You and I have a choice to make in life, do we functions as sewaks or naukars. Be it in a company where we may work as an employee, or while serving customers if we were to be entrepreneurs.
The difference between a sewak and a naukar is one of mind-set, in case of a sewak, he or she derives joy, while serving customers internal or external, where as a naukar, derives no joy while serving others, on the contrary, he feels enslaved, and for him life becomes a series of compulsions, full of have tos and not wants tos.
I remember once the great actress Audrey Hepburn was asked a question in an interview `What would you have done if you would not have been an actor`` Pat came the answer from Ms. Audrey Hepburn `I would have paid to act. It will be great to develop a mind-set similar to that of` Ms. Audrey Hepburn.
In current times, many of us are free, or should feel free, but many of us feel trapped or bounded, be it to EMIs or to the trappings of modern day living. High paying jobs, or business should be a platform for us to be more vibrant, and we should learn to gain joy in our jobs and businesses and not just view them as a way to earn so we may enjoy the goodies of life. Many of us, the better we do, the more worried we become of losing it. Very often we plan to be either offensive or defensive, by imagining about competition.
What I am realizing is that it is the complacency that we need to kill and not competition. In fact, the intelligent don`t waste their time, efforts and resources trying to kill competition, but channelize the presence of competition to kill their complacency be it mental, physical or psychological.
The best tennis players thrive when they face great competition. In fact the great professionals feel that great competition completes them, and are not afraid that it will finish them. M.S. Dhoni has done great in bringing his fellow team members to rise in competition. It is a great experience to watch Indian cricket players take on the might of Australian, South African teams on one side, and clinically deal with the eager Bangladeshis. M.S. Dhoni has earned the Captain Cool title, as he channelizes the challenges faced when dealing with competition, and thus has become the most successful and complete captain of Indian cricket team ever. I recognize the fact that India failed to lift the World Cup, but they have done very well by being in the semi-finals. I strongly feel, not to make the best the enemy of the better.
I have started to understand the power of `sewa bhaav` my only concern is that you and I should focus on our `sewa bhaav` to our immediate family, colleagues, customers, friends, first, and then we should move on to others.
Spiritualism to my mind is to serve one`s family, friends, relatives, colleagues and customers and gain joy in return instead of some spiritual organisations teaching escapism in the name of spiritualism.
In my childhood I often heard a saying `Charity begins at home.`` If I focus on serving my wife, as a husband, my daughter and my son as a father, my father as a son, my sisters as a brother, my relatives and my friends and during working hours my customers, colleagues and associates, and gain joy in the process, my life will be full of joy. In my younger days, I made a mistake, by looking at my family members, colleagues, customers, friends and relatives as a source of comfort to me, and not a way for me to provide them with comfort and gain joy in the process.
I wish the readers to live life, full of joy.