Power of Karma
कर्मण्येवाधिकारस्ते मा फलेषु कदाचन। मा कर्मफलहेतुर्भूर्मा ते सङ्गोऽस्त्वकर्मणि॥
You only have the right to action (karma) not the right to its fruits. Don't let the fruits be your motivation to perform action. Be attached to Karma, not to its fruits.
How could one perform action without expecting fruits. Let me try to explain why focusing on Karma (Actions) is the best strategy:
- Control is a delusion: We are presented with numerous situations in life when we cannot control outcomes. Acts done with the best of intentions may also not lead to expected outcomes. You may go out of your way and lend financial help to a friend / relative only to realize later that you were being played. Does that mean you should not have been kind? No. Don't let the good Samaritan in you die but take the lesson from this and be smarter next time to not be played easily. In the end, we can't control the end result, but we can control what we learn from the experiences.
- You get what you deserve: Period! You can keep arguing with the wall. It's time to dust off the blame game and take responsibility of your own actions. And by this, I mean looking at the mirror and being brutally honest with yourself about where YOU went wrong. The moment you take responsibility of your own life, you will automatically focus on the right set of Karma.
- Enjoy the journey: Once you have identified what actions you need to take, don't be in a hurry to see the results. Results will take time, sometimes it could take years for the fruits to be reaped. Try to enjoy the journey.
- Habituate Karma: History has proved that talent alone does not lead to success. World's most talented people have also had to work hard and stay disciplined to achieve success. There are no shortcuts to success. Make hard work a habit, go at your goal every single day persistently.
- Use time: We all have the same hours, minutes and seconds available to us. How is it that some people are able to achieve so much in the given span of time while some never find time to chase their dreams. It all comes down to lack of Karma. Drop the laziness and focus on actions. When you hit the bed in the night, you should be feeling dead. This might sound extreme but if you enjoy what you do, a tiring day will yield the most satisfying sleep.
- Higher purpose: While you chase your personal goals, remember that materialistic achievements give only momentary satisfaction. That is not to say that you should abandon these goals and go to the forests in search of nirvana. It is possible to contribute to the society in our day to day lives by helping people. Act with kindness and bravery, whenever possible, and higher purpose will be realized soon enough.
And while you focus on actions, below are some quick tips to deal with certain inhibiting emotions:
- Sleepy? - Blink your eyes really fast 10 times, your sleep will be gone
- Tired? - Take a deep breath, loudly tell your mind to shut up and get going
- Confused? - Grab a pen and paper and write down the problem statement on one side of the paper and the possible actions on the other. This might sound like a textbook approach, but this definitely works in clearing up mind.
- Anxious? - Do Pranayama 5 times and journal your thoughts. Journaling is extremely helpful when it comes to tackling overwhelming emotions.
- Overthinking? - Pinch yourself. Yes, literally pinch yourself hard on your arm. The physical pain arising from punching will suddenly bring you to the present moment and you will be able to focus on the present.
- Lazy? - Laziness accelerates ageing. Follow the Rule of Five to overcome laziness. Tell yourself that you will lie on your bed for 5 seconds / 5 minutes / 5 hours. Automatically, your mind will be under pressure, and you will get out of your bed within 5 minutes and with further practice in 5 seconds.
Thank you so much for reading.
Always be brave and kind!
Comments
Post a Comment