You can become an extraordinary achiever

Everyone is born with rare talent and immense capability. Yet, most people live and die without so much as a glimpse of what they are capable of. The Bhagwad Gita helps unlock your potential. You then gain the power to rock the world. All it takes is a slight shift in attitude, a change in thinking. MK Gandhi was a timid, briefless barrister who transformed into a mahatma. Swami Vivekananda, who initially trembled at the thought of addressing the Parliament of Religions, became a world-famous orator. Abdul Kalam rose from humble origins to become one of the best Presidents India has had.

You metamorphose from an ordinary person to an extraordinary immortal, says the Gita that takes you, step by step, to the highest pedestal of human excellence. Not everyone is born into wealth or blessed with a high IQ. But every single person has the Spirit in equal measure. Just remove that which is obscuring the divine spark, to attain perfection.

As you think, so you become. You have been consistently thinking of body, mind and intellect so you have become matter. You are weak. Think of Spirit with the same fervour and constancy to shake off your wrong concepts. Can the ordinary person achieve this when he has obligations in the world?

The Gita does not require you to change your wardrobe, home, vocation or environment. Do what you have to. Just think of Atman, Spirit. What you do matters little. It is where your mind is, that makes the difference. Think small and you will become small. To become an achiever you need to shed your petty, trivial, preoccupations and embrace a larger cause, a higher ideal. The highest ideal is Atman, Spirit.

Prayer is not a casual, once-a-week ritual. It is a full time focus on the transcendental. In Chapter 4, Krishna prescribes a brilliant method by which worldly activities go on smoothly while your focus shifts to the ‘higher’.

Krishna takes you through the three-part cycle of life – intake of stimuli from the world, reaction to the stimuli and response back into the world. He divides these three into 12 yajnas or sacrifices.

Yajna, the ancient Vedic fire ritual, consists of offering grain or ghee in the havan kund, a brick enclosure. Fuel is added, the fire is kindled and this process is applied by Krishna to all of life’s activities, reminding us of God in our everyday routine. Think of all worldly interactions as worship and you do not have to perform the ritual of havan separately, as it is taking place in you, 24×7!

You have no control over what the world throws at you, pleasant or unpleasant. But you do have the power to convert it to worship. Your neighbour may scream at you. Think of it as yajna – the offering is the sound, the kindling is hearing. Your attention is on that Power that enables you to hear, not on what you hear. Then you become independent of the world. You are no longer cowering in fear. You have the upper hand.

The world only bullies a weak person. Gain strength and the world will leave you alone. All problems will dissolve in your newfound confidence and you will be free to pursue the Higher.

Whether you are seeing, hearing, eating, breathing or acting, you are reminded of God every moment of your life. Gradually, your mind gets anchored in the higher. Lower desires drop. All yajnas end in wisdom, Self-realisation. The unintended benefit is worldly success and happiness.

You can become an extraordinary achiever

Everyone is born with rare talent and immense capability. Yet, most people live and die without so much as a glimpse of what they are capable of. The Bhagwad Gita helps unlock your potential. You then gain the power to rock the world. All it takes is a slight shift in attitude, a change in thinking. MK Gandhi was a timid, briefless barrister who transformed into a mahatma. Swami Vivekananda, who initially trembled at the thought of addressing the Parliament of Religions, became a world-famous orator. Abdul Kalam rose from humble origins to become one of the best Presidents India has had.

You metamorphose from an ordinary person to an extraordinary immortal, says the Gita that takes you, step by step, to the highest pedestal of human excellence. Not everyone is born into wealth or blessed with a high IQ. But every single person has the Spirit in equal measure. Just remove that which is obscuring the divine spark, to attain perfection.

As you think, so you become. You have been consistently thinking of body, mind and intellect so you have become matter. You are weak. Think of Spirit with the same fervour and constancy to shake off your wrong concepts. Can the ordinary person achieve this when he has obligations in the world?

The Gita does not require you to change your wardrobe, home, vocation or environment. Do what you have to. Just think of Atman, Spirit. What you do matters little. It is where your mind is, that makes the difference. Think small and you will become small. To become an achiever you need to shed your petty, trivial, preoccupations and embrace a larger cause, a higher ideal. The highest ideal is Atman, Spirit.

