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By Sanjib Mukherjee,
Dronacharya (the great warrior and guru to master bowman, Arjuna) had a very simple philosophy to winning all his major battles…. “archery is never learnt on the battlefield”. His principle dictated that the key to any success in life was in the preparation, where champions were made in training and not in competition.
The foundations for Dronacharya’s line of thinking, were developed from his intense study of the yoga scriptures where the rules for success were governed for all to follow. Yoga begins any challenge by keeping “the end in mind”. Essentially, this concept believes that everything is created twice, once in the mind and then in actual practicality.
For example, in order for me to write this article, I first had to think about the subject area and then decide which elements were to be added and which ones to be deleted. Only once I had a clear mental picture of how I wanted this post to be completely constructed, did I begin to write. Even at this stage of the article, I already know how long this page will be, and what paragraphs are still to come.
Another example would be an architect who builds a house. First he (or she) must sit down and plan a series of drawings on how the structure is to be built. Thoughts need to be transferred onto paper, and only once the blueprint for a completed home is fully documented, can the actual building of the home begin. Everything begins in the mind.
The success of any given project can be directly attributed to the thought processes in the mind, before a single task is undertaken. During the great Mahabharata war, Krishna and his army of righteous soldiers were significantly outnumbered in terms of both personal and fighting resources. In reality Krishna should have been defeated with relative ease, but he skilfully managed to overcome defeat by using the yogic principle of “keeping the end in mind”.
In analysing the battle scenario beforehand, Krishna had already mentally thought out how his opponents would attack, how his own army should defend and how his enemies would subsequently respond. He had meticulously planned and prepared the entire battle in his mind before a single arrow had been struck. His detail to attention during the mental panning stages ensured Krishna was fully aware of the outcome of the war from the very beginning, and thus was able to overcome this massive challenge.
We too can learn from the great masters from the past, by applying this very simple yet effective principle in our everyday lives. Each of us has our own journey in life, with our own set of desires and obligations to fulfil. Whether your dreams are to get married this year, become a successful business owner, focus on your spiritual growth etc.. any challenge must begin by clearly thinking through your tasks and actions, before taking your first steps.
The more focus and clarity you apply in your initial thoughts, the more likely you are to achieve you personal goals. By the time Dronacharya had finished training Arjuna, his student had become the most feared marksman in the land. As he pulled back his bow, his only focus in life was centred around the tip of his arrow. Arjuna would mentally imagine his target had already been struck and mentally determined exactly what he needed to do, before releasing his arrow. Thus his target would already have been hit, before he had even fired from his bow.
The great modern day sage Sri Sri Ravi Shankar recently celebrated a huge 25th silver jubilee anniversary of his humanitarian organisation, and had organised a massive global event where over 3 million people worldwide (including many heads of states and royalty) had come to visit and pay homage to the great guru. The shear scale and exuberance of the event had everybody spellbound, yet Sri Sri Ravi Shankar has foreseen this success 25 years earlier. Having secured the mental vision of success in his mind right from the very beginning, every subsequent step was taken with clarity and focus to help achieve his goal.
The formula is simple, plan a task right right through to completion in your mind, then actually deliver your thoughts into action. Of course, life has its ups and downs and very rarely will circumstances move exactly the way we want it to, but planning and action are both complementary to each other. It may be rquired to rethink your plan from time to time and re-adjust your action steps, but even this new direction must only be taken once an outcome has been mentally pictured in your mind first.
Most failures in life occur not only due to a lack of planning, but a lack of extending a mental plan right through to project completion. Begin with the end in mind, and you will greatly improve your chances of being a success in any give task you undertake. If this principle worked for Krishna, there’s no reason it will not work for you.
“You may control a mad elephant;
You may shut the mouth of the bear and the tiger;
Ride the lion and play with the cobra;
By alchemy you may earn your livelihood;
You may wander through the universe incognito;
Make vassals of the gods; be ever youthful;
You may walk on water and live in fire:
But control of the mind is better and more difficult.”
“If you can dream it you can become it.”
- William A. Ward
Whatever you create in your life you must first create in your imagination.”
-Tycho Photiou
“Imagination is more important than knowledge.”
-Albert Einstein
“The mind is its own place, and in itself can make a Heav’n of Hell, a Hell of Heav’n.”
-Paradise Lost, Milton
“The greatest discovery of my generation is that human beings can alter their lives by alteringtheir attitudes of mind.”
- William James
totally agree..if u dont hav a target to yr actions, then no point in doing it
ok but in keeping the goal in mind are u not trying to figure out the how?….and also if you are doing a job you are not in love with your job, then how are you free and yet love sets you free?
Hi Naman, the “how” can only come once you clearly have the end goal in mind. What we are talking about here is the idea of being absolutely crystal clear in your outcomes, right from the very start.
Love does indeed set you free, but you don’t need to love something to accomplish a goal. Most people don’t love brushing their teeth, but they still manage to do it succesfully everyday…
For achieving something in life, mental attitude is the most important factor in determining whether you will be a success or not…. that was the essence of my post..
Very well written. Gives me some ideas! Thank you!
you are right as long as your dealing with matter and energy but truth is not matter of success or failure………..
Article has a great management lesson. Mahabharta is full of management principles……
Thanks Sanjib,
Very well constructed article. It makes you really sit back and think….gives you some good direction too.
I agree, all begin with the thought process and success is ultimately how you transform this to Action…yes mentally first makes absolute sense.
At a time, when you are looking for some answers in your mind,Universe always seem to supply you with one very intelligently………wow, what a wonder….Thx
thanx sanjib,ur article is very inspiring ,weneed to plan before we act or to accomplish any dream come true,but don’t u think circumstances hinders in and ur whole plan thrashes down before getting into action, this becomes so difficult and demotivating at times,though even i believe in target oriented work and even do it always, but still………..we become so helpless. u keep on writing at times it seems as if u r writing exactly what i want to know,iget boosted. jgd.
I prefer doing most of things just becouse I feel like doing them, without thinking of the results… It’s more relaxing and fun, and the result comes by itself anyway…
…or it doesn’t. I love brushing my teeth and yet I lost already half of them. I love this discussion, but I don’t know where it will bring me…
So do I…
Easy said than done…. Arjuna was able to do so because the supreme was his saarthi … in our case we have to imbibe or inculcate Him, just by saying he is Omnipresent won’t work for us….. & coming to the principle of ensuring success , than there is nothing such as success in spirituality because if you think of success than there is loss surrounding you also….
1 single sentence to keep u going.. “ JUST DO IT”… & the mind will find that contentment which is been truly said in the 9th adhyay in Bhagvad Gita that “ man ka ho to accha, na ho to aur accha ”.. that’s when you are contented irrespective of this gross feeling of success & being unsuccessful.
Seems so relevant to the answers I am seeking…Thx Sanjib
Please is all mine Jaishree:)
Great management mantra!thanks
Great management mantra! thanks