Thursday 27 June 2019

'How the world sees you will make only a small difference to you, but how you see yourself will make all the difference to you.'

On Making the Most of MYSELF | Emerson, Osho and Mahatria Ra 


Well, this post happened, thanks to a beautiful 'dp' template that i chanced upon, from off my cussy paapa’s profile picture, that i guess, sure proves such an invigorating tonic and a motivational shot for all of us to live by! Added, she has such a unique way of artistically designing beautiful 'display picture' templates that sync so beautifully with these wisened power-quotes!  More power to paapa! :-)

The quote again  for us all - 

“Make the most of yourself, for that is all there is of you.”

Made me ruminate much and do a profound ponder on the intensity and impact of this lovable quote!

This was the question that popped up so spontaneously and impulsively on me!

Do I make the most of myself?

Or

Do i make the worst of myself? by whiling away all my precious time, my precious resources, my precious hours, my precious days, my precious weeks, my precious months, my precious years, my precious money, my precious study time, my precious work-time, in the busy-idle company of vain, frivolous, good-for-nothing, time-passing, gossiping minds, or else on vain social networking sites, frittering away my individuality, my self-hood, my power, my time and my strength, that results in making the ‘worst’ of myself, when I have to be making the ‘most’ of myself?

Indeed, the famous Emersonian essay on “Self-Reliance” begins with a wonderful Latin quotation which goes thus: “Do not seek for things outside yourself.”

What a beautiful way of asking a person to celebrate a sense of ‘Self’ or have the 'courage to be yourself!

“Trust thyself” he says, and continues, “every heart vibrates to that iron string.”

An amazing thought, ain't it?

“The great man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude,” Emerson adds!

An individual hence becomes powerful or extraordinary, just by tapping into his or her inner strength, and not the other way round! Strong individuals make up a strong society, says Emerson, and adds to say that, this strong individual is a result of one’s strong, personal truths and convictions!

He also adds to say that, conformity is the most dangerous pathway that is anathema to the individual truth, and hence, “for non-conformity, the world whips you with its displeasure.”

It is in this context that Emerson gives out his most famous line ever: “To be great is to be misunderstood”, which means to infer that, to be great is to think beyond all previous boundaries of thought, or in the Ulyssean dictum, ‘To sail beyond the sunset, beyond the utmost bounds of human thought,’ something that would unnerve and give much unease to mediocre thinkers of all hues!

Using this wonderful aphorism of Emerson, that advocates believing in ourselves, or in celebrating ourselves, let us now go ahead and look at some literary allusions to augment the claims of Emerson!


First and foremost, let’s turn to eminent Indian spiritual guru Osho who talks about the three stages or steps in freedom, in his amazing read titled, Freedom: The Courage to Be Yourself!

The first stage of freedom is called a “freedom from,” a freedom that one receives by breaking free of the immense ‘psychological slavery’ that is forced and conditioned upon oneself by outside forces such as friends, parents, society or religion!

The second stage of freedom is called a “freedom for,” a positive freedom that one receives by embracing something and/or creating something: something like a fulfilling relationship, or focusing on some noble artistic or humanitarian vision.

And finally, there is the third stage of freedom that he calls, “just freedom,” which according to Osho is the highest and ultimate form of freedom. This freedom is much more than ‘being for’ or ‘being against’ something! It is the freedom one inherits simply by being oneself!

And this is exactly the type of freedom that Emerson advocates in his groundbreaking essay, ‘Self-reliance’!

Something akin to what Mahatria Ra, advocates in his series of motivational discourses! 

Giving y’all snippety-excerpts from his awesome discourse on ‘Being yourself’!


Mahatria Ra speaks -  

Only if you enjoy a good relationship with yourself, you can enjoy a good relationship with others. If you are too critical about yourself, if you have a complex about yourself, if you keep thinking ‘I am not good enough’, if you constantly feel low about yourself in the presence of others… when your own relationship with yourself is lousy, there is no way you can enjoy a good relationship with others.

You can only give what you have. If you have wisdom, you can share your wisdom with others. If you only have ignorance, you can only share your ignorance with others.  If you are full of love, you can share your love with others.  If you are full of hate, you can only share your hatred with others.

So, even if no one likes you, you got to like yourself.  In fact, only when you learn to like yourself, the world will begin to like you. Even if no one loves you, you got to love yourself. In fact, only when you learn to love yourself, you will begin to recognise the love the world has for you. Simply put how the world sees you will make only a small difference to you, but how you see yourself will make all the difference to you.

And, why would you not celebrate yourself when you are a born winner.  Do you know that long time back about 700 million participants ran a race, out of which only one emerged the winner. Those 700 million participants are the sperm from the father racing towards the egg in the mother. Only that sperm, which is the fastest and the healthiest, first fused into the egg, for YOU to be born. YOU are that Winning Sperm.  Your very birth is a symbol of victory. You are born to win. You are a winner by birth. Your very beginning was winning.

Every seed has in it the potential to become a forest, every rock has in it the potential to become a statue, and every human has in him the potential to become a Legend. You are that sleeping legend. Wake up to the sleeping potential within you.

