What I do for living is more important than how much I earn

Money may be the husk of many
Things, but not the kernel
It brings you food, but not
Appetite
Medicine but not health
Acquaintances, but not faithfulness
Days of joy, but not peace or happiness

We are living at the dawn of an info-millennium. Our lives, powered by superb communication, fabulous electronic gadgets, powerful computers, speedy transport, and extraordinary healthcare, too have changed a lot; for the better or for the worse, it is debatable. Mouthwatering restaurants, fabulous supermarkets, refreshing beverages, magnificent multiplexes, gorgeous multiscrapers, cool outfits, splendid 3D games, movies loaded with special effects, excellent music, and beautiful books; have undoubtedly affected the way we make sense of this world we live in.

It appears that there is a kind of rat-race going on. Cut-throat competition exists in almost any field today. People have a lurking sense of insecurity; insecurity of getting a desirable job being the most prominent. But, simultaneously, people in India have a pervasive tendency to follow the crowd; they literally and not only metaphorically, act cowardly, they wish to play safe. The increase in number of software engineers reaffirms this phenomenon. Irrespective of one’s branch of engineering, the prospective engineer cares the least to make sense of what he learnt during these four years, he simply takes a software job and then life is decided; everything is over. It is the strong fear of failure that grips all of us, people do not want to experiment even things in which they have a high probability of success. What if I fail in this venture? What if I will come in the eyes of people, then I will be called a failure? People justify this by arguing that one should be pragmatic as well but in essence all these are defense-mechanisms, they are just the latent manifestations of their lust for materialism, their reluctance to do something novel, and their indifference to intrinsically interesting but not lucrative things. They are lured by this seemingly glamorized but inherently enigmatic and depraved world.

Take for example, why am I writing this essay? Is it because it can help me earn a lavish internship at one of the most prestigious college of the world or is it because it is about an issue which is close to my heart, about an issue which I feel so strongly about, which innervates my feelings.

It is true that every man is ambitious, everybody dreams of becoming a billionaire, wants fame, a big bungalow, a big luxury car, maids, servants, attendants, a fun-loving comfortable life. But, this crave for material benefits have deprived us. The world has become selfish and as Swami Vivekananda propounded, “One who is selfish is immoral”; the world has become immoral. Ends matter more to us than the means to achieve them. We forsake knowingly or unknowingly all our values (if any) and do not even question ourselves whether what we did was ethical or not; just our ends should be met.

Take a familiar setting like an academic setting. Grades/marks earned at the end only matters to us not the toil which we put in. We don’t acknowledge the effort our teachers have put in; we don’t try to appreciate how researchers have made marvelous discoveries and how tactfully they have invented wonderful gadgets. It is a selfish world, students read to get grades, teachers seldom put efforts and teach merely to complete the course, caring the least whether anybody is following their lectures or not. It is not that grades are not important, studying for grades is justifiable and is a reasonable benchmark to measure excellence but forsaking the valor, indifference to novelty, reluctance of finding trivial things on our own, cheating in examinations, copying assignments, bunking classes, the “Copy and Paste” culture; this is where futility creeps in. This was not the purpose of setting up these institutes of learning. Except the software industry, the research scenario in India is gloomy. We still look to other countries for technology. Why? It is because of the pervasive “Me Too” approach. Whatever novel ideas the scientists elsewhere generate, we wish to work on them rather than trying to think afresh. Whatever little research that is done, it is done not with the spirit of uncovering things and understanding phenomena but the ulterior motive is to publish because publishing papers will get more grants, more money to spend on. It is called the “Publish or Perish” phenomena.

In short, we have succumbed to this rat-race. Most of us are running so fast that we sometimes forget not only where we’ve been but also where we’re heading towards. We tend to dismiss those dreams of ours which are not in coherence with the rules of the world, following which can make us separated from this crowd, following which is not very lucrative. We don’t want to come out of the comfort zone. The thing is that we see, perceive and weigh everything with respect to its market value. Anything which is intrinsically interesting but doesn’t have a market value is immediately shunned. Unfortunately, most of our dreams and ambitions fall in these categories and are repressed. Everybody wants his/her child to be nobody but a doctor or an engineer or a MBA. Nobody wants them to be a painter, a scientist, a philanthropist, a social-awakener, Bhagat Singh, Gandhi. Why? To answer the cause of this attitude is straightforward. It is because money has sort of become like an anchor in our life. Today, the amount I earn decides my social status, it decides how broad my smile is, it decides the girl to whom I’ll get married and it controls the things I am interested in. People deliberately generate an interest in software engineering because this will fetch them money and money is the thing which only matters. No doubt, money is inevitable in one’s life but then it becomes futile after a threshold is achieved. Money in the need hierarchy, according to Abraham Maslow, a renowned psychologist can help us fulfill our basic physiological needs (hunger, thirst etc.) and some safety needs (needs for security, stability and order) but it seldom has a role to play in fulfilling our higher needs for self-actualization, our esteem needs and our belongingness and love needs Money can’t buy the happiness a scientist gets in conducting experiments; it can’t buy the satisfaction of helping a needy to cross the road; it can’t buy the flush of energy you feel when you are thoroughly engrossed in your work and realize that you have forgotten your lunch/dinner; it can’t provide you the contentment at the end of the day when you have put your level best effort to work out things; it can’t buy the pleasure of sketching/reading; it can’t buy you the zealous feelings during a morning walk; it can’t buy you the saturated state when you play with your full vigor; it can’t buy you the melody; it can’t buy you the sweet sleep at the end of the day. The truth is that life has its pleasures and beauty in small things, most of which are free- the fresh air, water, friends, smile and the list goes on. “Success is 99% perspiration and 1% inspiration”. The feeling of saturation when you put in your level best has no parallel. The guide is to listen to your heart’s call, introspect pragmatically whether your earnings if you choose your intrinsic interests will fulfill your basic physiological and security needs and then get set for work. A feeling of satisfaction after this resolution ensures the lighted path to bliss. It is because life is not a race, but a journey to be savored each step of the way. “Following what has meaning, soul, passion and spirit for you, following the dictates of your own awareness and blissfulness, trusting your own inner guru; and walking your talk” is the well-known law of two feet.

In a nut shell, choosing a job/path strictly on the basis of what the gains are and not taking into account one’s intrinsic interests are, is an irony. Some people may call it a pragmatic strategy but this is not a far-sighted strategy. It will create detrimental chaos at some point of time. This is a the reason behind the increasing number of suicides these days in the working class; the surge in number of people visiting psychologists reporting depression, dissatisfaction and frustration; the growing cases of corruption, scandals, forgery in our country.

If you had to look back on your life what would you remember?
The promotion? The performance bonus?
The plaque in the conference room?
It doesn’t take supreme intelligence to know what really matters.
And yet, you do little besides look in the distance and sigh.
Wouldn’t it be tragic to realize too late
That you didn’t see the trap, that you didn’t recognize
The two words that are the biggest curse of humanity…
Maybe someday?
It takes little to RECLAIM your life
Otherwise life would cut like a knife.