Does Your Number Really Matter?

Numbers and the rat race

As an academician by profession, my days revolved around assessing students based on their scores, calculating grade points, number of students placed with a mutually acceptable pay package, interspersed with tallying my own publications and proceedings, counting number of research projects, and so on. Our life begins with a number, grows with numbers, driven and dreamt by numbers and the number crunching cycle ends with a number too, in terms of keeping the number of bequests for our progenies, toward ensuring a fulfilling intergenerational equity.

At individual level in the personal and professional space, as well macro or organizational level, we are often compelled to do a lot of things, merely to serve the compliance requirement of ticking across the boxes to ensure a to do or check list is adequately representing the respective requirements of digits. We are in an inertia of motion, constantly in an increasing velocity in the never ending rat race, whilst chasing the number game and sometimes becoming intolerant and unrest toward achieving the magical numbers of life, either be it in raising pay packages, raising the physical and psychological barriers to reduce number of competitors, more often than not to safeguard the insularity around our inefficiency, or toward a relentless and heartless pursuit toward increasing the number count of extended marketplaces for our economy to grow and prosper, by acquiring the territorial boundaries from neighbors. While we are engaged in this battle of numbers, we become myopic, obstinate and illogical, in the process, compromising with our value system, ideals, belief, faith and conscience and remaining in an ignorant state, oblivious of the consequences that our actions or inactions would be leading us to the future.

Numbers and the opportunity for Self-reflection

Life is short, so let us keep it sweet and simple, without being meddled by numbers. This is the time to give a pause, introspect, look at our innerselves and then set a goal for ourselves with a long-term vision, which should be a balance between the three fulcrums of life, truth, righteousness, and humanity. Life is not about the accumulation of certificates, grades, mark sheets or transcripts, it is not about the number of degrees and diplomas in our bagful of scholastic achievements. It is also not about the chase to hop from one job to the next, earning higher and higher incomes, often compromising on the innate principles and value system of being a good Samaritan. In this journey of life where numbers reign supreme, we often ignore or remain unmindful of the bliss of spending time with family and friends, enjoying the tranquillity of nature or being a caregiver for family and society. As we sail on our voyage, let us take all aboard who are otherwise incapable of facing the strong headwinds in the trials, tribulations, and tides of life. We should learn to connect the triads of physical, mental, and spiritual dimensions of life. This shall converge toward an apex point of ultimate reality, which can be realized as Brahma. We the offspring of the Supreme, Eternal power who has the potential to arouse that supreme knowledge (Brahma jnana) in us.

Action speaks more than a thousand words

It is time to buckle up the shoes and wear our hats. Time for a call to action. Let’s invite the academicians, policy planners and think tanks to ponder over this issue so that the inherent good traits of the human value system could be ingrained in our children right from the tender age to create an eco-system for them to practice these qualities. They should be able to finely balance the allure of quantity over the quality. We should try and set examples of good deeds and the nobles of yesteryears so that they will have the confidence to walk on their chosen path of truth, no matter how long and how arduous the path might be. It is always the path less travelled that makes a difference. Ultimately, Truth alone Triumphs. Satyameva Jayate, today, tomorrow and in perpetuity. Eventually, our younger generation and our progenies will identify and relate value more to content than to mere numbers, more on quality than on quantity. Our generation next will definitely be on the guided path to acquire real knowledge to arouse their originality, creativity and innovation for the peace and the equitable well-being of the human race across continents, as it transcends time and enters an era of timelessness.