Talk:The Hindu Values of Sportsmanship:Engage Everyone

By Vishal Agarwal and The Hindu Society of Minnesota

While playing sports, each team member has to forget his ego and selfishness and play his role to the best extent possible so that his team wins the game. In football, for instance, the offense, defense, quarter-back etc., all have to do their respective roles in perfect coordination and mutual understanding. If there is a lack of team spirit, even the best quarter-back cannot make that team win. Therefore, our scriptures emphasize the value of involving everyone because all of us have unique skills that can be used to make the team win.

“There is no root that has no medicinal value. There is no person who does not have even a single good quality. But rare is that human being who knows how to put all of them to some good use.” —Śukranītisāra

A clever mouse, a wise tortoise, and a vigilant crow join forces to rescue their deer friend from a hunter’s trap

Story: The Four Friends

As the deer lies trapped in the hunter’s net, the loyal mouse, tortoise, and crow spring into action

Once, a turtle, a crow, a mouse and a deer were fast friends and they lived around a lake. One day, the first three of them were playing around the lake and realized that their fourth friend, the deer, was not with them.

The crow went in search of the deer and discovered that their friend had been trapped in a net by a hunter. The crow immediately flew back and told the mouse and turtle what had happened. The three decided to free their friend from the trap and started flying and walking towards the deer. Soon, the mouse reached the net and chewed it up with his teeth, freeing the deer.

Suddenly, they saw the hunter come from a distance. The crow flew away, the mouse hid in a hole, and the deer hid in a bush. Unfortunately, the slow-walking turtle had also arrived by then and did not have the time to hide himself. The hunter caught him in a bag and said, “I may have missed the deer, but now I can make dinner out of turtle meat.”

When the three friends of the turtle heard the words of the hunter, they were terrified. Something had to be done to free their friend turtle.

So, the deer came out of the bush and pretended to limp in front of the hunter. The hunter was overjoyed and said, “It appears that I have double luck today. I have the turtle caught in the bag, and now I will catch this limp deer.” So, he started chasing the deer with his bow and arrow and went away from the bag. The deer ran and ran and took the hunter a long distance away from the bag in which the turtle had been trapped.

Meanwhile, the mouse came out of his hole and cut a hole in the bag, freeing the turtle. The crow kept an eye out for the hunter all this time. The deer ran very fast, and finally the hunter gave up chasing it. He said, “I cannot catch the deer today. Let me just go back now, and take that turtle that I had trapped in the bag.”

But when he returned, he found that the bag had been chewed open, and there was no turtle inside it. In fact, all the three friends had escaped while the hunter was chasing the deer. The hunter was now very upset, but he could not do anything.

This story shows how four very different animals used their respective skills to protect each other because they were united as a team.