#280 Why YOU are greater than all your achievements
Is it possible that you are a greater achievement, far greater than your achievements put together?
We will see how.
Achievements and goals are important.
These are milestones and give direction to our pursuits of happiness, meaning and purpose.
Grades in school,
Winning in competitions and sports,
Taking leadership of your team,
One’s first boyfriend/girlfriend,
Qualifying for university of choice,
One ‘s first job or promotion,
Your first lakh or million in the bank,
Getting married,
Having a child,
An expedition into the mountains etc
These milestones in life consume us for that time and phase and then snug in the warm blanket of self worth, we shift our attention to another goalpost.
Our self-worth also keeps changing.
The more the achievements greater the self-worth.
We strive to gain wealth and scale the heights of pleasure.
We strive to contribute to society and live the good life, believing that these accomplishments will bring us fulfillment.
The Vedas recognise all of these as valid pursuits of Artha, Kama and Dharma, necessary for our growth.
In moving from one achievement to another, our identity is of being an achiever, who has many badges of honor to his or her credit. So far so good. Or so it seems!
However, amidst this relentless chase, we tend to overlook the fundamental truth: the person, the being, the common thread through the string of pearls of achievements.
The person is the very essence that pervades all achievements.
While each and every achievement is important, they are fleeting.
Without the person who undergoes the journey, there can be no achievement to speak of.
And, without the eternal, unchanging being at the core of our existence, there can be no person to embark on this path.
How does the Bhagavad Gita look upon an achievement or a siddhi?
The Bhagavad Gita which encapsulates the wisdom of Vedanta, emphasizes the importance of cultivating a steadfast mind and equanimity in the face of both success and failure.
In Chapter 2, Verse 48, Lord Krishna teaches,
“yogasthaḥ kuru karmāṇi saṅgaṁ tyaktvā dhanañjaya |
siddhyasiddhyoḥ samo bhūtvā samatvaṁ yoga ucyate
which translates to “Perform your duties equanimously, O Arjuna, giving up attachment and remaining the same to success and failure. Such equanimity is called yoga.”
That is a bit strange!
Bhagavan is calling attention not to our achievements or failures, rather to something that is cultivated in the wake of successes of failures – siddhi or asiddhi.
Bhagavan is encouraging us to remain steadfast in our commitment to our responsibilities with the recognition that the fruits of our labor are pervaded by laws of karma and hence Ishvara.
Samatvam is the cultivation of equanimity in the face of both success and failure that constitute the essence of a life well-lived.
Bhagavan is teaching us that true achievement lies not in the outcome of our actions but in the disposition we cultivate within ourselves.
Who you become in response to an event (siddhi or asiddhi- success or failure) is more important than the actual event.
If one looks at Sri Rama ‘s life, he was born a prince and the rightful heir to the kingdom of Ayodhya. However, his life was filled with difficulties – fighting a life threatening battle at the age of 16 years, being denied his right to be prince, 14 years of exile in the forest to honor his father’s words, separation from his parents and family, not being able to do the last rites for his father’s body, not being able to rescue Sita as she was being kidnapped despite being the greatest warrior, launching a rescue to no avail, finding out after many months about how Sita was suffering in Lanka, assembling an army of Vaanaras to fight Ravana, fighting the actual battle of battles, the pain of his soldiers being killed, hurting Sita with his words after she reunites with him, having to see Sita decide to undergo agni-pariksha and finally returning home to Ayodhya where he established the glorious Rama Rajya.
Clearly it was a difficult and challenging life. And yet, Sri Rama is worshipped for who he was despite the challenges and despite his achievements.
Being the avataara of Vishnu, Sri Rama is known for being a maryada purushottama, a siddha purusha, for how he equanimously handled all challenges.
Being Dharma centred, Dharma flowed into all his roles.
A much loved son to his mother Kaushalya and even his step-mothers, a deeply admired brother to his other brothers – Lakshmana, Bharata and Shatrughna, a deeply loved and cherished husband to Sita, a deeply admired master for whom the Vaanara army were willing to sacrifice their lives, a deeply loved prince to all the citizens of Ayodhya.
His commitment to truth, kindness to all beings, courage and valour to fight the enemy, forbearance to undergo difficulties without complaining or blaming his stepmother, his love for his brothers and his care for all the citizens. And he did all of this while going through difficulties.
He did not wait to be nice to people once his difficulties had subsided.
In the pursuit of achievements, we often so become fixated on the end goal, the milestone we wish to reach, or the accolades we hope to receive that we lose touch with who we want to become.
Who we become by embodying the qualities of Dharma is more of an achievement than the goal we reach.
Who we become is far more enduring and meaningful than the achievements themselves.
Who have you become as a result of the wealth earned in this lifetime? More generous, More peaceful, more confident, More secure?
Who have you become as a result of the hours slaved away at work? More disciplined? More hardworking? More competent?
Who have you become as a result of your travel experiences? More open-minded, more respectful? More flexible? More open to learning?
The qualities we cultivate, the lives we touch, and the mind we develop throughout our journey are the true treasures that accompany us not only in this lifetime but across the vast expanse of lifetimes.
Why? Because the person equipped and armed with the learning from the achievements moves ahead while the achievements are left far behind.
