All the best
Megha Bajaj’s guru’s advice to her to excel in everything she does can be followed by all of us to enrich our lives and come closer to God
Sometimes transformation doesn’t come in the form of thunder and lightning, but as a simple email.
One of those days, about About a decade ago, I wrote an email to my beloved guru, just expressing all the wonderful work I was doing, and as I pressed hit ‘Send,’ I felt mighty proud of myself. Within moments, I received a response from him that read read, “Loving you so much, Megha. You are going to be a name to reckon with very soon. Feeling proud of you. However, I just wanted to say something –: whatever you do, leave a mark, a signature of excellence. If it’s come coming from Megha Bajaj, it should be the best, . or Or don’t do it! What made me write this email? There are so many typos, and short forms used in your mail, which makes it look clumsy. Whatever you do, my girl, leave your mark!”
In that instance, something shifted within me. I realized realised it’s never about how much I do in life, but how I do it. The striving for excellence, I realized is never never-ending –. but But knowing you have done your best , for the moment, leaves you feeling empowered.
I observed myself as I went about my day, beginning with yoga. Was I doing my asanas and pranayama to get done within the hour,, or was I bringing in excellence in every posture, every moment. ? I had been doing yoga for years, and yet, after this realization realisation,– the way I did yoga was almost like poetry in motion. Every movement was done with awareness, every inhalation and exhalation contained beauty, and the results were awe-inspiring. Much after I was done with my hour of practice, a sense of equilibrium just seemed to envelop me.
Whenever I went for a meeting –, I brought in excellence. Be it, taking a little personal gift for the one I was meeting, or the way I carried myself; be it in my communication, or even the addition of Silence to the person. I felt that if I am with someone, sharing space and time, and perhaps an opportunity, whether things materialize materialise or not, they should never forget their meeting with me. Little things, but oh, what an impact it they make!
Anything I do –, I try to bring in excellence into it. It's not about big or small, ; I started realizing excellence was is a habit. It could be as simple as how I folded my clothes in a suitcase while coming back from a holiday, or how I left leave the table, after using it in a public space. The message – “either do it to your best, or don’t do it at all” lingered in me at all times, and I realized wherever I couldn’t do my best, it was better to not do it at all.
Take relationships as an example. Many of us keeping adding relationships to our lives, like we do clothes to our wardrobe. And yet, each relationship comes with its own expectations, the time it needs, and the beauty and possibilities it unfolds. I have become mindful about of the relationships I add to my life. Unless I believe, we can really add value to each other, – either for a common purpose, or in the long term, I dontdon’t dive in. Somehow, this simple filter, is helping me unclutter my life so much and is helping me focus on what really matters.
Excellence in everything is bringing a profound shift in my spiritual practice. Somehow, God is ceasing to be a connect for that those few minutes of meditation but and is becoming a lingering presence throughout the day. I read somewhere – , “devotion Devotion is nothing but bringing love, and single-minded focus to anything you do.” No wonder, even as I am ending this piece, I feel a little closer to Him than I did before I began.