Success with a smile

So many times, I have heard people ask Sri Sri Ravishankar ji,  HIS definition of Success. The setting could be different - in different countries,  but the answer has been consistent.

HE would say (not verbatim) - Usually success is seen as an outcome of a lot of stressful activity giving rise to the impression that stress is necessary and inescapable for success.  But if stress was indeed necessary for success, then Beirut would be the most successful city in the world, because people are really stressed out there! Look at all the so called successful people,  they may have lots of wealth, but they will also have stomach ulcers/diabetes/heart problem..... People spend half their health to earn their wealth and then spend half their wealth to recover their health!! This is not a sign of intelligence.  For me the sign of success is a smile that never fades  (This was a sattvic knockout punch, if ever there was one...).

The Forbes magazine launch interview

The first time i heard this (several years ago),  it left me thinking about what is needed  to achieve this success. I, somehow, never doubted what Guruji said,  but my personal experience had been different ...I had found it easier to 'not smile' while working towards an objective irrespective of whether I was successful or not!!

 The scientist in me took over.  I thought about  the obstacles to the smile and listed them as below:

-  Doubts and Resistance in the mind leading to half-hearted action
- Obsession with the end-result that creates pressure and clouds ones thoughts
- Getting bogged with  emotions :)

.... and these, i realised subsequently, were also the obstacles to successfully completing the task at hand !! Thus, one is free to focus on the smile or the 'success' - the tools are the same :)  regular Pranayama, Sudarshan Kriya and meditation.

I realised that Guruji's definition of success was not merely referring to the state of mind at the end of some event, rather HE was emphasising an approach to be followed all through the journey - at the beginning, through the middle and of course at the end.

And don't we know the effectiveness of Sudarshan Kriya and meditation, millions have benefited !!! Visit...Sudarshan Kriya et al on www.artofliving.org. If you need one more reason, here it is - it will ensure success in the true holistic sense, a success that is not based on greed or fear, a success that is much needed in today's world that is slowly recovering from the economic crisis brought about by a rather shortsighted view of success.