Back in the times of Mahabharata, Arjun in his kingdom used to hold different competitions to promote quality consciousness amongst his people.
Of all, his favourite was the competition amongst farmers. He observed that there was a farmer who grew superior quality and award-winning wheat and won honour & prizes every year consistently.
One day, Arjun decided to talk to the farmer to know the secret. On talking, he discovered one interesting fact that, the farmer shared his wheat seeds with his neighbours.
Astounded Arjun asked the farmer, “How can you afford to share your best wheat seeds with your neighbours when they are entering in competition with you every year?”
“Dear Lord,” said the farmer, “The wind picks up pollen from the ripening wheat and swirls it from field to field. If my neighbours grow inferior, sub-standard and poor-quality wheat, cross-pollination will steadily degrade the quality of my wheat too. If I want to grow good wheat, I must help my neighbours grow good wheat too.”
Arjun was impressed with the farmer and showered him with gifts. The farmer gave a superb insight into the connectedness of life.
“His wheat cannot improve unless his neighbour’s wheat also improves.” Such an important lesson for today’s modern world too.
In today’s world of competition, in their struggle for survival, people are reluctant to share their knowledge and skills with others as they crave for their own name, fame and wealth.
But as the saying goes, “Man is not an island all by himself, He is a piece of the continent.” Every human is a part of the social fabric and creation of society is in such a manner that all living entities must co-exist and co-operate with each other for smooth survival.
Without understanding this fact, when we try to compete among ourselves we tend to fail maintain the ultimate quality of life.
Consider an example of a bullock cart, if one of the wheels chooses not to co-operate with other wheels, the cart cannot move smoothly. Even our own body is a conglomerate of various internal & external organs, bodily systems, blood, plasma etc. If one of the organs of our body fails to perform smoothly, entire body function gets affected.
We as humans, should apply this principle to all dimensions of our lives. If we wish to be happy, successful or at peace, we must help our family members, peers, neighbours and colleagues to be at peace.
The same holds good with the concept of sharing our knowledge and skills. It helps in building a better workplace, family, nation and society as a whole by increasing the quality of people’s lives. Our future generations would get the best environment to become the best only if everyone is enlightened and knowledgeable.
There is a beautiful verse in Bhagvad Gita which goes as follows,
न च तस्मान्मनुष्येषु कश्चिन्मे प्रियकृत्तम: |
भविता न च मे तस्मादन्य: प्रियतरो भुवि ||
Lord Krishna states here that he considers the sharing of the knowledge as the highest loving service one can render to God.
He propagates that, among all the gifts we can give to others, the gift of knowledge is one of the highest, because it has the capacity to transform the recipient eternally.
Dear folks, let us contribute to the society around us by sharing good thoughts, love, happiness, knowledge and all that can make the world a better place to live. What goes around will definitely come back with added abundance!
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