Rat Race

In Mahabharat, there were two great warriors: Arjun & Karn. There were no other warrior who could stand in front of these two greats. Both had proven their might to every other person except to each other. Therefore both believed they were better than the other and a claimant to the title of Greatest Warrior of All Times.

As normally happens, the scope of gaining significant competitive edge over close competitors is limited unless one of them aspires to be different with a unique strategy. Else they end up aspiring for an incremental advantage over the other which is soon covered up by the later.

Neither of the two had aspired to use their greatness for societal good. If they wished they could have brought immense glory to the society. Karn who came from the lowest strata of the society could have worked to uplift his fellow brethren, but he refused. Both Karna & Arjun were more focused in the rat race to outdo the other. In his desperation to prove his superficial greatness, Karn took a path, where he unwillingly became part of sinful acts like Chirharan (disrobing) of Draupadi and killing his own nephew Abhimanyu. And Arjun for all his claims of greatness could win over Karn with unethical means. Arjun defeated Karn when he was completely unarmed, his chariot was stuck and he had forgotten all his skills of fighting a war.

In contrast Krishna, the eighth avatar of Vishnu, was on a race with self. He was full in six opulence: strength, fame, wealth, knowledge, beauty and renunciation. There was no race for him in material world. Jarasandh attacked his kingdom again and again for over seventeen times. Krishna while defended his kingdom from each of the attacks, yet decided to build a new kingdom Dwarka far away in the middle of the sea to obviate future attacks. Instead of fighting more battles he preferred to be named as Ranchod (one who escapes from battlefield) than being in race with Jarasandh.

Recently, I noticed a similar phenomenon. Some of our colleagues commuted to office in car pool on daily basis. We normally used to drive at an average speed of 50km/ hr. One day someone in a AudiQ3 overtook us using some dangerous manoeuvres, almost hitting our car. We applied both the brakes to avoid a collision. The Audi thereafter vroomed ahead without even looking back. We continued our journey to office after abusing the driver of Audi initially. Driving for a while we noticed the same Audi stuck in a slow moving lane. Instantly it struck us that all the effort of being in a race couldn’t give the Audi any significant lead.

In a batch of executive MBA program at the top most institute in India, there were students from diverse background. Each had at least five years of work experience and the batch on an average had experience of over ten years. Some were there to learn something new, some to build network and some to make productive use of evening time. All were well accomplished, infact most had achieved the bottom three layers of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs i.e. physiological needs, safety Needs and the need for love and belongingness.

This batch comprised of people who were super successful when looked from the eyes of 99% of the populace. They had flats, luxury cars and cushy jobs. However, there were some who still could not overcome the urge of being better than the gentleman sitting next. There were some who aspired to be among the top three in the institute, some who wanted to be topper in the specific campuses one belonged to, while there were others who wanted to be best among the small group of friends that they had formed. One thing common across them, was simmering rat race. They had the bests of the world but peace which is the ultimate goal of all the achievements.

Not all were same, there was one Mr N, least bothered about scores, doesn’t mean he didn’t get good scores. But he was far above these material things of life. While everyone was busy discussing studies, exams etc everything related to academics, he would come out every alternate day with a selfie standing behind an exotic scotch in glittering glasses. Glendfiddich being the lowest in his hierarchy of drinks. He was someone who truly epitomised the purpose of life, that, it is meant to be enjoyed in its fullest. Never seen him bothered about academics, as if it happened to him in automatic mode. There was one more of his kind, Mr B. Once in a week, he would drop a selfie in dimly lit background with his royal peg and chicken starters. These people had immunity from all forms of rat race except, being in the pursuit of peace and happiness which was more inward driven than from the periphery.

The life in a rat race is like the life of the king which rested in the heart of a parrot in his home. In other words they lent their happiness and joy in someone else’ hands when it ought to reside in us. If they excel over others then they were happy else sad. At times such race helps in improving self, but there is huge price attached to it. Like parasites and termites it weakens us from within and drains our energy. It is a thief which steals, our joy and happiness. We often forget that we are boundless and sky is the limit, but we end up limiting our horizon & vision of growth by looking at the neighbour.

Moreover we are not rats to be in race with another rat. We deserve to be in a race of improving self every minute, every hour and every day. A race of being happier than we were yesterday. A race of spreading more happiness than we did yesterday. A race of bringing more smile to the faces around than we did yesterday.

We are Lions and deserve to be in race with a Lion alone i.e. SELF.