Seva and success

 

Our first and foremost commitment in the world is to do seva, or service. If there is fear in your life, it is because of a lack of commitment. The very thought, “I’m here in this world to do seva”, dissolves the “I” and when the “I” dissolves, worries dissolve. Seva is not something you do out of convenience or for pleasure. The ultimate purpose of life is to be of service. 

An uncommitted mind is miserable. A committed mind may at times experience rough weather but it will reap the fruits of its toil. When you make service your sole purpose in life, it eliminates fear, brings focus in your mind and purposefulness, action and long-term joy-and may be short- term problems.

Poor people fight for food. Rich people share their food. Richer are those who share power. Richer still are those who share fame. Richest of all are those who share themselves. The richness of a person is indicated by his ability to share and not by what he hoards. What does success mean? 

There is no question of success if you have nothing to gain. There is nothing to gain if you have come only to give and serve. Success indicates non - supremacy. It indicates that there is a chance of failure. If something is supreme, there is nothing to lose. People running after success only exhibit their limitations.

Success means crossing a limit. To cross a limit, you need to assume that you have a limit. Assuming a limit is underestimating yourself. If you have no boundaries, then where is the question of success? If you have limitless access, then there is no success. You do not say that you successfully drank a glass of water, because it is well within your capabilities. But when you do something that is beyond your perceived limits, you claim success.

When you realize your unboundedness, then no action is an achievement. Anyone who claims to be successful only reveals his limitation. If you feel very successful, it means that you have underestimated yourself. All your gains can only be smaller than you. Taking pride in any gains is belittling yourself.

When you serve others, you may feel that you have not done enough but you will never feel that you have been unsuccessful. Real service is when you feel that you have not done enough.

The power of true prayer

 

Often people say behind every successful man is a woman. But I say behind every success, there is the Divine saying “I am behind you”. And Divine dawns in you when you pray and cry for it. You don’t need any special qualifications or abilities to pray. Whether you are wise person or not, whether you are rich or poor, you can pray.

Prayer is a vital tool to improve your life. When you feel the obstacle is too much to handle, deep prayer can work miracles. What you can do, you do. What you cannot do, you pray for it! Whatever you do, know that the higher power has the final say and you can tap that power through your prayers.

Prayer doesn’t mean just sitting and chanting some words. It’s about being in that serene, calm and meditative state. That is why, in the Vedic tradition, before prayer comes dhyana (meditation) and there is dhyana after prayer. When the mind is focused, the prayer becomes far more powerful. 

To whom you pray is not important. Whereas religion puts words to the prayer, and adds symbols and rituals to it, the prayer itself transcends them. Prayer happens in subtle level of feelings and the feelings transcend words and religion. The act of praying itself has the power to bring transformation. 

Be sincere in your prayers. Do not try to outsmart the Divine. Usually, you give the time that is leftover; when you have nothing else to do, no guests to attend to, no parties to attend to, you go to the Divine. This is not quality time. Don’t be in a hurry to get what you seek from the Divine. When your intention is to get a boon from God, you are in a hurry. But when you know your own God, you are not in a hurry to get something out of God. You hurry to get something that throws you off balance and makes you small. 

True prayer, however, is just the opposite of wanting to possess. It’s about honouring and offering everything to the Divine. Honouring brings devotion and it leads to surrender. Devotion brings a healing touch to life. Devotion and faith together are the central core of prayer. A true prayer can’t happen without devotion and faith. Having faith is to realise that God’s protection is there for you. Devotion is an inner flowering. Unless you are lit in devotion to the Divine, your life will remain restless. In devotion, longing will arise in you. And when there is longing, true prayer happens by itself.

Success in failure

 

Everyone wants to be successful in his/her examination. But what is success? It is having strength, having an unshakable smile that nobody can take away, and having such courage that does not diminish in the face of adversity.

In exams, some may get very good results and some others may not. It is natural to feel bad when one fails. There is tension, fear and worry about the future. But look at life from a broader perspective. Consider this life as a bigger examination than the one you have been through. Do not think that passing or failing in exams determines your entire life’s direction.

Some disheartened students commit suicide when they fail. No one should commit suicide. Do not become a victim of stress. This life is very precious. In life you have to accept failures and success. There is no control over the fruit of action.

Everyone who fails in an exam is not a fool and everyone who passes an exam is not necessarily intelligent. My request to parents is to encourage children even if they fail and to ensure that they come out of their depression. Parents must make them understand that life is beyond this exam.

When faced with difficult times, invoke the valour in you and tackle the challenge with confidence. Practices such as yoga, meditation will help tremendously. Have faith that you are supported by nature. And you will succeed.

