न हि कल्याणकृत कश्चित दुर्गतिं तात गच्छति - Nothing can destroy him who strives to be good!

It was the evening 5th of June. I was wondering about the next day, on which my boards result was going to be announced. Will that random paperchecker, who got my answersheet to check do justice with my marks? What if I don't like my result and it turns out not so satisfactory?

As I was thinking with a nervous mind about all this, suddenly a thought crossed over my mind which made me totally relaxed and composed. What, afterall, if I don't get a blazoning marksheet? What could be the possible consequences I may face?

Then as I was scrolling through my instagram feed, a famous thinker and philosopher Victor Frankl's quote appeared, beautifully saying,

"Forces beyond your control can take away everything you possess except one thing, your freedom to choose how you will respond to the situation."

Much, much weight was lifted from my anxious mind. As I got this clarity, I pitied on myself how stupid it was to actually fear the results. I said to myself, "These problems that the examiners ask are only limited to a paper and a pen, whose syllabus too is narrowed down and can be mastered with a good memory power and robotic repetation of it. No doubt this concept of Education is helpful and valueable but of what use is it if using which I cannot solve practical problems of world and society?"

Was all my effort in math and science just to boast off my marks? No I have a very noble cause, a vision, a holy reason to pursue it. My essential goal is to help humankind flourish in technology, sustainability, governance and other humanitarian fields. Even if I do not score the highest marks I can still make use of whatever knowledge I've actually gathered.

What fear then? Why cowardice? Let's be brave!

Education is not filling the mind with a lot of facts. Perfecting the instrument and getting complete mastery of my own mind is the ideal education. We want that education by which character is formed, strength of mind is increased, the intellect is expanded, and by which one can stand on one's own feet.

-Swami Vivekananda

So now it is clear that as long as we are sincere in our path of seeking, eager to know, share, guide and serve, we are in the right direction.

So in this section of my blog, I quote from one of my favourite lectures of Swami Vivekananda, "Work and its Secret" and dedicate it to all my friends who are students, or every reader, who is a seeker, learner. Here Swamiji reveals the secret of work!

"If we examine our own lives, we find that the greatest cause of sorrow is this: we take up something, and put our whole energy on it - perhaps it is a failure and yet we cannot give it up. We know that it is hurting us, that any further clinging to it is simply bringing misery on us; still, we cannot tear ourselves away from it. The bee came to sip the honey, but its feet stuck to the honey-pot and it could not get away. Again and again, we are finding ourselves in that state. That is the whole secret of existence. Why are we here? We came here to sip the honey, and we find our hands and feet sticking to it. We are caught, though we came to catch. We came to enjoy; we are being enjoyed.

That is the one cause of misery: we are attached, we are being caught. Therefore says the Gita: Work constantly; work, but be not attached; be not caught. Reserve unto yourself the power of detaching yourself from everything, however beloved, however much the soul might yearn for it, however great the pangs of misery you feel if you were going to leave it; still, reserve the power of leaving it whenever you want. The weak have no place here, in this life or in any other life. Weakness leads to slavery. Weakness leads to all kinds of misery, physical and mental. Weakness is death.

We get caught. How? Not by what we give, but by what we expect. We get misery in return for our love; not from the fact that we love, but from the fact that we want love in return. There is no misery where there is no want. Desire, want, is the father of all misery. Desires are bound by the laws of success and failure. Desires must bring misery.

The great secret of true success, of true happiness, then, is this: the man who asks for no return, the perfectly unselfish man, is the most successful. It seems to be a paradox. Do we not know that every man who is unselfish in life gets cheated, gets hurt? Apparently, yes. "Christ was unselfish, and yet he was crucified." True, but we know that his unselfishness is the reason, the cause of a great victory — the crowning of millions upon millions of lives with the blessings of true success.

Ask nothing; want nothing in return. Give what you have to give; it will come back to you — but do not think of that now, it will come back multiplied a thousandfold — but the attention must not be on that. Yet have the power to give: give, and there it ends."

So never mind, my friend, if you weren't able to crack problems of a fickle question paper, awake, strengthen your character, and earn the honour of solving problems of the real world, issues that the humanity faces!

May we all be blessed!

Thanks,

Daksh Parekh.