All World
Gayatri Pariwar

Everyone desires to climb to the peaks of success and stay there. Everyone harbors a deep desire to excel in his chosen field of endeavor and scale heights of success hitherto not reached by anyone else. Success in any field requires focus, diligence and consistent efforts. With these traits, it is not only possible to achieve success but also touch the highest peak of success. However it should be borne in mind that no one can permanently stay put on the top, because it is that pinnacle at which a person can stay only for some time and experience a sense of pride. But sooner or later he has to come down.

Success and failure are two extreme points of any activity. The meaning of success is to progress in any field so much so that you get to touch the pinnacle and attain your goal. This is possible for only a few people, but it does happen. Just like we have Tansen and Lata Mangeshkar in the world of music, Don Bradman and Sachin Tendulkar in the popular sport of cricket, C.V.Raman and APJ Abdul Kalam in the field of science, Gandhi and Jayaprakash Narayan in social service and politics. These and others like them have reached those pinnacles of success that many others have only imagined. These great personalities have become synonyms of success in their respective fields of work.

People who touch the peak of success do not remain there forever. They too experience their share of ups and downs in life. The crests and troughs of life are natural phenomena. There are times when life is soaring high on the peak of success or lying low in the trough of failure. If one was to keep tasting success all the time, he would experience zeal and confidence. At the same time if these were not handled intelligently, then the very same things can open the doors of failure. By intelligence, we mean the subtle discrimination between right and wrong. In the absence of this discrimination, continued success gives birth to inflated sense of ego which in turn leads to downfall.

The direction of success or failure seems to be very physical, but it is in fact very subtle in nature. After reaching the peak of success, the zeal, passion, concentration and the drive to innovate is so strong that it is difficult to maintain it for long. Once success is near or has been achieved, the intensity of passion is not sustained. This slowdown is seen in a person who has tasted repeated success. He gets busy in enjoying the success and stops exerting further. Just as a thing in the hand is safe as long as it gets the support of the hand and falls once the hand is taken out. It might take time for the thing to fall but the fall is imminent. Similarly, the success is intact only as long as the efforts are consistent. The moment the effort is slackened, the success and the associated benefits dwindle away slowly until they finally vanish.

Wealth and prosperity also come to an end one day. It is at this point that the unstoppable passion of a person which had led him to the heights of success begins to weaken. At this stage, there is another potential danger that might crop up – ego and unrestrained behavior. Ego takes birth because of the prosperity that comes along with success. Because of this ego, he begins to feel that he is the most prosperous, beautiful, popular or renowned person in the world. After reaching this state of prosperity, if a person looks down upon those who do not possess the wealth or character like his is a big fool. It is such a folly which can very soon take him into a quicksand which will sink him.

History stands testimony to the fact that many people who had touched the heights of success were pulled down into oblivion by pride and arrogance. There were many people like Ravan, Jarasandha, Kamsa, Duryodhan, Shishupal who could not digest success and began to flaunt it. In spite of their grandeur and prosperity, their downfall could not be averted. Hanuman was astounded when he entered the court of the Lord of golden Lanka. The reason for his surprise was that, if he so wished, owing to his prosperity Ravan could have helped and benefited many people. But he was using all his wealth and power to satisfy the insatiable drives of his own ego and in immoral deeds and tyranny. It is owing to this evilness that he kidnapped Mother Sita.

To be successful, to scale the heights of success and make righteous use of that success is indeed a challenging task, but not impossible. There are several heroes in history who have soared to heights of success but have remained humble, compassionate and peaceful. They did not allow selfishness and ego to even hover near them. Such people were successful people in the truest sense and stand as pillars of light and inspiration to guide many others. Right from Dhruv, Prahlad, Mahaveer, Shankaracharya, Shivaji, Maharana Pratap, Chanakya, Swami Vivekananda, Sri Aurobindo, Ramana Maharshi, Gandhiji till scientist P.C.Rai, there are innumerable such names who maintained their humility in spite of scaling great heights of success. Looking at their simplicity, austerity and down to earth behavior, it becomes hard to believe that they were the people who shaped history but they did not exhibit any ego in their interactions.

After protecting the borders of Akhand Bharat, Acharya Chanakya handed over the reins to Chandragupta and retired into a humble hut where he led a simple life out of his meager earnings. Even at that age, Chanakya continued to study and propound new thoughts. He used clay lamps while studying. His austerity was truly impressive. Indian scientist Prafulla Chandra Rai had discovered more than 150 compounds. He was an internationally acclaimed scientist who published all his research papers under the names of his research students. He was such a simple person that one day a UK scientist who visited his home mistook him for a servant. But P.C.Rai took this with a smile and did not get offended.

The life of Prahlad was like a stream of unending bliss. People who thirst for devotion derive inspiration from his life. Prahlad always remained a devotee, even though the Lord gave him kingdom and installed him on the throne. The flow of devotion never lost pace in his entire life. Being a ruler and a devotee are poles apart and has nothing in common. One develops inflated sense of ego by getting power. He has to take tough decisions and even award punishments which play havoc with emotions and feelings. On the other hand, the heart of a devotee never seeks power nor wants to exert power on anybody else. Prahlad accomplished both these roles that are on two opposite ends of the spectrum and proved to be a good ruler as well as a supreme devotee. Being on the top of both these roles, he neither developed ego nor selfishness. Ego and devotion are emotions that are poles apart. Only when ego dwindles does devotion sprout. Though Prahlad was seated on the throne, he was submerged in the sea of devotion. This is true success.

To achieve success, it is necessary to have unwavering faith in the way of working of Almighty and discharge one’s responsibilities with utmost sincerity. They should understand the tide of time and mould themselves accordingly; stay away from becoming overly emotional and maintain sanity and discrimination. Adopting discrimination and detachment is of utmost importance because discrimination teaches us to differentiate between the right and wrong. Whatever is worthy of being implemented should be done with complete detachment and dedication; and that which should be rejected should be negated and not even discussed.

When at the peak of success, detachment tends to take a backseat because the person is tempted to enjoy his attainments. It is not wrong to enjoy but to be attached to enjoyment is not right. That is why the very first mantra of Isavasyopanishad says – “Accept bhoga along with tyaga”. Detachment is essential so that we can enjoy our success and still remain away from it. If it is not like this, then the mind is so entangled in the enjoyment side of success that it hinders further growth. Hence, one should be cautious and aware such that success does not stagnate. One should continue to exert, persevere and act as per the tides of time.

Along with celebrating success, one should possess the equanimity and courage during times of failure. Only when these two ends of the spectrum are taken in the same stride is life meaningful. Just as moments of happiness are enjoyed, moments of failure should be taken as penance. In this way, a person can always remain at the top since there is no reason for his downfall. Neither success nor failure creates imbalance in him. This is the true secret of success.