Swami Chinmayananda addressed the students of Somaiya College, Bombay, on the techniques of success. This series of three talks are being published as three separate blogs – Knowing is not Enough, Master the Mind and Great Minds make a Great Nation.
Apart from technical perfection, we must have character, a cheerful outlook on life and a readiness to face all problems and challenges which confront us. Then alone can you become a personality which will attract others towards you. If my personality emanates noble qualities, a readiness to make sacrifices, to offer love, then others will be drawn to me.
All of us wish to become better than what we are. How can we improve our behavior and our daily conduct in life?
Even though we want to improve, we are unable to do so. We lose our temper, sometimes even with our mother and father. It is not that one is disloyal to them. Perhaps the situation at home is like that. No one seems to understand me. I am unhappy. A hundred things disturb me. Emotions gurgle out. I make a mess of my life. I make myself a dirty, filthy and ugly individual. Other students in the class hate me and distance themselves from me. May be I have no patience.
REMOVE THE NEGATIVE, CULTIVATE THE POSITIVE
What is it in me that repels others? These unwanted tendencies are called negative qualities. They lead to immoral or unethical actions. Just as there is a negative and a positive electric current, there are also negative and positive ideas. When negative ideas are expressed in my character, others will be repelled from me. If I can bring out in the expression of my life the fragrance of my positive qualities, then people will flow in attraction towards me.
It has been found true all over the world, whether in South Africa or New York, that people of whatever caste, creed or colour, are magnetically pulled by certain qualities. These qualities which attract others are called positive qualities. When I am dealing with others, if I open out the sweetness of these qualities in my personality, I find that more and more people circle round me, love me and are ready to support me. These positive qualities are there in all of us, but it is not sufficient that we just know about them.
Every one of us knows about love, mercy, cheerfulness, kindness, joy and courage of convictions. We know it, but when we act, we do not express them; we do just the opposite.
KNOWING IS NOT ENOUGH
There is a miserable looking fellow, who always complains, who is lusty, passionate, greedy, egoistic, ugly, and indulges in falsehood, yet talks about the beautiful world of religion, philosophy and truth. In the same way, all of us talk about love, mercy, joy and courage. We want our ideas to be appreciated by others, but we do not live these ideas. And yet we want others to be attracted towards us.
A famous artist, renowned the world over as a great painter, became ill. He had held many exhibitions; everywhere he was honoured and respected. Many of his canvases were hanging in museums and the homes of art patrons. While lying in his sick bed, a beautiful theme for a painting began to take shape in his mind. It was so clear that he could see it within his mind in every detail. He could not restrain himself. Getting out of his bed, he took up the brushes and the exotic colours he needed. Everything was there the completed picture in his mind and the exact materials, but the poor man could not paint anything. His arm had been stricken with paralysis during the illness.
The idea was there. He knew the idea, but tragedy of tragedies he had no instrument to hold the brushes. Even if he held the brush in his fingers, they could not move. We, too, have wonderful ideas. We want to be great, but when we try to express it, we fail miserably.
The instrument is in our hand, but at this moment the hand is paralysed shivering and helpless. It is the instrument by which the ideas of my intellect are expressed into the world is my equipment of actions; the instrument by which I convey my knowledge to the world is expressed through my throat. With hands and legs we act in the world outside. Though these instruments of the physical body act according to the ideas of the intellect, it is the mind that executes them.
We have wonderful ideas, but the instrument of the mind is not available to us at this moment. Therefore, the great Rishis and prophets of yore, who were also glorious psychologists, declared that unless you master the mind, unless you have control of the instrument of expression, you cannot translate ideas into actions. Failure in this world is never due to a lack of ideas.
One percent of the population, perhaps, will be stupid from birth onwards. The rest are bestowed with wonderful ideas, but when they act in the marketplace, when they express themselves in society, somehow or other they do it wrongly and fail to win the battle of life.
For example, there are many music critics who write beautiful commentaries on music. But if you ask them to sing, they cannot. And if they do, all of you will go home!
To read the other two parts of this series of talks, look-out for our next two blogs.
Reference: Tapovan Prasad 1968