Check your motivation and heal
July 2017
By Nandini Sarkar
While most of us go through life crippled by fear and laziness, only some boldly unlock the power of right motivation within themselves. Nandini Sarkar urges us to look beyond our problems and be inspired to work toward the collective good. This is bound to heal us and make us feel better.
Heavy monsoon clouds peeped in from the large, open windows. A cool gust of wind played with his spotless white dhoti and kurta, trying to break his reverie. He seemed oblivious to his surroundings, lying down on his easy chair with his eyes closed, nearing his end. Alzheimer’s and dementia had set into this 80-year old man and he no longer recognised anyone. In the past few months, he had only spoken of Monu-da, his favourite brother who is now deceased. He reminisced their carefree childhood, as two very naughty boys in Bangladesh, Sonar Bangla, playing football on the banks of the Rupsha river. Deluded by dementia, he often addressed my husband, Sushobhan, as Monu-da.
“Monu-da!” he exclaimed, all of a sudden, opening his eyes and looking at my husband. “Take me back to Khulna. I have asked the Divine Mother to give me 10 more years to live. I am going a make a school for children there. We must start the project immediately.” He was expressing his desire to return to his home town and build a school for underprivileged children for the 50th time in the last 90 days. He had even made several attempts to run away to Khulna, but each time someone had rescued him and brought him back home. I’ve never seen a more motivated person in my life. Brimming with sheer mojo and sheer love to do something for a larger cause, Subhas Sarkar, my father-in-law, was confined to his home during the last year of his life when he was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. Till then, he had led an active life around a loving family and faithful friends who cared for him.
Live long, mighty heart
In filmmaker, Ritwik Ghatak’s famous classic, Meghe Dhaka Tara, the dying heroine gives a heart-rending cry, “Dada! Ami bachte chayi,” which means ‘Brother, I want to live!’ During his last days, Subhas Sarkar cried passionately to anyone who was near, “Ami bachte chayi! Ami korte chayi,” which means ‘I want to live! I want to do something (for society)!’
After the 1947 partition, Subhas Sarkar’s family were refugees from Bangladesh living in riot-stricken Kolkata. At the tender age of 18, Subhas became the sole breadwinner of a large family. During his early days as a CESC Inspector, he often had only water for lunch. Refusing to be cowed down or overwhelmed by the partition and poverty, young Subhas was on fire, motivated to start his first school for the girl child in backward Behala. People called him Vidyasagar and his fair countenance radiated with light; he had a wonderful aura that attracted people like magnet. A Muslim landowner, who he had protected during the Bengal riots, provided him with a place to build his first school. Subhas went from house to house collecting students for the school because education, let alone education for the girl child, was unknown in Behala.
At the time of his death, Subhas had set up six schools and a college under the name ‘Kishore Bharati', in Behala, Kolkata and a school in Tarakeswar district, named Shree Bharati. In the last 50 years, thousands of underprivileged students have passed through the doors of his schools and college. In his lifetime, Subhas enjoyed the status of a demi-god. He was even offered ministerial positions and political power which he refused. He won countless awards and recognitions; and the love and respect of thousands. All his difficulties and pain, even the demise of his beloved wife, who was the co-founder of the schools and college, paled into insignificance in the face of his great motivation to serve others. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?
You can heal yourself
Not many of us today can claim being so passionate and motivated in life, let alone at the time of our death! We have suffered so much by the slings and arrows of treacherous fate, broken relationships and poor health that we have become a depressed lot. We live like robots, going from one society mandated event to another; one addiction to another; one maya-jaal to another, mindlessly and unquestioningly: going to college, getting a job, lusting for promotions and power, getting married, bringing up children, watching TV, hanging out with friends, eating food, gathering addictions to fight boredom, taking the odd vacation, bearing the pain of old age and separation from children and relatives, and ultimately meeting death. We don’t seem to have the energy or motivation to break the mould and look outside our small selves; to serve a larger cause, open our hearts and love others. We’re always worried about tomorrow, and have sub-consciously blocked our dynamic will and loving hearts. Our nature is love but we have stopped loving and living.
In my six years of writing for Life Positive, sans any expectations, the only time readers have written to me is when they wanted to reach out to Santji, the Healer from the Himalayas, who I wrote about, a year ago. They hoped he would make their problems vanish instantly. Recently, a software developer from Bangalore, who is also a Kriya Yogi, wrote to me, asking for Santji’s number because she was suffering from genetic depression. She sent me a beautiful video of herself meeting famous Kriya Masters, experiencing Samadhi at Babaji’s cave, and receiving initiation from great Masters. I advised her to re-visit the Kriya Masters’ teachings and chant ‘Aum’ with a pure heart. I told her that if she had already physically felt the presence of such great Masters, there was no need for her to talk to Santji as well. The only reason I wrote about Santji was to motivate readers to faithfully reach into their own selves in meditation, as Santji did, and earnestly connect to the great, invisible Masters in meditation, just like him.