Life is a mixture of everything; failure and success complement each other. If you fail, then you know the value of success. It is a stepping stone. You need to move forward; ask yourself, what did I learn from the past, and then what is my vision for the future? If you fail 10 times, you will be successful the 11th time. Remember as a child how many times you have fallen before you could stand up on your legs?

Tell yourself now, “Whatever happens, I will never go down. God will always hold my hand.” This much is enough to pull you up.

Letting go of control

 

Many of us have the problem of letting go of control. This results in anxiety, restlessness and sours relationships. Wake up and see, are you really in control? What are you in control of?

You are not in control when you are sleeping or dreaming. You are not in control of thoughts and emotions coming to you. You may choose to express it or not, but they come to you without your permission!

Similarly, do you think you are in control of all the events in your life or in the world? That is a joke! When you look at things from this angle, you need not be afraid of losing control, because you have none! Whether you realise it or not, when you let go of your sense of control, that is the time you truly relax. Your identification of being somebody does not let you relax totally and it keeps your domain limited.

For any success to happen, what is it that matters? First of all, it comes as a thought. Thoughts get translated into action. First a thought gets translated into will, if it becomes a will then it gets translated into action and action in turn brings success. You want success but you are not taking those steps, not attending to the steps behind success.

We want success, we only make use of the aspect of action but not every action will lead to success. If you go to a market, one shop may be running at a loss while the adjacent one might be making a profit. What is the reason? That is what we need to see.

Similarly, one has to realise and understand the way to success — the secret of success. Before success, action is necessary and behind action intention is necessary. How to strengthen our intention? Your skill comes in.

Intention will be strong only when we learn to let go. You have to let go of the breath to enjoy fresh air. In life, it is the same.

On Guru Purnima 2021

 

Guru Purnima is celebrated with this idea in mind that you do a revision of your own wisdom, knowledge in your life - how much life is filled with wisdom and how much it is not, where we have integrated the wisdom in life, and how we have not. Do an assessment of how far you have progressed in life.

Now don't be scared, what appears to be a failure is not a failure at all but every failure is a step towards success and success is just nothing, it is just a concept. In the big picture you will see that life is much more than what you consider as success. You know you think something is success because you find yourself small, life is smaller than your achievement. So any time you feel that you have succeeded know that you have much bigger potential, you are much bigger than anything that you have done or you have achieved, because your being, your self, your life, yourself is much more powerful than anything else.

You just have to recollect these words and think several times, sometimes it may just go above the head. Oh, why is Gurudev saying success is nothing? When you realize your potential every success appears to be very small and if you are proud of your success that simply means you are not aware of your potential. The master is a part of you and you are a part of the Master, this is what you have to know, realize--like the air within the body is part of the air all around you, like our body is part of this earth, you are part of your mother, you are part of  your father.

Similarly wisdom, your consciousness, is a part of the big mind. Our small eye is part of the big eye that encompasses the whole existence and that is what the Guru principle is, a Master is. A Master is ekum (the only one), nityam (eternal), vimalam (pure), achalam (unshakeable), sarvadhi saakshi bhutam (a witness to all types of thoughts, all types of emotions, all types of intellects), i.e. it is much more than just thoughts, concepts, emotions, concepts like right or wrong, good or bad, it's much beyond all that is relative and even beyond that, that is pure consciousness.

That is what consciousness is. That is what I am and that is what you are and this is when you realize I am not just this little mind which has cravings, aversions, likes, dislikes and all sorts of things, I am much more than this. I am part of the universal consciousness - thou art that - that is the ultimate wisdom. You are that consciousness, you are that infinite potential and that is what a Guru is and that is what you are.

So on Guru Purnima day a student or disciple does not feel he is separate from the Guru, he is a part of the Guru and he makes life a celebration, only then can life become a celebration. In Sanskrit there is a proverb that says there is no joy in small things, joy is always there in something that is much bigger, greater and lovely and that is what you are. We need to remind ourselves of that again and again and again.

See, we don’t realize we are breathing most of the time right? We realize only when we are climbing a hill or too many steps and when we start panting then we know. Nowadays people have started realizing the importance of  deep breathing, how important it is to breathe more. In the same way we don’t realize, even though we are in it, it is just out of sight because we are so busy running all the time in the rat race for the accessories of life. So Guru Purnima is the time when you relax.

It is good to see thousands of people who are doing a silence program this week to take a few days, not weeks to go deep within and be in silence. It does so much good, it removes all the cobwebs in the mind and the witness consciousness wakes up from within.

Once such awakening happens then it is irreversible, you can not just be gloomy again. The gloomy mindset can be overcome by gratitude, by feeling grateful. In the world, in activity, when we are busy, when we are interacting with people it is quite natural to feel drained or when gloominess sticks to you which may be due to others doings and not your own we can snap out of it when we realize that this is all just part of the whole game, part of life. We should realize that life is much much larger, bigger than events whether pleasant or unpleasant and meditation is the key for it. Silence and meditation is necessary. At some point you will not have to make an effort to meditate at all. Even now there is no effort in meditation, even with eyes open while talking, walking and while doing your work you are meditating, you remain in a meditative state.

