Live from Inside Out

Values held by an individual, in life, are the cornerstone of his mental make-up. It is only by living by one's values that one fulfils oneself. Values get reflected in the work and performance, of an individual as well in his life style. One can rise in life by applying and living the values. It is your values, which hold you back or give a push to your success in life. Values create a vision. Living and working by one's value is sometimes difficult, but it is more rewarding than any other temporary achievement. Everything in life needs managements. More than any other management, time management is most important. If you can manage your time properly, you can have time for everything you want to do. It requires adjustment, but this is the only way you can fulfil your ambition in life. The exploision in knowledge and information, in the present times, is truly mind-boggling. For success, each one of us has to keep pace with the latest developments. Knowledge is not something static. It has to be replenished and renewed periodically, to keep pace with the changing times. If it is not renewed or updated, it becomes a product which has outlivedits life. Our economy, ourlife, our jobs and professions are knowledge-driven. Always give enough time to yourself to regroup and plan your ideas before you put them into action. Take time to renew yourself. If you look around, you will notice plenty of opportunities. Succeeding is a matter of encashing on the opportunities, which keep on knocking at your door for attention.

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Develop the art of getting your due from others. Attitude is as imporant as skills. Sometimes positive attitude can compensate for any skill. Upfront of your attitude should always be right and it should have the approval of both your head and heart. Set your goal and path after careful deliberation. Having done so, you should go all out to achieve it. Only keeping yourself on your pre-defined path will lead you to success. Never have a closed mind or preconceived opinions about any approach, method or persons. Always keep on building your intellectual capital. You should always be demanding from yourself, to stay ahead. High standards set by you can never be enough. They have to be revised once you have achieved one set of goals. Guard yourself against obsolence. The new discoveries, inventions and technology can easily make the present-day approach obselete quickly. We have to keep on changing and find ways of using the new approaches as well technology. Our success depends on how we proceed to use it. Some time ago, everybody believed television to be only for entertainment. Now it is taken as a vehicle for social and attitudinal changes. Internet and E-mail were foreign words a few years ago. A fax machine was a rarity and and it was only the teleprinter,which was regarded as the latest technology in transmitting the written word. Mobile or cellular phones were considered as something reserved only for the gods. It depends on each one of us to put to best use the labour, discoveries and inventions, not only for the betterment of society but also for our own progress and moving ahead in life.

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Learn from Others

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We always learn from our own and other's experiences as well as mistakes. One way to have fun on one's job is to separate a problem from other activities. Then concentrate on the problem to find out its solution. Attempting a solution itself leads to a number of activities. The final outcome of all such activities is the vanquishing the problem. All initiatives start and end with the person attempting to solve any problems or difficulties. It is for us to clarify our doubts about any problems by either checking up with our friends or colleagues or experts or internet, available to us. We should learn to personalise our knowledge to keep ourselves on the top. We should cultivate dreams that outlive us. We should cultivate dreams that outlive us. We should take up challenges with a firm belief ourselves. God has gifted each one of us, with inner courage, resources, power and energised us to achieve excellence in our chosen fields. It is upto each one of us to be our best friends or the worst enemy. It is again upto each one of us to either indulge in or cut out the blame game. It is easy to find alibis or a blameworthy object, to explain away or account for our own failures. It can be in the form of a person or an event or a place for failures. The responsibility is ours. It is up to each one of us to build self-confidence in ourselves. Our effort should be to charter our life towards consistent and positive improvement, to new goals. Be on the fast track and make it a habit to have an exhilarating journey through life. There is always a link between your learning, kjnowledge and skills and your livelihood. No two situations are similar. Still the other people's experience can sometimes point out to the right direction, instead of our learning through our own mistakes.

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Success in life is all about attitudes, we cultivate, show and display in our lives. What you get in life, is in direct proportion to your attitude. It is strange but tre that it is each one of us who contribute in making our attitude what it is. There is nothing wrong in being ambitious as long as one puts one's heart and soul to achieve clear objectives and goals. Never be impatient and over-demanding when looking for immediate results. You have to learn to be fair and ethical, both for the people you work and work with. Potentials can be used to the maximum if we develop our way of self-confidence and tackle any problem that comes our way intelligently. Punctuality in the performance of your work should not be periodical and sporadic. It is some-thing which should become a habit and a convenience with you. If you can keep your house spic and span, remember to keep your office or work place so.

