What is Success?
Success is not something that you achieve one day. Success is woven throughout life. For me, every day you spend happily is a successful day. The days you have an undying smile on your face – you can declare as a successful day. The day you have full confidence – total confidence – you are not scared of anything – that day you are successful.
Success 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.
The formula for success is very clear – clarity in mind, purity in heart and sincerity in action.
– Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
Effort & Faith
You cannot get success with effort alone. Along with effort you need faith and devotion. If you have faith and devotion together then you will get success. Also, it is not that if you only have devotion, you will get success. You need devotion and effort; a combination of both is required.
Give 100%, Let Go and Keep Moving
Success of any endeavour depends on the action and the strength of action depends on the power of intention behind it. The intention gains strength when one drops the feverishness for the result of the action. So give your 100% and let go.
Listen to your own conscience. Your mind will say I have not given my 100%. You will say no, I have given my 100%. Then accept whatever is the result. But the best thing is to keep moving ahead, not sit or keep looking back all the time. You know you learn and you move. Time is running very fast. There is no time for you to sit and brood over.
When we start letting go, we’re able to catch something even bigger and higher than that – a bigger achievement. When you are holding onto something, you are not able to get into a new dimension. If you are stuck on 1 step, you have to lift your foot from there. Only then can you put it on the next step. So in order to jump from one to another, you need to let go.
Shortcut to success will cut short your success.
– Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
No Shortcuts
Shortcut to success will cut short your success – remember that. You have seen that people who want to become rich very quickly have come down crashing. History is full of such events – when you want to make quick money and you made it but came down that fast as well. Better to be steady and rise up gradually.
You are in a transit lounge. Everything in this life is temporary. Everything is ephemeral here.
– Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
Don’t compare
Just look up and see that so many people have been there on this planet. Cleopatra has been here. Alexander – The Great has been here. There have been so many great men and women that have walked on this path and the ultimate place for them is their grave. So even the person on whom you are jealous is not going to be here permanently. One day they will also merge with the soil. So know this – everything in this life is temporary.
Everything is ephemeral here. Even your life – you’re not going to be here forever. You are in a transit lounge. Do you get jealous in a transit lounge because someone is sitting in a comfortable chair ? That you don’t get a chair and you have to stand in the airport ? No, because you know it is a matter of a few minutes and then you will get your seat in the plane. Right ? In the same way, life seen from a bigger perspective will free you of all jealousy, hatred, anger – all these negative emotions which become difficult for a civilised human being to bear. – will simply disappear. That is why this knowledge, this wisdom is very essential in life.
Success Is An Attitude Not A Phenomenon.
– Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
Increase your LUCK
Well luck is a gift. It is not something you earn -right? But yet there is something you can do that can bring more luck to your life. That is – serve people with a clean heart. Meditation also improves your luck. Take a vow to meditate for a certain number of days and then see that your energy becomes more positive and positive energy definitely attracts more luck.
The Ultimate Success
Success is not what happens to you. No. Your confidence, your strength, your smile is what really measures your success. Real success is if you have gotten into spiritual wisdom. That’s it. It is the ultimate success. You know how people struggle to get into the spiritual path, what all they do. But when they get into spiritual knowledge, they say Wow – This is what I have been looking for all my life. Total contentment, satisfaction can only come through spiritual upliftment.
Do not think that passing or failing in exams determines your entire life’s direction.
There is no control over the fruit of action. Every failure is a stepping stone towards success.
– Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
For Students
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 the 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.
For People Working in Corporates
Balance your time between work and rejuvenation.
Balance the left-brain activity with the right-brain activity.
You must contribute to society.
– Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
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.
The secret of true success is in balancing all aspects of life without being attached or averse to any of them.
– Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
Make a Habit of Giving
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 an immediate feeling of inner rejuvenation.
There is 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 find 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. You need to make it a habit.
The one primary mantra to success is to digest failure
– Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
The sign of success is a smile on your face. If you smile, no matter what happens, that is a sign of success.
– Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
Is there a Universal Definition of Success?
Success could be different for different people. You cannot generalise this. Many factors are there in success. And what you mean by success is only one-sided success.
To me success is the smile that you have on your face. If nobody can take the smile away from you,I will call you successful. And the confidence that you have to face any challenge is another measure of your success
Someone having a Rolls Royce or BMW is not necessarily a success. Do they have confidence, peace of mind and happiness in their life? You should look into this.
Anybody can have their own idea of success. You can’t change their idea about success. You hold on to your vision, your view. Suppose you want to achieve something in life, a particular target or goal, you may face several failures, never mind. Your goal is important and you should keep working towards it. Every failure is a stepping stone towards success. We should not be too feverish about success then that becomes an impediment to be successful. Improve the perfection in your action, in your attitude and you will see that the result will be there automatically, and effortlessly.
The Real Truth About Success
There is no question of success if you have nothing to gain. There is nothing to gain if you have only come to give and serve. Success indicates non-supremacy. It indicates that there are chances 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 your success? If you have limitless access then there is no success. You don’t 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 realise your unboundedness then no action is an achievement.
Anyone who claims to be successful only reveals his limitations. 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.
