Inspired by The Bhagavad Gita

The best of men are those who are passionate and inspired by work. Money comes as a by product, so does everything. Satisfaction comes first. Warren Buffet said he liked a job and joined it. He got to know the salary when he received his first paycheck. The best time is when you are lost in work and know not where the time flew.

Such men produce great results. Since money is secondary, the best naturally comes out in work. Consider the two questions:

 What will I get out of this?
 What will people get out of this?

Those who always ask the first question rarely produce great work. Even if they do, most likely, they fail to remain humble, unassuming, quiet about it. Second question leads us to produce the best works. Humility, modesty marks the man. To Sherlock Holmes, the work is its own reward. He cared not for the fame and name but derived satisfaction from solving mysteries and with it the problems.

Another quality that lets the best out of you come to the fore is detachment. When you remove all consideration of personal gains, you remove with it personal biases, views, opinions, etc. This lets you take a more accurate view of the situation at hand. A detached mind is not easy to posses. You need to rise above petty issues, petty men and women, petty views, etc. Also, you need to know what is petty. You also need to forego vices like avarice, greed, etc. Vices like these never let mind be free. If you are under their grip, your mind will remain in shackles. They have a magical quality in them, which keeps the mind occupied in petty thoughts. You will remain engaged in how to enrich yourself but you will always remain morally and spiritually poor. Never will you think of relieving someone’s pain. For that will not benefit you personally, you will think. Everything in life will be transactions aimed at profitability and margins. Smile, solace, beauty, peace, spirituality, you will never know the full import of these words. Be too worldly wise and you shall have nothing but pain and sufferings. Pity those who are always engaged in doing good only to themselves. They have not been able to rise still.

Those who rise produce miracles indeed. Coming to the detached and free mind, it lets you take the best of decisions. You often tend to take everyone along which generates faith, confidence, respect. You get the best out of your men, ‘cause they know they will not be cheated and hurt knowingly, that their interest is important thing. You can only take a larger view of things when you rise.

You play the game of life on this planet for few decades and move away. What makes us think we care going to live forever? We play as if we are to stay forever. That’s never going to be. If we keep in mind the limited period we have, we will perhaps engage ourselves in more meaningful and uplifting things.

A lot of conflicts seem pointless; a lot of strife unnecessary; a lot of pride, folly. We take our mundane existence just too seriously. All this because we think we are here to stay. We must have all that is there. What will you do with it? Contentment is not easy to find. Have everything and you may not have it. You need to have a right frame of mind.

In these times of wild goose chase, to have a lot, you tend to be empty inside. Ever wondered whey you are not happy? Maybe because every time you are just chasing something you don’t know. You get a few things en route but you feel you got not what you chased. You chase again and so on. You do not need to run but look inside. Take a few minutes off to do that. Those of dirty conscience or who have paid no heed to the voice within will not be able to do that. Think over. You will feel a lot of things churning inside. It has the power to purify you. You will realize the futility of the chase. It never is enough you will know. What’s god then? Not to chase? What purpose will that serve? The idea is not to stop and think it is all futile. It’s perhaps not. The idea is to realize that you can enjoy things without being unduly attached to them, without being their slave, realizing that things are temporary, even you are. This is the way. It sounds simple but it isn’t easy. Malice, jealously, bitterness, anger, pride, all have their roots in ignorance. The enlightened are never too happy and never too sad and the vices mentioned somewhere in the write up run away from them.

You are happy, you got something. How long you think you will remain happy with it? The period is short, sometimes a bit longer. All the competition around you – dog eat dog – makes you act in haste. What if you win? You lost your peace, anyway. You lose itall. Be competitive but walk like an elephant. You need to know what you are doing and not just running because you have to.

Look at people you think are higher in whatever sense – in organization, society, etc. you think they are worth following? What makes you think so? Is it the money? If yes, stop reading this. You will never understand it. Perhaps not at this time at least.

If it is not money, do their smile reflect their genuineness do you feel they will help you if they can, for no gain? Do they value integrity? And honesty? And truth? If yes, they are worth following indeed. If no, you want to follow them for a reason I don’t know.

Try to enlighten the ignorant but keep away from those who want to keep the light away. Immersed in dark, they remain there until they see the light within.

If you are able to see a larger view, you will be amazed by futile things perceived as important. The set procedures and standards we have created for ourselves are no less than chains. We remain chained in our limited world confined to only those acts which we are supposed to do. We hear what we are supposed to, we see what we are supposed to. We don’t do what we can, we don’t see what do, we don’t hear what do. What kind of life are we living? We have all the sky to ourselves. Following the dotted line, you will never get far. Enjoy the time, fly high, see larger picture and see what you see, hear what you hear, feel what you feel. Carry no baggage of previous generations; look at those oceans, aren’t they different from your pond. Look at the mountains, aren’t they different from the small tree you have been living on? Can you now make your nest in the mountains? Nobody told you so.
Well if you always do what you are supposed to, take it that you will never see the unseen and hear the unheard, ever. The walls of standards and procedures create confines. A diversion from then invites mockery, wrath, criticism. Again you need a detached mind to focus on work and ignore all these. A detached mind will give no importance to these. Enjoy the work, care not for the reward. An attached mind will always be entangled in standards and procedures ‘cause it cares more for things like pride, position, etc.

The baggage will always keep you low, never letting you fly high from the walls of standards. Breakthroughs are achieved by people who were, may be, once called mad while they were in relentless, detached pursuit. They rose above the noises and mockery and persevered. The work brought its own reward and satisfaction and helped improve life, in general. They brought the best in the world to even those who mocked them. They know ignorance should not deprive anyone to enjoy the fruits of their labor.

Just imagine being someone like this? You let go of your false ego, pride, jealousy, anger! Imagine never being too happy and never being too sad! Imagine never mourning over the lost things and never being overly excited over the gains; being same in pleasure and pain.

The enlightened sees nothing but the truth, the light. All that is dark moves away at his sight. He enlightens the ignorant with pleasure, hates not those who try and hurt him. He becomes the image of the Lord himself, merges with him.