I was reading a story from the Volume 1 of Sherlock Holmes. This particular story touched me. Holmes was brilliant as always. The thing that striked me was Holmes was never attached to “fame” or “credit” he got for his work. Infact in the story, the police force approaches him and asks him to give them the credit for the case instead of he taking it. And Holmes gladly gives all the information about the case and the very next day in newspapers it is published that “Police Inspector Mack solved this case brilliantly“.
I was amazed at this quality. I am very attached to my work. I say this is “my” work. This writing was done by “me”. I take credit for whatever I do. I can’t imagine not taking credit for my work or giving the credit to someone else. I want to explore more on this aspect. How can we be so expansive as to merely enjoy our work and not look for credit or recognition and be anonymous like Holmes? Does this help in improving our productivity? [I am not talking here of rewards like money or bonuses - that would be a different topic for discussion]
Is that why hobbies are more interesting because we merely do it for our interest and pleasure and don’t look for somebody’s recognition?
I would love to hear your inputs 
9 Comments
August 14, 2009 at 6:42 am
I guess that is what is Karma Yoga as explained in the Bhagavad Gita – karmanyevadhikarasthe..
hard to practice in reality.
August 14, 2009 at 7:11 am
My personal opinion is that such things look good in stories, but rarely happens in reality. It probably happens most commonly in anonymous charity – where you don’t take credit for something you have donated. In the real world, survival of the fittest still rules.
Or, you must be so good or popular (or have enough “credit”) that you don’t need any more credit – people would mentally attribute it to you anyway. For eg, what if people said “hey that doesn’t seem like something the police would have solved, it has the work of Holmes written all over it”.
Or, as Gita says “kadamai-yai sei palanai yethir parkathey”. You are spiritual enough to not want the credit.
August 14, 2009 at 7:17 am
Continuing the last para of my earlier comment:
here is the quote from Gita:
“Karmanye Vadhikaraste Ma Phaleshu Kadachana,
Ma Karma Phala Hetur Bhurmatey Sangostva Akarmani”
Translation:
“You have a right to perform your prescribed action, but you are not entitled to the fruits of your action. Never consider yourself the cause of the results your activities, and never be associated to not doing your duty.”
August 14, 2009 at 7:22 am
Taking credit is a kind of social manipulation. you take credit for something you want to be known for/associated with. You dont take credit for something you would rather not have people know about.
On the secondary level, ‘taking credit’ itself has value. If you dont take credit and people find out later, your stocks boom. If you take credit and people find it annoying your stocks dip. This is all accentuated by the fact that in our society we have the crap concept of modesty. Modest are the loudest ppl actually
Anyway, in this day and age there are lots of people who can do the same kind of thing. If you arent taking credit for it, you are losing out on valuable advertisement and slowly you lose.
Finally addressing Sherlock Holmes. He was a master detective and anonymity was the soul of his work much like the superheroes of our time. If he was a public figure, ppl would recognize him and it would tougher to do his work. Also all that glamour it would bring would hurt his profession!
I guess thats all I have to say now
August 15, 2009 at 6:42 pm
@Sukumar:
Thanks for pointing out the Karma Yoga aspect. It is an interesting take.
My boss & I were discussing about it and he said, Holmes also knew his “own value”. So he dint want/need/require any appreciation from “outside”. Holmes was definitely an egoistic person. In Karma Yoga, do they give up ego to reach that state of not taking credit? I would like to explore more on this.
August 15, 2009 at 6:51 pm
@gowrisivaprasad:
Thanks for the comment bringing out various aspects of this situation.
//Anonymous charity – Ya I agree. These people really do not take credit for what they have offered. Even in this aspect there may be 2 reasons why they do it.
1. They may be doing either for self-satisfaction 2.Or for the reason that they feel “they” are not the true givers.
//Already popular – Ya that may be an extreme case.
//Thanks for the Sanskrit verse of the Gita and the translation. It involves with giving up Ego and identifying yourself as “not the originator” of deeds. But if we read Holmes more, Holmes is a very egoistic person. He may not exactly be following Karma Yoga (which is a higher aspect), but he may be doing it because “Holmes knows his own value”.
August 15, 2009 at 6:57 pm
//Vemana:
Thanks for the wonderful comment bringing out modesty, taking credit according to context etc.
Yes, as I have mentioned in my previous two replies, Holmes was very egoistic and above all he “knew his own value/worth”. So he dint have to get “praise” or “credit” from outside. Lot of people don’t know their own value so seek for it “outside”. And as you say, Holmes profession required that kind of anonymity which was useful to solve cases.
There is an excellent dialogue which shows “Holmes knows his own worth and gets credit from his own self”
_________
//we are dealing on this occasion, Mr. Holmes, with a man to whom violence is familiar and who will, literally, stick at nothing. I should say that there is no more dangerous man in Europe.
“I have had several opponents to whom that flattering term has been applied”,said Holmes with a smile.
______
I agree “Modesty” is again a manipulated thing. Holmes was never modest neither did he go to the other extreme to “exaggerate” his intelligence. He “correctly” knew his own worth without belittling or exaggerating it.
August 16, 2009 at 5:06 pm
You seems to hit me again with co-incidence.
Two days back I was telling a team-mate who is often deprieved of his deserved recognition, “Boss, you need to make your presence felt, all your efforts are not being realised by the manager.” He asked ” I don’t get my due credit and that demotivates me”, I replied “Credit is a financial term, never expect that from people, but do expect acknoledgement, motivation from others”
I some how feel the usage of the word credit is more non-personal and seems materialistic.
Your question “How can we be so expansive as to merely enjoy our work and not look for credit or recognition ”
My thought : Why do you want to enjoy work, when you don’t have recognition? and if you want to enjoy work then try to make people notice you, only then they will acknowledge you. It is always the sqeaky wheel that gets the oil.
August 23, 2009 at 3:55 pm
Want of fame is a sign of insecurity. Fear of us being forgotten. Ignored. Of a creeping feeling; ‘What if I fail the next time?’ …
As you said, it is only if you really enjoy the work you do – passion or not – would you care less about fame and recognition.