Tuesday, July 21, 2009

PRUNING & GROOMING













In mythology it is said that Hanuman was not aware of his power. He had to be made aware of his powers. Similarly most of us are just not aware of the power that we possess. It is only in a moment of crisis or stress that a person takes courageous steps, quite unknowingly. The entire internal power of a person comes to the fore front and a crisis is met head on.

I saw a very cute demonstration of this power a few days back. At the Annual Sports Day of my grand children's School, after the sports of the students was over, a couple of events were held for the visitors. The visitors being the parents and the young visitors, which meant the younger brothers and sisters of the students. The sports day was held at The Battersea Park Milllenium Sports Arena which has a proper running track. In the running race for siblings, the participants were little children between the ages of three and six years. As soon as the whistle blew the cute little children all began to run. But lo and behold, the finishing line was not visible. Therefore, the children at the fore front kept running onwards. They kept running and running and running!! They encircled the entire running track -they actually ran 400 metres!!! Little babes, going on and on and on. No stopping them until the finishing line was visible. We were all amaaaaaazed, we couldn't believe it. 400 metres is a long distance and for babies with tiny legs it appeared too far away. Yet they continued. It brought home to me the message that a person has a huge capacity to perform, if the will is there. One can keep jumping over the raised bar, if the desire to win is strong enough. For a person with will power, determination, and strong motivation the sky is the limit.
Our endurance and capacity to work is proportionate to our determination and desire to complete whatever we have started. In one of the famous love stories of the East, "Shirin and Farhad",the father of Shirin had put a condition on Farhad to dig a canal single handed in a difficult terrain. Farhad actually did it, obviously his love for Shirin was very strong. Faith moveth mountains- they say. Indeed this too is possible. Faith is very strong and a very strong motivator. As Shahrukh Khan said in "Om Shanti OM" if you have a very strong desire for something, the powers of the entire universe will come to help you to achieve it. It is actually true. If one wishes for something very desperately, the wish usually comes true. Why does this happen? It happens because, when our wish is very strong then we do anything and everything within our power to fulfill our wish. We take all the steps needed to achieve our goal. Due to dint of extreme labour and effort, our wish comes true. However we do not take credit for this accomplished task, as we do not realise that the potential to achieve the result was within us. We are unaware of our own power, therefore we pass on the credit to divine intervention!!

When I was in college, I was staying in the hostel. One morning my room mate suddenly had an attack of epileptic fit. She started foaming from the mouth and was thrashing her hands and legs about without any control. I had never seen this and was quite distressed by what I saw. All my own resources came to my help, as I suddenly remembered that when a person has an attack of fit, a spoon should be placed between the teeth so that they do not bite their tongue. I did that, then I called the Hostel Superintendent, called my room mates, local guardian and tried to do what I could. Only when the local guardian arrived did I sit down and and lost control over my tears. I remember this incident, as then too I had realised the power within me to tackle a crisis without knowing '"how to".
Often, I am amazed at our untapped potential,capacity and strength. A human being is the most complete creature on earth. We are power houses who do not know our own powers. Someone has to keep driving us to achieve our goals. Someone has to keep pulling us up to extract the best out of us. If no demand is made, nothing is achieved. Demand and it shall be given!! Be reticent and passive and one will find that life is drab and unfulfilled. Unless we guide our children and demand that they use their entire faculties, they will not reach the heights that we want them to achieve. That is the distinction between an achiever and a non achiever.
As a child I was always told that I had to be better than their best. I had no option but to come first. I was to be an achiever. My father had come first in his district in the matriculation examination and also in graduation. I was therefore told that I had no option but to be a topper too. I did it. In my Graduation I topped the university. I was a gold medalist. Demands were made on me and I always came up to expectations. I never failed to come up to my parents expectations. My capacity was given the motivation and also a goal. Both my brothers also are achievers. Both my children have also been achievers in their academics and now in their careers.
Even in the family of my husband, all his sisters and he himself have been achievers in academics. There is a gold medalist in Medicine from Lady Hardinge Medical College Delhi, who received her medal from President Dr. Zakir Hussein, the then President of India. There is a Lecturer who had come second in her graduation from Delhi University.TNN my husband, himself came first in Engineering in the third year and third in the fifth year of engineering. Obviously there must have been demands made and motivation provided for these achievements. Leaving a child to do his best is not enough. A child has to be guided, motivated and made aware of his own potential. Unless proper grooming and pruning is done, even flowers do not bloom beautifully.

1 comment:

Ranjana Bharij said...

Very well said, Varsha! Your blog on inner stregth is very well written. Keep it up.

Related Posts with Thumbnails