Success

Prafulla Kumar Mohanty

Given a choice between peace and success, the hand of any sane man will rise in favour of success. Man would like to win, conquer, advance in life, get rich and richer, be powerful, gain accolades and wear the star studded crown. The self of a person must satisfy his ambitions, aspirations, wishes and realize all his dreams. Everyman is Utopian in his chosen or available field of operation. May be God has no wishes unfulfilled and therefore he can only grant and give. In any case the human believers have kept God in that absolutist position. The self of man chases that Absolute in his field of action. A clerk dreams of being the boss, a poet wishes to be greater than Shakespeare, a beggar desires to be Bill Gates and so on. There is nothing wrong with desires or dreams. And the world has so many rags to riches stories that doubts are at a premium. If a two bit corporal who loses his eyes in the First War could become the Fuhrer Adolf Hitler and a Chaibala could be Prime Minister Modi Why can't an ant ride the Pegasus? No quarrels. Man on earth has come to become somebody for the earth is a theatre of manifestations. Man must leave his print on the earth. He strives, perseveres, studies, researches, trains, thinks with single minded devotion. Arjun practised hitting targets in the dark nights. Great speakers practise before mirrors (so even do demagogues), singers practise all lifelong and soldiers train as do cricketers and footballers at all odd times. But the question is why don't they all succeed in equal measures?

All students of a great teacher do not succeed equally in their respective persuasions in life. Those who failed blame that unseen power- fate- and resign to themselves. Some of them take failure as a challenge and work hard with redoubled vigour. Yet success does not uniformly crown them. The saints and knowalls may say, something was amiss in their perseverance. What? Perhaps we do not know yet. Success however is not a guaranteed noun. But when we see a rapist, a murderer presiding over our destiny sitting in  a chair of power, we do wonder: how could this happen? How could a builder, a political novice become Donald Trump, the most powerful man in the 2020 world? How could Dhirubhai Ambani create his business empire rising up and up  from  very humble beginnings? Well, here is the trick of fate which defies logic. All seeds of the same species do not grow up to massive trees. Is something skewed with our logic of morality?

We have all been taught by teachers and great men that honesty, hard work and devoted pursuit of your goal someday or other will give you the taste  of success. Does it mean that those failed lacked in honesty of purpose and pursuit? Can we say that all rich corporates are honest ? All those who are successful in their fields are not men of infallible integrity. Many people like Bijoy Mallya and Nirav Modi cheat and pull fast ones to get rich and 'successful'. Shall we call these people successful and Leo Tolstoi a 'failure' for he was not awarded the Nobel Prize? My honest readers will judge.

In the same vein when I think of the lauded man who have carved their image on the hearts of people like Mahatma Gandhi, Lincoln and Churchill  are truly successful? Freedom at the cost of division of India definitely caused great  pain to Gandhi. And what has happened to successful Gandhi's India in his afterlife we know and experience. Philosophically there is nothing called success; it is at best valid for a period in history. Later Years make that success foggy by many analyses which are mind boggling. Moreover success is not unidirectional. A man like T.S . Eliot had no family life, no social life. Gandhi, Buddha and all those great men who had spectacular contributions towards mankind had to sacrifice many a comfort of daily life.       

For this reason people categorize success as material, social and spiritual. Material and social success can be measured although the yardstick may have different dimensions at different times in history. We remember Alexander, Napoleon for their  military success. If we do we must also remember their personal agony, of lovelessness and later ignominy. But can we say Timur and Gajani were also very successful as marauders and looters? Or the East India Company for that matter? No, for the values associated with their success are not prohuman. If humanity is pained or ashamed by one's success it is not worth a boot. If that is not true a man who succeeds  in killing a common enemy is also a great hero. The action of man or the fruits of action enjoyed   by a man are not the measure of one's success. On one level success is the pursued goal reached after a struggle of a lifetime: this success satisfies a self. On the other a man's work saves life and improves the quality of life  for all time. No man can claim to have achieved the success of the later kind. But success after a soulful effort is pleasing to the human being. If it is the realization of his personal ambition it is the fulfillment of his being. But if a man works for mankind's general peace and salvation he is the Son of God. But normal mortals measure success by their  bank balance or  power to do good things for others. At least this much success makes a life full and glorious.