Can One Dovetail Surfing with Krsna Consciousness?

Some readers who are attracted to bhakti-yoga may enjoy a sport such as surfing, seeing it as a harmless form of recreation. In fact, in the Bhagavad-gita (6.17) Lord Krsna includes moderate recreation (vihara) as part of a balanced, yogic lifestyle: "He who is temperate in his habits of eating, sleeping, working, and recreation can mitigate all material pains by practicing the yoga system."

Furthermore, unlike more violent sports such as hunting, fishing, boxing, or football, surfing involves minimal harm to living beings or the environment. While all this is true, surfing in itself is not a genuine sadhana, or spiritual practice, that can lead to cessation of material suffering, as the examples of Dewey Weber and thousands of other surfers amply show.

Srila Prabhupada stated that daily chanting sixteen rounds of the maha-mantra–Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna, Krsna Krsna, Hare Hare/ Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare–while avoiding meat, fish, and eggs, illicit sex, intoxication, and gambling, constitutes an effective means to transcend this material world and its concomitant suffering. To chant sixteen rounds attentively takes between one and a half and two and a half hours every day. Surfing in the ocean (or on the Internet) eats up precious time and can be a distraction for a serious devotee. It boils down to priorities: What is most important and effective?

Namacarya Haridasa Thakura chanted constantly, associated with elevated devotees, and heard the pastimes of Krsna ; and he attained a level of ecstasy so sublime that it could not be shaken by the severe material distress of being violently beaten in twenty-two marketplaces, nor could it be distracted by the most bewitching prostitute. Dewey Weber surfed constantly, associated with surfers, talked about surfing, built and sold surfboards, yet what was his result?

If a devotee is so attracted to surfing that he cannot give it up, but at the same time realizes the superior value of Krsna consciousness, he should at least vow to not go surfing until he completes the chanting of his daily prescribed number of rounds. But what if a surfer cannot even do that? On at least one occasion, Srila Prabhupada reportedly said that if even a drunkard chants the holy name of Lord between each sip of liquor, he will make spiritual advancement. In a class on Srimad-Bhagavatam (1.8.22) in Los Angeles in 1973, Prabhupada elaborated:

Nothing is bad, but because if a thing creates bad effects, then it is bad. So I shall request even the drunkards . . . In your country, there are many drunkards. There is no scarcity. “So if you'll kindly remember, when drinking wine, that this nice taste of drinking is Krsna. . . . Just begin with it. You'll come out, one day, a saintly person, Krsna conscious.” It's so nice, practical.

Similarly, if a surfer chants Hare Krsna while waiting for a wave, while catching a wave, while riding a wave, or while wiping out, he can gradually perfect his human form of life. Otherwise, would you prefer to be a sardine or a squid?