“The Legend of Bagger Vance” by Steven Pressfield is definitely worth a read. I came across the book a few days ago at my neighbor’s house and borrowed it. It is a small book but not easily read for most people. As I started the book, I was doubtful of it making any sort of impression on me since it appeared to be about the game of golf and how it can be compared to the game of life. I know nothing of golf and after reading the book am none the wiser but golf turned out to be only a medium so I was able to appreciate the author’s attempt at expounding a philosophy which is not easy to teach or even comprehend.
The book is totally based on the Bhagavad-Gita, Lord Krishna’s teachings to Arjuna on the eve of the Mahabharata war on the vast Kurukshethra. The very name Bagger Vance is an obvious corruption of ‘Bhagavan’ or God in Sanskrit. The protagonist is Junah again based on Arjuna, the mighty Pandava warrior. The battlefield is the Krewe Links after the Kuru fields of Mahabharata. The essence of the Gita is the beautiful teaching of Krishna – the secret of all existence and the true nature of man. The author seems mesmerized by it. While the concept is familiar to many Indians, it must be entirely new to the Western way of thinking and therefore harder to digest. Perhaps that is the reason the author chose to envelop the most profound truth in golf parlance.
Like Krishna, Bagger Vance is dark hued. Like him, he chooses to be merely the caddie to the player as Lord Krishna chose to be the charioteer of the warrior, Arjuna. From this position of advisor, power pours forth as the caddie exhorts the player to find his “authentic swing” – that which is the true swing after all other ineffectual swings are removed. The Authentic Swing is ever present in potentia as it were, every time a player swings his club. But it appears only when one loses all thoughts of glory or fear or desire. When one plays with true detachment, with no thought to winning or losing but only with focus on the act itself, the one’s swing becomes true and there exists a state of utter calm combined with exaltation. This is the state to which every doer must aspire. This philosophy of “Nishkaam karma” as stated in the Gita is very difficult to bring to being in practice. But it is said that if one reaches that state, then one’s ability to be the best he can is achieved.
The book flows well as a narration by the man, Hardy, who as a boy, accompanied Junah and Vance on that fateful day when Junah is thrown against two mighty golfing greats Jones and Hagen in an exhibition match to inaugurate the newly completed golf links on Krewe Island. The story finishes when he tries to impart his own wisdom to a young man named Michael in the throes of frustration. The young man, though immensely talented feels that life is pointless and there can be no meaning in the misery of millions that make up the modern world. Bagger Vance makes a final mystical appearance to save Michael from despair and to give him the insight he so desperately needs to fulfill his role in life.
The book is inspirational and uplifting if one has but the patience to go into its depth and take the wisdom on offer. Like I said, a truly worthwhile read.
