My travails as a TV news reporter in India ensured that I met people of different characters, ideas, and destinies. I’ve covered as many success stories as I have failings. I’ve invariably pondered over ideas that sounded reasonable, exciting even, but failed to make a mark. Then, there are people with spark and potential who never became successful.
While there is a confluence of factors that make or break a person or idea, I figured that ‘timing’ plays a crucial part. Like Scott Adams says, “Your best work involves timing. If someone wrote the best hip hop song of all time in the Middle Ages, he had bad timing.” How then does one decide upon the right time to act and in the right way? I sought the answer in vain, until one Navratri, many years ago, I attended the pujas and homas at the Art of Living International Center in Bengaluru, India.
Amid a bustle of activity, I overheard someone say, “Now is not the time to make decisions. These first 3 days are high on tamas. Only once the sattva rises, day 6 or 7 onward, feel free to take a sankalpa or decision.” I was stumped. Here I was thinking that it’s Navratri – celebrating the Divine Mother; it is festive – a great time to take sankalpas or start something new. I had to know more. They say, the first three days of Navratri are governed by the tamo guna, dedicated to Goddess Kali. Those who are aware of the subtle energies around them experience increased lethargy or dullness.
The next three days are dedicated to Goddess Laxmi and governed by rajo guna. Again, those with heightened perception are able to experience more activity and a rush of thoughts. Finally, the last three days are devoted to Goddess Saraswati and dominated by sat guna. There is an undeniable lightness and joy during those days. When nature supports, by being joyful and light, any decision made or desire expressed will fructify so much better. So it is believed that once we overcome lethargy and dullness, and reach a state of calm and peace after piercing through the rush of activity and thoughts, any decision taken will be for the greater good.
Many conversations, book readings and Google searches later, I concluded that according to our ancient texts, there is an appropriate time, place and manner to ask for blessings, or prayers to be answered. If that held true, then our every task needs to be timed right. It clicked – the very basic toward the success of a person or idea was to wait for the right time.
Put forth an idea to he whose time has come and even nature will support it. To identify whether the time is right (maybe even to find the idea whose time has come), we need to:
- Exercise – drop the lethargy, get some fresh air, open up to a world of possibility
- Meditate – clear the mind of unwanted chaos and activity
- Wait with patience – Like Fulton Sheen says, “Patience is power. It is not the absence of action, rather it is ‘timing’. It waits on the right time to act, for the right principles, and in the right way.”
My lesson from Navratri
There is an adage, “Timing is everything, patience is the key.” The Mother Divine surely gets the point through,– no matter how badly you want the desire fulfilled, you’ve got to wait six days before asking. If you manage to time it right and ask appropriately, the unbounded energies of the universe are for you to harness. Use them to realize your dream!
A little about Shwetal Rai
A journalist by profession, Shwetal Rai has followed her passion and become a full-time writer. A contributor to Chicken Soup for the Indian Entrepreneurs Soul, her poetry and other works of fiction have been published in various e-zines. Her works at Deccan Herald, CNN-IBN, and Microsoft have given her incredible experiences which weave their way into stories she wordsmiths.
Follow her on twitter @shwetal
