Andre Agassi, Narada and The Importance of Mentoring

One of the most powerful and searingly honest books I have read is Open - by Andre Agassi. It's ghostwritten by JR Moehringer, who also went on to write Shoe Dog with the Nike founder Phil Night.?

The book delves deep into Andre's childhood and his love-hate relationship with tennis. His father,?Mike Aggasi , was an Iranian Olympic boxer who emigrated to the US. His first exposure to tennis came from observing American and British servicemen, and he carried a deep love for the game.?

Thus, when Andre was born, Mike decided that he would raise a world champion. One of the most famous shots Andre plays is a pick shot where the ball is near his ankles. The hand-eye coordination and power you need in the wrist to play such a shot is other-worldly. In his book Open, Andre talked about how his father would sit in a machine and fire tennis balls at his ankles on the blistering summer days to help him master this shot. His father created a brutal training regimen for Andre that prioritized developing the perfect technique and mental discipline required to be a world champion. Andre talks about a particularly punishing tennis camp his father sent him to, which fine-tuned his game but also started chipping away at Andre's love for the game.?

Andre, the young prodigy, was winning almost everything he played, but the demons of his childhood were never far away. His passion for tennis declined with every passing year, and he started questioning whether he truly loved tennis or was merely a puppet dancing to the tune that powered his father's dreams. This inner turmoil had a significant impact on his performance, which led to a decline in rankings and a growing sense of despair.

Rediscovering the Love for the Game with Mentoring

It's not unfair to say that Andre's life turned around when he met Brad Gilbert - a former tennis player turned coach. Brad had played the game enough to know about the extreme pressure players go through. Hence, he relied on his easygoing nature and sense of humor to help players rediscover the joy of playing the game.?Brad focused on creating a happy training environment that incorporated variety and lightheartedness to help Aggasi rediscover the joy of simply hitting the ball and letting his instinct take over.?

Instead of following the standard process of improving weaknesses, Brad focused on improving Andre's strengths and maximizing the advantages of his unique style. Brad was also very open to Andre's?input? during this partnership. While other players focused on exploiting their opponent's weaknesses, Andre wanted to target their strengths. Andre's logic was simple. If you break someone's strength, it leaves far more psychological damage than exploiting their weakness. They often spent 3 hours before a match just dissecting their opponent's game and coming up with various permutations Andre would encounter on the court.?

As Andre worked with Brad, he rediscovered his love for the game, which fuelled his journey of redemption. Andre won as many as six grand slams while collaborating with Brad and retired as one of the best-loved players of the game.?When you mentor someone, you should know that you have the power to make or break the person. Your words, actions, and body language leave lasting impressions on the mind of your mentee. Hence, while you may have the best intentions, like Andre's father - Mike, it's crucial to understand that coaching and mentoring are specific skills you need to learn to help people become successful. Some people have it naturally, but it really helps to study and practice it like you would when you know medicine, architecture, or software development.?

Stories of Mentoring in Sanatana Dharma

Sanatana Dharma has some beautiful stories where gods and gurus are mentoring devotees. Some of the most profound stories are of Lord Vishnu - Sri Hari - teaching lessons to Narada.?

Narada is a sage who wanders across the universe and chants the glories of Sri Hari. Sri Hari loves Narada dearly and gives him unrestricted access to Vaikunta - his abode. However, Sri Hari also knows that even the most divine of sages are not free from traits such as ego. Hence, in his infinite compassion, Sri Hari creates situations where his devotees would experience the consequences of their actions and learn a lesson while still enjoying his shade and protection.?Narada had recently meditated in the Himalayas and overcome the temptations of Kama (god of desire). He did not realize this was possible only because Lord Shiva had meditated in the cave, and his energy empowered Narada.??Narada went to Lord Shiva to boast about his achievement. After humoring him, Lord Shiva advised him not to brag about this to Sri Hari. Narada assumed Lord Shiva was jealous since Narada would now join the trinity of gods and ran off to Sri Hari, who saw the ego-filled despicable state of his devotee. He designs a hallucination for Narada that would enable him to see the true extent of his hubris and yet ensure his failure and humiliation is not public.?

Narada leaves Sri Hari and reaches the kingdom, where he falls in love with princess Vi?vamohinī'. He now believes he is as powerful as the trinity of gods and naturally feels he should have a bride as beautiful as goddess Sri, who resides with Sri Hari. However, Narada also knows he is a simple-looking sage. Hence, he meditates on Sri Hari and requests a boon to have a beautiful face like Hari himself. The word Hari also means monkey, so Sri Hari blesses Narada so that he now has the face of a monkey. However, the Lord is all merciful. He does not want to humiliate Narada in front of everyone. Hence, he casts a veil so that only Narada can see the monkey's face in a mirror. Everyone else simply sees him as Sage Narada.?

The sage is now ready for marriage and attends the ceremony where the princess chooses her life partner. He knows he will win because who can resist the face of his beloved Sri Hari. However, to his shock and acute distress, the princess avoids the row of suitors where he is sitting and goes straight to the door and garlands Sri Hari, who is waiting by the door.?Narada is heartbroken at this betrayal and glances into a pond nearby. He is aghast to learn his face resembles that of a monkey. He cannot believe that his lord, his god, Sri Hari played such a lowly trick on him. He does not know that the enchantment only works on him. Narada is now seething with embarrassment because he imagines the whole world has seen him walk in with a monkey face and is laughing at how Sri Hari has tricked him. The same Narada, who was the greatest devotee of Sri Hari, who believed that he had conquered lust and anger, marched up to Vaikuntha and cursed the lord. He said that Sri Hari himself would face a situation where his wife would be taken away by someone, and they would be united only with the monkey's help. This was also a part of Lord Vishnu's plan because it would set the stage for his incarnation as Lord Rama.?

The moment Narada uttered this curse, the veil of delusion lifted from his eyes. He could clearly see the ego and the hubris that had blinded him and how Sri Hari had created this entire situation to show him the depth of his delusion. He saw how Sri Hari had protected him through this whole journey and how even this curse was a part of the larger plan. Narada begged for Sri Hari's forgiveness and went back to chanting his name throughout to world.?

When you meet a true spiritual master, you imagine that life will be smooth sailing after that. However, the presence of your guru will bring a ton of negative tendencies to the forefront. Doing sadhana and mantra chanting helps you gradually cleanse these tendencies.?

My Guru Om Swami has introduced the Sadhana App, which allows you to practice these ancient Sadhanas in a guided fashion. The Navadurga Sadhana that allows you to pray to different forms of feminine energy is starting today.?

References

This is a seven-part series and is one of the best blogs I have read.