The relentless mentor called Vishwamitra

Taking out another leaf from the epic of Ramayana, comes a story of Vishwamitra, literally meaning the friend of the world. Sage Vishwamitra stormed into King Dasarath’s court and demanded him to send Prince Ram along with him to the dense jungles inhabited by evil forces. Kind Dasarath didn’t want to send Ram, his favourite son, but Vishwamitra was persistent. He didn’t compromise whatsoever and Ram and Lakshman got inducted under his wing. Sage Vasishta had imparted great knowledge to the young princes, but it was mostly theoretical. Sage Vishwamitra believed that the princes were ripe & had what it takes to solve the worldly problems. Rest, as they say is history, this whole expedition turned Ram & Laxman into legends.

The same context can be applied to our graduating years. We have our college as Dasharath which has provided the amazing space to nurture our knowledge and spirits, our professors as Sage Vasistha who have imparted the immense wealth of theoretical knowledge. And then we graduate, start looking for jobs, start working, fight the worldly problems pretty much on our own. At this early stage of our career, if we manage to find our “friend of the world”, we are definitely entitled for a bright future. A non-compromising mentor, who sees the talent in us and hones it relentlessly, imparts us the practical wisdom that can take you to greater heights. As we clock in more years in professional life, we reach a stage where we need to take up the role of Vishwamitra. Identify talented individuals & mentor them passionately. The key here is the relentless pursuit of greatness.  Let them relinquish the bookish knowledge, bring them up to speed with the practical problems of the field, empower them with the right set of tools. And then sit back and watch your prodigy make that dent in the Universe. For sure, mentoring is an art and not everyone is capable of this. I personally am not a good mentor that I would have hoped to be, but I have seen many great folks for whom this relentless mentorship comes naturally. Let’s just hope to see many such friends of the world.