Can talent help you solve all equations in the arithmetic of life?
Ever come across a problem that your talent cannot solve? Do people hate you even though you are talented?
Sometimes talent that has helped you gain the greatest accolades in life, becomes a hurdle for accolades in relationships. Very often, the most talented people are the most lonely people too.
While talent is enough to deal with 'the world', a good attitude is mandatory to deal with 'your world'. While talent is useful in handling things and projects, good attitude is useful in handling people and relations. While talent moulds our actions, attitudes mould our reactions. While talent is like rain given by god, attitude is like a farm cultivated by man. While talents are like an air pump that bloats up the ego, good attitude is a meter gauge that keeps the ego under check and prevents it from bursting.
In the Mahabharata, both Karna and Arjuna were equally talented but Krsna chose Arjuna because he had a good attitude. Success did not make him boast and failure did not make him lament. On the other hand, Karna boasted every instance about his superior skills and lamented every instance about his inferior birth. Karna used his talent as a means to shield his deep insecurities. Exhibition of talent is an expose of one’s weakness when the attitude behind it is negative.
A talented person is bound by the ropes of perfectionism. If he comes across an embarrassment (which is bound to happen at some point in life) in spite of his unlimited talent, he shrivels up with depression or bursts out with frustration. When Duryodhana fell into a pool of water which he mistook to be land and Draupadi laughed at his plight, the perfectionist in him could not hide his frustration.
A person who has a good attitude soars high like a kite through the thread of accommodation, though grounded in discipline. Even if he comes across a disappointment or a setback that his talent cannot tackle, rather then press the panic button, he turns on the cooling shower of acceptance. After the Mahabharata war, when Krsna was cursed by Gandhari, the accommodationist in Him accepted the change with grace.
Life moves on without talent but relationships wither without the right attitude. We will never be appreciated for the rigidity that self-absorbing talent brings along, but will attract others with the flexibility that altruistic good attitude inculcates. Is this why Arjuna loved Krsna so much? Krsna had the talent to teach and train Arjuna, but He also had the right attitude and flexibility to allow Arjuna to make his own decisions.
No perfectionist can perfectly overcome imperfections. Better to mould oneself to be an accommodationist who can be grateful in the presence of his perfections knowing that they are products of god’s benevolence. He is further accommodative of his shortcomings knowing that they are opportunities to exhibit flexibility and a chance for him to depend on other people and thus access their love.
Comments