All World
Gayatri Pariwar

                                                                                                                                    - Yajurveda  4/11

Meaning: We aspire for the divine intellect, which gives joyous illumination and ensures completion of the yajna.  May that intellect be in our possession!

To be a visionary is to acquire the ability to look far ahead into time and glimpse the future.  This ability is a gift of that divine intellect which assesses its potentials and weaves a dream around it.  This very dream is the goal of our life; it charts our paths and takes us in the right direction.  In those who have this ambition, a unique capability develops.  They are able to perform such deeds, as others cannot even imagine.  Their vision acquires the power to penetrate the mist of the present and perceive the future clearly.

If you feel an urge to become someone like this, it is just natural.  In fact, absence of such a feeling would be a cause of worry because that would be a sign of inertness.  If there is any hint of this inertness, get rid of it, and take steps in the direction of becoming a visionary.  For this, the first thing to do is to cherish lofty aims and ideals.  What should be the type of these ideals may be gleaned from the sayings of Gurudev.  According to him, only he is a believer who can clearly visualize the dazzling sun of a summer noon in a dark and stormy night sky filled with dense rain-bearing clouds.  In other words, only he who can dare to dream of a glorious future cutting through the forbidding pall of dense darkness of hopelessness can be a true visionary.  This requires an integration of a bold and imaginative mind and a subtle discriminative faculty.  Indeed, we all have an imaginative mind and indulge in fantasies all the time.  Sometimes, in our world of imaginations we become a billionaire, sometimes a record breaker in academic pursuits, another times a famous scientist or even the Prime Minister of the country.  The highly fertile mindscape is always a kaleidoscope of colourful imaginations.

The reason behind such a state of mental jumble is that our imagination is not tempered with the subtle power of discrimination.  Only when the two faculties are harmonized do they create a composite and focused dream – a dream which is not a vent for repressed and unfulfilled desires but a correct reflection of the dormant divine qualities within.  An illustration of this may be found in the life of the President of India, Dr. A.P.J.Abdul Kalam.  Once a child enquired of him whether he had read the Mahabharat.  The President replied in the affirmative.  The child asked again who among its many characters appealed to him the most.  Everybody knows that the multi-dimensional characters of the great epic reflect almost the entire spectrum of human nature.  The President, who understood the quintessence of the Mahabharat replied that he was very much impressed with the character of Vidur.  "Why?" was the next query of the child.  The President explained: “Because Vidur opposed the wrongs of those in authority and dared to raise his voice of dissent when all other stalwarts like Pitamah Bhisma, Acharya Drona and Karna had surrendered themselves to the whims of the persons in power".  This reply of the President subsumed his own dream, which was the product of an imaginative mind and subtle discriminative knowledge – the dream of sculpting his own character in the mould of Mahatma Vidur.  Let us ask ourselves whether we can dream such sublime dreams?  We must dream of being the best, the noblest, the most sublime, and never allow petty thoughts and ideas to dominate the mind.  Whatever we want to become – a scientist, an officer, or an artist – we should add one more aspect to that, and that is cultivation of the noblest character.

To realize this exalted dream, four steps need be taken.  The first is the step of a runner.  It means that you should have the energy and spirit of a runner who is committed and determined to show his skill and ability.  The second step is that of a warrior.  It is generally observed that a player feels elated at success, but failure gives him disappointment.  With a warrior, however, it is not so.  His very motto is "a soldier never quits till death".  Valiant struggle and super-human bravery in spite of numerous wounds – this is the message of the life of a great warrior.

The third step is that of the ruler.  This is the stage when we have realized our vision of life, have actualized the dream we saw.  All that we had desired, all that we had cherished is now in the palm of our hand.  Life is at its apogee; now there is only to savour this experience.  But the one attendant problem, invariably found at this stage, is that after having reached here people become egoist.  Lest we become one, there is the fourth and last step – the step of a great man.  Like a true saint, we should share our glories and accomplishments with others.  We should go to those who need us.  We should reach out to every door and every home, and help them, too, to realize their dreams.  May their lives, too, be permeated with fragrance, may spring breeze come to their lives too – this should be our prayer of LOVE IN ACTION.