(Below is a continuation of the post The True Sign Of Success)
Do you know what psychologists say? If a speaker speaks for more than 10 minutes, the listener go for a break three times! Attention deficiency is growing these days among our youth in a very big way because we have so many impressions being bombarded into our brain. This is why attention deficiency, schizophrenia are all on the rise today. It is very important that we take care of our mental health. Like you have dental hygiene, we do have a mental hygiene, which is not being paid much attention.
Meditation is a sort of mental hygiene, it keeps you sane. When you are sane then you feel happy and your family is happy.
Couple of centuries ago in some parts of the world you would hardly find people who all their teeth in place because they would never brush their teeth, that is in some parts of the world, not everywhere. Today, the one thing that has reached everywhere is toothpaste and toothbrush. Similarly, we must educate our people on how to keep their mind sane, and this is called mental hygiene. Meditation is a sort of mental hygiene, it keeps you sane. When you are sane then you feel happy and your family is happy.
Can a person be happy if his surroundings are unhappy? Even if one person in the family is unhappy, everyone in the family becomes unhappy. Their happiness gets affected. Happiness has to spread, if it doesn’t spread, it’s going to die very soon.
Then the nature of happiness is to share. Suppose you watch a very nice film, what do you do? You don’t say, ‘Please don’t disturb me I have watched a very good movie today. Leave me alone.’ Do you say, leave me alone? (Audience say, ‘No’)
When you see something nice, what do you do? You want to tell everybody that it is so nice, and they should also go and see it. The nature of happiness is to share and to give.
There are two types of happiness, the first is of grabbing or taking. This is the happiness we are all born with. A child enjoys taking things. This is an infant happiness, the want to possess. You take children to a toy shop and that’s it! They would want to bring the whole toy shop home. They like to grab everything. This is infant joy.
Then there is a happiness that is more mature. It is the happiness of your grandmother or grandfather. Say your grandmother is at home all by herself, she will not make 4-5 dishes and have a big meal. But when her grand children are coming, look at the enthusiasm in her. She prepares so many varieties of dishes and she enjoys feeding them. This is a mature joy, which comes from giving. There is a joy in giving.
Happiness and success, both depend on your ability to give. This ability to give is in your consciousness, in your mind. And it is not the object that you give that matters but the attitude of sharing.
You will many industrialists around the world who always enjoy giving. Why do they give? They give because giving gives them more joy, it gives them a satisfaction which is unparalleled. Giving gives you happiness which is unparalleled.
A successful person is one who has tasted the joy in giving, who has understood the joy in giving and goes on giving. This is the sign of success.
Now, it is not that you should give only after you become successful, no! It is not like that. You need to make it a habit.
It is so unfortunate, this country which is known for giving, the government had to make CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) a law. All entrepreneurs must give 2-3%of their profit for a social cause, this is now a law. See where the values have disappeared. This was in our genes. We had always contributed back to the society. So, happiness and success, both depends on the ability to give. This ability to give is in your consciousness, in your mind. And it is not the object that you give that matters but the attitude of sharing.
The first goal for a student is to excel in studies and make a career. At the same time be multi-faceted and improve your talents. This is a time for you to develop as many talents as you can. Studying alone will not give you enough satisfaction. Do a lot other extra co-curricular activities and see that they don’t eat up your main focus.
Focus on your studies. Don’t think, ‘Oh I don’t like it. I want to leave it.’ No way. When students come and tell me this, I always tell them, ‘First you finish your studies. Whatever you have taken, you complete your graduation and then everything else’.
Don’t be too hard on yourself. Every failure is a step toward success. There are many successful people today, you know how much they have failed at some point in their life? There are ample examples in the world.
In a competition if you lose, you know what you should think? You’ve just made someone else win. In Art of Living I say, we believe in winning or making someone win. We don’t lose at all. Making someone else win is also a joy.
Suppose, you have won a prize and your friends have lost, are you happy about it? No. When you win you want others to share that joy with you. So think that way. If anybody wins in a competition, share the joy with them.
Profession is a passion if you excel in it. Wherever you have a passion, it becomes a profession. Suppose you have a passion for music though you are an engineer, you will see, if you follow your passion you will become a musician. If passion and profession is combined then it is a formula for success.
Arrogant people are somewhere insecure. They don’t have enough knowledge. But when the context of your life expands, when it changes, then where is the place for arrogance? Once you see life from a holistic perspective, there is no arrogance.
Billions of people have come here and they’ve all died and gone, more people will come. What’s the big thing that you have done to be so arrogant? You’re going to go into the same mud like everybody. I think you are not aware that you are going to die. You should take a walk in the cemetery and know that this is where you are going to be one day.
No arrogance can stay on. Humility, a sense of belongingness is an automatic phenomenon. It is a simple awareness of our life. You don’t have to do something to make it happen.