Prayer is not a casual, once-a-week ritual. It is a full time focus on the transcendental. In Chapter 4, Krishna prescribes a brilliant method by which worldly activities go on smoothly while your focus shifts to the ‘higher’.

Krishna takes you through the three-part cycle of life – intake of stimuli from the world, reaction to the stimuli and response back into the world. He divides these three into 12 yajnas or sacrifices.

Yajna, the ancient Vedic fire ritual, consists of offering grain or ghee in the havan kund, a brick enclosure. Fuel is added, the fire is kindled and this process is applied by Krishna to all of life’s activities, reminding us of God in our everyday routine. Think of all worldly interactions as worship and you do not have to perform the ritual of haven separately, as it is taking place in you, 24×7!

You have no control over what the world throws at you, pleasant or unpleasant. But you do have the power to convert it to worship. Your neighbor may scream at you. Think of it as yajna – the offering is the sound, the kindling is hearing. Your attention is on that Power that enables you to hear, not on what you hear. Then you become independent of the world. You are no longer cowering in fear. You have the upper hand.

The world only bullies a weak person. Gain strength and the world will leave you alone. All problems will dissolve in your newfound confidence and you will be free to pursue the Higher.

Whether you are seeing, hearing, eating, breathing or acting, you are reminded of God every moment of your life. Gradually, your mind gets anchored in the higher. Lower desires drop. All yajnas end in wisdom, Self-realization. The unintended benefit is worldly success and happiness.

Learn to be humble

Humility and simplicity are the characteristics of greatness. Humility is God’s nature. See God in everything, accept His will. Then one can only be humble because one sees that whatever happens in life, positive or negative, is His will. Humility is total acceptance.

The mind should be expanded to embrace and accommodate the whole universe within. As soon as you realise you are small, the ego disappears. We will feel that we have no refuge other than God, and the negative vasanas (tendencies) will fall off by themselves. Only by trying to become smaller than the smallest, does one become greater than the greatest. By developing the attitude of being everyone’s servant, one becomes the master. Only he who bows down even to a shava (corpse) becomes Shiva.

When our ego is made to bow low in front of the Supreme and His creation, visualising everything as Him, our real nature unfolds. An egoless person cannot die, because he is not a body anymore. He is Consciousness.

The beginner is able to bow down with humility, and because of this, true knowledge flows into him. A person full of mere information becomes egotistic. So he cannot bow down and be humble. Everybody wants to become a leader. In reality, the world is badly in need of servants, not leaders. A real servant is a real leader who serves the people without ego and egocentric desires.

Nature doesn’t rush, yet accomplishes everything

A committed meditation student was very keen to become a master. He went to a guru and asked him, “How long would it take?” The guru replied: “Ten years.” The student, a bit impatient, was disappointed and queried, “But I want to master it faster than that, I will work very hard, and practise ten or more hours a day if necessary. How long would it then take?” The guru smiled and remarked, “Twenty years.”

We are routinely restless about our future. We want to be sure that we will achieve our desired outcomes. Besides, we are constantly striving for something more satisfying. We wish for more success, recognition, wealth, comfort, love and recognition. Our addiction to social media and being online is a reflection of this underlying restlessness.

While some level of restlessness is healthy, in high doses, it drains our focus and energy. In the process, not only are we less effective at whatever we are doing, but also are unable to enjoy the present. Here are some reflective perspectives to address this.

Trust universal intelligence

Nature accomplishes all by surrendering to universal intelligence. This intelligence is not only present within us, but also governs our most vital systems. It runs our digestive, nervous and reproductive systems; manifests our DNA and karmic imprint; and also dictates our cycle of birth and death. In its presence, we are always evolving, as we need to.

However, in our individualistic society, we have a misplaced sense of self-importance. Human mind is a blessing, but also a curse. A powerful mind anxiously wants to shape and bend the flow of universal intelligence to suit its own wishes. Caught up in its restlessness for more, we become disconnected with the potential of our deeper innate intelligence. When we learn to trust that intelligence and believe that the way our life is evolving is for our highest good, we are more productive and feel more at peace.

