In this Weekly Wisdom, Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar shares a bigger perspective on success and working towards it with patience.
Recently, Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar spoke about finding success in happiness, maintaining enthusiasm, and resisting temptations to take shortcuts to success.
Read more about his prescriptions for success.
Is success based on luck?
Luck is a gift. It's not earned.
But there's something you can do to bring more luck into your life: serve people with a clean heart.
Meditation also improves your luck. Take a vow to meditate for x number of days. And then, see, your energy becomes so positive.
The positive energy definitely attracts more luck.
Is there any shortcut to success?
A shortcut to success will cut short your success, too. Remember that.
People who want to become rich very quickly have come down, crashing. Have you noticed that?
History is full of such events, where people want to make quick money and do it, but then they come down that fast as well.
Better to be steady and rise up gradually.
Should I focus on results?
Listen to your own conscience.
Your mind will say, “Oh, I haven't given my 100 percent.” Or, sometimes, you'll say you’ve given your 100 percent.
Then, accept whatever the result is. But, best to keep moving ahead.
Don't sit back or keep looking back all the time. Learn and move because time is running fast.
Staying enthusiastic in life
In this sense, you'll have a lot of enthusiasm.
If you're spending 20 minutes to half an hour every day in your spiritual knowledge or listening to wisdom, you'll never fall short of enthusiasm.
Even in the most insignificant work you do, even there, you'll find yourself bubbling with enthusiasm.
That's the secret of the wisdom of meditation.
Should I compare my success to others?
Just look up and see that so many people have been here on this planet.
Cleopatra and Alexander the Great have been here. So many great men and women have walked this path.
The ultimate place for them is their grave.
Whoever makes you jealous, one day they disappear upon death. They'll merge with the soil.
Everything is temporary
Life is temporary. Everything is impermanent here. Even your life.
You're not going to be here forever. You're in a transit lounge, my dear.
Do you get jealous in a transit lounge because someone is sitting in a comfortable chair while you have to stand in the airport? No, you don't mind because you know it's a matter of a few minutes.
And then you'll get your seat on the plane, right?
In the same way, seeing life from a bigger perspective will free you from jealousy, hatred, and anger. These negative emotions, which become so difficult for human beings to bear, will simply disappear.
That's why this knowledge and wisdom are so essential in life.
What is success? When can one say that they have success in life?
Listen, success isn't an ultimate; it isn’t something that you achieve one day.
Success is owned throughout life.
For me, every day you spend happily is a successful day. The day you have an undying smile, you can declare that it's successful.
The day you have total confidence, and you're not scared of anything, then you're successful.
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Editor’s note:
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