The General Good
The saying goes that one day the Emperor Akbar said to his chief courtier Birbal: “Birbal, how good it would be if a monarch remained a monarch forever.” Birbal replied: “Your Majesty, you are right. But if this were to happen, how could you have been a monarch today?”
Akbar had started thinking about kingship in terms of himself. He thought that, in this world, if it had been the norm for one king to remain king forever, he himself would have remained a king forever.
But Akbar forgot that if this principle of kingship, which was to his own liking had prevailed in the world, there would have been no chance of his ascending the throne.
It often happens that a person’s thinking is centred on himself alone. He makes plans keeping in view his own personal interest. He forgets that he is not alone in this world. Very soon external realities confront him and cause his plans to go awry. At such a time, one comes to know that one’s personal interest is best served by keeping in mind the collective interest.
Even when you want to benefit only yourself, you shall have to consider others’ interest as well. Your own interest lies in the interest of everyone else. Everybody in this world is aboard a common ship. It is in safeguarding the ship that one’s own salvation lies.
When given the opportunity, there are people in this world who often make the mistake of making rules and regulations centred solely on themselves. When they see something to their benefit, they give it a go-ahead. But this way of thinking often goes against them, because nobody in this world remains forever in any one particular situation.
Opportunities sometimes come one’s way and sometimes they favour others. Opportunities are never just open to a single person. They keep going from one person to another.
In such a situation, making rules and regulations considering only one’s own self is not a wise decision. Because it might be possible that situations change and earlier what had seemed favourable might later turn out to be unfavourable. Self-centred thinking is neither of benefit to oneself nor to the rest of humanity.
