Winning And Losing

Winning and losing are a part of life.They are two sides of the same coin. Winning and losing come in cycles; neitheris permanent. Today's victor is tomorrow's or yesterday's loser. And today'sloser might well be the champion next year or the next. While we are fully awareof this, we continue to crave for victory and live in dread of losing, althoughwe know in our heart of hearts that one is invariably followed, with the passageof time, by the other.The feeling of happiness and joy that anyvictory brings is basically felt and enjoyed by our ego. Our true Self knowsneither victory nor loss. The atman or soul is beyond the duality of good andbad, right and wrong, winning and losing. But the human mind and ego exult whenit can do something better than the other person or other team. And sometimes itbecomes difficult to conclude whether our win or their loss causes greatersatisfaction. Just as victory brings extreme emotions, so does defeat. How oftenwe have seen that today's heroes become tomorrow's non-heroes or villains?Today's idols are smashed tomorrow, when they fail to perform. Such is the priceof celebrity status; such is the price of victory. What about the loser? We owe a great deal to the loser, for without a loser, there cannot be a winner. Imagine if all other teams from other parts of the world stopped playing cricket, then where would we be? There would be no contests and no victories to celebrate or defeats to ponder over. A good performance is inspired by competition and from learning from the experience of others. SwamiVivekananda used to say "Let not the giver feel proud, for he can give only whenthere is someone to receive. Let the giver kneel down and let the receiver standerect, during the act of giving and receiving. For the giver is blessed to finda receiver". In the same vein, let the winner have respect for the loser, forwithout the loser, the winner too disappears. When someone loses,there are enough people to ridicule, criticise and berate the losing teammembers. It is ironical that the seeds of defeat are actually sown during theact of winning, whether it is a sporting encounter or a personal feud, becausethe losers are already getting together and planning their next move, theircomeback, so that they can regain their lost glory. It is only a matter of timebefore the tables are turned, before the tide is reversed, and the winner is onthe losing side. .While giving full credit to the winners, onequestion that comes up is: "Is it possible to play, enjoy the game, have fun,but not have losers and winners? This is true for all examinations andcompetitions. That would really be something to look forward to. Because if weare going to win at someone else's cost, it is only a partial victory. For atotal or absolute victory, everyone should be a winner, something that is ofcourse not routinely possible, but something we can think about for the future,where encounters are not only enjoyable, but which leave only winners, nolosers. And there is still the possibility of feeling excited and elated.