Samskaaras of this lifetime, in the form of sensory expressions are carried by the Sukshma sharira, subtle body of the jiva as a part of the Jiva’s mind.
What you will carry with you is who you have become.
How have you allowed the different experiences of your life to shape you? Have you become more centred, more grateful and more competent? Or have you become more bitter, more hardened and exhausted with life?
How have you allowed your different relationships to mould you? Have you become more loving, more giving, more supportive and more cheerful? Or have you become more sad, more dejected and more lonely?
While our accomplishments are undoubtedly significant and worthy of celebration, we must pay attention to the person we become as a result of our endeavours
As we strive towards our goals, we cannot ignore self-growth and self-discovery.
Each challenge we face, each obstacle we overcome, and each lesson we learn contributes to the kaleidoscope of our lives.
Bhagavan Krishna describes the disposition of a person who is not bound by action or doership and one who is wise.
यदृच्छालाभसन्तुष्टो द्वन्द्वातीतो विमत्सरः।
समः सिद्धावसिद्धौ च कृत्वापि न निबध्यते।।4.22।।
The one who is happy with whatever comes by chance, who is unaffected by the opposites, free from jealousy, and even-minded with reference to success and failure, is not bound even though performing action
In the context of Vedanta, a “siddha” is not merely one who has attained external success or one who can perform miracles of healing but one who has realized the ultimate truth of their being.
What is spontaneous for the wise being is a sadhana, deliberate effort and conscious living for an otherwise person.
Recognising the flow of situations that unfold in life, the one who is relatively free from the swinging pendulum of moods born of polarities, the sadhaka tries to offer all actions unto Bhagavan and accepts unfolding situations as prasada.
A siddha, the embodiment of all achievements is one who has transcended the dualities of pleasure and pain, success and failure, and has anchored themselves in the unchanging reality of the Self.
The journey towards becoming a siddha is not one of mere external achievement but of inner transformation. It involves the purification of the mind by aligned our karma with Dharma.
Does one have to rave and rant and grunt and moan as one tries to be more objective, more compassionate and more loving?
Rather than cultivating, a siddha, an accomplished being is being cultivated by life. He or she brings to it a deep willingness and gratitude, for being given this context to grow in.
Bhagavan states that we learn to be a friend to ourselves in the journey of life –
uddhared ātmanātmānaṁ nātmānam avasādayet |
ātmaiva hy ātmano bandhur ātmaiva ripur ātmanaḥ”
May one lift oneself by oneself, may one not destroy oneself. For the self alone is one’s friend and the Self alone is one’s enemy. (Gita 6.5)
Lifting oneself up, Encouraging oneself, supporting oneself, gently confronting oneself, not giving in to dejection and discouragement is very important and must be done on a daily basis. This cultivates you as a caring, supportive person to yourself and others and does not depend on any achievement or failure.
YOU become an achievement.
Waves of achievement lap on the shores of your great being.
And by doing this, what is the kind of mastery you enjoy?
The Katha Upanishad states,
“ātmānaṁ rathinaṁ viddhi śarīraṁ ratham eva ca |
buddhiṁ tu sārathiṁ viddhi manaḥ pragraham eva ca”
Know the Self to be the master of the chariot, and the body to be the chariot. Know the intellect to be the charioteer, and the mind to be the reins.
This was covered elaborately in Episode
With a mastered mind, we begin to realize that our true achievement lies not in the accolades we receive or the possessions we accumulate but in preparing ourselves to recognise the Atma i.e.oneself.
Having had many worldly achievements the person undertakes self-inquiry with the help of a Guru to recognize one’s pre-existing completeness rather than achieving something new or gaining something that was lacking or becoming something different for the sake of completeness.
The one who has recognised his or her true unchanging nature is referred to as a krtkrtyah, the one who has accomplished the accomplished.
He or she is the one who has recognised that one is the eternal, limitless, non-dual Atma which is ever-free and always present.
Earlier all of one’s achievements worldly or spiritual were for the sake of feeling complete and secure and feeling enough. Karma only gives karmaphala, all of which are limited and cannot satisfy this wanting mind.
On clearly seeing one’s identity with Brahman, the limitless being, one understands that there is nothing more to be achieved or accomplished for the sake of happiness and fullness, as the Atma is eternally fulfilled and complete.
Our true, unchanging nature is not defined by our worldly accomplishments but by our inherent oneness with the limitless.
Wise people may still be involved in many projects for loka-sangraha – welfare and well-being of people but no achievement can add or take away from the limitless self that one is.
Amidst all activities and achievements, one remains ever free from the sense of doership and the notion of individual agency, recognizing that the Atma is actionless and untouched by the activities of the body and mind.
The wisdom of Vedanta reminds us that we are not mere seekers of achievement but the very embodiment of it.
In the painting of life, the Atma is the unchanging background upon which the foreground of all waves of experiences and accomplishments arise.
By shifting our focus to what matters, by cultivating equanimity, by aligning our actions with Dharma and by discovering ourselves, we can become siddhas—those who have realized the ultimate truth of their being.
We can be krtakrtyas, having accomplished the accomplished on this path of self-discovery, recognizing that our greatest achievement lies in the wisdom of our true, unchanging, limitless nature that shines through all experiences and accomplishments.
YOU are more than all your achievements.
YOU are an achievement.
