We keep working on one or the other thing to get the desired reward. Work hard in the school to get good marks. Hard work to prepare for the competitive examinations to get a good university. Hard work at the university to get a good placement, Hard work in the office to get promotions. Helping others to get the title of "being good". To work against our wishes and listen to society to get social validation. Our entire life, we keep running after one or the other goal post, and all our efforts are targeted towards the goal post. Society places a lot of premium on efficiency. Organizations like employees who help them meet their targets. In most families, kids who help families fulfill their desires are the most "loved" ones.
We all have boarded buses, trains, and flights. When we are sitting inside them, there may be two ways of spending time there. First, we may be in a hurry to reach the destination and every jam, traffic signal or delay irritates us. We are so fixated on the destination that any and every delay is irritating. Second, we may enjoy the journey by looking out of the window. While traveling, I love to look around. It is so interesting to look at different shapes, colors, and movements of the clouds from a flight. The towns look like a spec of dust as if they have been shown their true significance. The sun appears so bright. While traveling by road, it looks so amazing to look at the trees as if they are equally eager to meet us and running towards us to welcome us. It is so interesting to watch the houses of different types and fields full of crops ready to be cut. When in a hurry to reach the destination, we close our attention and miss so many amazing things.
Similarly, when we are fixated on the outcomes of the work, we miss the joy of working. For example, writing this blog is such a joy. There is no destination. There is only the journey. Writing down about life and life experiences is such a joy. Whatever comes to my mind, I write and the more I write more things come to my mind. I wish I could keep writing the whole day long. Where is the need for any reward? It appears as if writing itself is the reward. The journey itself is the destination.
Why do we need a destination? What have people achieved after reaching their destination? What have people achieved after being well-known politicians, leaders, bureaucrats, or businessmen? They remain as hollow as they were when they started the journey. Probably much more because now they carry the burden of having seen the emptiness of the destination as well. Often they carry the weight of pretentions of having taken the right path. They have to preach the same path to their kids and others who follow them for advice. As if one is in great pain and can not even cry because strong people do not cry😊. I wish there was a "me too" movement of the people who have been deceived by the pretensions of society so that at least the next generations are able to do a course correction. I wish we all can understand that work itself is the reward. The journey itself is the destination. Life is the sum total of moments we live and if we spend 90% of our life in the journey, we live only 10% of our life. That's a very stupid way of wasting our lives. On the other hand, if 90% is enjoyed, it does not matter whether we reach our destination or not. Abhimanyu got killed while fighting the battle and Arjuna survived. What mattered most was how well they fought. Who won the battle and who lost it does not matter at all.
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