Fulfilling Commitment with Self is the Biggest Conquest of Life

Arunima Sinha and her Commitment with Self

Padam Shri Arunima Sinha

Arunima Sinha who decided to become a winner and not a victim of the mishaps and miseries of her life emerged as an inspiration for many despondent youngsters who are on the verge of quitting their passion and Dreams.

Arunima Sinha, born on 20 July 1989, India’s first female amputee mountaineer to scale Mt. Everest has shown her grit and determination and proved that your biggest conquest in life is fulfilling your Commitment With Yourself.

Before all the achievements of Arunima, there’s a grim and horrifying story that changed her life completely. Back in the year 2011, she was a national-level volleyball player and she was thrown off a running train while she was travelling to attempt her CISF examination. She fought hard to resist the robbery in train and refused to give her gold chain to the thieves, to revenge upon her audacity, the thieves threw her out of the train. The whole night, Arunima Sinha, who had her leg cut off, screamed in agonizing and unbearable pain. She then fought for her Life in a hospital for the next four months and due to the accident, her leg had to be amputated below the knee.

After having received an artificial limb, she resolved not to be a victim of the circumstances but to become a winner emerging out of all odds. Her biggest motivation was the autobiography of Yuvraj Singh, Indian cricketer- You We Can narrating his battle with cancer and his phenomenal comeback at Indian cricket. She refused the job provided as compensation and decided to live her life on her own terms and conditions and not on others’ mercy.

After having recovered fully, she joined the Eco Everest Expedition team at a training camp managed by the Tata Steel Adventure Foundation in Uttarkashi and got trained under mountaineer Bachendri Pal. Her arduous training year made her physically tough, yet sometimes when she couldn’t compete with the normal people, she felt disheartened. But her strong commitment to herself and an undying desire to conquer the world kept her going.

Within two years, Arunima was ready to climb the highest mountain peak. When she was very close to her goal, she went running out of oxygen and it seemed there were few chances of her survival. But as we know, “When you want something so ardently, the entire universe conspires in helping you to achieve it” and the same happened with Arunima. The same day, a British mountaineer threw away an additional oxygen cylinder after he had decided to return home without climbing and that cylinder was grabbed by Sherpa Kancha and thus Arunima’s life was saved.

Finally, on May 21, 2013, just after two years of the accident, dawned upon the victorious day, when she proved that people can only cripple you physically but none can paralyze your spirit, your mindset, and your commitment with self until you allow it. She hoisted the national tricolor at Mt. Everest and became the first female amputee mountaineer to reach the highest summit in the world. It was an arduous expedition of 52 days that gave birth to a new Arunima, the unstoppable, the invincible. 

With her firm resolve, she conquered the highest peaks in all seven continents of the world- Everest in Asia, Kilimanjaro in Africa, Elbrus in Europe, Kosizko in Australia, Aconcagua in Argentina (South America), Carstensz Pyramid in Indonesia and the final summit, Mount Vinson in Antarctica.

She has been conferred the Padma Shri, India’s 4^th highest civilian award in the year 2015. She taught that it takes stronger commitments, perseverance, and poise that zero in on the goals and take home the winning trophies.  

How to Stay Committed with Self

Commitment begins with strong emotions of intent and focus, associated with a perfect plan and purpose, and ends with the ‘Eureka’ moment of achieving something. Cognizant of the fact that commitment is the essential ingredient of the recipe of success, we often mistake commitment as  promise; a commitment requires infinite fortitude to not deviate and staying true to yourself and to your goal. Your goals can be any- a healthier life, fitness, better Relationships, professional growth, spirituality, or Cultivating a Habit. Your commitment motivates you to abandon your Comfort Zone and keep moving to gauge your progress.

Commitment makes you Unstoppable

Cognizant of the fact that setbacks and Obstacles are the inevitable corollaries of striving on the way to achieving success, one feels invigorated and confident if they possess an unwavering commitment with self. Being committed helps you remain fully engaged in all your endeavors, stay conscious and persistent enough to turn new leaf in life. A true commitment isn’t something that go with your choices and liking or convenience but it is a force that propelled you from average to excellent and serves as an anchor while surmounting the stumbling blocks.