Today everything is happening from a different place - satsang is happening in a different place, I am talking to you from a different place and you are watching from a different place but still we are all in one place, that is here (the heart).

Ways to be successful and stress free in the corporate world

 

As times are getting tougher in the corporate world, many are feeling the pinch. Stress impacts the way we think, feel and behave, thus affecting all aspects of our life. The consequences of letting stress rule are nothing short of disastrous and tragic. So how to be successful without paying the heavy price of a stressful life is what everyone is asking these days? I would say it’s rather easy and simple.

It’s like riding a bicycle

What is the secret to riding a bicycle? Balance! It’s about staying at the centre: not letting it fall to the right or left. When it’s falling on one side, you bring it to balance. When you go out of balance, you feel the pinch. Listen to that. Don’t just ignore it, acknowledge it and come to the centre. Whenever you go out of balance in any aspect of life, listen to your inner voice, and come to the centre.

Balance work and rejuvenation

First, balance your time between work and rejuvenation. Take care of your food, exercises and take time out for some meditation and relaxation.

Take interest in art

Second, take interest in some art form. In the corporate world, you are loaded with left-brain activities like logical thinking, planning, analysis, etc. So you need to balance the left-brain activity with the right-brain activity. Painting, music, poetry or any other kind of creative and recreational activities activate the right brain. When the two hemispheres of the brains are balanced, you can experience higher clarity, higher creativity, higher productivity, higher efficiency and higher relaxation.

Strike a work-life balance

Third, strike a work-life balance. Listen to your inner voice. If you have ignored your family, it pinches you. If you have ignored your social commitment, it pinches you. If you are ignoring your business, it pinches you. If you are ignoring your spiritual practices, it pinches you. So wherever anything pinches you, come back to the centre.

Do acts of service

Fourth, do some seva (acts of service). Be useful to people around you. It’s the best antidote to stress. You must contribute to society. When you do some act of service and kindness, it brings immediate feeling of inner rejuvenation.

The secret of true success is in balancing all aspects of life without being attached or averse to any of them.

Message on the commencement of Navratri

There are some things you can do, you do them. And some things you cannot do - and the things that you cannot do, by thinking about it, it doesn't make them happen, you only make yourself miserable.

We get miserable looking at others behaviours - you cannot correct everybody and everything on the planet. Whatever you can do, you do and let go, in letting go you experience samadhi. Offering all the good qualities and bad qualities you have to the Mother Divine, you get into deep meditation. So, this is the time to take that deep inner spiritual rest.

Our mind is tired with desires and cravings, with do’s and don'ts, rights and wrongs. All these things are getting into our head and we get into a mess. This is the time to just drop everything. And when we can drop everything and repose in ourselves, then samadhi, deep meditation happens. And that is the basis of all success in life.

During Navratri, we pray to the Mother Divine and say ‘whatever is right it is your job to maintain it and whatever is wrong it is your job to correct it. I'm neither here to correct anything or desire anything, you know what is best for me’.

With this feeling of offering the past, the present and the future at the feet, to the infinite power, we repose in ourselves - that is Navratri.

We give deep rest to our mind, our soul - because our soul is longing for rest - it’s tired with
all these cravings, all the rights and wrongs and concepts that we are struggling with in our life.

So, enjoy Navratri.

Management mantras for "success"

It is easy to create a company and it is easy to prosper as well, but the real challenge lies in sustaining a company, which is also the underlying factor that decided whether you are successful or not. Here are four management mantras or pointers to help you move towards effective management of your business and steer your ship towards success.

#1 Develop Your Intuitive Abilities

No business can work without intuition! Right from dealing with people to making investment decisions, you have to listen to your gut feeling. If your decisions are based on intuition, you will prosper.

One of the key factors to being a successful entrepreneur is intuition. If you don’t have intuition, you cannot be a good businessperson because you cannot go on gambling. The success that comes to you through gambling is accidental and can also bring you failure. But if you have intuitive abilities, you will not fail. So, intuition is the first management mantra.
The next question is – how do you develop intuition? Is it inborn or can it be developed? I would say both. Intuition can be a gift that you are born with, and it can also be developed through the regular practice of meditation.

#2 Focus on Innovation

The second management mantra is innovation. Innovation is essential to maintain and grow your business. The world is changing very fast and if you are not innovative, you will find yourself in the back seat. And so, it is important to be creative and develop your innovative tendencies.

