Attracting Abundance

The Law

Two Doors to Success

Happiness - II

"This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth,

but you shall meditate on this day and night,

so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it.

For then you will make your way prosperous,

and then you will have good success"

                                                                 

                                                                              Joshua 1:8

I have been researching the scriptures of major religions. As I had expected, irrespective of their religious parentage, all scriptures have more or less the same prescription for success. It tells me that all the ancient sages, who had scripted those scripture had similar wisdon to give away on success or is it that all came from a common source of wisdom? I will quickly review the wisdom and teachings of the sages of different religion.

The Lord or God or the Supreme Being, intended every individual to succeed. He intended every individual to be abundant. Every individual was equipped with the power and necessary faculties, that if developed and refined, will lead the individual to success.

A human being is destined to evolve and become larger, not in physical shape and size, but in awareness, knowledge and wisdom to understand his purpose on this earth and develop the willingness to pursue that purpose. Humanity  once believed that the Sun revolves round the Earth but knows better now. Humanity once believed that the brain is fixed after birth but now knows that the brain can be moulded and enlarged. The sages also equated success with man's ability to advance and progress.

The sages say that all the faculties needed for an individual to become unlimited are dormant within the individual. To activate the faculties one requires the willingness to advance, the perseverance to pursue a path of growth, an open mind to absorb knowledge and discover self. It requires clear understanding of the laws that govern progress or success.

The sages set some rules for succeeding. They said that true as the law of nature is that the sun will rise in the east and set in the west, so is the truth that every time the rules are applied, success will be gained. They also said that the rules must be applied with a positive state of mind or a happy state of mind and with faith or belief, for the rules to work inevitably. The corollary to this wisdom is that it applies to every individual irrespective of his current reality provided he applies the Laws of Success happily and with faith.

Sages oh Hindu religion prescribe a process based on three major pillars: Avagamana (understanding the rules), Yojana (charting your course of action) and Prayasa (acting on the course of action).

Avagamana consists of

• Sankalpa: setting goals and giving a clear shape to the goals
• Deeksha: committing to the chosen goals

Prayasa consists of

• Abhyasa: regular and persistent practice of the rules
• Shraddha: having faith and conviction in your desire
• virya: having the courage and confidence in the face of obstacles
• Smriti: remembering the learning that you acquire as you work towards your goal
• Prajna: wisdom to think ahead and make decisions
• Samadhi: focus on your goal, remove all other options from your table
• Vairagya: self control by putting a leash on your passions and negative emotions, which only fritters your energy away.
• Tapah: austerity of mind and body; not indulging in bodily pleasures and not indulging in gossip, rumor mongering  or discussing others.
• Samathavam: Not permitting failure to overwhelm you.

And this is what Quran says:

• Passion: you can not successfully reach a goal without having the passion to reach it. If there is no passion, there is apathy (lack of interest), and then the goal will never be reached.
• Work: No matter how passionate or talented you are, you have to be willing to put in work to make something happen
• Focus: Success requires sharp focus on the task at hand. You have limits to what you can accomplish in a certain amount of time. If you want to learn a new skill, then you can no longer invest time and energy to other things till you finish learning the new skill.
• Push: Every project will hit a wall where it becomes easy to give up. the passion, focus and the work that you have put in will give you the strength to push through the wall.
• Ideas: Success comes to those who seek new ideas, new opportunities and do no hesitate to move into the unknown.
• Improve: Progressively improve. Do not stagnate. Success is a continuous process. Once you reach your goal, you should inevitably set a new goal and work towards the new goal. This is the true meaning of living your life.
• Serve: serve others. Your success is linked to how you serve others.
• Persist: Do not give up. (One of my mentors had explained this to me with one advice that I will never forget. He said "Be that little rivulet". I will explain what he had said a little later)

Let us now look at a few verses from Bible:

• Romans 12:2  "Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and, acceptable and perfect"
• Jeremiah 29:11 "For I know the plan I have for you, declared the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope"
• Isaiah 41:10 "Fear not, for I a with you, be not dismayed, for I am your Good; I will sstrengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
• Matthew 16:26 "For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?"
• James 4:10 "Humble yourself before the Lord, and he will exalt you"
• Matthew 6:25-33 "Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life ........... And which of you by being anxious, can add a single hour to his span of life? ......."

The terminologies may be different, but all religions speak in one voice on the path to success. I have a firm belief that the sages of all religions learnt their wisdom from ONE source.

Namaste

God bless

Prabir