Discover the right potential

One of the key reasons for our restless drive is our supposed need to discover and fulfil our potential. Perhaps a worthy cause! However, too often we assume this to mean our visible potential – our professional success, material progress and social recognition. Used to constantly comparing ourselves, we feel restless with a peer’s greater progress.

What if the purpose of your life is to explore and fulfil your ‘inner’ potential: the potential to connect with your inner intelligence and align your thoughts and actions with it, to experience Self-awareness and realise your true nature – to discover the reservoir of love and stillness within?

Reform the relationship with time

We are also restless because we believe we have a short life and limited time to accomplish our goals. That’s because our perception is invariably restricted to the physical dimension of our being. We naturally consider our life to be finite.

What if our core self, our spiritual being, is on an eternal journey, spanning thousands of lifetimes? Eighty years of this lifetime would then be equivalent to merely a few hours in our soul’s journey. Would you be as pressured for time and as restless in your life then?

There is a saying

There is a saying

There is a saying, “Nothing succeeds like success; and nothing fails like failure.” We appreciate the end results, but never look at the efforts. It points to a business-like approach. But life is much more than business. Two students joined a laboratory to do research. One pursued a stereotype approach, followed a well-known path and got some results, published them and left the laboratory with a certificate. The other tried to do something new, but at the end of five years, finished only half of what he was meant to do. He did not get a certificate, because there was no appreciation for his unconventional efforts. The attempt to innovate was nipped in the bud.

A company asked a scientist to develop a solar cell. He developed one, but the efficiency of the solar cell was half of the efficiency of the solar cell available in the market, and the manufacturing cost was double. The scientist was fired.Both examples suggest that we are not ready to pay a price for innovation. In both cases, there was no lack of sincerity and effort. We do not have patience to develop on our own. We borrow and buy the by-products of others and enjoy them. When we passed out from the school, our headmaster gave a piece of advice. He said, “Dear boys! While growing up, try to depend less and less on others and more and more on yourselves. That would help you develop confidence and lead you towards excellence.”

Today we are lamenting the lack of excellence everywhere; in our educational institutions, in our science, technology and in our manufacturing and services. Ideas are borrowed. Implementation processes are borrowed. Technology is borrowed. Therefore there is no excellence. When we have nothing to show in the present, we go back to the past and claim that our past was better than others. How long will we bask in past glory which has now only limited or no relevance?

Not long ago we did produce a few Nobel laureates, great thinkers and reformers, leaders and doers. It happened because we yearned for change and to achieve it, we were committed and prepared to undertake sacrifices in order to prove our potential and excel.

The spirit of sacrifice gradually faded after Independence. The need of the hour is to excite the youth, encourage them to follow the path less travelled, to overcome the hurdles of destiny, and to shift the target forward so that they can learn to walk ahead fearlessly. Uncertainty could be converted into certainty and hurdles into opportunities.

Only a robust general educational system, can help us achieve this. Positive change will come only when the means of change is based on truthfulness and honesty. MK Gandhi brought about a change in us because he adhered to these principles under all circumstances.

Growth must be universal, not local. In science we have seen that universal laws are more effective than the local ones which are subject to fluctuations. There are many scientists but only a few are remembered, like Newton, Einstein and Darwin because they showed us the eternity of science and the beauty of its creations.

Science is not destructive, it is our inability to use it for constructive, peaceful purposes that proves to be dangerous.

What leads you towards excellence?

There is a saying, “Nothing succeeds like success; and nothing fails like failure.” We appreciate the end results, but never look at the efforts. It points to a business-like approach. But life is much more than business. Two students joined a laboratory to do research. One pursued a stereotype approach, followed a well-known path and got some results, published them and left the laboratory with a certificate. The other tried to do something new, but at the end of five years, finished only half of what he was meant to do. He did not get a certificate, because there was no appreciation for his unconventional efforts. The attempt to innovate was nipped in the bud.

