Life is a Journey, not a destination

"Life is a Journey, Not a destination" Amid the scorching heat of Bombay, inside the iconic 'Wankhede' stadium. Two young boys were padding up to open for their team "Bombay" in this league stage match of Ranji Trophy. Whole crowd got mesmerized seeing such young talents standing tall against the prime fast bowlers of that era. Years later, while one of them went onto become the "God of Indian Cricket", the other one lost amidst the glare of being member of Indian National Cricket Team. These two were none other than Sachin Tendulkar & Vinod Kambli.

Sachin went onto achieve everything for his Nation & break every record because he treated every milestone as merely the part of his larger Journey of Life while Kambli lost everything due to him treating 'Senior National team call' as a destination in itself. Thus, In this essay we will explore how a phenomenon named 'Life' emerges from the culmination of all Journeys of an Individual & the consequences it leads to while also reflecting on how treating destination as an end goal disrupts the creation of life itself. Journey, in context of life, is a transformative & a self discovery mechanism. It is measured not in terms of Milestones achieved but rather the experiences gained, relations built and the skills mastered. Thus, Journey is life is an ever-evolving process not merely a race to some destination. Life is a journey, as it acts as a teacher, mentor & professor, teaching something new & innovative at every point. The step by step evolution of "Indian freedom struggle" is an epitome to this, It shows how every setback & event taught us the new ideals & methods like Gandhi's "Struggle truce Struggle" which eventually resulted in our Independence in 1947. These teachings from our Journey, further help us to navigate through larger hurdles we will face in life. For example: The lessons from the 1991 Economic reforms and 2008 Subprime crisis, helped us to successfully navigate through the larger Economic Crises, during Covid-19. Also, Growth in life is a never ending process, rather it is a culmination of all those life journeys and the takeaways from them.

IKEA was merely a pen, Sony was merely a radio repairing shop & Youtube was merely a dating application/website. If these corporations would have considered their beginning as pen (Ikea), Radio shop (Sony) & Website (Youtube) as their destination, they would have never experienced the growth in their Life Journeys & reached their current positions. Moreover, treating life as a Journey opens an Ocean of Opportunities. not only for an Individual but society, State & whole world also. Paulo Coelho in "The Alchemist" describes how Santiago, the shepherd, travels thousand miles across deserts, forests & even gets robbed mid-way, eventually to realise the treasure was always beside his home. It was the journey that made him wise enough to find it. Similarly, a society that treats its present orientation merely as part of larger life journey, often progresses with time. For Example, the Harappa civilization kept learning from its journey to create drainage & embankments for protection from flood, kept thriving for centuries. But the moment they stopped learning from this journey, Aryans came & Harappa civilization slowly disappeared. In a similar context, a Nation that emphasizes on journey's, learns from experiences & implements changes in real life often achieves Economic stability, border security & Internal harmony. For example: Israel, born through conflict & chaos, treated its life as a journey to learn & innovate at every stage. The result of which is their strong border security, resilient economy & higher HDI.

At a larger context, the world when started treating effect of climate change as a lesson to learn in this life journey rather than mere 'development' as end goal. The idea of 'Sustainable development' emerged & countries started focusing on Green Infra, Green Energy & SDG-goals. On the other hand, treating life merely as a destination opens a 'Pandora box' of problems. As the Jain philosophy of 'Lobh' (Greed) suggests that our emphasis on destination i.e. goals makes the Individual greedy & immoral. The example of which can be understood through 'Harshad Mehta scam' of 1992. It alienates the society from its collective Morals, Values & beliefs often forcing them to undertake un-ethical measures & steps to achieve their goal. For Example: The Rohingya's in order to get shelter into India, use Criminal & un-ethical U.P.S.C. approaches like forging of documents, mass killing of locals, etc. Moreover, it robs the Nation-states of their moral cognitive thinking & makes them forget the universal human rights principles. For Example: Pakistan blinded by its destination (goal) of "Bleeding India through thousand cuts", often breaks ceasefire along LOC & fires at innocent civilians. However, "All that glitters is not Gold", treating life as a journey also comes with some limitations. In the process of treating it as a journey, overemphasis on journey without the idea of destination could lead to "Aimless Action". The explanation of which can be seen through the Mulla Nasiruddin's 'story of 'Lost Ring'. It can further erode the "purpose" of one's life which can become fatal / threat to the larger society. Viktor Frankl in his book 'Man's search for Meaning' describe how only those survived the 'Nazi Concentration Camps', who retained a purpose in their life.

Also, As explained in 'Teleology' that Humans need purpose (i.e. destinations) in life to progress. emphasis on journey makes life status quoist & stagnant in Nature. Other than this, Life is also a Measurement of destination, i.e. "Destinations themselves create Journey". For example: Going back to our freedom struggle, It was our destination of freedom (Purna Swaraj) that made us curate our own journey. Similarly, Post-Independence India was driven by the Goal (i.e. destination) of "self-sufficiency" in Agri-foodgrains which derived our path of "Green Revolution" (Journey). Also, driven by the Goal (i.e. destination) of Economic growth & rapid development, India underwent the LPG reforms in 1991, which acted as the journey to the destination of service sector being the largest GVA in Economy. Destination also acts as the catalyst to this journey of life. It transforms basic Actions into purposeful Actions. A student/aspirant creating his schedule, a sportsperson organizing his practice & a politician planning his rallies, all of these become worthy in presence of a visible destination. Eventually, Both might draw a relatively diverging picture of life but both also complement each-other. Journey provides continuity to life while destination supplements this journey with motivation & discipline. ex. India focusing on its journey of Net zero by 2070 but also focusing on smaller destinations like 50% of Net Installed Energy capacity as Renewable Energy by 2030. Journey should be the process or path towards the product of i.e. destination. For example: Neeraj Chopra treated his daily life i.e. training as journey to achieve his destination i.e. Olympic Gold. While we cannot negate the importance of destination, it should be used judiciously to support & supplement the journey, not overpower it. Alignment of path of one's life journey with his final destination (or mid term / short term goal) results into a positive synthesis of both. The Japanese philosophy of 'Kaizen' states that greatness is achieved not through single massive step rather d/o betterment on daily basis i.e. working towards destination with disciple in Journey. "Karat - Karat Abhyas Te, Zadmati hote Sujaan, Rasari aawat - Jaat Te, Sil Pe Parat Nishaan" (i.e. Focus on your journey with commitment & discipline, eventually you'll reach the destination)