first is being honored, are you not boosting his
ego? So when the children are thus trained in
ego, jealousy and competition, how can they
love? Love is that which allows the loved ones
to go ahead. Love always means to remain
always last.
I will tell you a small anecdote to make this
clearer. There were three Sufi saints who were
to be hanged until dead. While they were
waiting to be hanged, they were sitting in a
row. The hangman would call out the names,
one after the other, and would hang them.
The hangman cried out the name, “Jena,”
that he should come forward.
But the person whose name was Jena did
not get up; instead of him another person got
up and said, “You hang me first.”
The hangman said, “Your name is not Jena.
Why are you in a hurry to die?”
The one who had come forward replied,
“I have loved Jena and I have understood
that when it is a question of dying, to come
forward, and when it is a question of living,
to remain behind. I would like to die before
my friend dies. If it is a question of living, my
friend should live longer than me.”Love speaks
like this.
What does competition say? Competition
tells you to stay behind while dying and go on
ahead when it is a question of living. Can the
world be a better place to live in when the
poison of competition and ambition is being
poured into the minds of children? When a
child is keen to go ahead of others and others
are wanting to leave him behind, then, after
being educated for twenty years, what will he
do in life? He will do what he has been taught.
Every person is pulling the other down.There
is no greater violence than that of pushing
oneself ahead by pulling o ѡ