being better than somebody, if it's a pleasure for you, I call that sickness, it is not success (Applause).
We call this education, we call this competition, we call this society.
the important thing is, for what you have come with, will you blossom to the fullest human being or not
That's all that needs to be taken care of even for a human being,
Questioner 3: My question is on competition and as most of the students here would know
LSE has a very intense culture of competition,
and a lot of the students who come here have always been at the top of their class.
And once they come here they continue to….
Sadhguru: How can everybody be at the top of their class (Some Laughs)?
What does it mean? They sit there (gestures towards the gallery).
Questioner 3: (unclear) all different classes.
Sadhguru: Oh.
How can everybody be at the top of their class?
Only one person is at the top of the class, isn’t it?
That’s how I understand the top.
Questioner 3: Yeah, but once they come here, they're not the top anymore because
everyone used to be at the top so,
that kinds of disappoints them a bit.
Anyway, so once they come here, there is a big culture of competition and
there's a lot of comparison that takes place
whether it's comparing grades, achievements, internships, everything.
I myself for example, I am not a very competitive person, I don't really engage in that with others.
But being in this hyper competitive environment I sometimes question myself,
should I be more competitive?
So, my question for you is, what is the meaning of competition both for individuals and society?
And does competition make us grow and evolve?
Or should we solely focus on ourselves?
Sadhguru: Those who do not have any sense of their own competence, will become competitive.
Because their only pleasure is being one step ahead of somebody else.
I am on top of the class, what does it mean?
And you say…
I have known this… when I was in school.
I went there only when it's really necessary (Some laugh).
So I remember, I don't know, maybe at this level you're not… but in schools, maybe it's still there.
I don't know the practice.
It always was a yellow colored card.
And every month this card is given to you, your report card.
And I see some children are strutting around because they are first, second something.
Some are sitting in some corner and crying, they're afraid to go home.
I don’t know what they got.
As far as I was concerned, it was given to me, I just took it and give it to my father.
I never once opened and saw
because I thought this was a transaction between the teacher and my father (Some Laugh).
I was not going to look into that.
And I was quite certain what would be there in it as far as the numbers are concerned,
because it was always six zeros (Some Laugh).
That I never wrote a single word in the test paper.
That was a rule for me.
But apart from the six zeros, the teachers wrote some literature in my (Some Laugh),
in my report cards, so I give it to my father, he opens it and he just blows up every time.
I just look at him what happened?
Because, why I'm saying this to you is,
being better than somebody, if it's a pleasure for you, you enjoy other people's failures, I call that sickness,
it is not success (Applause).
You as a life, you want to be at your fullest.
You have a right to be.
Every life in creation, from a worm, insect, bird, animal, even a plantain tree,
all striving to their best, isn't it?
You also, but why are you concerned whether somebody is behind you?
Why is that so pleasurable for you that somebody else is less than you.
From early kindergarten levels
this sickness has been brought into human mind which is causing so much unpleasantness on the planet,
such ugly situations everywhere, but we don't seem to learn.
So we've created schools where children have never graded.
We are looking at them as individuals, what we can do to evolve them to their fullest possibility.
Now the problem is this all life has happened like this.
What do you think?
You think a blade of grass is less important than an oak tree in the garden, hello?
You think so.
Only a fool would think so, isn't it?
Hello!
But that's what we're doing… that's...
We call this education, we call this competition, we call this society.
No, very stupid way of handling things.
Because, the important thing is,
for what you have come with, will you blossom to the fullest human being or not - this is the only question.
This doesn't need anything other than constantly nourishing the atmosphere, not even the person.
If you want a plant to grow, you don't do anything to the plant, you just take care
of the soil, the atmosphere, the ambience.
That's all that needs to be taken care of even for a human being,
that you need to take care of the atmosphere so that everybody finds the fullest expression for their life.
The moment you think you want to be better than somebody else, you've gotten sick in some way,
and this sickness has permeated into the world in a huge way,
and we think this is the way to become you know, to achieve something in our life.
So, if everybody is lame, you’re little faster, and you think you're doing fantastic.
You’ll enjoy other people's being… other people being crippled, yes?
Hello!?
If your entire life is always sitting on top of everybody else,
you will enjoy other people's incapabilities, isn't it?
This is not good for you.
This is definitely not good for humanity.