Lord Shri Krishna in Bhagwad Gita says that moh (attachment) represents the ignorance of a human mind. In this ignorance, human beings get trapped, ultimately leading to their downfall. As per my belief, our ultimate objective as humans is to achieve moksha (salvation) from the cycle of rebirth. However, only a person who is above moh maya would be able to achieve moksha. Despite the availability of this centuries old teaching, we still fall prey to the worldly attachments and thus remain far from salvation.
World is full of distractions, our actions are thus a reflection of our unfulfilled desires. Everybody is in a rat race to outshine the other, which to me reflects the power hunger, the greed within us. People have different ways of achieving them like wealth, position, knowledge etc. But does it mean everything that we do is out of moh maya? No. Certainly not the sports persons, armed forces, devotional bhakts who do what they enjoy doing the most. For a soldier, the passion and love for his homeland is the biggest driving force. Accolades, status, wealth that comes along the way isn't what they yearn for. Similarly for sports persons, their ultimate glorious moment is on the field and not on a ramp walk. Perhaps their biggest fear is what would they do post retirement - something which comes earlier than all other fields of work. P.S. this fear is also used by parents to prevent their children from taking up sports as career choices, especially when the loved sport is not cricket.
Taking cue from the Bollywood movie '3 Idiots' movie where the actor states the harsh truth of our society. Children are taught to obtain degrees so that they can get jobs, get married, obtain credit cards from banks and respect from society. I know individuals having 6-7 professional degrees like MBA,CFA,CA,CS,FRM,CWA etc. A typical engineering student's educational cycle looks something like a 4-year B.Tech degree followed by MBA and then working at a big bank to become a money man. Either the B.Tech or MBA was surely because of this trap of moh maya. This trap is put up quite cleverly and viciously by society right from our childhood including our teachers. I remember the first time I heard about the common question - 'how much is the package' from my CA teacher. My teacher was trying to describe the first question anyone would ask learning about one's employment. Some people even go the extent of asking about cash in hand. Answer to this immediately leads to matrix type of calculations in their mind. Straightaway, they even give your 5-year money plan like the erstwhile Planning Commission would do. All these questions do not cater to the basic question of life - are you mentally happy, peaceful?
Without doubt a job as investment banker or trader in an MNC are the most sought-after finance jobs in this world. I vividly remember the first day of campus interview at my previous organisation. The first clarification offered by recruiters was that although the company is a global investment bank but they are not here to hire us as the classy, fancy investment banker or traders. Hopes of hundred odd people were immediately dashed. I wonder what is that make these jobs so attractive? Is it the fat-bonus cheques or client meetings in 5-star hotels or frequent first-business class trips. Perhaps all three. But do we consider the risk, pressure that comes along with these jobs? Almost impossible revenue targets, very long working hours and above all - risk of being first in line to be kicked out in the wind of cost-cutting. I know people who used to make weekly business trips across India - leaving early Monday morning and coming back late Friday night. These trips initially seem quite a luxury but later become a regret. Lack of proper sleep, quality family time all start playing its ill-effects. India as we all know is a growing economy where there is an abundance of high quality cheap working force. Many MNCs have set up their branches/support bases across various cities. People working at these organisations are termed as back office employees although they performed similar roles to what individuals working at other domestic companies do. Just because it does not involve use of Indian laws and regulations? Think from a different angle and see the advantage one gets over others. An opportunity to know international standards and regulations, to learn something for which you are getting paid. Not a bad deal after all. Tell me how many jobs in India pay you handsomely for learning something? Even then after a few years of job at these places, the moh maya of society status force them out to a domestic company. This switch could very well be at a pay cut and worse working culture experience. My point of contention is any job except client facing is back office - be it operations, accounting and it does not matter whether the company involved is a domestic or MNC.
Around 2 months back, while I was catching up with my colleagues I received an important advice. It was on the need to do something that make us happy and for once not caring about what the society thinks about it. Put your head down, work diligently and let karma take its own course. Baki sab moh maya hai :)