For every innovation, you need both intellect and intuition. It is not enough if you have just done well academically and have intellectual abilities. For innovation, you need an intuitive insight as well. That intuitive insight comes when you empty your mind a few times every day; in other words, when you meditate.

#3 Create a Sense of Belonging among Co-workers

The third management mantra is to create a sense of belonging among people working in the company. A good measure of this is teamwork and commitment. Ask yourself this question – Are people working for your company while thinking of the company as just an ATM where you take money and walk away, or do they have a relationship with the company?
This is something you need to observe.
You may have a hundred employees, but how many of them have a sense of belonging to the company? How many of them have the same sense of ownership that you have? People working in any setup without a sense of ownership cannot make much progress.

Some important questions you need to ask yourself/look at:

• Have you given them a sense of not just financial comfort but also a pleasant environment to work with?
• Have you created a friendly environment for them?
• Have you given a chance for their talents to blossom?
• Do they have a voice? Can they raise their concerns about the company anytime they need to?

You need to ask yourself these questions. No one else can answer it for you, and if the answer is no, then you have to do something about it.

#4 Believe in Yourself

What is success? To me, success is an unshakeable confidence and an undying smile.

If you are a business tycoon and you are irritable, stressed, and unhappy, I tell you, your success factor is zero. You know, some of the top businessmen have debts that run into billions, yet they have confidence, they are friendly with other people, and they keep a smile. That is a true sign of success.

Even if you lose everything, if you have the confidence that you can recreate everything again, then that is a true sign of success. Success is an attitude, it is not a phenomenon.

How to Become a Successful Entrepreneur?

The challenges that you face as an entrepreneur are not limited to just your work-related field, they are diverse – interpersonal, infrastructural, administrative and even emotional. To be able to deal with all these, one needs to be multi-faceted. All these aspects in you grow in you when you are established in yourself and are free from stress. 

Some level of stress at the workplace is normal & acceptable, perhaps even essential. It can keep you on your toes, help you face challenges, and you’re able to meet your deadlines. However, just like too much salt can spoil the food, stress beyond normal levels can leave you feeling frustrated and powerless.

What is Stress?

Stress is when you have so much to do, very little time and don’t have enough energy. Now to deal with it, either reduce your workload – that’s impossible in a startup! Or increase your time – but a day has only 24 hours. The only option we’re left with is to increase our energy levels.

1) Increase your energy levels

There are 4 ways you can increase your energy levels:

a) Proper food will help you. Not too much, not too little. Also, pay attention to keeping a balanced diet, freshly prepared food that is easily digestible.

b) The right amount of sleep. You need 6-8 hours of sleep. Not more, not less.

c) Breathing is a lesser known but very critical source of energy! Regular practice of breathing exercises like pranayama is effective energy boosters. Breathing exercises help in improving perception, observation and expression, all vital for good management.

d) A few moments of meditative awareness. Meditation is conscious, deep relaxation. Just a few minutes of meditation regularly can relieve all types of stress. About 15-20 minutes of meditation, morning and evening, is good enough. Meditation also helps us get in touch with our inner space – the source of joy, peace, and love.

2) M&Ms!

Meals and Meditation. When teams have meals together or sit together and meditate, they find it so refreshing that they’re able to carry on for the rest of the day with the same energy with which they came into the office. It also brings people closer and creates a healthier work environment.

3) Celebrate Diversity

Learn to accept diversity, and honour it. Everybody has their own strengths. Instead of having defined job descriptions and assigning people to them, see how their strengths and interests can be manoeuvred to the roles you have in mind.

4) Accept the opposites

Accept the pleasant and unpleasant moments of life. You need to accept that you will experience both of these in your life. This will help you maintain the equanimity of your mind.

5) Perfect Imperfections

Lastly, make room for imperfection. Accept a little bit of others’ as well as your own imperfections. It allows you to be more patient. It’s like the space in your house where you keep your dustbin. You need it there to keep the rest of your house clean.

Whatever happens in life, if you can keep these, then you have really found success.

Life is a continuous process of learning to "let go"

This is what we need to do, simply come in front of the table. If you are behind the table, you are half known; in front of the table you are fully there. Right?

Someone asked me, "How do you manage this huge organisation, 152 countries, how do you manage?" I said, ‘I don’t manage at all, it gets managed. I simply don’t meddle with anything, simply let it happen.’

The whole philosophy of the life is based on letting go. Are you with me? What’s happening in your mind right now? What’s next? Right? Suppose I don’t say anything would you still like to be here? I say nothing and I am going to just sit back. Now? See, watch the mind, when you are screening there is an expectation. There is something that you want to happen in next one hour, you want to know the secret of whole life or purpose of it or something, right? Something exciting, yes? Suppose I do nothing, I don’t say anything; would you still like to be here?

