The Power of “Diez”

 

India’s greatest batsman and probably the best after Australian Legend, Donald Bradman, Brazilian Football legend Pele, 1986 World-cup winning Argentina’s captain and the flamboyant Diego Maradona, Italian great Roberto Baggio, and currently the man who is touted by many as the greatest footballer ever in the history of the game, Lionel Messi. They all were greats in their respective sports, but you know what’s common between them? Well, anyone can guess it!!! Yes, you guessed it correctly – they all donned No. 10 T-shirts!!!

The number 10 – is one of the most auspicious and audacious numbers in almost every mythology, every religion and every civilization in this world. Ten is the first number occurring in the number system which has a zero in it. It is also the first two-digit number in the number system. The number presents itself many a times in various religions ranging from the Hindus to the Mayans. Every religion has something which is 10 in number and is considered very auspicious. The number 10 has also a very marked significance in numerology. Let us see the importance of this number from the religious as well as from the numerological perspective.

Religious Beliefs:

• The Ten Commandments of Exodus and Deuteronomy are considered to be a cornerstone of Christianity and Judaism.
• In Hinduism, Lord Vishnu will take Ten different incarnations (of which, one, the Kalki incarnation is still left) for the destruction of the evil from this planet and restoration of “Dharma”.
• According to Jewish religion, a minimum of ten people are needed to open a Synagogue, the worship place for the Jews.
• Each year, in the Temple of Jerusalem, during the office of expiations, the great priest announces the name of God loudly and clearly, an exact 10 times.
• According to the Chinese tradition, men possess 10 souls: 3 superior souls, and 7 inferior souls.
• Earlier, the Christian peasants used to provide exactly one-tenth of their harvest to the ruler as an expression of divine right.
• This is interesting!!! In the past, the Roman year had only 10 months, beginning in March and finishing in December. The Romans divided these lunar months into three parts, which they called calends, nones and ides. (Remember something called “Ides of March”?)
• There are 10 various regions of the universe corresponding to the 10 various psychic parts of man.

 

Numerology:

• The number 10 is a holy number and a symbol of totality. The main reason for this is because it is the sum of the first four numbers and is also the total number of fingers on our hand.  Mathematician and scientist, Pythagoras, considered 10 as a symbol of universal creation. The reason bring that ten is the foundation of most counting systems and symbolizes the return to oneness or the beginning—after you count to ten on your fingers, you must start again.
• 10 is the symbol of matter (4) in harmony (6): 4+6.
• 10 is the sum of two 5’s. Hence it represents the two opposite current directions of the conscience: involution and evolution.
• According to a numerologist, the 1 is followed by 0 indicates the column and the circle, meaning the principle of male and female, and thus this symbol also refers to the Androgyny nature.
• According to Agriappa, “ten is called the number of all or the universal number, and the complete number marking the full course of life.” He also attributes 10 a sense of totality, the achievement, the return to the unit after the development of the cycle of the first numbers.

 

Hence, we see that there are many things which are ten in number in various religions, thus cementing the importance of the number. We also saw that the number is a prolific and versatile symbol, and is used to represent many things in numerology and symbology. No wonder the number is favorite among sport persons!!

The “Pele Goof-up”

Brazil’s all-time great footballer, Pele, has a very dramatic story on how he got his No. 10 T-shirt. In the 1958 World cup, the Brazilian Football Federation forgot to send the T-shirt numbers along with the player’s list. Hence, the FIFA assigned the number to the players randomly, and incidentally, Pele got No. 10. Brazil won that World Cup handsomely with Pele being the top scorer of the tournament with 6 goals. Hence the no. 10 stuck with Pele forever. In fact, it was Pele who made the No. 10 most famous among the footballers’ with Maradona and Messi following his footsteps.

The ritual of giving numbers to players in football started way back in 1928 in a match between Arsenal and Sheffield. Earlier, the playing 11 used to be given numbers from 1-11 starting with the goalkeeper (No. 1) and the main playmaker of the team was usually given the No. 10. Strikers were normally assigned 9 and 11. But in 1993, the EPL removed the stringent conditions on numbering of the players followed by Italian Serie A as well as Bundesliga.

In cricket, numbered T-shirts were first introduced in the 1995 World Series in Australia. It was the host team who first wore numbered T-shirts. After the retirement of Sachin Tendulkar, the BCCI was even thinking of retiring the No. 10 T-shirt along with him. There have been many incidences in football history with clubs taking the decision to retire the player number along with the player.

This is the power of the number 10. Numerologically, it stands out to be the most powerful number of all and the most repeated number in the various religious books like The Bible, The Bhagvad Gita, The Quran, etc. There has been a lot of research concerning the positive power of the number and how its use affects us practically. Ten, as in English or Diez as in Spanish or Dus, as in Hindi, hence is the most decorative, the most celebrated number of all.