The result of competition and acquisition in the material world,
suppose you got that position you wanted,
you become very egoistic
that, “Oh, now I have this position”,
while in spirituality there is invertendo as I move higher and higher.
Evolution means working together in a group.
Devolution which is against evolution means
inter- competitiveness amongst the groups,
which means
individuals competing against each other,
which again perhaps may not suit the needs of capitalists
or a democratic society
or a society driven by egoism.
That does not mean that we are
philosophically against capitalism or democracy
or individuality. They are great
but we have to remember we are interconnected,
reinforcing happiness as well as unhappiness of each other
because of our thoughts and actions.
You know this Darwinian theory of adaptation
or evolutionary process through competition,
competition of the fittest, the strongest,
but humanity does not evolve through competition. I
It devolves through competition. It evolves only through cooperation.
Competing with our previous version is better.
Let us say if you have this 12.0 version of iOS versus 10.0 that was a few years back
and now you are looking forward to 14.0.
You are competing with yourself - 10 against 12 against 14.
But to arrive at 14, I will have to look at Microsoft also,
what creative products they have,
what artificial intelligence they have inserted in this program,
that is good, but not by having a devil or evil eye on Microsoft.
I can learn from my competitors;
I am not at crossroads with them. My attitude is of learning,
so when I have that it is not called competition,
it is I am learning from my big brother.
One has to become wiser I would say,
in understanding what you really want out of life.
The simple purpose of
human life to me is to do things better and better all the time.
Instead of competing with others
and frustrating myself in the process,
I should be competing with my personal achievements.
If I could play the flute yesterday
and there were clappings on the stage, you know
people were going gaga over my flute performance,
next time when I play, even if I play to the same vigour and interest,
I would still not be happy
because I would like to surpass my previous performance.
Would you call this ego? No.
But if I say, okay, I am going to do better than somebody else,
then it is ego arising out of competitive feeling.
It is precisely this competition arising
to prove yourself better than someone else
that creates tension.
When we are really competing with ourselves,
we are not stressed,
in fact, we are happier.
So the lifestyle I think
is suffering today because we are trying to compete with others
and if we are only competing with ourselves in achievement, then society will be a lot happier.
As the result of competition and acquisition in the material world,
suppose you got that position you wanted,
you become very egoistic that “oh, now I have this position”.
While in spirituality there is invertendo. As I move higher and higher,
my need to be recognized becomes lesser and lesser,
until we become one with the infinity and dissolve in infinity and you become infinity.
So in the material world, there is ego fulfillment
while in the spiritual world there is absolute dissolution of personal ego.
That is the beauty of the spiritual path.
Selfishness is one of the biggest causes.
Competitiveness is a second one.
But competition also has a root, its roots are in selfishness.
It is all about ‘I’, ‘me’ and ‘mine’.
And when I am facing this situation,
when I give dominance to ‘I’, ‘me’ and ‘mine’,
then this togetherness is lost.
We have been asking one fundamental question,
what is the purpose of this life?
Do not break your head over it; you will never find the right answer.
But the most appropriate feeling that arises in my heart,
that life has only one purpose, to excel in every situation.
I must be able to excel in every situation.
I am not in competition with Mr. X or Mr. Y,
I am in competition with myself.
I must do something.
Whatever I did yesterday, I should be able to do it today, much better.