Is it worth entering a Race Course?

Is it worth entering the ‘Racecourse’?rnFrom the moment we begin to comprehend the world irrespective of where we are born or live, we consciously or subconsciously compete. We experience competition in every aspect of our lives – at work, school, college and even in our homes. rnWe compete: •for our children to achieve the highest grades to try to enlist them into the best schoolsrn•at work amongst our peers to strive for a promotion •at sports to be the fastest, fittest and strongest •at home to show we are the better parent or sibling. There is in fact nowhere in our lives where there is no competition. Society asserts that competition, something instinctively part of being a human, is positive as it brings out the best within us. The prize for winning is self-esteem and a sense of pride and superiority. For those that lose they feel saddened, defeated, unconfident and sometimes resentful towards the winner. For the winner to maintain being at the top takes an enormous amount of energy and effort – and inevitably the winner is replaced by someone else eventually. rnIn the words of Parma Pujya Dada Bhagwan, “Even if one comes first today, he will indeed come last someday.” For example, no sportsman or sportswoman can remain at the top forever; someone who is younger or fitter inevitably beats them. Similarly, in our lives, even if our child excels academically, he will probably not be able to excel in sports or someone will eventually surpass him or her. Alternatively, if you are promoted to the highest rank of a company, you will find another manager in another company who possesses a higher rank than you do! So the quest for competition is endless and can never be fulfilled. So what do you gain by competing? •You spend all your time and energy trying to prove you are better than someone else. •If you do win, it is only temporary and you attract jealousy and other negative thoughts from other peoplern•If you lose you continue to feel miserable and unworthyrn•Your constant striving to compete only results in friction and clashes even at home – everything is about how you can change yourself or others around you so that you can be the best! So ask yourself, ‘Is it really worth the effort?’ •If you chose not to compete, you could appreciate what you have and not what you do not have. •You will experience peace and serenity within you, which will profoundly change the atmosphere in your work and at home. •You will spend your energy and time on things that are significant to you, not on trying to get to somewhere. •Like climbing a mountain, you will begin to enjoy the journey. It is not just about reaching the summit; it is about enjoying the scenery around you whilst you are climbing to its peak (which you may never ever achieve.) Instead of competing, you could experience freedom from the negative emotions that arise due to competition: •Anger and resentment for those that are better than yourn•Pride of having beaten othersrn•Freedom from the fear of being deceived by othersrn•Greed of wanting to have everything at the expense of others, even if they suffer rnYou should focus instead on competing and bettering yourself. For true peace of mind, you could strive to better yourself not in terms of what you have achieved, but what you can change within you so that you can better serve others. When you do this, you will realise that you only compete out of a sense of ego. Once you realise your true Self – your pure Soul, which is separate from your emotions and your body, you will become aware that the horse race of life is the one that you have experienced over many lifetimes and it is a race, which only brings pain and misery. The only competition worth winning is the one that achieves liberation – the freedom from the perpetual cycle of birth and rebirth!! Everything else is fruitless and ultimately involves suffering! In the words of Param Pujya Dada Bhagwan: “People suffer because they compete. They enter competitions. Just watch the competition; you have to simply ‘see’ which horse comes first. Those who enter a ‘racecourse’ have to suffer the pain. So, it is not worth entering a ‘racecourse.’” Please visit https://www.dadabhagwan.org/path-to-happiness/self-help/competition-in-daily-life/no-competition-please/