Skip to main content

SPEEDING UP BY SLOWING DOWN

If you want to increase the speed of your success in life then learn to slow down. One may argue, either you speed up or slow down, how can one speed up and slow down simultaneously. It looks like a contradiction. But often life is about reconciling opposites, finding the mid-point, the balance between two extremes.

I would like to explain two meanings of ‘slowing down’.

The first meaning of slowing down is to regularly take time to analyse, introspect and recheck our direction in life. Somehow in today's high-tech world where so much value and stress is given on speed, we many times overlook the direction of our life. As Stephen Covey, the famous author aptly put it by saying - 'The difference between a leader and manager is that, a manager is one who knows how to efficiently climb the ladder, but a leader is one who knows if the ladder is on the right wall.' Most people spend their entire life in efficiently climbing the 'so called' ladder of success only to realise that it was on the wrong wall. What an irony! That's why Socrates the great philosopher mentioned 2500 years back - 'An unexamined life is not worth living.' Just like a car needs to be serviced regularly for it to run faster, similarly we need to take time to invest in ourselves in order to gain momentum in life.


Second meaning of slowing down is to slow down the mind. If you have observed the mind, you will notice how it is constantly oscillating between past and future. The mind seems to have its own pace, it's own speed and it always seems in a sort of hurry to reach it's destination. This is called the Destination Addiction Syndrome (DAS). What is DAS? It is the belief that I will be happy as soon as I reach my destination. But in the process we forget to enjoy the journey. The foolishness of this state of mind is exposed in this beautiful poem.

First I was dying to finish high school and start college
And then I was dying to finish college and start working
And then I was dying to marry and have children
And then I was dying for my children to grow old enough so they could go to school so I could go back to work
And then I was dying to retire
And now...I am dying .... and suddenly I realised I forgot to live.

This shouldn't be the plight of our life. We need to understand that both past and future are illusions of mind, they have no place in reality. The only thing that is real is the present moment. Just see our position - the body is in present moment but our mind is either in the past or the future. No doubt we are experiencing so much stress in life, literally being ‘pulled apart’ by our mind.

The remedy for this madness of the mind is to live in the present. Only when we slow down the mind, can we actually experience life in its true form. Mind doesn't add beauty to life but takes away it's beauty. When was the last time we relished the crispness of the fresh air, looked up and appreciated the sun, moon and stars. When did we stop to actually see the beauty of a flower or a tree. In looking for big miracles we oversee the small ones happening all around us. In fact there is nothing as a small miracle. It's the nature of the mind to make even extraordinary things ordinary.

The key to success is to understand that, if we give ourselves fully to the present moment naturally the future will be the best. The future takes care of itself if we take care of the present. As it is said - Yesterday was history, tomorrow is a mystery but today is a gift of God - that's why it is called present. And these gift can be accessed only by being fully present in the moment. So the next time you catch the mind racing, tell it this mantra - ‘You speed up by slowing down’.

- Achyut Gopal Das

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A RADHASHTAMI MEDITATION

Jai Sri Radhe!! Is the chant on everyone's minds and hearts now. Atleast in the minds and hearts of devotees. It's time to celebrate the most auspicious of auspicious festivals; it's time to celebrate Sri Radhashtami - the appearance day of Srimati Radharani. For devotees, Radhashtami is a more important festival than Janmashtami. Why? Because for the world Krishna is God but for devotees, Radha is God because they know that Krishna is subservient to the love of Radha. In our ISKCON circle, it is said that - Janmashtami is a public event but Radhashtami is a private event for only devotees who understand the supreme position of Srimati Radharani. On the most auspicious occasion of Radhashtami, I would like to bring to your attention a beautiful meditation that His Holiness Bhakti Tirtha Swami wrote many years back on this occasion called "An offering for the Divine Mother". The best prayer is to repeat the prayer of previous realized, great souls. Keeping thi...
Post a Comment
Read more

THE POWER OF OBEISANCES

Offering obeisances to the Supreme Lord in His deity form may superficially look like a very small and a simple activity. But, it is one one of the very important and significant aspect of Bhakti. Therefore Lord Krishna stresses the importance of offering obeisances to Him in one of the most important verse of the Bhagvat-gita in chapter 9, verse 34. "man-manā bhava mad-bhakto mad-yājī māṁ namaskuru mām evaiṣyasi yuktvaivam ātmānaṁ mat-parāyaṇaḥ" "Engage your mind always in thinking of Me, become My devotee, offer obeisances to Me and worship Me. Being completely absorbed in Me, surely you will come to Me." - Bhagvat-gita 9.34 This verse comes exactly in the middle of Bhagvat-gita making it all the more important. Not only that, this is the only verse that appears almost as it is, again towards the end of the eighteenth chapter of Bhagvat-gita as follows - "man-manā bhava mad-bhakto mad-yājī māṁ namaskuru mām evaiṣyasi satyaṁ te pratijāne priyo ...
Post a Comment
Read more

LETTING GO OF "THE SMALL" to ACHIEVE "THE BIG"

"The main thing is to keep the main thing as the main thing." Here are few musings from the books of Radhanath Swami. Simple, little stories but with profound meanings that can permanently alter our consciousness if we allow them to. The first is a story from his memoir, "The Journey Home". During his travels in the Himalayas, he reached the holy city of Rishikesh. There, he took a month-long vow to fast and meditate on a rock in the Ganges to receive enlightenment. After successfully completing his month-long vow and being blessed with deep spiritual wisdom, he decided to break his fast with the one rupee coin some pilgrim had donated him. Remembering, a peanut vendor that he used to see on his way to the Ganges, he decided to buy some peanuts and give himself a feast. When the shopkeeper saw one rupee, his eyes lit up and he made a large shopping bag of old newspapers and filled it with peanuts. As Radhanath Swami walked along the jungle path to his cave, rejoic...
Post a Comment
Read more