On the nature of success

There have been numerous attempts to define success. This is what Wikipedia, arguably the largest online encyclopedia, has to say about success (1) - attainment of higher social status, achievement of a goal, the opposite of failure (in this particular order). The last of the three definitions seemed to be a rather queer way of defining success. This probably mirrors the popular perception that success is the  absence of failure. It is commonly acknowledged that success means different things to different people, though a good section of the Indian populace have pathetically narrow conceptions of success and betray an unwillingness and rigidity to expand their worldviews. The quintessential Indian parent has an unshakable faith in the infallibility of the IIT-MS_in_US and the IIT-IIM combinations in churning out "successful" individuals and it would be downright sacrilegious to suggest even the slightest deviation from this divine path. The rest of the post sketches my Utopian dream of an ideal perception of success.

J.K Rowling, the famous author and mother of the fictional boy wizard Harry Potter, expressed in one beautiful sentence the role of failure in life -  

"It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all – in which case, you fail by default."  (2)

A rigid dichotomy between success and failure governs societal perceptions. The human mind struggles to see success and failure in the same spirit. As Sri Aurabindo holds, reason divides and separates (3). In the womb of every failure is hidden the potentiality of a success, and behind every success lurks a failure that spurs greater success. Lives of giants attest this selfsame fact and there is even a tinge of melancholic euphoria (a beautiful phrase that I came across recently) associated with such stories - what sacrifices and apparent failures lie behind that phenomenal success! If only we could remove the veil of superficiality that envelopes our perceptions, to what great heights might not our minds soar!

In the following discussion it would be expedient to rope in the idea of travel and compare it with the road to success. Success is like a souvenir that you collect as you travel. Remember that you do not travel to procure souvenirs, nor do you stop travelling having pocketed a particularly costly one. You continue to travel not because you wish to buy more, but to explore further. The joy is in discovery. At each new destination you collect a new souvenir. Though you fondly cuddle your souvenirs in silent retrospection, it is the experience and learning that preceded the purchase that you respect the most. Incontrovertibly travel is loads more fun than the souvenir. Each time you look at it, your heart will skip a beat and your mind will undoubtedly rejoice at the great experience. What a  wonderful trip! Never will it proclaim, looking at the souvenir – what a great purchase this was, so lovely and much costlier than what my neighbour managed.

To conclude the analogy, travel as much as you wish, pick up many a souvenir on your way but let that not be your goal, for travel will then become a burden. The world has not seen a traveller who has had this as his goal, the reason being that each one who has succeeded knows how invaluable the path that led him to success actually is. He who knows not this profound secret has not tasted success or is under a trance: the magnificence of the treacherous souvenir beguiled him so much that he has permitted it to entrust him into the hands of complacence. Entrenched in his inflated ego, he flounders in the dark. Let the Divine find this wretched being and deliver him from the curse that he has wrought upon himself.

PS : Needless to say, I am quite aware that I would in all probability be tagged a hypocrite in days to come, at which point even I may not be able to deny that allegation. This piece has been addressed to my ideal self and the general reader may completely deny my ramblings. We shall agree to disagree.

Let thy will be done

பின் குறிப்பு : இந்த Post என் son கார்த்திக் எழுதியது.இதைத் தமிழ்ப் படுத்தவே முதலில் எண்ணினேன்.ஆனால் எழுதுபவர்களின் spirit , translation ல் miss ஆகிவிடும் என்பதால் அப்படியே publish செய்யப் பட்டுள்ளது.