19th November 2024
According to the French thinker René Girard, “We unconsciously mimic the desires of others rather than engage in a process to identify & pursue what really matters most to us. Where instincts fail, we look to other people to show us what to want.”
In a thought-provoking lecture many years ago, British writer, Alan Watts told the audience:
“Students come to me & say, ‘We’re getting out of college & we haven’t the faintest idea of what we want to do.’
I always ask the question, what would you like to do if money were no object?
How would you really enjoy spending your life?
Students say,
‘we’d like to be painters,
we’d like to be poets,
we’d like to be writers,
but as everybody knows, you can’t earn any money that way.’
He went on to add, ‘Let’s go through with it, what do you want to do?’
When we finally get down to something which the individual says he really wants to do,
I say to him: you do that and forget the money.
Because if you say that getting the money is the most important thing you will spend your life completely wasting your time.
You’ll be doing things you don’t like doing in order to go on living, that is to go on doing things you don’t like doing, which is stupid.
Better to have a short life full of what you like doing, than a long life, spent in a miserable way.
After all, if you really like what you’re doing, it doesn’t matter what it is, you can eventually become a master of it and then you’ll be able to get a good fee for whatever it is.”
Therefore, it’s so important to consider this question:
What do I desire?
What you desire is the reason for which you get up in the morning.
Go, search for it.
And till you find it, keep looking and do not settle.
As Swami Vivekananda also said “Take up one idea, make that one idea your life; dream of it; think of it; live on that idea. Let the brain, the body, muscles, nerves, every part of your body be full of that idea, and just leave every other idea alone. This is the way to success.”
And if you are one who is still unsure about which game to even start playing, just get into any game you like and are reasonably good at, and then tinker around.
Keep learning, keep exploring, and you should find that one game that would become the only that you would like to be in.
I remember this beautiful poem composed by Harivansh Rai Bachchan, titled ‘Madhushala’ (tavern or house of wine) which I first read many years back.
A passage from the poem reads thus –
मदिरालय जाने को घर से चलता है पीने वाला,
‘किस पथ से जाऊँ?’ असमंजस में है वह भोला भाला,
अलग-अलग पथ बतलाते सब पर मैं यह बतलाता हूँ –
‘राह पकड़ तू एक चला चल, पा जाएगा मधुशाला।’
“Seeking wine, the drinker leaves home for the tavern.
Perplexed, he asks, “Which path will take me there?”
People show him different paths, but this is what I have to say –
Pick a path and keep walking. You will find the tavern.”
In fact, over time, you will realize, that your game itself will become your madhushala, your ‘summum bonum,’ your highest purpose.
Find your ‘Madhushala,’ Follow your passion & stay blessed forever.