And the Winner Is…

I want to reveal a trick today with which I could come out of the suffocating veil of deteriorated mental health to a self-emancipated conscious state; a concept which I used heavily to motivate myself; an idealogy I live and breathe each day and a thought process that takes me out from the shrowd of darkness even in the most difficult times. And that is the trick, the concept, the idealogy, and the thought process of – BEING A REAL WINNER!

Yeah. A real winner. But words don’t matter, the sentiments do and I really hope I am able to express what I feel about this to you and would love to know your responses too.

Do you dream of or would like to have a fancy car, a villa to your name, expensive clothes, and all the beautiful things of the world? Yes? Either you already have whatever materialistic things you want which is great or you’re striving for it, or you are not inclined to work for such things and lead a simple life instead, all of which is fine and holds equal value.

People often tend to feel good about themselves by associating with beautiful things and experiences they are associated with. They want to showcase the latest gadget they own, the exotic vacay they went to recently, the awesome salary package they have, etc. People want to be winners in the material realm.

I personally would want to have all the pleasures this world has to offer and why not? I would work hard to have a good salary, a nice home and all the things I want. But they may not or may come; it depends on a lot of factors. People compete with others often in a toxic way, where they do not want others to achieve more than themselves or if the other is able to soar higher, they become jealous. 

Sometimes, the mere thought of losing to someone else, be it to your friends, siblings, colleagues can germinate unnecessary toxicity in a person’s heart. And I myself was not immune to such feelings a few times. I felt I have to be the best, how can I lose to someone else so easily and other such thoughts sometimes bogged me. But trials and tribulations of life hit me to rock-bottom. They made me humble. I realized the potency of the thought of not competing with others but my own self.

I began introspecting and realized two things:

1. If I’m disciplined, I have the right to work for my goals and with time I can achieve them
2. I do not have to compete with anybody else in this world but myself.

I realized that I do not have to worry about how others are fairing in their life and also about the fruits of my own actions. I just have to do my duty dutifully and that’s it. I may or may not be a winner in a contest, in an exam, in comparison to others but I can surely be a winner in life- by competing with myself and doing better than I did before. 

To add a cherry to the cake, adding to these core values if someone can also strive towards developing their spiritual tendencies and in the process become more humble, more compassionate, least or not at all jealous, more surrendered, more empathetic, and are making a difference in this world, aren’t they already a winner of their own life? Are not they the real winners? I remind myself this all the time and that has made all the difference in my life. I want to be a real winner.

We, the disciples of Om Swami Maharaj are real winners for we strive to not only be successful in our material pursuits but also because we repeatedly try to be better human beings and make a difference in this world, no matter how small or insignificant it may look to someone.

We try to balance our mundane life with our spiritual life. We are the truth seekers, the meditators, the kindness mafias, the “sadhaks”, the devotees, the disciples of Swamiji and so much more. We have our own individual identity and our own history of struggles as well, and we surpass them. We are spiritually formidable. We are the real winners. We need not compare ourselves with anyone else for we are in bliss as we are. We are surrendered to Bhagavan and are happy as and how He wants to keep us.