3 P's of Success

This is a story of Soichiro Honda, the founder of Honda motors. He was in high school when Japan faced worst depression in 1930s. While in school he started a small workshop to develop piston ring with a dream to sell it to Toyota. He also had pawned his wife's jewelry. After lot of efforts he completed his design & submitted to Toyota, only to be told that it did not meet their standards. Honda was rather ridiculed & laughed at. He didn't give up & continued to work.

After two years & several redesigning efforts he won contract with Toyota. By this time Japan was gearing up for the war. With contract in hand, Honda needed to build a factory but building material was in a short supply. He invented a new concrete making process to build his factory. The factory was built & was ready for the production, but then it was bombed twice & got completely demolished.

Honda still carried on, he collected surplus gasoline cans discarded by the US fighters and used them to build his manufacturing unit. By the time the factory was ready, Japan was hit with massive earthquake, and factory was destroyed again.

After war gasoline shortage made people use bicycles. Honda built a tiny engine and attached it to a bicycle. This engine was also initially bulky and failed but he continued to develop & adapt, until finally, the small engine famously known as 'The Super Cub' became reality & was a success. He exported this engine to Europe & USA.

In 1970s there was another gas shortage, people turned to small & fuel efficient cars. Honda picked up the trend & rode on another wave of success. Honda today is one of the most successful automobile companies in the world. Soichiro Honda failed, failed again but failed better every time.

Success is about reducing your failure rate. Now think again, do you have too many problems in life? There is another interesting case from USA.

At 63, a retired colonel couldn't live life without a goal. He was neither a Harvard graduate nor a rich man. He only knew how to fry chicken that was juicy inside & crispy outside. He took his recipe to many restaurants. Many did not even looking at his recipe!  But he did not lose heart.

He approached more than 1000 restaurants in 2 years. Finally, he found one hotelier who showed interest in his recipe. The rest is history. Today, the world over, Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) is successful food chain. He was Colonel Sanders who laid foundation of successful business enterprise. 

"Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm" - Winston Churchill.

"Perseverance, Patience, Purity (3 Ps) in efforts are essentials to success." - Swami Vivekananda

Dr. Sushant T. Joshi

Consciousness leads to Conscience

The master was watching a practice session in the courtyard. He realized that the presence of the other students was interfering with the bright young man’s attempts to perfect his technique. 

“What’s the problem?” the master inquired.

“I don’t know. No matter how much I try, I am unable to execute the moves properly” said the young man. The master took him to the river stream. “Look at the stream,” he said. “There are rocks in its way. Does it slam into them out of frustration? It simply flows over and around them and moves on! Be like the water.”

We don’t have control over others behavior but it is certainly possible to develop the ability to remain unaffected by others behavior. It is easier said than done. But once we understand that we all live in our own world and the individual behavior is contextual, it becomes easier to create the right context which ultimately makes us experience the joy of life which is independent of anything outside of us. 

We have to choose between the experience of joy and sadness. Let us choose the experience of Joy. Let us be aware of self and the world we live in.

Remember, Consciousness leads to Conscience which ultimately governs the behavior. 

Dr. Sushant T. Joshi

Death - An Inside Story - A book for all those who shall die by Sadhguru: A Review

Death - An inside story by Sadhguru is a must read by all those who shall die. Sadhguru opens up profound aspects of death. The author dwells upon issues such as what is death?, the process of death, the gracefulness of death, life after death and the riddle of reincarnation.

Sadhguru starts with a question which is fundamental in nature, what is death? To explain this, he narrates an incident from our History, the Mahabharata. When Yaksha confronts 4 Pandavas, they ignore him and they all drop dead. Only Yudhisthira, the eldest of them answers the questions posed by Yaksha.

One of the question being, "What is the biggest Wonder of life?" Without hesitation, Yudhisthira, answers, "Thousands of living beings meet death at every moment, yet the foolish man thinks himself deathless and does not prepare for death. This is the biggest wonder of life."

Sadhguru reminds, 'जननं सुखम, मरणं करुणम' - Life is pleasure, but death is compassion because it relieves us and hence death is not a calamity. The Human mind is essentially  against Death and that is the biggest calamity. 

Living dead is a fantastic experience but to be death like when alive is horribly painful.

While explaining quality of death, the author distinguishes between Suicide and Samadhi. It is an interesting perspective, suicide is a result of disturbed mind, injures the body and is an experience of pain, whereas Samadhi is a result of peaceful mind, body is in a best possible condition and it is an experience of bliss. He narrates few Samadhi experiences where people chose to leave the body at their will. It sends shivers down the spine while reading.

Sadhguru observes that except man, every creature in the world seems to know how to die gracefully. He say, “If you walk in a forest, even one that is rich with wildlife, unless it is an animal that has been killed by a predator, you will not find a carcass just lying around like that. Why the Forest, even in the cities, where the birds are mostly crows these days, you will not find a dead crow just like that. They all know when it is a time to die, so they withdraw to quite place and gracefully die. It is human being that is becoming increasingly graceless.”

Finally Sadhguru advises all to live well so that we can die well. Living well is about knowing our internal system and of course being healthy.

This is truly a book for all those who shall die.

Death is the only fundamental truth everything else is myth.

Dr. Sushant Joshi

SELECTIVE ATTENTION IS A KEY TO HAPPINESS

A group of frogs were traveling together when two of them fell in a deep pit. Others thought that they had no chance of survival and they told these two about the same. However, both were trying hard to come out. After a lot of efforts, everyone at the top thought they won't make it and must give up.

Eventually, one of them took the advice seriously and gave up to death. The other frog continued his efforts despite yelling by the other frogs. He ignored & continued to jump harder. His efforts paid off and he made it out. When he got out, other frogs said, "Did you not hear us?” He didn't answer & but bowed to them. Then they realized that he was deaf, and that he thought they were encouraging him all the time.

Selective Attention & persistent efforts can make miracles happen and is a path to Happiness.

अहम् ब्रह्मास्मि।

A wealthy person sent an invitation of his birthday party to a new Zen teacher in his village. The teacher went to the party in a simple attire. The host didn't recognize him & chased him away.

The teacher went home & returned in his ceremonial suit. This time, he was welcomed by the host. The teacher removed the suit and put on the cushion and said, "You invited the suit and not me. A short while back you chased me out." And he left.

Judging a person only on external appearance or an action or words spoken is a mistake. Make an effort to discover the beautiful soul & intention behind every action or words.

Beauty & Wisdom are autonomous of external appearance. Khalil Gibran says, "Beauty is not in the face, Beauty is light in the heart." Similarly, Wisdom lies not in Seeing things but Seeing through things. 

It is essential to explore & experience the universal truth - अहम् ब्रह्मास्मि। - Realize the divinity within & others.

Dr. Sushant T. Joshi