What is competition? Why does It happen?

Competition, a Racecourse!

Param Pujya Dada Bhagwan compares competition with a racecourse, meaning horse racing. His following words are very thought provoking to understand what is competition in reality!

Questioner: Why those who have attained are anxious to attain more, and those who have not are anxious for attaining it?

Dadashri: Here, the talk is about attaining what?

Questioner: It’s about attaining monetary gain. It’s about attaining materialistic gain. Those who have attained materialistic gains are anxious to attain more, and those who have not attained are anxious for attaining it, why is it so?

Dadashri: People want to get into a racecourse. Horses run in a racecourse, which horse gets a prize there?

Questioner: The one that comes first.

Dadashri: So, in your city, which horse is number one? The one who came first in the racecourse, what is its name? So, all horses keep running and they pant so much, but none get to the number one. And in this world also, no one has got the first rank. People have got into an unnecessary race! Pant and pant and gasp to death! And only one shall get the prize! Therefore, it is not worth getting into this race. We of our own should keep doing our work peacefully. Should render all our duties. But it’s not worth getting into this racecourse! Do you want to get into this racecourse?

Questioner: We’ve come into the world, so we will have to get into the racecourse, isn’t it?

Dadashri: Then run, who’s saying no? Run as much as you can! But we are telling you that render your duties properly and render them peacefully. At eleven o’clock night, check whether everyone has gone to sleep or not? So, we know that people are asleep. It means we should also go to sleep and stop running around. People have gone to sleep, and we alone, for no reason, are running around, how’s that? What is it? It’s the trait named greed, that is bothering.

Competition Arising from Comparison

Competition always happens between peers, which sheds more light on what is competition. If one is a mason, his comparison happens with the other masons, and if carpenter, then his comparison happens with the other carpenters. Comparison of a doctor happens with the other doctors, an engineer with the other engineers, a student with the other students of his own grade. Hey! Even a street dog does not do anything when a buffalo passes through his road, does nothing even when the elephant passes; but if another dog passes, he barks and barks and creates havoc in the street! This is how, in competition, the two people who are at par come opposite each other.

It’s like on a highway, the cars are moving in traffic, and if someone happens to overtake our car and go ahead of us, it immediately pinches in our mind that he went ahead of me? If a truck passes by, nothing happens, if a cycle passes, even then nothing happens, but if it is another car, we immediately increase the speed of our car and overtake it, only then do we feel satisfied that I went ahead! But we never think, that on this road, millions of cars have gone ahead of us, why did competition not arise there? A lot of people in the past have met success prior to us; why is competition not arising with them? But if someone comes next to us, then as soon as our intellect shows adverse, competition arises!

The Root of Competition is Ego

This indicates why people compete. In competition, one playing the main role is ego. Ego is always into doing something or the other. “I do something, I move ahead a little, I become a little bigger”, and if nothing, then because of coming in contact with others, seeing others, “I become more successful than others” happens for sure, and competition is born. The ego wants to come up, wants to become the superior-most, wants to become special. If someone else’s skill is more and his own is less, then doing the comparison, one runs and runs so much that he then falls. It is said, “(When) the short goes along with long, he either dies or gets ill!”

When in competition, the ego goes mad or beyond control, the intellect goes adverse, and then it takes a terrible form. The big superpowers, the wars and the clashes between them are all born out of competition only. For example, behind the Mahabharata war, there was competition for attaining statehood and power. As a result, a fierce battle was fought and hundreds of people were killed.

A Distorted Form of Competition

There is no harm in advancing in a competition, but when one realizes that I do not have the strength to advance, he tries to move forward by breaking, cutting, knocking or stopping others. He does not have the qualities of superiority in himself, and hence, he breaks the superiority of the other person and tries to make him inferior than himself. “Hope he falls, so that I can come ahead!”, when such desire arises, only then he becomes superior, right?! One’s own line is not long enough, therefore, by shortening the other person’s line, he is trying to make his own longer. From this, jealousy takes birth.

Jealousy means envy, in which one cannot see others’ progress. Others become more successful, others have something more than us, or the other person is happier than us - not being able to bear this is called jealousy. Jealousy is a distorted form of competition.

The person whom one competes with is criticized behind his back, negative discussions about him happen, even his small mistake is highlighted beyond means, and one does not hesitate to take such actions.

Param Pujya Dada Bhagwan says that, “This criticism is the main characteristic of ego. It is a characteristic of competition, so criticism will remain.”