No to Samadhi, yes to the heart
I have never sought Samadhi or other worldly experiences in my spiritual journey. My only spiritual motivation is learning how to live happily in this life and being kind with others. In the last 31 years, I have never switched paths, Masters or teachings. Why should I pursue Samadhi or other worldly experiences when God and the Masters are already so present in all aspects of my life? The greatest miracles I have experienced in my long and faithful association with my Masters is being optimistic, no matter what the situation; being healthy and having unflagging energy by practising Kriya techniques; experiencing the opening of the heart and flow of blissful, loving energy in my being; and receiving the grace of joyful, constructive relationships at the workplace. For instance, we started our company, C-Quel, in 2001, with just Rs 50,000 and today we have a presence in more than 26 cities across India. We’ve been flooded with offers to work in London, Dubai and New York. We have a sustainable business model and high profile client list including Global Fortune 100 companies. Having experienced the miracle of pure motivation, which stems from a deep desire to love others, serve others and discard fear, which paralyzes will, I am spurred on to follow my Master’s teachings, faithfully, humbly and, reverently.
Dying to be me
Whoever has read Anita Moorjani’s Dying to be Me will recall how she was motivated by her inner Self to come back from coma and re-live her life on a fresh lease. In her comatose state, her Higher Self had showed her why she was suffering and told her that if she was motivated to make the effort to live correctly, she would be healed after re-entering her body. Sadly, most of us are not motivated enough to make the effort. This stems from deep-rooted fear, spiritual laziness and an astounding lack of faith, despite being given numerous reasons to believe. We have become so dependent on instant gratification – instant noodles, instant solutions and 10-minute Samadhi and healing by godmen and gurus. What about our own efforts to evolve? Life is an interesting game with its fair share of hurdles. We must be motivated to learn the necessary skills to face life and become life champions; we must keep tapping the dynamic will-power and love in our hearts to make a difference to the quality of our own lives, and that of others as a natural ripple effect.
Stay simple, stay humble
Motivation can be experienced in humble measures and yet bring about powerful change. Moreover, it can benefit even the simplest of souls. True motivation gently pushes us to love, serve, be fearless, be happy, accept whatever comes our way with equanimity, consciously learn how to be calmly active and actively calm in unfavourable situations and never hurt or cheat others. It encourages us to try and reach out to others and alleviate their pain even at the height of our own suffering; for it is in forgetting the our small selves that we surmount all misery and disease, and find happiness and drive to live.
Seeing the bigger picture
One of our clients, Arunava Maitra, is the Director-HR Asia-Pacific of a large multinational company. You’ll always find him confident, happy and at ease. He is slim and fit as well. Though he hasn’t graduated from a premium institute like IIM or IIT, he has earned his way to the top and is very humble about it, which is a rarity. We Indians take ourselves very seriously, you know! Mr Maitra started as an ordinary manager handling 300 employees but today has thousands of employees across continents and countries working under him. Curious, I asked him what his motivation was. His reply re-enforced my beliefs. He told me that he has never been motivated by material desires. Instead, he has been driven by the teachings of the swamis at Ramakrishna Mission School where he learned to be empathetic and serve others. His first boss, Biswadip Gupta, motivated him to be kind, considerate and generous with employees; to teach employees the lessons they need to learn with love rather than disciplinary action; to put employees before business targets; to be fair and just in performance appraisals; and to give people another chance just when the odds were stacked against them. Thanks to his RK Mission days, Mr Maitra adopted these values enthusiastically, which in turn fulfilled all his other goals, earning him the admiration of family and friends.
Take small steps and be motivated to do something for someone else. It could be a small gesture like packing your daughter-in-law’s lunch or being loyal to your company, contributing to a local blind school, or conducting dance lessons for the kids in your building, or taking care of the elderly despite their incessant demands, or cleaning up the local lake or doing legal work for needy women without expecting to be paid; anything that spreads kindness and love. Trust me, you won’t regret it! Everyone around you will notice a change in your aura and feel encouraged to pay it forward. May your life be blessed, happy, healthy and purposeful, by the miracle of pure motivation!
Nandini Sarkar is Co-founder, C-Quel, a management services company. A lover of the spiritual Masters,
she is a follower in the Kriya Yoga tradition and can be contacted at nandini@cquel.com