What keeps you going ?

My student’s write up(edited) on “what Keeps you going?”- My questions to Corporate Sector

Today (10.03.2010) I received a mail from my former student who is more like a friend and family member. He has sent a narrative ‘what keeps you going?’ It is all about the motivating factor .I would like to tell readers that the author of this piece has played an instrumental role in goading me to action on many occasions, virtually pushing me into hectic work.Santosh is one who wants me to have a wider interaction through media network. Given my constraints, I would like to remain on the sidelines for some time .I feel delighted by posting his write up with a little editing and raising a question to our corporate leaders. His letter took me to my M.Phil/PhD days at Pune (1978-82)-a lovely academic soil enriched by great souls- a region which gave me academic solidity.

“Over the weekend, I visited Pune – one of the biggest IT-related success stories of India of the past decade. Over there, I went to this ‘Neera’ (a fruit extract which is served cold and acts as a rejuvenator) shop run by a physically challenged person. He was an old man , probably over 65 years of age and I have seen him selling Neera over there atleast for the past 7-8 years. During my chat with him, I asked him – ‘Aap itne saal se Neera bech rahe ho, aapka koi yadgaar khsan bataiye’ (Tell us some unforgettable incident you must have had while selling Neera) . He narrated that incident and then said something that made me think.

“That I am quenching the thirst of so many passers-by and seeing the feeling of satisfaction on their face after having Neera is what has helped me continue selling Neera for so many years.”
Here is an old man, while rendering his work wants to see smiles on his clients “How many people in the corporate world do internalize his spirit?Are they highly motivated enough to practice business ethics?” I mused ‘What keeps you going?’ For at least 90 pc of people in the world (maybe even more) , the answer to this question is extremely straight-forward – Money! For some the answer is “proving themselves” to the world. For others, the answer is achievement of any kind.

The question – what keeps you going!
Shall we say,all these people are successful in life! Why there is differing levels of success? Maybe it’s about how badly do you want success and how hard you are willing to work for it… Take the story of Steve Jobs, who to my mind, has been the CEO of the decade. What drove Jobs back to work after the liver transplant? What kept him going ? Isn’t this a tough question to answer? What’s more, if a person who underwent such a major surgery can motivate himself to take up a position of such public glare – why can’t we do the same?
Let me conclude this with this quote by Wallace Spearmon, US sprinter who came in third in the 100M race to Usain Bolt in Berlin in a time of 9.85 seconds -

“Just because you get beat doesn’t mean you stop trying, it just means you go home and work on your own résumé. When I go home this off-season, I’ve got to go home and work twice as hard, three times as hard and put a picture of Bolt above my bed.”

Thank you Santosh for sending such a motivational stuff. All of us will have to march on , unmindful of any unfavorable wind that might blow. What keeps you going should remain as a question for there are infinite routes for realizing a sense of accomplishment, peace and happiness.

When Intelligence is hijacked by Hormones

I was going through your recent post, “fusing friendship into love & sex – an ideal medicine for peace & bliss”(www.dsambandhan.blogspot.com). In the recent times, the news channel flashed a hot news on one swamiji’s leela, clandestinely taken by camera. 14th Feb Valentines Day, was also made into an issue by some political parties in India; I have been thinking on this question, for quite sometime.

I feel that more than celebrating Valentines Day, there is an imperative need for educating the young minds on love and Sex which are designed by the super power for a healthy and happy life. The rule of the nature is, every specie living on this planet atempts to reproduce and hence human beings are also not an exception. The present young generation, in a large measure takes life for granted and they want to do whatever they want with their body, unmindful of the consequences. Because, they are of the opinion that with advancement in the medical technology, there is a cure for everything.

I am a management graduate and also possess knowledge on human psychology & my wife is a Gynecologist. What I would like to communicate to the younger generation especially the opposite sex is that what happens to their body before marriage is important and they should not experiment too much, as westerners do.

The young generation is being exposed to sex at the young age of 10 to 12 thanks to the access to internet. If you go through medical records in recent times the number of cases of abortion is more with unmarried females: this includes both educated & uneducated females in cities & villages between the age group of 18 and 25. The figure is only an under estimation, as the private practicing doctors don’t release the exact data.

But young girls are unable to understand what would happen to their health in later years of their life. Due to abortion or taking birth control pills...etc before marriage, many problems like miscarriage, breast cancer, cervical cancer, urinary infection…etc., take place after marriage. It’s important to understand that the female body is made of chemicals or Hormones that play their role. .Multiple affairs with partners before marriage have their own consequences. Later they know the importance of the relationship between husband & wife & of the parenthood. We see so many divorce within few years after marriage. I am not saying that sex & sexuality are bad or dirty; they are perfectly fine only when they are conducted in a conducive atmosphere of healthy family life, and not before marriage.


There are so many medicines or drugs available in the market; companies show very good advertisement, but they never picture the side effects of the drug & how it causes damage later to the body. We may take the drugs to rule over the act, but later the drug will be ruling your life. Then feeling sorry for life has no meaning. The present generation has a lot of confidence that they can achieve whatever they want in life, but what is required is to know more about life, and follow some ethics in life.

In one of the interviews of Sadhguru Jiggi Vasudev, when asked about by one who is thinking all the time about sex , the swami said that there is nothing strange about it and it is just that his intelligence has been hijacked by his hormones.

Watch
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNMKdrEVhsk (www.ishayoga.org )
The Younger generation has to understand the rules of life. There is a lot to enjoy in married life and don’t get misled in the teens. Request for the parents: They need to spend more time with their children & discuss the issues rather than watching tele serials on TV; they should treat them like friends & the parents must see that their children get married at 26years:Late marriage will have their own set of problems :career is also important , but life is more important than anything else.
What is missing today is the communication between children & parents. There is so much to learn from our Indian heritage & culture. Parents should make their children to learn any classical music instrument or Yoga or classical dance right from their childhood without affecting studies .This kind of active life will give them the confidence, maturity & discipline in life during their adolescent years.
As the wording goes, Your Wisdom is, as vast as sky…, You have filled life around you, with wonders & loveliness.., You make our world Beautiful, You give love in the form of Sister, Friend, Beloved, Wife, in the form of Mother, in the form of Grandmother & .so on.