This is letting go. Letting go is what? You are stuck in a traffic jam and your car is behind fifty cars. There is no way you can go back or go forward and you are running out of time. What do you do? You are upset. You simply have to let go! Correct? You have gone to catch a flight, the flight is late. You are sitting in the flight and it is delayed. What do you do? Running your eyes up and down in the air, on the plane, it is not going to help.

Life is a continuous process of teaching you to ‘let go’. I wouldn’t say the word acceptance because acceptance has a little connotation of lethargy or what do you call ‘chalta hai’ (everything goes). When we hold on to them, then they become a reason for tension. If you allow the universe to work through you, you will find life takes you to another level of existence.

You know, for any success to happen what matters? First of all, it comes as a thought. Thought get translated into action. First a thought gets translated into will, if it becomes a will then it gets translated into action and action in turn brings success. See, you aspire success but you are not taking those steps, not attending to the steps behind success. We want success, we only make use of the aspect of action but not every action will lead to success. 

If you go to Karol Bagh (in New Delhi), one shop may be running at a loss while the adjacent shop might be making a profit. What is the reason? There is something behind the scenes, what that is? That is what we need to see. That same thing, if we can catch hold of it, is the secret to success. Before success, action is necessary and behind action intention is necessary. How to strengthen our intention? That is the skill. Intention will be strong only when we learn to let go. Are you listening?

Competitive world brings out the best in you. When you can attend to the core of talent, no competition is there. When inner strength comes, there is no competition. You excel in whatever you do. 

A successful businessman always believes that something more than his effort has gone into it. It is not his effort that is bringing him luck, there is more. Recharge yourself again and again. See, you have seen you are constantly changing; you are different than what you were 5 years ago. So much within you has changed; those who are with you have also changed within. Change is the phenomenon of the universe. If it’s changing and you are not, you are stuck; not letting go means you are stuck in a position. Then there is depression, frustration, etc. 

In Europe, thirty percent people are in depression and in the coming fifteen years it may go up to fifty percent. Every other person you name in Europe is depressed or will be on Prozac. Here also, in Indian cities, it has started now, ‘I am very depressed.’ Have you ever heard of this word ‘depression?’ At least I had not heard. Even in Delhi how much depression has risen, tension has increased, why? We forgot to look into the core of life. What is life? Who am I? What do I want? This spirit of self enquiry can trigger something inside you.

As human beings everyone has needs, everybody has some responsibilities also. Now if you make a list of your responsibilities and your needs, compare them, and if needs are more than responsibilities, then you will not be a very happy person. Your enthusiasm will become lesser and lesser. If you have few responsibilities and more desires, life will lose its flavour and become dry. If we want to be happy, what should we do? Reduce your needs and increase your responsibilities. 

So today, when you get home make a list - what are my responsibilities, what all responsibilities I would like to take in the future and what are my needs. You will see that it will bring a sudden shift in you. You will start realising, ‘What have I been doing all my life? I should wake up now; it’s high time I should take more responsibility.’ When you take more responsibility more power comes to you. Everything begins to happen by itself. As you take on more responsibilities and reduce your needs, you find your needs get fulfilled on their own.

How to deal with meeting greater failure after coming to the Guru

If that is happening, then every time your project fails rejoice, ‘today this project of mine has failed!’ And then surrender it.

If you are unable to let go off of your failure then how will you ever let go of success. 

When you fail at anything, why do you hold on to it? Let go of it and be free. 

Then you can say, ‘I am free!’

If you are successful, then you will get more and more projects one after another to handle. But if you are a failure then you are carefree!

Just make sure your heart doesn’t fail worrying about failure at work.

Accept yourself as you are

See Life from a bigger picture. 

There are so many people who are better than you today. And there are millions more who will come and who will be better than you. What are you going to do? 

Why do you compare? 

God loves everybody and you are loved. Just remember this much. Everybody has their own style, their own fate and you will get what you need to get. 

Just by talent you will be successful, is not the criteria, it does not happen that way. 

If you look around, people who are absolutely not qualified to take up even a clerical job have become billionaires. So there is something called luck and luck will come your way.  

Wake up to this reality and stop comparing yourself with anybody and know that you are good. If your heart is clean then you are beautiful and if you are beautiful everything comes your way.

Finding success in Love

Love is not a business. Love is not a career. love is not even an act. So there is no success or failure in love. Love is your very nature!

Whether you express it or not, it is there. If you realize that love is your very nature, you will not think of it as success or failure.

Some people may understand you and some may not. When someone loves you, you cannot say that they will be in love with you forever. People who have lived together for 20 years, and had said at one point of time that they were made for each other, suddenly find that they were never compatible, and that they never got along. Suddenly people feel suffocated and want to go their own ways.

Love is not an act, love is not even a situation, it is our very nature. If you are in love with somebody don’t think that it will be forever, unless and until there is knowledge or wisdom in it.

