I wonder why the most intelligent, as well as the most ordinary, brains get trapped in the play of ego? Intelligent people outsmart those around them. Since childhood, they get special treatment. Somehow they want to retain that "special treatment" wherever they go. An intelligent student outsmarts his friends and classmates in school. He gets VIP treatment from the teachers and even his friends. When he enters college, he finds many more intelligent students like him. By this time, he has already become so attached to the self-image of being intelligent and a topper that he is not able to bear the pain of being second. He joins the race and, depending on his capacity, develops a winning formula. If he has the capacity to defeat everybody around him in the competition, he will do that. Otherwise, he either grudgingly accepts defeat or uses cheap methods like the "Silencer" of 3-Idiots. Competition doesn't stop there; it carries over to the organisation, family, and society. "Self-image" of being outstanding remains the driving factor behind social behaviour in almost all situations.
By contrast, the ordinary student wants to pass somehow. He has no big targets to achieve. Fear of failing drives his actions. He does not want to achieve; rather, he wants to retain what he has. He fears losing that "glory" because he doesn't see himself as a failure. When he enters college, he somehow wants to get the degree. In placements, he somehow wants to get a job. In organisations, family, and society, he wants an easy, comfortable life.
Is the first life better than the second? Of course, yes. Achievers inspire society. They take society to the next level. Is it so? Did Ravan take society to the next level? He was a champion of almost everything. He was so brave that he defeated even Indra. He did such a great penance that even Shiva had to agree to come with him. A great singer, poet, and knower of the Vedas. He had all types of Astras and Shastras. He championed the first category in almost all aspects. Then why do we publicly condemn him every year on Dussehra? Why is a champion being so ridiculed? Is it just because he kidnapped Sita? Is that the sole vice?
I feel that it is all about the centre of life. "Silencer" may acquire thousands of skills, but his centre of life has always been to glorify his "self-image" of being more intelligent and successful than others, including Rancho. Rancho's life was always centred around exploration and love. We may become champions of any domain, but if the centre remains ego, we will never experience love. We may have working arrangements like Duryodhana and Karna, where two or more form an alliance to fulfil their individual ambitions, but these alliances will not survive once one's ambitions grow too large. What we consider to be "love" in this world is mostly just a tool used by "ego" to hold on to somebody to feel safe, to be a well-wisher of another because ego has extended its existence to that other, or to help somebody because ego feels that it will get some tangible or intangible reward, in this birth or the next, by doing that. Either way, ego remains the centre.
One can't experience love unless truth, and nothing less than truth, is the centre. That requires awareness. Awareness of the whole. At least awareness of limited being limited. One can see the limitations of the limited. One can see that comfort is temporary; all materialistic objects have their expiry date; respect is just a bargain, and there are well-defined rules of give and take; intelligence is overpriced and most stupid and brutal things are done in the name of intelligence; possession is being sold with the brand name of "love"; winners stand alone; achievements are quite depressing. When one sees through all the limited frameworks, one gets to connect to the "absolute". Once somebody tastes purity, nobody can sell spurious products with advertisement or branding. Krishna can see through. That's why he will not be guided by anything less than love. Love that connects at a much deeper level than the labels. He loves the world so much that he would happily become the Saarathi of Arjun to give the world the message of the Bhagavad Gita. When someone connects to the purity: love, freedom, exploration, and compassion, there is no target, no achievement, no fear of losing anything. There is no give and take. There is just natural expression of the self, the complete being, and not the hollow ego.
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