Do you know what a blessing it is to be born as a human being? If God wanted, he could have created you as a mosquito or as a monkey or as a pig. But God chose to create you as a human being - the greatest of all His creations. Abusing the gift is abusing the giver.  Cherishing the gift is cherishing the giver. Cherishing yourself is your way of saying, “Thank you God, for creating me as me, and as no one else.”

You begin to cherish yourself only when you begin to cherish your originality.  It seems the plum fruit once said, just because a banana lover came by, I converted myself into a banana.  Unfortunately, his taste changed after a few months and so I became an orange.  When he said I was bitter I became an apple, but he went in search of grapes.  Yielding to the opinions of so many people, I have changed so many times that I no more know who I am.  How much I wish I had remained a plum and waited for a plum lover.

This is the story of most people.  Just because a group of friends do not accept you as you are, there is no necessity for you to drop your originality.  Never stoop down in order to gain recognition.  Never lose yourself to gain someone else.  It is not worth it. This is the only chance you have got to be yourself.  Live to express and not impress.  The group that doesn’t accept you as you is not your world.  There is a world for each one of you, where you shall reign as the king, as the queen - by just being yourself.

Find that world… in fact, that world will find you.  And only that world is your world.

What water can do, gasoline cannot and what copper can, gold cannot.  The fragility of the ant enables it to move and the rigidity of the tree enables it to stay rooted.  Everything and everybody has been designed with a proportion of uniqueness to serve a purpose.  You, as you alone can serve your purpose.  You are here to be you… just you.  You don’t have to try to be anybody else.  Be yourself and be the best you can be.  Don’t miss yourself and let the world not miss you.

It seems Vikas, a ninth standard student, had this habit of always carrying the pocket version of Jain Dharma in his shirt pocket. This was a source of major sarcasm, especially, for many of the senior students.  Vikas would be bullied, joked at, laughed at, mocked at - and this went on.  One day, a bunch of seniors surrounded Vikas and insisted he should not carry the scripture in his pocket anymore.  Almost spontaneously, Vikas lifted the scripture out of his pocket and extending it towards the seniors said, “Anyone of you carry this holy scripture in your shirt pocket for at least one day, and then I will stop doing so.”  The first one retracted, “No chance - everyone will bully me,” then the second one stepped back, “No chance.  I don’t want to be bullied,” so went the third, the fourth, the fifth and eventually all of them refused.  With subtle pride in his smile Vikas concluded, “Anyone can be like anyone of you.  It is easy to be one in the crowd.  Not everyone can be like me.  It needs courage to be different from the crowd.  You be you.  Let me be I,” saying so, he put the scripture back in his pocket and majestically walked away.

Most people cannot appreciate others that easily and they also cannot handle it, when others appreciate them.  How will you celebrate yourself, if you cannot even accept the appreciation of others?  So the next time anybody appreciates you, gracefully say, “Thank you,” and whisper unto yourself, “I deserved this appreciation.”  Learn to feel good about yourself.  Also, learn to see good in others and appreciate it.  The more and more you see good in yourself, you will be able to see it in others.  The more and more you are able to see good in others, the more and more you will be able to see it in yourself.

And most importantly, to come out of the self-rejection mode, always take the initative.  Always be the first to take the first step forward.  In fact, the more and more you take the initiative, the more and more you become self-accepting.  People who refuse to take the initiative keep rejecting themselves. Instead, take the initiative to appreciate.  Volunteer wherever possible. Never miss a change to raise your hand for any opportunity presented to you.  Never focus on what others would think.  Focus on what you can do.  Be the first to wish.  Be the first to shake hands or extend a hug.  Be the first to take the initiative in all the matters.

Above all, celebrate your uniqueness. So what if you are imperfect. You are still the only one of your kind.  So what if have erred in the past.  There is no saint without a past, and no sinner without a future.  So what if there are blemishes in your personality.  What’s the future there for?  You can become what you choose to become.  This is you.  Period.  Of course, you have the responsibility to strive to become the best ‘you’ that you can be.

It seems a man went to a studio to take his picture.  The photographer gave him a warm welcome and said, “Just pay me 10 Rupees, I will make your picture look like Shahrukh Khan.”  The man hesitated and immediately the photographer said, “Okay pay me 50 Rupees, I will make your picture look like Sachin Tendulkar.”  Looking into the eyes of the photographer the man said, “I need the picture that will look like me.”  For that the photographer said, “I will charge you 1000 Rupees for that.”  The man was willing to pay 1000 Rupees because only his picture will serve his purpose.  Nobody else’s will.  You can look up to anybody but you don’t have to become anybody.  Become the best you can be and you will be looked up to.

My Resolve:
I am rare.
I am unique.
I am original.
I am a masterpiece.
My Master’s piece.

What beautiful thoughts to live by, for us all! What beautiful thoughts to invigorate us all! What beautiful thoughts to make us feel special! What beautiful thoughts to celebrate the uniqueness that makes you, ‘YOU’!

You may want to read our past post on ‘Know Thyself' HERE!

To be continued…

images: paapa & amazondotcom

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