Commitment Teaches you to Prioritize and to Be Proactive

There are moments when you are left flummoxed by the barrage of social and professional commitments making you oblivion of your personal commitments leading to a catastrophic distraction from your Goals. Let’s understand it with a simple example; suppose you have taken a fitness goal but you experience a bombardment of household chores, time clashes, kids’ attention, etc. Now what you need is a stronger commitment with your fitness regime because commitment is the only factor that will keep you anchored in what you want to achieve. It gives momentum to your thinking process to prioritize and distinguish between what is important and what is more important. It helps you dedicate the right amount of dedication and energy to the right things at perfect time. In the same vein, it instills a proactive attitude because commitment organizes your life and when you are free from the clutter of disturbing and distracting elements you become strongly able to pursue what you want in life.

Fulfilling commitment to self is the biggest conquest of life because it gives you the courage to risk going far and only those who can risk going too far can possibly explore and know their limits- how far can they go?

Not life, but good life, is to be chiefly valued.

-Socrates

Let’s Welcome Miracles in Life by Paying More Attention

 How Paying More Attention Can be Miraculous in Life

“Attention is a precious faculty; the mind may forget what it has learned, but the faculty of being attentive, once acquired, is never lost.”

We all know the importance of paying attention in LIFE

As we all know, the story of Abhimanyu makes one of Mahabharata's most fascinating stories. Abhimanyu, son of Subhadra and Arjuna, the quintessence of an attentive, Mindful, and focused warrior who learned to penetrate Chakravyuha, a formidable military formation that could be countered only by a few and played a significant role in the battle of Kurukshetra.

Abhimanyu’s stronger attention levels even as an unborn child made him gain knowledge of Chakravuaha. When Arjuna was talking to his wife Subhadra about how to break this circular military formation Abhimanyu heard the strategic information in his mother’s womb but Subhadra dozed off after a while and he couldn’t learn how to come out of Chakravyuha. He grew up in Dwarka and was trained by Pradyuman, son of Shri Krishna, and the finest archer, Arjuna, his Father himself. Abhimanyu was a courageous and fearsome warrior and was able to hold mighty Drona, Karna, Duryodhana, and Dushasana for long hours. His audacious bravery and indomitable courage won him much admiration even from the enemies.

On the 13^th day of the Kurukshetra battle, Pandavas were challenged to break Chakravyuha and Pandavas accepted the Challenge willingly because Krishna and Arjuna both knew how to break and defeat such formation. However, on the same day, Krishna and Arjuna were dragged into combating at another war front against Samsaptakas. Since they had already accepted the challenge, they were left with no choice but to allow Abhimanyu to endeavour for the same. The young lad successfully broke into the formation but his uncles were trapped and cut off effectively by Jayadratha, eventually, Abhimanyu was left alone to fend for himself against the huge army of Kauravas.

On that fateful day, Abhimanyu kept fighting the relentless ferocity and the despicable military maneuvers by Kauravs. He valiantly struggled single-handedly slaying the warriors whoever was coming his way including Laxman, the son of Duryodhana. Seeing the dismantled body of his beloved son, Duryodhana was incensed and commanded all his soldiers to attack Abhimanyu. Keeping all the codes of war aside all Kauravas attacked simultaneously, his chariot was broken down, and all weapons were destroyed yet he didn’t give up. He took a chariot wheel, and attacked the elephants and the cavalry; he kept holding his own until his sword was broken and the chariot wheel shattered into pieces. Dushasana’s son crushed his skull with a mace but this wasn’t a victory for Kauravas, in fact, this despicable act laid the foundation for the Killing of Duryodhana and the brutal end of Kaurava dynasty. It is said that his death marked the end of the adherence to the code of war and was recorded as a black chapter, an epilogue to all fair and nobly conducted wars.

Abhimanyu’s heightened levels of attention made him Learn the impossible and win him the title of an unforgettable warrior. A closely paid attention even on the common things can bring miracles in your life. An attentive person is by default a meticulous planner, and perfectionist.

Art of Attention is the Art of Learning-

The true art of learning is actually the art of Attention; consistent focus on your surroundings especially the things that interest you, along with mind and actions aligned to it will surely give the desired results.

The moment one gives close attention to anything, even a blade of grass or a small bird flying in the sky, it becomes a mysterious, awesome, indescribably magnificent world in itself. Very often, in a bid to attain our ludicrous and lofty goal, we forget to pay close attention to the beauty and amazement of the smallest things around us. Thus, we miss the opportunity to learn the bigger Lessons in life. The joy of paying attention is a virtue to aspire for and inculcate, and it is always elevating. Paying attention helps us develop deeper interests in things and happenings leading to improving the Power of expressing our positive sentiments, being open and welcoming to new vistas and horizons to explore our passion in the unknown realms also.

The habit of paying attention helps you integrate yourself around your core and to learn everything you find difficult prima facie.

Being Attentive is Being More Productive

Your heightened levels of attention can propel your productivity to higher levels because you develop focus on all details before initiating your plans leading to stronger commitments and persistence in your efforts. Paying Attention to something means falling in love with that particular task and when you love to do something, you get never tired of doing that. A silent observation with greater attention on any phenomenon will surely form the praxis of a focused and fulfilled life for you. A less attentive person always flounders for lack of purpose and focus and keeps wandering willy-nilly.

v Paying attention during communication is a symbol of respect and empathy to fellow people; it helps you build rapport with others.

v Paying Attention inculcates the habit of appreciating people, environment, and objects which eventually fills you with bliss and gratitude; the two most important factors to live a fulfilled and joyous life. Admiration for others is a priceless commodity to possess these days so if you pay attention to others –you learn to admire them.

v Looking closely at everything gets you acquainted with the nuances of it, the more you notice, the more you gain. You get enough food for thought and develop creative ideas.

v Paying attention fills us with mystery and awe; it makes us aware of the beauty and mysticism. We make expensive travel plans to explore diversity at a larger level but miss the opportunity to focus on and admire the minute details of any culture or place. It’s very important to be attentive to turn yourself into an inquisitive person.

So, dear Readers at EduEmeralds, next time you see a leaf falling from a branch, clouds soaring in the sky or birds chirping in the vicinity pay attention to these wonders. Pay attention to the gentle touch of your loved ones or what they whisper in your ears, pay attention to the smell of soil at the time of downpour, pay attention when you breathe deeply, and admire when you notice the sun rising. You will surely realize how smaller things and efforts take you to greater heights!

The Secret Powers of Silence in Your Life

 Let the Silence Speak Louder than Your Words

India’s first transgender Judge, Joyita Mondal proved her silence to be louder than words. She belongs to a traditional Hindu family based at Kolkata, West Bengal. She suffered discrimination in her growing years because of her gender identity. Being the third and youngest child of the family, she received much pampering and adoration of the family. But things started changing, and getting worse; when she tried to speak about her gender identity and expressed to live her LIFE on her own terms and individuality.

In Grade 5, she was admitted to a boys’ school and soon became an object of mockery for everyone just because her acceptance for her gender identity wasn’t in consonance with those orthodox norms of society where only male and female genders were accepted to be normal and natural; rest any other gender IDENTITY is just an insult or a punishment imposed on a human by Nature. Nobody wanted to befriend Joyita, nobody wanted to sit and interact with her and this made Joyita dejected, humiliated and depressed at her core. Adding to her agony, even her family didn’t support her. Her mother took her vulnerability as a mental disease, consulted a Psychiatrist and she was tortured with electric shocks. When she designed Heena on her palms during Durga Pooja like her sisters, her hands and feet were tied and locked up in room. For next arduous eight years, she wasn’t allowed to attend the Durga Pooja Celebration.

Blog Eduemeralds salutes the silence of Joyita Mondal who fought for her rights and choices till she succeeded in getting respect for her identity and now she is the one who performs all the rituals of the Durga Pooja for Transgender’s Community, that too in the presence of her mother.

She dropped out of school after struggling and being bullied by other boys, left her home and started begging for livelihood. She resumed her studies and completed her degree in law. In 2010 she became the first transgender person to hold voter ID. Silently and courageously kept facing and fighting the tyranny unleashed by the society and her own family till she became the first transgender judge of India in the year 2017.

But she didn’t end her journey after her personal achievements; she continued to fight for the people of her community who were deprived of basic rights and facilities. She pioneered Dinajpur Notun Alo Society, an NGO to fight for the rights of transgender people. She kept standing undaunted like a rock and never compromised with her choices in life. Her hard work came to fruition when the Supreme Court finally declared the recognition to transgender people as the third gender.

Joyita’s silent battle against all odds won her everything she wanted in her life and set an inspiration for many who want to fight back and prove their mettle. She proved that silence can speak louder than words and silent and sincere action of a person brings success and glory in the end.

Silence is the biggest Strength

Silence gives intellectual intrepidity which is one of the most important prerequisites of charting out a PERFECT action plan to succeed in life. Words often exhaust our energy and focus which result into fickleness of mind and dilution of purpose. Silence empowers you to resolve how to exercise the power of mind, to have stronger faith in one’s abilities and to avoid distractions while moving towards goals.

 Silence gives you ample time to talk to yourself and bolster your innate qualities. Conversely, boasting about self and indulging in unnecessary arguments give birth to insatiable urges, amplified anger and a tendency to dominate others. So, practicing silence is practicing self-empowerment. As silence is practiced with solitude making it a winning combination, it always makes you swift in using a variety of approaches and umpteen strategies for task management.

Silence Helps You Harness Equipoise

Silence helps you deal with anger and trains you to use it constructively, it allows you to harness your poise and stay calm during stressful situations. Silence aligns your body, mind and soul and thus, you acquire an intense insight in whatever you do and gain control of your time, attitude and energy. Silence keeps your thought process miles apart from distractions and clutter. Staying silent on your plans and projects yields better results and improves your productivity tenfold. 

Silence has ample benefits in personal relationships also; it makes you more reflective and enhance problem-solving attitude. When you speak less about your life situations, you focus more upon them and become persistent to improve them. When you cultivate the habit of contemplation, you have to experience silence and this practice promotes self-growth and creative imagination. Silence is intellectually stimulating so refrain yourself from over-indulgence and noisy exaggerations; when your mind is completely occupied by external noise it becomes very difficult to think creatively, stay focused and resolve conflicts. Silence connects you with your inner self which motivates you not to get sullied by overactive emotions and be a victim of such emotional havoc. A calm and peaceful person who keeps verbal disasters at bay always possesses a radiating effect on everyone in their orbit.

Silence is one of the strongest tools in daily communications also. Often silence is heard more than the louder words because any negative question can be answered with a strong silence. Silence is the best response to avoid conflicts and arguments. Our silence sends a very powerful message if we find someone being offensive or speaking something that we don’t agree to. When people over-explain things and speak too much while communicating use silence to show your disapproval instead of verbal expressions. Silence conveys a range of emotions and messages and in most of the cases, silence speaks louder than words especially to express authority, confidence and denial.

Let’s learn the art of Practicing silence to farm our own life just as a seed is sown silently, watered silently and nurtured to produce a rich harvest to celebrate loudly.

Stress can be Stepping Stone if used as Creative Force of Life

 Be Stressful to Be Successful

Mansi, a young and dynamic Chief Technology Officer of a Chicago based digital consultancy, often complains of having job stress. She adds that whenever she has to report to the Board Members about the latest updates and clients reports, she feels as if she isn’t able to cope with certain demands of her job profile. We all know, we are breathing in a very competitive era where each and every job profile is equally demanding and challenging. Pressure of targets, review meetings, presentations or managing events of the organization, every task feels like an elephant of stress.  Until it gets over, one can’t get rid of the suffocating stress.

We all feel stress at some or the other point in LIFE; it can be due to work, relationships, financial pressure, public speaking, presentations or any toxic situation in life. In a nutshell we can say that, anything that poses a real or preconceived fear or threat to one’s Happiness and well-being is defined as stress in one’s life. We all take stress as bad, negative and perturbed state of mind, we try to relax and calm down when feel stress but we never think of having and welcoming stress as our motivator which is essential to a certain level for our personal and professional growth. Undoubtedly, Stress can be stepping stone if used as creative force of life.

How stress takes birth? Let’s read- British Philosopher, Bertrand Russell rightly says this, people have a habit of taking their professional problems and worries to bed with them and instead of having a good night’s sleep they keep brooding about those worries which can’t be solved during the midnight. These worries triumphantly and joyously give birth to STRESS and this stress doesn’t let them have a restful relaxing night which is essential to gain strength to cope with the next day’s challenges. This midnight madness and stress continue to haunt them till the morning, shattering their equanimity and shrouding their Decision-Making.

 Stress, when unmanaged, causes worry, and worry is a form of fear; this unwanted and unwelcomed Fear Impedes your growth and keeps constantly killing your potential and efficiency.

Everybody is tormented with some kind of stress and anxiety but wise are those who utilize them as stepping stones for success in their life. Stress teaches you living in attunement with life and developing a rhythm with the work pressure, assignments and deadlines.

How to Deal with Stress

The best way to deal with stress is to embrace it positively and think about it with a rational mind. Keep calm and concentrate on the source of the stress until it becomes familiar. Once you understand your stress completely, you can pull out its roots which cause fear and anxiety in you. Simultaneously, you realize how easily you can stop your thoughts dwell on it for longer. Because you are no longer interested in its worries and fears rather you want to crumple it with your equanimity and energy to work harder and to get aligned with the performance pressure as well as the pressure of meeting the deadlines or dealing a toxic Relationship.

Stress must be loved, taken care of and observed patiently so that it can be dealt efficiently and eliminated; it shouldn’t be inflated by thoughts of worries and fear.

Practice Confidence and Faith

When you start practicing confidence in yourself and faith in the Supreme Power, you can conquer all the fears and insecurities within you. A stronger Self-Confidence helps you cultivate an orderly mind that can think about the stress at an adequate time and find solutions to subdue it. Stress can be overpowered easily by working with less expenditure on thoughts and more focus on efficiency levels. Your confidence bolsters the conscious efforts to uplift yourself as a better individual. It trains your mind how to respond to the given circumstances and make better choices. A well-trained Mind remains indifferent to stress and faces it with much fortitude by turning it into the stepping stones paving the way to success.   

 

Cultivate Mental Discipline

We always relate discipline with physical activities along with a well organized daily routine and following a code of conduct, seldom we feel the need of mental discipline to keep the disarray of routine conundrum at bay. Mental discipline refers to engaging your mind in various mental practices in accordance with self control which empowers you to take charge of your mind. It helps you abolish self-doubt which hinders both- material and spiritual growth. Our beliefs about SELF and life turn out to be the exact mirror experience we live. Mental discipline can be imbibed through committed efforts, maintaining a healthy attitude and building the kind of emotions that serve you well bringing an emotional equilibrium to turn your stress into strength and help you win every race of life.

 

Nothing is more difficult in this world than being successful because success comes with a barrage of stressful situations. Vice-versa, more stress means more success, don’t you agree? Trust me if you have stress_ means you are doing something very challenging, if you are doing something challenging_ you are surely learning new Skills and becoming resilient, and if you are strong with all the skills_ Success is certainly going to embrace you. So next time if you feel stress, just remember you are at the stepping stone of success, just go ahead, enjoy the journey at its best and Celebrate Your Victory!

Age is Just a Number and Numbers Don’t Determine Your Life

 Numbers Don’t Determine Your Life, Age is Just One of Them

A mother of two, Bhavna Tokekar, 50-year –old, a power lifter, sets phenomenal four records in the World Powerlifting Championships at Manchestar, UK. For this championship, she competed in the 50-54 years category and performed miraculously. In the squat, she lifted 102.5 kg (the previous record- 90 kg), in benchpressed, 80 kg (the previous record- 40 kg) and she finished a deadlift 132.5 kg while the previous record was 105 kg. She was beaming with joy and elation after smashing all the three records with one more added feather in her cap, of accomplishing a combined lift of 315 kg. which beat the earlier record of 235 kg, set by Bunton Donna (90+40+105Kg) from the USA in 2012.

Bhavna, born in Vidisha, Madhya Pradesh is a super mom and inspiration for those who think that dreams come with an expiry date, if you are growing older, you should leave your dreams behind as they are meant to be fulfilled in certain age limit. Once you cross that age you should stop thinking about new dreams, new aspirations and new beginning in LIFE. A feeling of loneliness wells up within that forces you to retrospect how many chapters of life you have written the best and what’s left to write anyore.

In Indian society, people take retirement as their end phase of life, as if working for some organization and getting a fixed amount called salary (and not the pension) credited in your bank account is the only purpose of life, in our society, we define everything with regard to numbers. If you are at a certain age, you must start a job, at this age, you should marry, by that age you must have kids- and the number definition goes on. So when one grows older he/she starts accepting that now there’s no scope for learning a new skill or developing a new habit and certainly there’s no question to start a new venture or getting engaged in something thrilling. Aging means slowly and gradually wait for the end of your life with countless complaints of deteriorating health and body strength. But do we really work hard throughout our young age for this type of life? And I know, most of you will agree with me- Certainly not! We aren’t working tirelessly with this aim.

After having run behind the lofty goals, ageing is like enjoying a halt; the time one can unwind, relax and process one’s thoughts and emotions what went good in life and what remained hollow. Age is just a number and you are always younger than those biggest dreams of yours which are yet to achieve. At any age you can start a new journey, set a new target and write a new, fresh chapter of your life. Age never has limitations; it’s you who set these limitations for yourself.

 

Conquer the Mountain in You-

Know Thyself is the best therapy, we often overlook our desires, demands or inner ambitions and undermine our capabilities especially with growing age. Knowingly or unknowingly we make wrong choices and block our dreams that lead us to the feelings of depression and incompetence. So, the most important thing is to know yourself and the expectations from yourself. When you know, what do you expect from yourself you understand better how to conquer the mountain in you and to achieve the pinnacle. Definitely, growing age comes with certain physical changes so the best practice is to respect your body and its responses, subtilize your physical and emotional equilibrium and stay present with it.

 

Charge Your Immunity and Creativity-

As we have already discussed that aging comes with so many physical and emotional CHANGES but one should embrace change willy nilly as its inevitable for growth but if you are well connected with yourself nothing can make you surf for long. Indulging in creative habits and new hobbies can boost your immunity at any age. Right food, perfect routine, healthy lifestyle, natural immunity boosters and enough sleep can be of great help. When you are happy and energized from within you get involved in more creative activities which are beneficial for both mental health and over all well-being. Set everyday creative goals for yourself and spending time on them will bring higher activated positive effect. Such positive effects can help you experience different emotions like- joy, happiness, pride, gratitude, serenity, blissfulness etc. which eventually lower stress levels and instills optimism in your personality. Learning music, playing an instrument or photography can be a few creative hobbies which keeps you at bay from monotony and boredom.

 

Stop Behaving Like a Chained Elephant-

An elephant is tied to a pillar with a chain since it’s a calf; and it is conditioned to accept that he can never set himself free from this chain. When he grows up, he acquires enough strength to pull the pillar out and walk free yet he never tries to do so, as he has accepted that he can’t break the chain. This is how mental conditioning works with humans also; we think that whatever boundaries or limits the society or the aging factors have set for us; we can never break them free. Thus we never attempt to do, what we like. Running behind career, family, children and all the social and professional responsibility deprive us of the ME time and taking care of our individual choices; we get stuck with the daily hustle and ignore our emotional needs, old age is the best time to explore and relive all those experiences that we missed in this race of life. We all have the capabilities to break the chains that we are tied up with and enjoy the bounty of life.

Remember!  Age is just a number and a number cannot determine when you start and when you will end it!

Guru is The GPS of Your Life to Navigate Successfully

A teacher, a guru or a mentor is just like the GPS of your life who helps you navigate successfully and broaden your vision and wisdom to distinguish between good and bad, real and unreal, knowledge and ignorance and truth and myth. Indubitably, a guru gifts you life changing inspiration and thus, is worshipped with high reverence, equal to God. Right from the relationship of Sadashiv and Adi Shankara to Sachin Tendulkar and Ajit Acharekar, teacher-disciple tradition is not just a part of Indian Vedic culture but it’s all-pervading since the beginning of human civilization on earth. It is the Guru who elevates the pupil to his maximum potential and helps him rendezvous with his real Self, his core. A Guru teaches how to brave the storms of life while maintaining equipoise and a composed state of mind. A Guru’s Teachings not necessarily determine your accomplishments or awards but will certainly guide you to wade through all ups and downs, highs and lows, and the gaiety and glooms of your life.

Let the Guru Guide You How to Navigate Your Life

It’s very surprising to realize that sometimes it takes just a moment to find the Guru who takes you to the turning point of your life while sometimes it requires whole life to identify one such inspiring figure. The person may or not be with you in a long companionship or any elder, an experienced preacher or highly revered and knowledgeable person; he/she may be just a person next door or an acquaintance that can change the entire course of your life.

Today, at Eduemeralds let’s discuss the story of Alexander and his Guru who helped him develop an inclination to self-control, spiritual enlightenment and detachment towards material might.

Alexander the Great, one of the greatest rulers of the world, who conquered one-third of the known world at the age of 32, expressed three unusual wishes on his deathbed. These three wishes were:

·                      My physicians should carry my body for the burial.

·                    The path leading to my grave must be strewn with gold, silver and all precious stones from my treasury.

·                    Both my hands should be dangling out of the coffin and palms towards the sky.

The generals were confused, they wondered what could be the reason behind their emperor’s last wishes and here the story begins how Alexander the Great found a real Guru in his life who transformed him completely.

Alexander, in his pursuit to change and unite the world with his ideas, inspired by Greek philosophers, established many cities called Alexandrias along the way of conquest. When he reached the North Western borders of India, he happened to meet a group of naked ascetic, called gymnosophist in Greek. They were Jain saints and didn’t flee at the sight of Alexander’s fierce army. They remained firm and fearless and replied when asked, “Every man possesses as much of the land as we are standing here right now, but you are only an over-ambitious and arrogant man who’s travelling for the sake of troubling both thyself and others.”

Alexander was stunned and spellbound to hear this, he had never met such a person who could talk to him like that, and that very moment, he decided to bow down and make the saint his new Guru. He requested them to accompany him to Macedonia but all refused as it was against their code of conduct. Finally, despite the vehement disagreement of the senior mendicants, Kalyan Muni, later known as Calanus, agreed to go with them. Alexander took Calanus as his mentor, his new Guru in replacement of his boyhood tutor Aristotle in 325 BC, as estimated, two years before Alexander’s death.  While marching back, the Macedonian army lost an Indian battle and was compelled to march through Makran- a deadly desert. This retreat cost three quarters of Alexander’s forces and Calanus grew severely ill. He didn’t want to burden his fellow travelers so he decided to embrace death by self-immolation as per the traditional manner of his sect. Calanus taught all the rare skills and LIFE lessons to Alexander. The bond and affection between the naked Guru and the hunter warrior was inexplicable for the people around as described by Lysimachus, the penultimate survivor of Alexander’s marshals. Despite his debilitating condition he kept giving lessons and illustrations of life rules, even on his funeral pyre he did not leave the opportunity to teach his avid pupil, the great admirer of wisdom and philosophy.

While bidding adieu to the rest of his entourage and moving towards the pile of wood he kissed everyone’s hands except Alexander and said, “I will meet you soon in Babylon”. This was his last prophecy which came true in a matter of days when Alexander died due to some unknown and incurable disease in Babylon. His sudden demise has remained an unraveled mystery till today. But his death became even larger than his life after his realization of the true essence of life, after he had learnt the most important lesson of his life under the precious guidance of his Guru, Calanus. He learnt that running after power and wealth is a complete waste of life as none can carry even an iota of that treasure to their journey to heaven. What’s more important is –living your life to its fullest and attaining happiness and contentment in whatever you do. He wanted both his hands dangling out of his coffin because he wanted his people to know that everyone comes empty-handed and goes the same, so accumulation of anything is sheer waste of one’s precious life.

Alexander the Great, who conquered the whole world, found his Guru just a couple of years before his death, but the teachings of his Guru helped him turning a new leaf of his life with a complete transformation from an ambitious conqueror to a spiritual seeker. Finding and appreciating the presence of a mentor is always intellectually stimulating and plays a predominant role in our life. But most often, it is we who waste a lot of time to identify one. It might be due to the wide ambit of influences we have in this fast-paced era, leading us to the Conundrum of what’s right and what’s the best for us. Let’s identify the Guru, the GPS of our life to navigate successfully.

Hope you find your Guru, who can take you to the turning point of your life.

What Hinders Your Path of Success- Failures or Forgetfulness

Every Failure In Life Should Bring a Stronger Action Plan

An all-pervading human tendency is to desire for more- wealth, luxury, success or fame; even a mountain equivalent to all these will look like a minuscule to a hedonistic human existence. A human heart and mind keep yearning in want of all these and the quest remains boundless and insatiable. Is it bad to be behind success? No, but how to chase is a more important factor to discuss. Today, Eduemeralds talks about how long one should run behind success and what hinders your path of success- failures or forgetfulness?

Abraham Lincoln, the greatest among the great global Leaders, had persistently suffered failures in his life; not the smaller ones but massive failures, year after year. Born in a humble family he struggled hard to sustain himself and his family. In his growing years he often felt sad and dejected due to the lack of emotional support and the meagre financial sources. His mother left him when he was only nine. In the year 1832, he lost his job and the very next year failed in business. He lost his fiancée in 1835 when they were about to marry and this emotional shock caused him nervous breakdown in 1836, he was bedridden for six months. He lost the elections and was defeated for the Speaker in 1838. In all he lost total 8 elections yet he didn’t quit and never forgot the lessons that he learnt after each of his failures till he became the President of the United States of America in the year 1860 proving to the world that the setbacks or the obstructions never hinder your path of success, what does is- when you forget the lesson that has been taught by your failures in life. 

The only Incurable Disease is Disappointment

When you experience failure, you are engulfed by a sense of disappointment which incapacitates you for a period of time till you forget about it. You forget about the incident and overcome your disappointment associated with it but ironically you forget to take the lesson from that failure which could be an important milestone in your journey of accomplishments. The Fear of Failure and disappointment loom large when you plunge into the pit of this so-called ‘self-image’ which makes you judge yourself by others’ perspectives and you become oblivious of your own strengths and potential.  At this moment, one needs to be very careful, abandon giving importance to others’ perception about you and being crazy to win their appreciation because this craziness can influence or control your life and will give birth to nervousness and you will never be able to transform your disappointment or nervousness into your intelligence and capabilities.

Make a stronger Action Plan after every Failure

Keep reminding yourself of your failures and the lessons of those Failures to progress
upon the upcoming pursuits and make sure that your action plans must be stronger than ever. Are you a person who loves to quote others’ examples always or set your own examples also? Taking inspiration from others’ undying passion and achievements is always a positive approach to life but acting passively will not help you cater to your own learning and progress in life. A Perfect  plan with a perfect timing always works so never waste your time in waiting for the right time. The words of famous Russian author, Ivan Turgenev reiterate the same, “If we wait for the moment when everything, absolutely everything is ready, we shall never begin.” Everything cannot fall in right place when we expect them to, so every time you fail at something, recharge yourself with a greater amount of energy and motivation to fight back and soar higher.

React and Respond with Intellect not with Impulse

Sometimes we block our path of progress by reacting in a very impulsive manner without paying heed to the consequences. Every situation comes with its own challenges and rewards so be wise and rational enough in taking advantage of worst situations also. Sometimes, due to lack of Decision-Making-Ability and impulsive reactions people face the quagmires of hindrances and roadblocks. You can’t fathom what amount of difficulties you invite for yourself when you react impulsively. Often failure is the mother of ‘blame game’, when we commit a mistake, we prefer to blame others rather than learning a lesson from it or having courage to admit. Accepting the failure will help you remember your flaws and prevent you from doing the same again. Blaming others for your blunders is a clear example of your impulsive behavior, so be wise, have patience and respond with your intellect not with impulse.

Remember 3H- Hard Work, Honesty and Happiness

Being oblivious to the lessons that were taught by mistakes and failures make you prone to bouts of anger, irritation, and Anxiety. Having a strong commitment to be honest with your work and efforts will bolster your confidence to achieve the impossible, embolden your knowledge and expand your talent. Hard work and honesty are the two most aromatic ingredients in the recipes of life pursuits. No matter, whether you succeed or fail in your endeavor; you should feel happy at the end of it. So conceptualize the ‘3H’and make maximum of it- be honest to your work, do hard work to materialize your dreams and stay happy in all situations. Keep these 3H always under your control; let nobody else be the driving force in your life.

Today’s world is the product of human’s endeavor and their capability to imagine, ignite, design and construct their life the way they wish to. So be the commander of your life, have pride in your prowess and hone your Life Skills not just inter-personal skills but inner-personal skills also. Let’s aim to equip ourselves with resilience and patience to be able to tackle every challenge life throws in our way and make a difference in the world.

Nurture the creative thinker in you; observe your today and think how can you make a better tomorrow for yourself. With your conditioned mind, creativity, Being Mindful of your failures and the lessons by them will certainly make you basking in the glory of your success and turning yourself from common to exemplary.

 

Enjoy an accomplished Life!