One day a disciple came to Ramakrishna Paramahamsa and sought a clarification on the statement made by him, “You mentioned that the depth of aspiration is the springboard to the discovery of truth. Could you clarify, please?” Paramahamsa asked the disciple to come with him to the river and take a dip with him. The disciple went to the river and put his head underwater. Paramahamsa just held the disciple’s head under the water and would not release his hold until the disciple almost drowned and his struggle became a frenzy. “When you aspire for truth the way you wanted a breath of air, you will not rest till you have accomplished it,” he said.
One is caught in mechanical activity without truly experiencing fulfilment. Now and then pause and re-look at the path you have travelled. Do not conform to the norms of society blindly. History is filled with stories of experts who were convinced that the ideas, ambition and projects of others could never be achieved. But achievers proved them wrong, for they came from the mindset ‘I can make it happen’.
There is a significant distinction between aspiration and expectation. Aspiration is to be fulfilled in a creative mode, whereas expectation is in a begging mode. Aspiration is the basic element for growth and expectation is the basic element for sorrow. When you expect you are dependent on the other and hence bound by the other.
Aspiration is our inner nature, and seeking it is the outer expression. Our life is like a beautiful car and aspiration is the key. Aspiration leads to fulfilment. Expectation is an enemy of life for it makes you a beggar and not a creator. To make it simpler and easier, let me put it another way. Let the centre of your life be aspiration and expectation, the circumference of your life. Whereas for most of us, the centre of life is expectation and circumference, the aspiration. This will create chaos in one’s life.
Achievement comes when one seizes the moment with zeal and clarity. Clarity will help in studying the right things and learning the right lessons. Carefully assess your present strengths, and aspire to reach the peak. Stop whipping yourself over negative events of the past. Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “A man is a hero not because he is braver than anyone else, but because he is brave for 10 minutes longer.” People don’t become famous because of their knowledge, their true intention or the things they desire. They become achievers when they get things done.
Why can one not stick longer for that extra 10 minutes? Because one is impatient. Tell-tale signs of impatience are that you don’t enjoy what you are doing. Each moment is unique and hence it is beautiful in its own way. If you learn to see the beauty in ‘what is’, then you are in paradise and will enjoy what you are doing. From that space, you will aspire to create and be patient to reach the peak.
Therefore, one has to learn to operate from commitment, and not from complaining, to achieve success. One has to learn the joy of breaking one’s limits. To make this happen, one has to understand that the mind should come from ‘cans’ and not ‘can’ts’, for cans create success and can’ts create failure.
Willian Ward had summarised four steps to achievement as follows: plan purposefully, prepare prayerfully, proceed positively, pursue persistently. Swami Sukhabodhananda is an international management spiritual & corporate guru (Attend a spiritual retreat from April 20 to 22 in Bengaluru.
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