Redefining Competition.

Competition is a buzz word today. Be it any aspect of life, everyone wants to compete with their competitors to reach the top of ladder. In this blog we will try to look competition from different view point.

First, we will look at competition for a student. Take a common conversation between child and parent after the result of  final examination.

Child: I got 90% in the final examination.

Parent: XYZ’s son has score 92%, ABC’s son has scored 95% in examination. Why did you score less than them?

Despite scoring 90% in examination, parents are not happy. The child is scolded because he has scored lesser mark than his friends or child of parent’s friend. This undue expectation from beginning might be detrimental to his overall career and life in the long run.

It needs to be remembered that not everyone can score first rank in school. Student should be encouraged to work hard in studies and let the result follow automatically.  Parents should concentrate at the effort of their children being in the right direction irrespective of the result. They need to intervene should there be any negligence in their effort.

There is uniqueness in every individual .Parents should  not compare their children with anyone else. He might have scored less in examination from XYZ’s son but he will be better than him in ten other activities. (Painting, Dance, Writing etc.). Also, if there is a unique talent pursue them to take up that hobby.

If Ajit Tendulkar would not have taken a young child to Ramachand Achrekar, world would have not seen the cricketing legend in the name of Sir Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar.

Fast forward to the profession life, everyone wants to reach the top of corporate ladder using short cuts. (Undermining other’s achievement, taking undue credit etc. to name a few). They want to compete with their colleagues in every aspect and want to emerge superior come what may. These shortcuts may be successful in short term but will not bear fruits in the long run.
Remember, it would be your talent, perseverance and hard work that will help you achieve your goals and reach to the top in the long term. You should be unfazed by the competition around you. As long as your attitude is right, you are working hard and true to your potential, results would be taken care of.

In nut shell, we are over fazed by the word competition. The person with whom we want to compete will keep on changing as we achieve more success in life and we create a vicious circle of never ending competition with our ever changing competitor. This process will lead to unhappiness in life. The best person with whom you want to compete would be Self and this competitor will always be constant throughout the rest of your life. Just try to be better person than what you were yesterday and rest all would be taken care of J

(It’s purely my opinion and is not meant to hurt anyone.)

Soul and Body

We often assume the body and soul to be one and same. However these two are totally different concepts.  Let’s  try to differentiate between body and soul. Soul is part of god inside us and has nothing to do with this materialistic world. The body belongs to this world and all our needs are demanded by body.

We often say I am going to office; I want to eat; I am hungry. Let’s look at the significance of I.  I refer to our body and not soul. Our existence is defined by the combination of body and soul. But we are so much engrossed with the needs of body that we forget the sheer existence of our soul.

A person is known by his name. Once he dies we refer the person by body and not name. We say the body needs to be burnt. The body dissolves in the panch tattva Water, Air,Fire,Earth and space after death.

Do we ever realize what happen to our soul? The soul cannot be burnt; cut; suffer any decay. The five forces of nature have no influence on soul.The soul is permanent or unchangeable. It is indestructible, incombustible and insoluble. After death the soul take residence in a newer physical body.(not necessarily human being ) This is called rebirth.

So when this rebirth is stopped? When the soul meets god; human being is freed from endless cycle of life and death; this is called salvation.[moksha].

The bigger question is how to achieve moksha. There are lots of theories around it. However by way of action (karma yoga); knowledge ( gyan yoga) and devotion (bhakti yoga) one can achieve moksha in this human life. However it is up to individual to find his own way to achieve moksha.

Imagine there are 8.4 million species and it’s only in human life one can attain salvation. This very fact underlines the importance of getting birth in human life. The objective of human birth according to bhagwat geeta is to attain salvation. However the materialistic world, aspirations,relations force us  to give importance to body only and forget entirely about soul leave aside attaining moksha. If we succeed in withdrawing our senses and look inwards; we might feel presence of soul.At least we need to see our self as a soul with body rather than a body with soul.

Redefining Happiness

Let’s look at different reasons for people being unhappy. The possible reasons could be 1. comparing their lives with their cousins and friends 2.not meeting their high aspirations .3.worrying about things which are beyond their control. Let’s look at each of them now.

People often compare their lives with their  friends, cousins; neighbours, etc and are not happy with their life. We compare the brands of phone, watches, etc with others and  feel dissatisfied with ourselves.

To me looking at people who are below us in terms of standard of living and taking a cue from them looks like a  possible solution. Let’s see the logic now.

Only 15 percent of the Indian population  have access to mobile internet. People in rural areas don’t have access to  basic amenities such as electricity, bathrooms; forget about broadband. Still, they are surviving in spite of all these issues. I am not saying that you  live like them but by comparing your life with theirs you will feel satisfied with whatever you have. (You are lucky to have access to electricity, broadband, etc and are amongst the top 10 percent of the Indian population in many ways.)

The below quote can be followed as well “If the grass looks greener on the other side, stop comparing and complaining; start watering the grass you are standing on"

Buying a branded product just because your friend has bought it may give temporary happiness but it will lead to self deterioration in the larger scheme of things as the comparison would be never ending.

People aspire for materialistic things and feel unhappy for not meeting them. Will the materialistic aspiration ever end? iPhone 5 becomes outdated on the launch of iPhone 6 and so on. You will fall into vicious circle.How do you overcome this? Let’s differentiate between need and luxury.Smart phone is a need whereas high end phone is luxury. Its easy to enhance the standard of living at peak of your earnings but difficult to reduce it.

The other aspect is climbing up the ladder in professional life. In that you need to aspire to become the likes of dhirubhai ambani, steve jobs, etc. Here you need to aspire bigger .But one need to ensure that the feet are always on the ground irrespective of the height achieved. Such a combination (professional success with feet on ground) is a rarity and will get you more love and respect than ever. Both Sachin and Warne were two gem of cricketers but Sachin gained more respect because of his off field behavior.

Let’s look at a classic example of worrying about things beyond our control. We all are worried about salary hikes, bonus, promotions, etc.However, the things which is in our control is our performance - doing work meticulously. If at all you need to worry, get worried about these and the rest (bonus, hikes) will be taken care of.

The human life is God’s best gift to mankind and we should be happy with the precious things we have got. Even if you have other reasons to feel dissatisfied (destiny like  accident; death) remember “even the darkest night will end and sun will rise in the sky”. Smile; stay happy;none of the situation is permanent.

(It’s purely my opinion and is not meant to hurt anyone.)