The secret of Success
“The world is my idea”.
“Idea is The Ultimate Reality”
Success in every aspect of
your life is your aim; you do not wish to be defeated anywhere. In the last
verse of the Bhagavadgita(18.78), the way to success is told to us. Under these
conditions, there is sure to be happiness, prosperity, success in every
undertaking, and firm policy. But what are the conditions referred to here? It
is where Sri Krishna and Arjuna stand together in a state of union, placed in
one chariot. Sri Krishna is the master of yoga and there is no need of Arjuna.
But yet, it is mentioned there that the twin forces should act in unison for
the purpose of welfare and success in every field of life.
What is the secret of success?
It is the union of Arjuna and
Krishna. Everywhere in our life, we find there are twin forces operating. There
is the operation of the twin force of the relation between - you and the world outside, your relation
with God, your relation with humanity outside, and your relation with your own
inner constitutional setup. You have got four kinds of relation, and everywhere
you are present. Arjuna is everywhere, and Krishna also is everywhere in this
description of the relations that constitute human life. If this twofold
manifestation of force is set in tune in a most harmonious manner, without
creating any jarring noise between the two, a third element fructifying in your
life will arise from this achievement. That third element is success.
The ‘eye of the hurricane’
Achievement, attainment,
success, prosperity – whatever you call this fulfilment of the aim of your life
– is all a fourfold action taking place simultaneously. Most of us have inner
tension. The constituents that make up your personality are not in a state of
alignment. There is disturbance in the mind. Though you attribute all
disturbances to the wrong actions of other people in the world, this attitude
is not entirely justifiable, because trouble arises from yourself first. That
is the ‘eye of the hurricane’, as they call it. The center of the problem is
yourself only, and not somebody else. You are not set in tune with your own
self.
Reconciliation between two ideas working in your mind
Your feeling for the world
outside is not always set in harmony with your feeling for the salvation of
your spirit. You want final spiritual attainment, God-realization as it is
called, but you do not wish to be disturbed by the world, which is also there
solidly in front of you. Are you going to reject this world, or are you going
to take this world with you when you reach God?
How am I going to deal with this world of my daily experience, together
with my aspirations for God? What is my duty towards these people around me, if
at all there is a duty?
Your very consciousness of the
presence of people outside is a call for your duty in respect of people
outside. You have to plant the presence of God at the foundation of your
endeavors of any kind – either towards people outside, or towards the world of
sensory perception, or in regard to your own individual personality also.
God is all-in-all. Everything
has to be interpreted in the light of the presence of the All-in-all – your own
self, society outside, and also the world of perception. Then success follows.
The principle of life is first,
and every other activity of the personality comes afterwards. There is no use
doing a lot of work if it is going to affect the integrality of your
personality. You have to be whole first, and then only your relation with the
world will be a whole. You should not be a torn personality, with a segment of
emotion on one side and a segment of intellect and rationality on the other
side.
Integrated personality
You are one person, and
therefore, in all your experiences you must be one person. You are as mighty
and great in your kitchen as you are in the field of work in this world.
To give an example from the
Mahabharata, Sri Krishna is great in all ways - the greatest yogi, the greatest
warrior, a perfect householder, and a perfect Sannyasin.
Really, there is only one
Being existing. Wherever you are, you
are the same person, and you think in the same way in all places. You will
speak to the vegetable vendor with the same majesty and goodness that you speak
in a parliament, and will not speak down to him. This bifurcation wrongly made
between one thing and another thing, one experience and another, is the malady
of your life.
You are the same person
everywhere; you are the same greatness manifest in yourself – which is possible
of attainment only if you are able to see one thing in all things. This could
be achieved by being perpetually in the state of meditation.
You are yourself complete in yourself
In the Rajasuya sacrifice of
Yudhishthira, Sri Krishna received the guests, washed their feet, served food
and cleaned up after them. A great being does not expect respect, or even a
good word of thanks from anybody. The smaller you are, the more you expect
respect from other people. The larger you are, the less you would like to be recognized.
Who will recognize you? You are yourself complete in yourself. And if you trust
really the presence of God, you will wonder at the miracles taking place in
your own life.
Keep God first, world next, and yourself last
Do you have a doubt about the
capacity of God to protect you, or that this is actually possible? Even if you
are a sinner, and if your heart has changed and you have become a different
person today, those blunders do not pursue you, due to the transformation that
has taken place in this birth. To be reborn is to be reborn into the spirit of
the universe. Confidence in yourself is necessary. The thought of a thing
influences you. If a holy mantra can bring about a positive effect in you, a dirty
word can bring about a contrary effect in your mind. The Word is God, it is
said. The very proximity of your thought to the Being of that Perfection will
splash forth an illumination and an enlightenment which will strengthen you at
the same time. What you are going to acquire is not knowledge of something, but
acquaintance with the Being that you yourself are, in tune with the Being of
all things.
In every enterprise of yours,
the first thing is not yourself. The first thing is the Supreme Being, and it
will charge your enterprise with the world in any manner whatsoever, and place
you in a proper context with the world.
Knowledge is Being; Being is Knowledge.
Be the possessor of knowledge.
That strengthens you. Never think that you can do everything yourself. This
egoism and self-assertiveness should leave you. Human effort is to be set in
tune with this universal power in such a manner that there ceases to be a
difference between the two – as, for instance, with a high voltage electric
wire. When you touch a high voltage electric wire, are you touching
electricity, or touching wire? An Incarnation, an Avatara, is nothing but a
human personality charged with the energy of the whole cosmos; and you can also
be one such.
Until you attain success in this art of
living, give first preference to meditation. If the resources and energies and
powers of the world enter you, you become a world individual. Sri Krishna was a
world individual; the whole world was inside him. That was the Visvarupa, as we
are told.
The ideas of your mind move the whole world
The whole world is only Idea,
finally. As Plato said, Idea is the Ultimate Reality. Idea is the Ultimate
Reality – the Idea, which has concretized itself in the form of these physical
elements that you are beholding in front of you. Idea means consciousness,
Universal Thought, chit, which is
All-Being; this is the Ultimate Reality. Bring your mind to the focus of this
kind of feeling even when you are walking on the road or speaking to people.
You cannot forget what you are even when you are very busy. In a similar
manner, whatever be the activity that you are engaged in, you cannot forget the
vitality of your life which sustains you, which will make you deathless in the
end, and blessedness will be your destination also. Swami Sivanandaji Maharaj
will guide you.
Excerpts from:
The Secret of Success - Chapter 11 Everything About
Spiritual Life by Swami Krishnananda
If you would
like to contribute to the dissemination of spiritual knowledge please contact
the General Secretary at:
