“सफलता – ‘खुशी’ में निहित है …”

Swami ji said …

” Society today is obsessed with ‘success’. We are constantly told that we must be ‘successful’. We idolise and worship anyone who society considers to be ‘successful’. Money, wealth, beauty, fame, power – are the general parameters used by us to measure ‘success’.”

” Where are you in your career? How much money do you make? What hold and influence do you have over others? It is answers to these questions that tend to define whether or not you are successful. And it is these questions that drive man to keep toiling and working hard at whatever he decides to pursue.”

” Let us think of success in terms of money. Is having a large bank balance ‘success’ in itself ? For some period of time, it could be. But, then will the joy of this success last forever ? Would it not feel better to have an even larger bank balance? Why are we comparing ourselves with others who are richer than us? The chase would hence begin again. Are joy and happiness thus supposed to be only temporary pit stops in this race towards success? And, what if we are unable to achieve the standards that we have set out for ourselves? Has then all our effort and toil been a complete waste?”

” It would thus appear that we live life only to ‘achieve’ certain results – with much time spent in only hoping and praying that we ‘make it’. It is such a way of living ; such an approach towards life that creates stress and tension.”

” Today, people are constantly stressed. In a world where everyone knows what the other person is upto – they put in everything to be one up. They work hard tirelessly – only with the constant pressure to outdo others and to make a name for themselves. Such a life, though initially thrilling – is one that is shortlived in terms of mental peace and joy – as everyday there will be someone doing better than us at work , or , in their social life, or , in some other aspect. On the other hand being unhappy with our personal set up, status and slow success rate ; and envying the other person’s fate will only keep us up at night leading to further unhappiness and ill health.”

” It is thus important to understand that happiness is not something we need to earn or receive from external factors. it is something we need to bring about ourselves ; find it within ourselves. Just because we did not hit a target today, or, some unexpected obstacle presented itself – does not mean that we cannot be happy. We make life morose and depressive by sweating about every other problem or shortcoming we face. Instead, we must learn to shut our minds from all these at the end of the day , and , simply seek to enjoy the time we have to ourselves. Infact, we must strive to smile even in the trenches. Facing and solving problems with a smile more often than not sees half the battle won.”

” We live only in the present moment and if we are not happy in that moment, then we should be asking ourselves – why that is so ? Life must be lived with the aim to be as joyous and blissful as we can be.This will direct us to perform our actions in a better and thoughtful manner. We will automatically gravitate towards good ‘karma’ and no matter how hard the task – we will be motivated to tackle it efficiently. Our actions will make us ‘happy’ and ‘joy’ will drive our actions. A happy mind is one that knows it is not doing anything wrong. We will thus work as hard as we must; we will stop when we know we must; we will also be responsible and dutiful, as our conscience will not allow it otherwise. At the end of the day- if our heart is satisfied with our efforts – we will be happy – and that would mean being ‘successful’.”

” It is thus important for us to recalibrate and think in terms of ‘true’ happiness. It is only then that we will no longer feel the pressure to ‘compete’ and always ‘win’. We will instead simply be doing what we had come to do in this world happily – God’s work – and, that in itself, is all the reward and ‘success’ in this world.”