MANUFACTURE YOUR LUCK AND "HER HAAL RAHO MASTAANE"

MY MOTEHR'S TEACHINGS ARE MY ONLY ARDAS, HER MEMORY MY ONLY MEDITATION

In response to Pb To's observation that only those with "opportunities" and luck succeed in life.


Fortunately, I have a passion for life and for things like poetry, mysticism etc. Regarding the role that oportunites played in the lives of successful people like Dr. Manmohan SIngh,Mother Teresa , Abraham Lincoln etc. , think that those great men and women created the opportunities that they got. Anyway,the whole point is that it makes better sense to blame oneself for one's lack of great success than to blame anything or anyone else. "Aape beej, aape he khaa..." And i believe that many of the great people we know have actually manufactured their own luck. SurelyI was not born in a log-hut like Lincoln was and i did not have to swim across a river everyday to reach my school, like Lal Bahadur Shastri had to .Although yes, I used to cycle 90 kilometeres (YES NINETY KILOMETERS -- 45 kilometers each way ) every day to teach in a college where I was employed as a lecturer and would not get my salary for months and months together . This went on for nearly two years... and i still feel good about that.I have actually worked as manual labourer ( Yes, as a farm labour, despite having been born in a family of landlords) for one full season of wheat harvest. That was a tough year for our family, and I did not want my mother to feel that her son was an idler. Many may not believe that. But i feel very nice about that also. My mother taught me that work, any work, is always a matter of pride;dishonesty and unwillingness to work are the only sins and cause for shame.(Sharam kaadhi kamm dee, Sharam jhooth te vehle chum dee) I can look back with pride on this life. You may never have seen me complaining about any lack of opportunities even when I was suffering in front of your own eyes, and used to travel five to six hudnred kilometers everyday, using a gas cylinder to save money on petrol in a car that threatened to break down every twenty kilometers. Of course you will remember that. And this was afterIhad been an advisor to the ChiefMinister not once but twice.I will not be surprised if I have to face a difficult period againwhen no longer in this job, althoug a combination of circumstances relating to my ancestral property may have improved things for me now. I can say with confidence that you may never have seen me crying or complaining about"oportunities or anything like that even during those difficult days. or have you? I remember my mother's often repeated lines : " Gurmukh Har hall rahe mastaana./" Of course I am no gurmukh but my mother was one and i worshipped her and worship her memory now. Her memory is my only ardas. And this always gives me strength. I believe in some kind of a concept in which God is not a person standing out there, dishing out favours to those who praise him or is furious with those who don't. My faith in God is in the form of Love, in the form of Energy, the force that runs through us and through everything we see .Therefore, please let us stop washing our ahnds of responsibility by blaming the polticians. They are what they are; that is not the issue. The issue is : are we doing enough to change what we don't like. If the answer is an honest no, then the least we can do is to stop all this breast beating about injsutice, unfairness, or corruption or stuff like that. I hope you don't me wrong. I can give you my word that my honesty will remain un-negotiable . Unfortunaely, I have not been able to live up to my motehr's ideals one hundrd percent. But in most things, I have tried and succeeded to be true to her. Honesty is one of those things.