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There are no rewards for unemployable people. Do not be the under the illusion that the world owes you a living. It should be the first charge on your time to solve the problems and not seek or give justifications as to why things have not been done well. Find time to take on new responsibilities, so that you become and also get the reputation of a trouble-shooter. Intellectual obsolescene has no rewards anywhere in the world. If you do not change and improve with the times, you will not only remain under employed or unemployed, but you may become unemployable. You should remove stones and obstacles of inefficiency from the path of your work and organisation. Never thrive on excuses when things go wrong or try to win points when the performance is on downhill path. Do not expect your organisation to take care of your expectations unles you first take care of it. Do not turn the definition of punctuality topsy-turvy, by coming late and going away on time. It relfects callousness, inefficiency and sloth. Decide where you want to reach - and you would. Cash on the opportunities that come your way. The Choice is entirely upto each one of us.

Nature of this age

Dharma (righteousness) sustains the entire creation and the scriptures state that there is delension progressively in Dharma through the four ages (Yuga). Thus in the present Kali Yuga only a quarter remains but there is a silver lining in the dark cloud. Because of the nature of Kali practising the tenets of Dharma has become much more fruitful for the merit of a virtuous act is greater in this age. But, the nature of Kali is such that it will cause impediments to those who adhere to Dharma and hence a spiritual seeker must be always on guard last he succumb to the ills of the age.

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The Bhagavata Purana describes the nature of this age metaphorically through a chance meeting of Kind Pareekshit with a cow and bull being tormented by a man on the bank of river Saraswati. The bull was white in colour and stood trembling on one leg with fear while the miserable cow bereft of her calf was being kicked by the man and was in teras. A noble king that he was in the line of the Pandavas and fortunate to have been saved by Lord Krishna even before he was born, Pareekshit immediately sprang to the poor creature's defence by threatening the man, said Sri B. Sundar Kumar in his discourse.

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After Lord Krishna left the world Kali Yuga had set in and the Pandavas had also ascended to heaven after installing Pareekshit on the throne. It was in his kingdom during his rule that he witnessed this cruelty and considering that it was the paramount duty of a monarch to protect his subjects he intervened to punish the perpetrator.

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Pareekshit surmised that the bull was indeed Dharma and said, "In the Krta Yuga you had fourfeet in the form of austerity, purity, compassion and truthfulness. Three of them have since been destroyed by the progeny of unrighteousness: pride, attachment and hauteur. Now you have only one foot left in the shape of truthfulness on which you are supporting yourself. Yonderunrighteousness in the shape of Kali seeks to rob you of the same, strengthened by falsehood. And the cow is no other than the good mother Earth..," Pareekshit then subdued Kali but as he pleaded allowed him to stay in five places where vices dwelt.

Perception of God

The differene between lay people and saints is in their perception of God. It is possible to visualise the Supreme Being in three ways: as the Absolute, immanent within, and as manifest in all creation. While the majority relegate the Almighty to His divine abode (which is beyond their reach), saints tstay at tuned to Him all the time and see Him everywhere. This fact was observed by the disciples and devotees of Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa when his body was suffering from cancer. In spite of the pain he would remain in spititual communion and stated that he saw the Supreme everywhere distancing himself totally from his bodily affliction.

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In his discourse, Swami Gautamananda said it was possible to develop the mystical insight to envision God if a spiritual seeker changed his outlook by looking upon the Almighty during ritualistic worship as dear to himself instead of distancing Him. Moreover, love of God should permeate all his actions just as engagement in human relationships. When one of his devotees deseeched Sri Ramakrishna to ask the Divine Mother to let him stay on in this world, he replied that She knew when his work was over here. He cautioned them that they should not remain complacent that their Guru would look after their spiritual growth and that they should also make the necessary effort to realise God.

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He then related the famous Upanishadic analogy of two birds sitting on different branches of the same tree. While one of them ate the fruits, the other looked on. This is an illustration to drive home the truth that the bonded soul (Jivatma) engages in the world and thereby reaps Karma, which is responsible for rebirth but the Lord who is also present in every being remains a spectator. Man suffers because he fails to remember that God is always with him. Sri Ramakrishna wondered like many savants before him as to how many would have really understood his teachings. One can appreciate this by considering how many would have understood Einstein when he explained his theory. Only few who have the required knowledge of the fundamentals of physics can understand Einstein's work. So also are the teachings of great masters.