The Importance of Self-Management
A moral life is very important. For this moral life, people should be prepared
to sacrifice self-centeredness and egotism. However, the sense of sacrifice is
not seen in the students today. In contemporary times, everything ranging from
getting good marks in examination to securing a seat in a bus, there is
self-centeredness. “I alone should get highest marks. I alone should get the
first seat.” This is the attitude displayed by modern students and youth. How
many people are there who are less fortunate than us and need our help? So,
only when one develops such a sense of completeness, one can sacrifice egotism.
Today, students feel that by getting good degrees, holding high positions and
earning a lot of money would assure them of a peaceful and happy life. But the
modern-day students have certain misconceptions and weaknesses in them. They
have the impression that wealth and prosperity confer peace of mind and hence,
they run behind them. But this perception is wrong.
King Parikshit with Sage Shukadev
What was the reason for the following great personages to take guidance from
ascetics and revering them as Gurus (spiritual preceptors): Kubera from
Yatiraj; Chhatrapati Shivaji from Samarth Ramdas; King Dasharatha from Sage
Vasishtha; and Parikshit from Shukadev? If wealth and prosperity could have
guaranteed peace and happiness, then, the aforementioned great personalities
did not have the need at all to go to the saintly personages for guidance,
since they all were extremely wealthy. Duryodhana and Dushasana had no lack of
wealth and prosperity. But they faced many difficulties because they did not
seek refuge in Divinity. Hiranyaaksha and Hiranyakashyap were also endowed with
great strengths. They had mastery over the five elements and commanded all
wealth and prosperity. But what happiness did they enjoy? They also met with
perdition. The main reason for their downfall was their lack of faith in
Divinity. They spent their entire lives in worldly pleasures and physical
comforts. Physical and worldly prowess may be needed, but they are not the
ultimate aim or goal of human life. Life has originated from God and not from
somewhere else. So, one must have faith in Divinity and stick to the path of
morality. Then, humanity will transform into Divinity and thereby peace and
happiness will reign in place of unhappiness and disharmony.
Certain disciplines and courses in today’s education deal with wealth and money
multiplication methods. Even in such subjects, there is a need to maintain
balance by incorporating values-oriented inputs in the curriculum to ensure
that the learners are on the right track. The more wealth and power one has,
the more will be the agitation and unrest that will follow the individual like
a shadow. Just as the shadow never leaves us, uncertainty does not leave
powerful people, and fear of insecurity does not leave the wealthy.
Pleasure is an interval between two pains. Happiness occurs between two
sorrows. We do not get happiness from happiness, but we get it out of sorrow.
Students and youth have to learn to put up with hardships and adversities and
achieve the chosen goals. Humanity is not something that is merely connected to
or concerned about physical appearance alone. It is that which is pure, sacred
and magnificent. One has to establish balance in the physical, moral, spiritual
and religious facets of life. Above all, self-management is most important. It
forms an essential aspect of Man Management. One who fails to manage oneself
cannot manage others.
This body is like a factory. Every limb and organ is akin to a machine. All
these machines work in full coordination. There should be perfect coordination,
cooperation and collaboration among these machines (meaning limbs and organs).
Only when there is cooperation, can we get the feeling of unity. Only then can
purity emerge in us as a result of which, we realise Divinity. When unity and
purity combine, one realises Divinity.
Source: In Search of Excellence in Man Management: An Indian Perspective,
Chapter 15, Man Management: A Values-Based Management Perspective
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