In the early 1900s, a young athlete named James Rector of Hot Springs, Arkansas, was a track star at the University of Virginia. When he was chosen in 1908 to compete at the Olympic Games in London, he was the odds-on favourite to win the 100-meter dash.

Rector used the crouch stance perfected by U.S. athletes, in which the runner was poised to dash off at the starters gun. A week before the game, the coach of the S. African team approached him. "We have a great runner, 'Reggie Walker'," he told. "I shouldn't ask this but he'll be competing against you in the 100 meters. But when I see how you Americans save time with your crouch - well, someone ought to teach him."

Rector hesitated only a moment. "Bring Walker here. I'll coach him."
Next morning, Rector coached his rival again and again in the sprinter's start. The Olympic record book reveals how well Walker learned.

He beat Rector and went on to fame. Rector was second. The records are still there for anyone who cares to read them. But the story of Rector's sense of cooperation and fair play are absent. Throughout his life, Rector was hailed as the true champion by all who knew the story of how he lost a world championship.

James Rector, though he lost, was undisputedly one up in the game of life. He had imbibed the spirit of cooperation and sportsmanship. His story stands as a glowing example of humanism in an age where our lives are cluttered with competition and self-centeredness. We find people frantically competing for success, fame and adulation, potbellied barons of industry vying with each other and nations bent on producing new breeds of devastative arsenals for superiority. In fact competitive practices have infiltrated all areas and levels of human life. The alarming signal on this subject is that competitive attitudes fuel our fragile, explosive attitudes. We become bent upon catapulting to the top at the cost of fowling another's nest.

The competitive spirit has overwhelmed our lives to such a degree that we have lost how to have recreation or fun without some contest that pits one with another. The losers are devalued or scoffed at. Playing an innocent indoor game for fun can turn aggressive when competition comes into play. Millions of people hold the view that competition motivates people, it brings out hidden talents and potential in people. It fires a man with enthusiasm and a spirit to work.

But tell me do competitive attitudes really bring out the best in us? Do we perform better when we rival with others than when we work together for mutual benefit? Do we retain our peace of mind or level of happiness once we enter this hassle?

Recent studies in America shows growing evidence that cooperation outpaces the results of competitive attitudes. Cooperation promotes teamwork and harmony. It enables people to view other individuals as friends rather than adversaries. Cooperation creates a congenial atmosphere allowing room for encouragement and genuine, healthy criticism. A climate of cooperation makes one less self-centered, widening one's field of awareness to the needs of others. It exposes one to a gamut of human outlooks, problems and solutions.

Cooperation destroys walls of suspicion and distrust. It fosters unity and dissolves partisanship. It stimulates an 'us' or 'we' mentality and breaks the 'I' or 'them' attitude. By contrast ego-building competitive attitudes build barriers of envy and hatred.

Cooperation breeds further cooperation. Competition encourages more competition. Cooperative situations are more satisfying and enjoyable whereas competitive situations make one tense and high-strung.

The next time you find yourself either vying or cooperating with someone at work or at college or with a devotee in 'satsang' just evaluate how you feel and react.

The noble have always left a stamp of their loftiness through their celebrated acts of humanism. They have refrained from restricting their happiness through shallow acts of selfishness and personal gain. Charles Darwin, the famous naturalist toiled on 'The Origin of Species' for twenty years before he got it ready for publication. When he was about to make his thesis public a strange and exciting coincidence took place. Quite innocent of the fact that Darwin was ready with a thesis on the subject, his friend, Alfred Russel Wallace (in Malaya), sent him an original paper on the same subject with a request to introduce him to the world as the originator of a new theory on evolution.

It was a bitter trial indeed! A man of lesser quality of heart would have succumbed to the temptation of removing such an obstacle by a foul or fair means. But Darwin, a noble man, decided to recommend his friend's thesis at the cost of abandoning his own. He said, "I would burn my whole book rather than behave in a paltry spirit." Finally it was decided that it would be introduced as a joint work by two friends.

When Wallace came to know the true situation, he was quick to outdo the generosity of Darwin by admitting that the singular credit of discovering 'The Origin of Species' owed itself to none but Darwin.

The story of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's sacrifice of discarding his superb commentary on 'Nyaya' (logic) in a river for the sake of promoting his friend Raghunath's commentary called 'Dadhiti', is another eloquent example of selflessness. A lack of selflessness invariably promotes a competitive spirit.

The task of cooperation becomes stiffer when the individual you deal with seethes with envy and hatred. An interesting narration in the Shrimad Bhagwatam illustrates how two conflicting forces joined in cooperation to accomplish an otherwise impossible feat. The holy scripture tells us of the incessant conflicts and skirmishes waged between the gods and demons. The story goes that during a period when the gods were fighting a losing battle and had lost the potency of reviving their dead they sought the succour of Lord Brahma. They beseeched him to help them out from their tragic predicament. Brahma councelled them to approach the Lord Himself. The gods went to the Lord entreating for help. The Lord acknowledged their prayers, stipulating that they would need to seek the help and cooperation of the demons. And so the stupendous churning of the ocean began. The two sworn foes joined hands in friendship and set upon the mighty task. With the towering Mt. Mandara as the churning staff and Vasuki, the gargantuan serpent as the rope, the gods were rewarded with a pot of elixir (amruta). Cooperation made a task, otherwise impossible to accomplish, feasible.

