Let me begin this post by invoking one of my favourite books- Man’s Search for Meaning, by Viktor Frankl. This book originated out of very trying and life-threatening circumstances that the author was under in the 1940s- the Nazi Concentration Camps. I am sure most of you have read the book, if not I will exhort you to do so at the earliest- it may change your outlook towards life. Under the most inhuman circumstances, Frankl found his Raison d’etre, his reason for being. Let me elaborate as to why I am writing this post? Even to the most sceptic of us or to the self-professed atheists, it must be clear that we don’t arrive on the planet Earth as an accident. Our current birth is part of a process, a grand design, which may have commenced thousands of years back and keeps perpetuating based on our actions and their reactions (call it Karma or Newton’s Third Law of Motion- it is true.) There is this fundamental difference between the existence of an animal and a human being. An animal’s existence consists of eating, sleeping, procreating and dying and has no particular goal. Animals also don’t have the intelligence to identify the challenges in their life and take actions to change and rewrite their destiny. A human being, on the other hand, is blessed with the mental acuity and perspicacity to perceive and evaluate his life situations and undertake actions towards course correction.
You may also like to read the fascinating autobiography of Mahatma Gandhi, “My Experiments with Truth”, and realise how he was floundering along in life till he found his Raison d’etre, the purpose and meaning of his life, and the rest is history. This is true with all the great prophets, achievers, sages and seers throughout the history of mankind- Lord Krishna, Christ, Prophet Muhammad, Guru Nanak, Buddha, Mother Teresa, Swami Vivekananda, the list is endless. All of us are not destined to achieve such greatness to change the course of history but definitely, we have in us the potential to change the course of the life and destiny of ourselves and our future generations. It is always that one person in a family who searches and finds his life’s meaning and then takes actions to change the destiny of his family, organization, country or indeed the world. All of you reading this article belong to the top 1% of the population in terms of status, money and lifestyle. If you look back on your family tree, you will easily locate that one person who dared to dream big and took concrete actions to fulfil his dreams. We all are reaping the benefits of that one person who found his raison d'être.
But have we really introspected and asked ourselves as to what is our raison d'être? Why are we here on the planet earth as human beings? We generally drift along the currents of life reacting to the circumstances of life and reach wherever we are by default. Don’t get me wrong, I am sure that all of you are doing extremely well in life with a good work-life balance but are you sure about what is it that you wish and aspire to achieve in life or rather from life? Are you sure what would you like your epitaph to read? Most of us get fascinated with aspects like the accumulation of money and possessions, rising in our organization and such like things.
Even if you reach the very top of your organization or indeed your country, where will history place you on its vast canvas? Can you rattle out the names, in the reverse order, of the last 10 Prime Ministers, or the Presidents or Chiefs of your organization, without pausing and recollecting their names? Do you remember or really care about the top-10 wealthiest persons in the world or your country? There have been many millionaires and billionaires in history but how many have left an indelible mark? We remember people like Bill Gates, Azim Premji, Ratan Tata and Adi Godrej not for their wealth but their philanthropy, for what they did with their wealth to ameliorate the life situations of millions of people. Whose company would you prefer- a billionaire like Vijay Mallya and Nirav Modi or a pauper like Anna Hajare?
I wish to kindle this small flame of thought in your mind that you must live your life at your terms and in the manner in which your inner compass guides you. Whenever you drift off this course, there is always that little but firm voice in your conscience which asks you a question and gently points you in the correct direction. If we keep silencing this voice, soon it will grow quiet and leave us at the mercy of others who start dictating our destiny. There is a great cost to pay if we don’t listen to our inner voice- we may end up way off from the target, our inner peace and joy. If an Inter Continental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) is not provided with constant course correction, it may land and destroy even our friendly forces. A small error of a fraction of a degree at launch may grow incredibly big at 5000 Km range and therefore there is GPS guidance to the missile. But if the missile, like humans has the freedom to make a choice and ignore the warning of the GPS, there may be a terrible price to pay.
Our inner voice is our inbuilt GPS and many a time we chose to ignore its warnings to our peril. The result may be a gnawing and empty feeling when you have reached the end of your life and realise that whatever you did all these years was for the outcomes which were too shallow to give you long-lasting happiness. We all seek unlimited happiness which can never be achieved by associating our happiness with something ephemeral like money, possessions and status.
In my book, “Nine Mantras for Success and Happiness”, I have outlined simple steps which will help you find and achieve your Raison d’etre- go ahead and indulge yourself. So are you ready to explore?
Maj. Gen. Anand Saxena holds triple master’s degrees to his credit—Master of Science, Master of Philosophy and Master of Management Studies in which he majored in Financial Management. He is also a Helicopter pilot with vast combat flying experience. Anand speaks and writes on religion, philosophy, positive psychology and personal finance. You can buy his book on Amazon or from Readomania.
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