Love with wisdom is eternal bliss. Love with selfishness or love for individual pleasure, sooner or later will bring misery and heart break. If your love is there to help others, nobody can destroy it, but if your love is to get something from the other, sooner or later, it will be broken into pieces.

Find out what you think love is. Is love only a name for getting pleasure from others? If yes, then it is going to bring you pain.

But if your love is there only to care and you cannot be without it, then that is your true nature. That is what is true love.

You should always feel that you are not worthy of the love that you receive. Think that the love you receive is much more than what you deserve. If you come from this space of humility, then you will behave with magnanimity and dignity in all your dealings. You won’t chew on the past, you will live in the present moment, you will honor the other’s opinions, you will understand the other’s predicaments; that magnanimity will come from within.

If you keep this in mind, that I don’t deserve this love, you will not demand love. And when you don’t demand love in your life, it keeps on increasing.

5 key Skills you need to Succeed, in Life and in your Business

Everyone wants to be successful in life, but not many are aware of what success really is. Success is an attitude, not just a phenomenon.

Tough situations arise in every business, every organization, and you need skills to handle them. These skills come from our inner space, which I call the Spiritual Space.

There are five ingredients for success:

1. Function as a Team: 

Peace and prosperity are interlinked. Prosperity cannot flourish in a disturbed atmosphere. While working with others, you need to function as a team. Have a sense of respect for your team members, and do not indulge in blame games. As a team leader, you need to create an atmosphere of trust, cooperation, a sense of belonging, and celebration. Nothing can last if the focus is only on productivity and net result.

2. Manage your Mind:

The whole essence of the Bhagavad Gita is to act without being attached to the fruit of the action. If you can manage your mind in a war-like scenario, then you can manage any situation. This skill in action is called yoga. It is this wisdom of yoga that transforms one’s attitude from arrogance to self-confidence; from meekness to humility; from the burden of dependence to the realization of interdependence; from a limited ownership to oneness with the whole. When performing action, if the attention is only on the end result, then you can’t perform. Just give yourself fully to the task with 100 percent sincerity and commitment.

3. Be courageous like a lion: 

There is a saying in Sanskrit that says, “Great wealth comes to one who has the courage of a lion and who puts in all his efforts.” Passion and dispassion are complementary like the in-breath and out-breath. You breathe in but you cannot hold the breath too long; you have to breathe out. Similarly, you need to have passion to make things work but also the dispassion to let go. When you don’t crave for abundance, it comes to you.

4. Develop your Intuition: 

If all that is needed for prosperity is one’s own effort, then why are so many people who put effort not prosperous? This unknown factor or luck is enhanced by spirituality. The whole material world is run by a world of vibrations which is subtler than all that we see. Spirituality enhances intelligence and intuition. Intuition comes to you when you balance your passion with dispassion; profit with service; aggressiveness to get things with compassion to give back to the society. Intuition is the right thought at the right time, and is an important component for success in business.

5. Meditate:

The greater responsibilities and ambitions you have, greater is the need for you to meditate. In ancient times, meditation was used as a way to find the Self, for enlightenment and to overcome misery and problems. Meditation is all the more essential in today's hectic lifestyle full of stress and tension.

Stress is too much to do, too little time, and no energy. It can be difficult to reduce your workload, or increase the time that you have, but you can increase your energy level.

Meditation not only relieves you of stress and strain, it also enhances your abilities, strengthens your nervous system and mind and releases toxins from the body. We are made up of both matter and spirit. The body has some material needs and our spirit is nourished by spirituality. Meditation also helps us get in touch with our inner space – the source of joy, peace, and love.

The sign of success is overwhelming joy, confidence, compassion, generosity, and a smile that none can snatch away. Whatever happens in life, if you can keep these, then you have really found success.

Meditation and success

Well, what do you call success? Is it just having a big bank balance? People may have had a lot of fame and name, and a big bank balance, but they may be unable to smile, or they may not be having a good night’s sleep, and many cannot enjoy their meal. Do you know that?

To me, success is the undying smile on someone’s face. To me, success is the confidence in a person that he can win, that he can overcome any obstacles, or any situations in his life.

That is success! Look at some of the wealthy people, they are so scared of even making friends with anybody. They think that their friends are just there for their money. They get into that state of paranoia. Do you call this success? There are many so called famous people, that even if you squeeze them, there is not an iota of joy in them. I don’t call it success.

Well, if you want to be successful and famous, you can do all that, but you have to keep a healthy body and healthy mind. For that, you need to meditate my dear! Meditation is not a direct way to success. It is like watering the root of a tree. When you water the roots, then there are fruits, are flowers and greenery. If you don’t want to meditate, don’t meditate. There is no compulsion. Get thoroughly stressed, and be stressed. If stress can bring you success, well, you should go for it. Who asked you to meditate?

