25th July 2012.

After the passing away of the Super star Rajesh Khanna, there appeared in a particular site the following question that came for the public voting. The question naturally was Who is the greatest Super star of Bollywood Rajesh Khanna or Amitabh Buchan? To my mind, this is an absurd question. Why should one compare one man with the other and for what purpose? Who is finally benefited out of such comparison? Out of such voting, will Rajesh Khanna lose his stardom or Amitabh gain ten million pounds? I am sure, even Amitabh will be very much against such a format, such a comparison. But the world is very much after this kind of a comparison. It goes on comparing every incident, every place, every person and every situation with similar ones.

See some of the following examples. Is Bradman or Sachin the greatest batsman that the world of cricket has ever produced? Is Rafi greater than Saigal? Doesnt Mukeshji also hold a rank along with them? Is Einstein the last word in the area of theoretical physics? What about Stephan Hawking? Is Newton greater than Einstein? Out of the Victorian poets, who can be considered to be the best- Keats, Shelly or Wordsworth? Considering various aspects, which was a better civilization Harappa or Egyptian civilization? Which Indian language has its antiquity and hence great Malayalam or Tamil or Bengali? Among the American writers, who is the greatest? Is it Twain or Hemingway? Poet Ravi Panamanna is never a good poet. Can he be compared with Shelly or Wordsworth? What place has he in the world of poetry? How many people really know about him? Out of the Seven Wonders of the World, which occupies a special place in the hearts of people Taj or the Pyramids? We go on comparing. We seek public voting. Is it so mandatory? Cant we live without such a narrow minded thought? Is it not very absurd to compare like this? Is it not a shallow thought to bring about a battle on grounds of comparison? Why should we try to create a divided mind among the public? Every man is unique in this world. No language is either superior or inferior. Every place has its due importance. Every achievement has its due honor. Greatness cannot be compared. By comparing various statistics, one cannot draw the picture of greatness or hollowness of a person. By such comparison, one need not bring down a grand edifice and reinstall another one in its place. We are often doing this mistake in every area. Our intellect goes on discriminating the world. Our mind goes on comparing the world. This is the truth. Both are good only up to a certain level. The power of discrimination is necessary to know the loopholes in life and comparison is good for certain elucidation to follow a better life and nothing more than that. Discrimination and comparison are good for better elucidation for self-improvement but what do we gain by comparing Sachin with Bradman or Michel Jackson with Muhammad Rafi or Rajesh Khanna with Amitabh Bachan? Actually, proper understanding is even better than discrimination and comparison.

My view is this. More than mere comparison, let us try to feel for the greatness from absolute angles. Bradman is Bradman and Sachin is Sachin. That ought to be our approach. Both belong to different times and hence, situations are also different. We cannot standardize situations. We cannot unify each others abilities. Such a Unified Field Theory doesnt exist. Did we think about one thing? Bradman was enjoyed by millions during his times and Sachin too is enjoyed by millions now. Then, can a comparison be a replacement for such enjoyment? Comparison can only mar such fountains of joy and happiness. Let us not commit the same mistake hereafter. Why should Rajesh Khanna be compared to Amitabh Bachan on the realm of popularity and greatness now? Did a generation not run after Khanna and love his films and herald him as a Super star? Did another generation not do the same justice to Bachan as well? Then, where is the question of comparison now? Beyond comparison, did we not enjoy their films? Did we not feel for their roles and characters? This is the main question. Where pure enjoyment is, there occupies not any sense of comparison. Happiness lies beyond all statistical comparison. For example, can you compare sexual happiness with the taste of honey? Happiness is just happiness. Ecstasy is just ecstasy. That is all. It cannot be compared. It cannot be just tagged. This is what we have to properly understand. If you have really enjoyed Rafi and Mukesh, then, please dont compare. If you are really swept by the poetry of Wordsworth or any other regional poet, then, please dont compare. Dont run after statistics to fix greatness of a particular poet or an actor or a scientist. Statistics need not show you the value of pearls. It requires an aesthetic heart. Dont compare when I talk about Black and White era or when I talk about the golden era of film songs. Dont feel so contemptuous about bygone eras just on grounds of comparison. Such an attitude is very dangerous. One must know that there was a generation who lived in those eras and took those films to their heart. Beyond mere comparison, can you ever feel for the pulses of those generations for a second? Could you ever become one among them? Could you ever mentally fly back and embrace those times? It requires one thing you have to understand that life always presents grand themes in the passage of time beyond comparison, that, life is always adorable, that, life is worth living in any era, that, our forefathers too had lived with all happiness in their own way. Cave men definitely had no mobile phones but that doesnt mean that they were less happy than the present generation. So, dont compare. Dont come to a conclusion. We may judge a person or a situation but we should not conclude on grounds of comparison. Everyone and everything has a time and space. Every identity has its proper place and honour.

Comparison can often mar our aesthetic feelings. I may have an emotional attachment towards a particular poem or song or movie or an actor but if you simply compare them with something else and conclude, it will certainly go against my feelings. See, how I am driven to corners! This is often happening when we try to share our views and sentiments about people, places and themes related to the world of arts, history and philosophy. My strong view is that it is a vain attempt to share aesthetic feelings if likeminded people are missing around us. Only arguments arising out of comparison will remain in the air. It can hurt our sentiments to a remarkable degree. Avoid those block headed people who are always after comparing every element of the world with something else. When head is strongly speaking, it will certainly miss the heart. Heart to heart conversation has all the grace about it. The world must know how to speak in a heartfelt manner rather than from the level of head. Head will often compare while heart wont run after comparison. Statistics can serve a tinkling effect for the head but certainly not for the heart. If I am really enjoying an actor, a poem or a song, then, my heart is more precise than my head. This is a space of inward silence. All comparisons will melt in that silence. Enjoy Wordsworth if you can but dont compare him with any other poets. Enjoy Rajesh Khanna if you can but dont compare him with anybody on any grounds. I can tell you one telling example how comparison can mar our mental growth. Parents often would compare their children with other children and make bad comments. They will repeat this into the ears of their children and no child will listen to these comments with a happy face. They will be rebellious against such comparisons. This can certainly affect their mental growth. So, dont compare apparently for no gain. The habit of comparing can certainly affect our thinking pattern and hence our views about life. Dont get confined to this habit. Life is not founded upon Comparison. Life is not founded upon mere statistics. The meadows of life certainly have a different call. Never miss this call. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx