen it is, that's all that matters, isn't it?
What great thoughts and desires you have will not matter.
So, never try to be a champion, I'm saying.
Just be a great chess player – others will say you're a champion. That's great.
If others say you're a champion, that's a great thing, we would like to see that.
But if you think “I'm a champion, champion,” it's a dumb thing to do, isn't it?
Let's do that.