Learning vs Following

More often than not, learning from someone, especially outside of your family or schoolteachers -

It could be an influencer - health, finance, technology, business, entertainment,

It could be a good-to-great politician, sharing journey & experiences,

It could be an artist or a great sportsperson, sharing their secret to success,

It could be a spiritual leader sharing analogies from scriptures to current life situations,

or it could be any x-y-z office colleague, neighbor etc. who is in a position to teach something small or big depending on its significance. It is generally not welcomed in a great manner and looked like followership.

We often hear people commenting on each other's ideologies as -

"Ye toh a-b-c bhakt hai" - he/she is a disciple of a-b-c or

"Ye saccha follower hai" - he/she is a true follower.

Not every teacher became a community leader. Nor every family member became one. Yet, we imbibed their teachings and gave them status of "Guru" not "God" or an Ideal.

But if we learn from someone outside of family or institutional purview, we are categorized as their followers.

Learning is awakening, eye-opening. Following, is blinding.

Learning is selective, following is not. More so, learning does involve judgement, following doesn't.

Learning is contextual & situational, following is wholesome.

Rather, learning is pathway towards innovation, to reach our own peak of success, following is just copying someone's persona to reach where they are.

Both journeys are fascinating, you might want to become like an existing politician, spiritual leader, influencer, artist, etc. or carve your unique persona amongst other successful peers.

Learning or following, is definitely a choice; one can make based on level of wisdom one has. Both are correct, both can make one succeed in different ways. Rather one must always be open to learn from everyone but follow someone only when you trust them and their journey 100%.

Similarly, give others the space to learn & chance to share their learning from one or many people, without judging them as someone's follower.