Wake up, please wake up. Meditation is not an obstacle for you to be dynamic and successful in your life. In fact, it helps you. If some people are meditating and they are not successful, it is their choice.

8 Types Of Wealth

One of the greatest illusions created in the world is wealth. There is so much disparity in the world. There is no logical reasoning or explanation as to why someone is born in Africa and suffers for a piece of bread, while there is surplus bread elsewhere which is often wasted. Why some dogs enjoy the comfort of a home while others are strays in the streets.

Wealth is something that is bestowed on you.

There are eight types of wealth:

1. Wealth as material comfort: The first type of wealth is what we commonly understand as the material wealth. Just being born in Ford’s home, somebody acquired so much wealth without any effort.
Some inherit wealth, while some have to toil all his life to make money.

2. Wealth as health: Just having money is not sufficient. Some people have a lot of money but they cannot eat well because of some disease. In this such a situation material wealth is nothing.
Some people do not have money, but they have enough to eat and they are healthy. Like many farmers in India: they don’t have any money but they have plenty of food with them. Anyone who goes to them is fed; they can feed the whole town. They can sleep well.

3. Wealth as success: Some may be born into a very wealthy family but they face failure in whatever they do. They are never successful in whatever they undertake. So success is another form of wealth.

4. Wealth as courage: One must see life as an adventurous game and should play the game without worrying about the outcome, whether you win or lose. But if one is afraid of making mistakes or doing anything, one lacks the wealth of courage. If one lacks the wealth of courage, there is no fun in life even if the person has a lot of money.
Someone may not have any money, but if they possess courage, they reflect wealth.

5. Wealth as friendliness: The fifth type of wealth is friendliness; having a caring attitude, having a sense of belonging. One may have the other types of wealth, but will still feel as though in a tight compartment without a sense of belonging. That is what happens at most parties.
Many rich people go to a party just to show off how rich they are, but they feel so out of place. You find sugar-coated misery there. Everybody is so stiff. It’s like a war field actually.
Parties are like a competition ground or battlefield; everyone is carrying a shield. That is no wealth at all.

6. Wealth as skill: Another wealth is having different skills and talents. Some people write well, some are good in arguing, some are good in debating, some have a knack for music, some have a wonderful voice, some cook well, some are talented in bringing up a child, some are good in administration, and so on. There are people who put their maximum efforts to achieve what they want yet they fail to achieve their goal. So effort alone is not enough to achieve one’s goal, you need the wealth of skill.

7. Wealth as dignity: The world is full of lessons if only we observe it with full awareness. Be as humble as the grass, then nothing can touch you, nothing. No one can humiliate you. In the eyes of the divine, it is those who serve the creation that are the true kings and queens. Walk like a king and be a perfect servant!

8. Wealth as memory of the source: We only know that we were born; we don’t even know how we were born. Somewhere from three or four years of our age, we start understanding things around us. Our memory is very short; it appears this is our only life. We are not aware of our source. The moment we become aware of our source, and our infinite past, our whole life changes. It’s just like someone suddenly realizes how wealthy he or she is. Immediately your style of walking changes. This is the awareness of the source.

Secrets to Success

Q: Even after putting 100 percent effort, the work doesn’t get done. What does one do then?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: For success or work to get done there are five things you require. First the intention of the person who is doing, then availability of the instruments or things needed to do the work, third is the willingness or mindset to do the work. Then doing the work at the right time, there is a time to do the work, if you don’t do it at the right time then there is no use. If you sow seeds in February then there is no use, you then cannot say that I sowed the seeds but nothing has come. You have to wait till April after the rain and then you sow the seeds and yield the results. So time is a very important factor. When we came to this Ashram this whole land was barren, there was not one leaf or one tree on this land. Today see how many trees and plants are there and these trees did not come in one day, so many people have put lots of effort and after some time the trees grew. So this is how time is an important factor and then grace. Without grace of the divine there will be no success, that is why you do Seva, Sadhana, Satsang and in time you will get the fruits of all your efforts. Okay! None of your efforts will go waste that you should be assured about, if not now you will see the results later.  

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Wealth is not just having money. You can have a big balance, you can have a big estate but on your face if you are stressed and you’re so miserable, no one can call you prosperous. Prosperity is not just having a fat bank balance. Prosperity is in acknowledging the magnanimity of life, honoring life. The confidence in a person shows his richness. What is wealth suppose to do to you? Enhance confidence right but if wealth has created weakness then it is no wealth, if wealth has created sickness then it’s no wealth, if wealth has created conflicts then it is no wealth, right! So one type of wealth is wisdom, knowledge is wealth, health is wealth, confidence is wealth, valor is wealth. If you have confidence you can manage anything, you can handle any situation that is wealth.  

