What have you earned in life?
I start with the most obvious question we have been asked. It has always led to comparisons. In the end, we have looked down a few, and at times been jealous of other’s success. We have never missed the contextual financial comparison. I submit we are mostly using inherently flawed matrices to measure our life’s earning.
Before I am lynched for the statement with the ‘Arrived in life’ and ‘better weep in a Merc’ philosophy, Isubmit, financial strength does have a considerable role to play in life. It even determines who surrounds and entertains you. However, it stops there.
KHALI HAATH AAYEH THEH KHAALI HAATH JAOGEY
(You came empty-handed in the world, and you will leave empty handed)
If you are above 35 years of you, it is likely that you would have escorted someone on his/her last journey. Someone close and loved one; someone respected and idolised. In the industry, we have lost a few legends.
We have liked, shared, and revered moments with them. We relived the stories and the business lessons they taught. Many remembered them with a smile on their face and few with tears in eyes. The departed souls touched many lives.
And that is when I have repeatedly thought
You only get a minute; better live it while you are in it*
Nowhere did we quote their earning and personal financial success. In the end, in the balance sheet of life, there is everything else but money. Your life is your book and what is written in next chapter is completely in your control.
It becomes critical to re-examine the life we are leading. What have we been earning? What we plan to win? And what we plan to do the rest of our lives?
What is the real earning of life?
What should be the measure of your success in life?
I am not qualified to answer such profound questions. Most of us are not. We have our unique models of the world, and our answers only satisfy us. That’s the reason we remain unsatisfied and feel empty.
However, I have few questions that make sense, at least to me. You will understand a lot many things better if you could answer the questions honestly and transparently.
Have you passed on the knowledge of your culture and heritage to the next generation? Have you evaluated the rituals and customs before insisting that the next generation imbibe them?
Have you been flexible enough to exert the decisive pressure in your interaction both professionally and socially? Have you been a cause of things or have you been just the effect? How have you added to your family and friends?
Have you been honest with yourself in understanding what makes you happy or sad? How many lives have you touched positively? How many friends can you rely on? Also, how much time have you been sharing/giving to your close one?
Have your inventory of regrets stopped growing in the past few years? Finally, have you been happy in the last 2-3 years?
You are on the right path if your answer to above questions is YES.
karmaṇy-evādhikāras te mā phaleṣhu kadāchana
mā karma-phala-hetur bhūr mā te saṅgo ’stvakarmaṇi**
You have a right to perform your prescribed duties, but you are not entitled to the fruits of your actions. Never consider yourself to be the cause of the results of your activities, nor be attached to inaction.
Stop taking credit for things. Nothing and nothing on this planet earth is and can be the result of only your actions and efforts. Multiple factors like efforts, destiny originating from our past karma, the will of God, the efforts of others, the cumulative karmas of the people involved, and the place & situation which we might call luck align themselves to get any result in this world.
The only thing that you can and must take credit of is to have played your part well, and an appreciation of it is what will be yours to keep and carry. It is the net earning of everything you did.
The question remains. Have you earned enough in your life?
And the answer remains contextually comparative and true to each person’s priorities and values.
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Five incidents triggered this article. Gaurav Sachdeva, the husband of meri bhuli number one (most loved sister); Ragani, passed away in Dehradun. *Sunil Varghese shared ‘The Older I get’ song by Alan Jackson on the IIM Ahmedabad 1987 batch WhatsApp group. Respected Ranjan Kapoor passed away, and Industry remembered him in good spirit. Manish Bhatt of Scarecrow shared the WhatsApp screen of 28th Feb 2018 showing how Ranjan Kapoor gave prompt feedback to even a junior person. ** I was again reminded of the verse from Gita, that one has recited umpteen times paying lip service to it.
…. BLOG/ 11/2018…..
