So many of us try to follow the path of spirituality. The path of spirituality is nothing else but being aware of the inner world, and the truth behind that, and having become aware of the same, maintaining that awareness while living life and taking the day-to-day decisions. On the contrary, the world tells us to live an altogether in different fashion. Society teaches us that we decide our life goals with the present level of awareness and make our best efforts to fulfill these goals. Students are asked to set goals in terms of the percentage of marks in the examination getting admission to a particular university or institute, getting a package of a particular amount, or getting success in some competitive examination. Adults are asked by society to achieve goals in terms of promotion, a particular assignment, position, or power. Scientists are asked to set the goals in terms of a number of research papers or publication of books. Organizations are asked to set their goals in terms of profitability or prices of their scrips in the stock exchanges. NGOs are asked to set their goals in terms of number of beneficiaries. Governments are asked to set their goals in terms of the growth of the GDP or the number of people who come out of poverty, nations are asked to set their goals in terms of the influence they carry over the world order, and so on.
Goal setting is the foundation of present-day society and the ones who are able to set an ambitious goal and achieve the same are considered to be achievers by society. Be them the students who crack the best of the ranks in IITs and NEET and make the headlines in the news, the businessmen who set up companies with huge profitability,. the scientists who are achievers and get noble prizes, the countries that do well in different indexes, and the nations that are able to influence the world order by adopting whatever means. All the achievers are worshipped by the society.
We, as a country, were historically never in the race. We recognized the value of observation and that is the reason why the rishis and sages were respected a lot. The sages are the experts in observation. They meditate and develop a capacity to observe the entire universe by observing their inner self because the are deeply connected. That is the reason why even the incarnation of God, be it Rama or Krishna will go to Gurukul and learn the art of observation from sage Sandipana or Vashistha. Even after becoming the kings, whenever there is a moment of doubt, these sages will be consulted since they have that deep connection with truth and therefore can guide the kings dispassionately. Even kings such as Janaka practice meditation regularly and connect to the truth and with that understanding of the truth and reality, they carry out their task of taking care of the kingdom.
I feel that there are two problems with the way, we are living. First, since we follow the goal-driven approach since childhood, and become obsessed with our goals, we lose touch with the greater reality and get confined to a very small spectrum of possibilities. For example, if I set a goal to become the best taxman in India, I lose awareness of the infinite possibilities that exist inside me like the possibility of being a reader, writer, astrologer, mentor, and social analyst. Second, even the goal setting is based on information available at the time of goal setting and if we close ourselves, we will miss upon the infinite possibilities that come along our way as we progress in life.
Probably, we set different goals for our lives because we are not aware. If we stay aware of each moment, we will live life as it comes. Where is the need to have any goal? Why would we not live life to the best of its possibilities in each moment? Why does a student need to set a target in terms of the percentage of marks in an examination? Why can't he just enjoy the studies as they come and marks will automatically be the reflection of his interest in the studies. Why can't we love the work we do in the office and let the appraisals be the reflection of the work we have done in the process. I do understand that the systems are not perfect and there will always be some cheaters who will cheat the system and the results may actually not be a true reflection of our love for the subject. However, does that matter really? Not at all. If we love the subject, we definitely find a way to get our livelihood and we do not need the fat pay packages or positions any longer to be happy because we derive that happiness out of our sheer love for the subject. The moment we leave fixation with the goals, we connect to the truth and reality and we no longer need social validation or any other outcome to live happily rather happiness comes naturally to us.
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