Being successful or successful being?

“Arise, awake and sleep not till the goal is reached”

Every day we hear success stories. Stories of people emerging winners in various fields of life. We see it around us too, and we judge people and their success by the possession that they proudly display out. New cars, new gadgets, state-of –art houses and the envy of others less fortunate. In our society today, people are respected for their achievements rather than for what they are.  People struggle hard to achieve their results. They go through the grind that is required and are also ready to sacrifice many other things to reach their desired destination. But after seeing success through, what is really the meaning of being successful? Is it not the false glory of an ignorant child?

We all live in the world as if of the world. We measure the success ratios based on what we see of a person in terms of the world. People themselves measure their success based on what they have managed to win from the world. But is that enough for being successful? Is that what can be called true life?

A Tukaram or a Meera Bai and so many others died in poverty. So are they not successful? I feel the whole idea of achievements and glory  is an interpretation of the ignorant who have not understood that success is internal and personal. It is a play of imagination to halt or stunt one’s progress, avoiding further steps.  What is the seeming success of which one boasts when he has done or achieved the fulfillment of a deed! Is it anything in comparison with the final realization of self? 

This thought may sound like grapes being sour, particularly coming from a person who has in the unreal sense not done much to receive the “respect” deserved to be categorized as successful. But in all humility, I say that bigger the fall, greater the success.

True life is so compelling in an inspiring fashion. True life is the inner life. It is the life lived with self realization. It is Man’s supreme goal, centre and ideal. Inside us there is a God. There is eternal divinity which should find expression in our deeds, dreams and thought. It is the life of harmony, peace, compassion and bliss. It is the life lived with love and joy.  This definitely does not mean that one should live a life of dreams or meditation alone. It is leading a life of divine action. These actions will be towards constructing certain things that matter in life and are much bigger that the mundane existence of life itself. The aim of life does not lie here itself, the goal is not to be hunted in the means itself.
Our existence on earth is not a true existence but only a process of becoming something else. This world is a training field for eternal life. The ideal is different from the process. Manifesting God in all our lives will make the world a better abode of peace and harmony and hence let us strive for it.  You will attain what you want only if you seek for it where it is. If you want happiness, seek for it in the self and not in sensual objects. If you want power, reach Omnipotence in self realization, you will become one with the Supreme Power that governs the universe, not through political positions or through machine guns. If you want prosperity acquire through righteousness not in bungalows and cars. Deluded ones seek happiness, prosperity power glory in the things of the earth.
Awaken the God within and that would be the true meaning of being successful. Do or die, deify or deny should me the motto for an intense life. Realizing self one goes beyond heaven and hell and attains peace. 

That would be a success story worth mentioning.