FUTURE SPECIAL ................SADHGURU

FUTURE SPECIAL SADHGURU

INNER BALANCE

MYSTIC, YOGI & VISIONARY THE BIG IDEA: WORK NEEDS TO BE LIVED

I have three I’s for you, and no, I am
not talking about the third eye. They are inspiration, integrity and insight. Leaders essentially grapple with something larger than what others are willing to grapple with, which is what makes them leaders. They need inspiration to be able to do that, else they will get frustrated. The second component is integrity, which is a key element in building trust, without which you are never ever going to be a leader. Integrity is about coherence between what you say, do and think. It is in your actions, in the way you are, the way you carry yourself. It’s not something you do it only when others are watching. I ask people a simple question: if there is no policeman at a traffic signal, will you stop? Only 10% say they will stop, 90% will not. Life offers leader a perch higher than other people have. If leaders cannot see any better than others, they become objects of ridicule. They must have insight into situations, into problems and possible solutions.
    There is a drought of leadership at all levels of life in our country. But leaders don’t fall from the sky. Some people become leaders themselves or sometimes situations compel them to become leaders. The rest need a proper system to become leaders. That system is largely missing in this country. Being an occupied nation for centuries, we have learnt to keep our heads down. If I get up and do something, I may get into trouble. Leadership is neither about you or me, it is about something that needs to be done. Leaders figure out how it can be made to happen and get ten or a million people to see that this is the way to do it.
    At my Ashram, people work long hours joyfully because they are inspired. When people are involved and joyfully doing something, they usually turn out ten times more and do more than what they would normally do as a duty. My schedules are worse than theirs, so they don’t complain. If they see me probably having a more easy work schedule than them, then they may have second thoughts about it, but it will not happen in their lifetime.
    Do you want to die working or do you want to live working? Work needs to be lived, because successful people spend at least ten hours at their workplace. If they do not live it, then why are they there? Why would they be doing something that does not mean anything to them? To accumulate enough for the next four generations? If you have such a goal, please go and look at families which had accumulated for the next ten generations and see how they are living after three generations.
    If you don’t have the necessary inner balance, leadership can demolish you. Today, if you are a CEO by the time you are 35, you must have ulcers, by 45, you must a have diabetes, by 55 you must have had a bypass. People say they have had three bypasses, as if it is a qualification. These things are becoming normal because people are breaking up. If you start believing that your work is important, the first thing you need to do is work upon yourself. If that is not there, leadership is going to be a very taxing and destructive experience.
    Work has become like prison because of the way we treat it. If you are trapped with people who you do not care for, it feels like a concentration camp. But if you are in a roomful of people that you truly care for and they care for you, they are like ‘family’. I don’t usually use this word because in India it takes a different connotation altogether. But if you are among a group of people who are beloved to you, I think it is a wonderful experience to be there all the time. If you seek a large scope of activity, so many things will not happen the way you want it. If you are pursuing your happiness through what you do, you are bound to be frustrated, or you are bound to restrict yourself to small area of activities. If you become joyful by your own nature, and life and work for you is an expression of your joy, then 24 hours are not enough for you. CD
As told to Vinod Mahanta

CDET140103