Secret of Success

[K S Venkataraman]

Secret of Success
K S VENKATARAMAN

Various scholars have answered this question in a number of ways. In a way this is 'begging a question'. Why at all we should assume that there is a 'secret' of success. There is no secret.

We call it 'success' when something has happened exactly as we wanted it to happen. Whatever happens, it is the product of several factors and their combinations.

Mother Nature teaches us very early in life that She is the major partner in all our enterprises. Sometimes Her interventions are on expected lines and many times they are not. Our elders have taught us to call this factor, which is beyond our control as 'Divine Will'. One may choose to call it by any name but nobody can repudiate it.

If you drop a stone from the fifth floor of a building, you would say that you have successfully dropped it, ignoring the role of the natural law of gravitation.
Briefly stated, all the 'successes' we usually claim credit for, are the products of Divine will (99.999...9%) and human effort (0.000...1%).

All of us should have also had experiences of 'success' unexpectedly, i.e. in the absence of human effort; but there can never be any case of success in the absence of favorable participation of Nature.

As the occurrence of success often proves to be beyond human calculations, we tend to think of it as a mystery and look for a ‘secret’ governing it. No.

In attaining success, human role is only a small part. We can do anything only about this small part. This is an irrefutable fact. By understanding something as it really is, we only make sure that we do not lose ourselves in the realms of metaphysics.

Instead of trying to find any non-existent secret, we should more realistically ask, in relation to any project, what are the things in the purview of human effort; and let us not leave any stone unturned in this area. The rest, i.e. more than 99% is safely in the hands of Mother Nature. If we are perfect in our jurisdiction that is all; we need not have any qualms. The Bhagavad-Gita teaches us to do our duty well and leave the rest to Him.

As regards the 'Divine Will' our forefathers have taught us to work for attaining it. That is prayer and it also falls within the area of human effort. If only we learn to do this also perfectly, success will be ours always; even if we do it as perfectly as possible, we may just hope for the best.

As prayer tries to cover the major part of more than 99% and also falls within the area of human effort, it occupies a very important segment of it.

Success and Failure are the gifts of Nature; both have to be received with equanimity and this is possible only for those who concentrate on their action. This is the spirit, which enabled Alwa Edison to say that he had discovered 99 ways of how not to produce a bulb. For him, all his efforts were successful as their 'anticipated effect' was 'progress' rather than 'destination'. So long as we maintain our progress in the right direction, each milestone is interim destination.

I have come across instances where some of my friends tried to brand me 'unscientific' the moment I started talking about prayer. Even if it is so, I would rather prefer to be unscientific and engaged in real action; instead of losing myself in empirical wandering in search of a 'secret'.

K S Venkataraman is the Associate Editor, Dynamic Youth Online Magazine. His e-mail: dynamicyouth_development@yahoo.com
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