A company asked a scientist to develop a solar cell. He developed one, but the efficiency of the solar cell was half of the efficiency of the solar cell available in the market, and the manufacturing cost was double. The scientist was firedBoth examples suggest that we are not ready to pay a price for innovation. In both cases, there was no lack of sincerity and effort. We do not have patience to develop on our own. We borrow and buy the by-products of others and enjoy them. When we passed out from the school, our headmaster gave a piece of advice. He said, “Dear boys! While growing up, try to depend less and less on others and more and more on yourselves. That would help you develop confidence and lead you towards excellence.”

Today we are lamenting the lack of excellence everywhere; in our educational institutions, in our science, technology and in our manufacturing and services. Ideas are borrowed. Implementation processes are borrowed. Technology is borrowed. Therefore there is no excellence. When we have nothing to show in the present, we go back to the past and claim that our past was better than others. How long will we bask in past glory which has now only limited or no relevance?

Not long ago we did produce a few Nobel laureates, great thinkers and reformers, leaders and doers. It happened because we yearned for change and to achieve it, we were committed and prepared to undertake sacrifices in order to prove our potential and excel.

The spirit of sacrifice gradually faded after Independence. The need of the hour is to excite the youth, encourage them to follow the path less travelled, to overcome the hurdles of destiny, and to shift the target forward so that they can learn to walk ahead fearlessly. Uncertainty could be converted into certainty and hurdles into opportunities.

Only a robust general educational system, can help us achieve this. Positive change will come only when the means of change is based on truthfulness and honesty. MK Gandhi brought about a change in us because he adhered to these principles under all circumstances.

Growth must be universal, not local. In science we have seen that universal laws are more effective than the local ones which are subject to fluctuations. There are many scientists but only a few are remembered, like Newton, Einstein and Darwin because they showed us the eternity of science and the beauty of its creations.

Science is not destructive, it is our inability to use it for constructive, peaceful purposes that proves to be dangerous.

What leads you towards excellence?

There is a saying, “Nothing succeeds like success; and nothing fails like failure.” We appreciate the end results, but never look at the efforts. It points to a business-like approach. But life is much more than business. Two students joined a laboratory to do research. One pursued a stereotype approach, followed a well-known path and got some results, published them and left the laboratory with a certificate. The other tried to do something new, but at the end of five years, finished only half of what he was meant to do. He did not get a certificate, because there was no appreciation for his unconventional efforts. The attempt to innovate was nipped in the bud.

A company asked a scientist to develop a solar cell. He developed one, but the efficiency of the solar cell was half of the efficiency of the solar cell available in the market, and the manufacturing cost was double. The scientist was fired.

Both examples suggest that we are not ready to pay a price for innovation. In both cases, there was no lack of sincerity and effort. We do not have patience to develop on our own. We borrow and buy the by-products of others and enjoy them. When we passed out from the school, our headmaster gave a piece of advice. He said, “Dear boys! While growing up, try to depend less and less on others and more and more on yourselves. That would help you develop confidence and lead you towards excellence.”

Today we are lamenting the lack of excellence everywhere; in our educational institutions, in our science, technology and in our manufacturing and services. Ideas are borrowed. Implementation processes are borrowed. Technology is borrowed. Therefore there is no excellence. When we have nothing to show in the present, we go back to the past and claim that our past was better than others. How long will we bask in past glory which has now only limited or no relevance?

Not long ago we did produce a few Nobel laureates, great thinkers and reformers, leaders and doers. It happened because we yearned for change and to achieve it, we were committed and prepared to undertake sacrifices in order to prove our potential and excel.

The spirit of sacrifice gradually faded after Independence. The need of the hour is to excite the youth, encourage them to follow the path less traveled, to overcome the hurdles of destiny, and to shift the target forward so that they can learn to walk ahead fearlessly. Uncertainty could be converted into certainty and hurdles into opportunities.

Only a robust general educational system, can help us achieve this. Positive change will come only when the means of change is based on truthfulness and honesty. MK Gandhi brought about a change in us because he adhered to these principles under all circumstances.

Growth must be universal, not local. In science we have seen that universal laws are more effective than the local ones which are subject to fluctuations. There are many scientists but only a few are remembered, like Newton, Einstein and Darwin because they showed us the eternity of science and the beauty of its creations.

Science is not destructive, it is our inability to use it for constructive, peaceful purposes that proves to be dangerous.