“Becoming successful in
life!!! What’s it, dad?” The little girl
asks him while gazing at the book he is reading. The caption screams ‘Success’.
“To become a successful means
winning in the game of life.” he answers without taking away his eyes from the
book. The sea breeze that comes stealthily through the window blinds refresh
the father and daughter duo.
“How to get success in life,”
the girl persists. “Is god out there evaluating our life and giving us the trophy
of success?” Her innocent face and tender look betray the question she puts
forth. A question that puzzles a young, curious mind for an answer.
“That’s not the way one gets
bestowed with success,” the dad answers after putting down the book. He is a
bit proud realizing how smart his daughter is. He is silent for a while, organizing
his thoughts to give a coherent answer to the girl.
“To become successful in life
means earning big money,” he speaks emphatically. “It’s getting educated like
your dad; employed in an MNC and earning fat salary pockets. Or starting a
business and pocketing big chunks of money. If you thus earn a fortune, you can
own a palatial dwelling and live with all comforts of life. Money is yummier
than the manna of the heaven.” The dad laughs at his own joke and looks
intently at the girl’s face if she is convinced of what he said.
“Wow,” the girl shouts, but
looks like she is still brooding over something.
“Aside from money, people try
to become popular in the society,” the dad continues with a flourish. “Yes, I
mean stars like Rajinikanth Kamal Hassan and Amitabh Bachchan get admired and
liked by the fellow humans. Winning in politics too makes a man call himself
successful in life. Popularity thus becomes a ladder one can climb to rake in fabulous
money.
“Now, I know what you mean by
getting success in life, dad.” The girl smiles. “People can do anything they
like,” she pauses for a moment and continues. “But their aim should be to get
money, as much as possible. And that way they can boast they are successful in
life. Isn’t it, dad?”
“Yes, honey,” he responds. He
is happy of having convinced his daughter.
The small girl goes into a
contemplation, closing her beady eyes. She revels in silence for a while and
then speaks:
“Dad, if becoming successful
in life depends on the money you earn or the popularity one enjoys, why then
the uncle next door committed suicide last week? You told me he was a
millionaire swimming in currency notes and a popular business magnet too. So
even after earning huge money and popularity, why he felt he was not successful
in life. There might be something in life his wealth or popularity could not
buy.”
He gets puzzled. His
daughter’s question nails him and he has no answer to it. He finds a chink in
what he told her about getting success in life. His self-compliment about his power
of convincing now gets a beating and leaves him disoriented. He stands frozen,
gazing at the girl helplessly.
A bit of introspection on our
part will also make us feel like the bewildered dad.
Like the proverbial blind
identifying an elephant, we think success lies in our going up in the career
graph and thus getting helluva money. Or in overtaking our rivals in a business
and getting a fortune.
If flourishing in wealth
means success, why the rich aren’t happy in life? As the little girl said why
the wealthy find life a square in a circle and commit suicide. If winning in
life is getting public glare why the celluloid stars hate life and take to a
noose. Politicians, too, who stockpile money on the sly go to temples after
temples and meet saints and astrologers just to get to know about their future.
They aren’t contented with what they have. They want to go through the sky and
grab the moon.
What then is success? And
what clicks success in life?
As we know, success is
neither being wealthy nor popular. It’s the voice of a happy mind which says
happiness is not out there in life but it’s in you. A treasure it may appear
elusive, but one can have it if one tries honestly. Peace and tranquility that brings happiness in
one’s heart needn’t be born attributes, you may acquire them by constant
practice and training.
Just think for a moment.
Why we slog away at a job and
earn bucks… more bucks?
Isn’t it about buying a posh bungalow,
leading a comfortable life and thus getting a happy mindset?
Like rivers turning their
course towards the ocean at the end of their journey, we, too, to get a
contented and happy mind, try to give ourselves all the comforts of life. But
our minds deny being cheerful no matter how much money we squeeze out of our
job/business or the popularity we assiduously build.
When all said and done, we aren’t
blessed with contended minds or minds that stay soaked in happiness forever.
One may get such mindsets when one does things with fulfilled sense and competently.
Or when one avoids doing them by halves. Success is simple: it’s doing right
things in a right way at the right time.
Yeah, that is called success
doing things with perfection and thus evolving a joyous and happy mind from it.
Inputs source: Tamil Kumudam
Snehidhi
Images credit: Google