Q: What is Witness Consciousness? When does one reach such state? 

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: This is a state of consciousness where you realize things are not happening because of your effort, it is happening due to some law, due to some power in the creation which is making everything happen. When you have given your 100 percent, physically, intellectually… then you realize you are not doing, but things are happening.

© The Art of Living Foundation

Some power in the creation makes everything happen!

16 March, Bangalore Ashram, India

Q: Dearest Guruji, how to keep oneself motivated all the time because sometimes the adverse conditions around try to bring the prana down and when the prana level is low in the body then I feel very frustrated and unhappy and loose all the motivation to go even a step ahead. Thank you for being in my life. Love!
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar : When you are losing motivation that is a sign that you are tired, you need recuperation. You have said that prana is low. So for one, two or three days go into retreat. Some silence, meditation, yoga, pranayama and a liquid diet will help.
You know sometimes when we eat too much and too much of the wrong food then also you feel so tired, isn’t it? How many of you have had this experience? Because when you are not feeling good you eat more and when you eat more you feel even more tired, so it is a catch 22 cycle, right? It’s a cycle that goes on. So, little detoxification/fresh fruit or juice diet coupled with Pranayama will work magic. 
When you have no motivation to do anything you feel so lazy to even do breathing exercises, that is why I would advise you to go on a diet and after 1 to 2 days this cleansing would help you.


Q: Even after giving 100% effort one does not succeed, what is the reason behind this?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: See; don’t think that by giving your 100% alone that work gets done. For success or work to get done there are five things you require. First the intention of the person who is doing, then availability of the instruments or things needed to do the work, then the willingness or mindset to do the work. Then doing the work at the right time, there is a time to do the work, if you don’t do it at the right time then there is no use. If you sow seeds in February then there is no use, you then cannot say that I sowed the seeds but nothing has come. You have to wait till April after the rain then you sow the seeds and then you yield the results. So time is a very important factor and you could get results now or you could get it later that also you cannot say. 
When we came to this Ashram this whole land was barren, there was not one leaf or one tree on this land. Today see how many trees and plants are there and these trees did not come in one day, so many people have put lots of effort and after some time the trees grew. So this is how time is an important factor and then grace. Without grace of the divine there will be no success, that is why if you want grace then you must do Seva, sadhana, satsang and in time you will get the fruits of all your efforts. Okay! None of your efforts will go waste that you should be assured about, if not now you will see the results later.


Q: Guruji what is the use of Seva? How does it help meditation?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Listen, suppose you are stranded in some place and you need someone to give you a lift in their car or taxi and nobody stops their car to give you a lift, how would you feel? 
You are carrying two bags and you have to go to the restroom in a railway station. You can’t leave the bags unattended and you have to go to the restroom, what will you do? You will find some nice elderly person, go to them and keep the bags with them requesting them to take care while you go for five minutes to the restroom. Don’t you need other’s help? If they refuse to help you then how can you survive? You know in this world as human beings we have to help each other and that is what seva is.
Seva means what? ‘Sa’ means ‘him’ which refers to God and ‘Eva’ means ‘like him’; doing things like him. God does so many things for you but does not expect anything in return from you. Whether you pray to him, thank him or not he will still continue to do. He is not doing you a favor. When you thank God, that is for your own joy, it does not matter to God. In the same way whether people acknowledge your work or not, whether they thank you or not you still do it because you find that it is important to do!


Q: When everything that is to happen is already decided then why do we have to act and then in the name of action how are we responsible?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Why are you asking this question? See there are two levels, like the molecular level on the basis of which everything is the same. E. g. if you see this stand is wood, this door is wood, everything is made from wood, but you cannot sit on the door and neither can you make a chair a door, even though everything is wood. Just like that on one level we say that everything is happening but on another level we are also required to act. You continue to act and as you continue doing you will see that, ‘I didn’t do anything, everything happened and is happening’, that is wisdom. 
Once I went to prison to address the prisoners. I was called to speak to them after they had completed the course. So I asked them how many of you have committed any crime. No one raised their hand. Then I asked how many of you are innocent and have been put into prison, and everyone raised their hand. ‘We are innocent, we have not done anything and we have just been put into prison. We have not done anything but it just happened’. So even a thief is saying that he did not do anything but it just happened. A man has murdered another person but when I asked him he said I did not do it, I don’t know at that time what went into to me that the murder just happened. So a person who has committed some of the worst crimes also says that he did not do it. Just like that people who do wonderful work, if you ask them did you do this, they will say no I didn’t do anything, it all just happened, fell into place, I didn’t do anything.
This is a state of consciousness where you realize things are not happening because of your effort, it is happening due to some law, due to some power in the creation which is making everything happen.



© The Art of Living Foundation