Questioner (Q): Sir, you have said that a real leader does not need followers. I want to understand this.
Acharya Prashant (Q): The question is, “Sir the handout reads very clearly that a real leader does not need followers. I want to understand this. To understand this statement, you will have to go into the word ‘need’.
What is a ‘need’? When does one need something outside of himself?
Followers are people, right? Other people.
When does one need other people? What is a need?
A need is a feeling of incompletion. A need, therefore, is a dependency. A need, therefore, is a sense of being weak, of being inadequate, of being not total without something else or somebody else. And hence, to have a need of another person or another thing is a kind of an inferiority complex. If you are with this, till this point; what follows will be readily clear to you. Do you understand ‘need’?
‘A’ and ‘B’, two human beings, they have a relationship, right? Leaders and followers, they too have relationships. What must the relationship of two people be based on? The fact that both are incomplete and they need each other. Then in that case, both are beggars. And that relationship cannot give them completion, just as two beggars coming together cannot become a millionaire. If two beggars come together, will they become a millionaire? This one is needy; this is also needy, but they are both coming together and thinking that together their incompleteness will turn into completeness. No, that cannot be the basis of relationship. ‘Need’ cannot be the basis of any relationship, including a leader-follower relationship. Any relationship cannot be based on ‘need’, because when you need something from somebody then you will not let that person free. It will inevitably result in exploitation. Are you getting it?
