Success : Conceit :: Analysed

Success : Conceit :: Analysed

When we achieve success, accomplish something, or do something worthy of credit, we become happy. For some, that happiness goes even further, to the point of elation. So far, it is perfectly natural. But when the same achievement, accomplishment or attainment—which we popularly call success—fills our state of mind with conceit and hubris, its very nature changes.

People then begin to move away from you. They may approach you when they have some compulsion to do so, but not out of their own volition.

Of course, it is always important to bear in mind that true success lies in humility. True success is that which benefits others more than oneself. An achievement without humility is like a flower without fragrance. Such an achievement, once the moment of success has passed, can make you an object of ridicule and even a joke.

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Upon ultimate analysis, we find that any success or achievement—whatever its standard, quality or nature, whether in our own eyes or in the eyes of others—is not the sole property of the person who is credited with it.

It is the result of the contributions of many—contributions that may not usually be seen by the majority of people and may even be ignored by the person credited with the so-called success. It is the support and efforts of those who, knowingly or unknowingly, play their part in making that success a reality in the eyes of others.

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A deeper analysis will reveal that, strictly speaking, in the name of success, we do not create or build everything from nothing. We process, transform, or convert what already exists from one form into another, through our knowledge, training and skill—and that is it.

Everything is already there in nature. That which we claim to have invented, built or discovered is, in one form or another, composed of what nature has already provided. Look at anything around us and we find it made from air, water, fire, earth and soil—the Panchatattva that constitute nature.

Even our own body is made up of these five elements. Then, what to speak of the other creations of human beings, whose constituent elements were already there before our intervention?

If the ultimate Creator does not claim credit for all His creations, then where is the room for human creation to turn into hubris or conceit?

— R.R.P.