In Vachanamritam Gadhada Sec. I No. 4 Lord Swaminarayan illustrates a telling incident of how Naradji won the pleasure of Lord Narayan. The story in the words of Lord Swaminarayan is as follows: "Once Narada and Tumbaru went to Vaikunth for the 'darshan' of goddess Laxmi and Lord Narayan. Tumbaru sang before them. Laxmi and Narayan were profoundly pleased at Tumbaru's performance. They gave him as a token of their propitiation their rich garments and ornaments. Thereupon Narada felt belittled and nursed a feeling of envy towards Tumbaru. He resolved to master the art of singing like Tumbaru and propitiate Laxmi and Narayan. He learnt singing and performed before the Lord and His escort but they said, "Narada! You do not possess that unique flair of singing that Tumbaru displays." Narada became more determined. Through austere penance he sought to earn the blessings of Lord Shiva. Shiva was pleased and offered his benedictions.

"Narada sang again before Laxmi Narayan but they were not pleased. For seven 'manvataras' (i.e. 2,147,040,000 human years) Naradji tried to attain the proficiency which Tumbaru possessed and each time he sang before Laxmi Narayan they were not satisfied. Eventually, shedding his instinct of envy (born out of his competitive spirit) he respectfully approached Tumbaru. Tumbaru gladly cooperated and taught him what he knew. Naradji then went to Dwarka and sang before Lord Krishna. The Lord was pleased and gave him His valuable clothes and ornaments."

Just as cooperating with another is important, so too, seeking cooperation from another is also important. Naradji found it difficult to seek cooperation from Tumbaru because he was bound by envy. Eventually, when he went to Tumbaru in all humility and sought his tutelage, the Lord showed His pleasure.

Aksharbrahman Gunatitanand Swami emphasises the indispensability of unity or cooperation on the path to spiritual progress. In his talks, Swamini Vato, chapter 3, No. 58 he begins: "When unrighteousness prevails amongst the gods, humans or the sages, they are robbed off the happiness they possess. This unrighteousness is born out of conflicts and division of minds. But if harmony (which springs through cooperation) prevails, unrighteousness fails to devastate our lives.

"Once Lord Swaminarayan talked of a king who ordered a quiver full of arrows. He then summoned his mightiest warrior to break a quiver full of arrows. But he failed. The king took out a single arrow from the quiver and called the meekest of men and told him to break the arrow. The man effortlessly snapped it in two. The king then gathered his men and said, 'If you remain bound together like the arrows in the quiver you shall remain invincible to the onslaughts of the enemy and the kingdom shall flourish and remain intact.'

"Similarly Oh Saints, 'Parshads' and 'Brahmacharis', if you remain united and live with a cooperative spirit your inner enemies (of ego, lust, greed, jealousy) shall fail to vanquish you. And if you fail to abide by this principle your slightest inner failing (i.e. baser instincts) will toss you out from the Satsang - fold."

H.D.H. Yogiji Maharaj was an ardent promoter of cooperation. He drummed the words, 'Samp, Suhradbhava and Ekta' (harmony, friendship and unity) into the Satsang - fold. He often depicted with meticulous detail an anecdote about a flock of birds trapped in a hunter's net. Their sudden confinement caused panic. Each flapped its wings to escape but their uncombined efforts were vainful. The leader of the flock called for cooperation. The birds flapped in unison and lifted the entire net thus freeing themselves from everlasting confinement.

H.D.H. Pramukh Swami Maharaj while speaking on this subject relates the story of four poor brothers who resolved to rid themselves of their penury through appeasing Varuna, the sea god. And with the motive of acquiring wealth they started worshipping Varuna. Eating only once a day, the four brothers shared their duties with a cooperative spirit. While one begged cereals and flour the other brought wood and the third fetched water from a well and the fourth cooked the food. Months passed by and Varuna was pleased by their unity, and spirit of mutual cooperation. Varuna decided to test them before rewarding any riches. The god, disguised in the garb of a Brahmin, approached the brother begging for flour and said, "You are toiling away while your brothers speak ill of you!" "That's impossible," defended the brother. The Brahmin made further efforts in arousing the brother but he failed. He applied the same strategy with the other three brothers and failed again and again. Pleased by their unity and mutual friendship the god lavished riches on the four brothers. Varuna was happy that the wealth endowed to the four would not divide their minds and thus violate the peace existing between them.

To achieve the virtue of cooperation it is important:
(1)To meet those whom you are concerned with on a regular basis.
(2) To learn to forgive the faults and mistakes of others.
(3) And have a regular exposure to Satsang.

Cooperation is the cradle of many virtues and conditions. Out of it springs friendship, love, reverence, a binding unity, peace, happiness and many many more virtues. Though cooperation requires you to spare time, forfeit your rate of progress, fame and even riches yet it will like James Rector, Charles Darwin, Naradji and the four brothers immortalise you into monuments of humanism. It will make you happy in the Satsang - fold and propel you towards God realisation.

Sadhu Vivekjivandas