Personal Development Passion

One of the world’s best personal development system in the world is Yoga. Yoga is a holistic system which not only develops, but also overhauls your total being. This helps you achieve Health, Satisfaction, Peace and Happiness in your life. In one of my articles “Achieve Overall Physical Fitness” while emphasizing the importance of suppleness, I mentioned Yoga.

Having realized that such a wonderful personal development system is right here under my nose, I decided to enroll myself in a Yoga class. India being a land of Yoga, there is no dearth of Yoga teachers and Yoga classes. In recent times due to popularity of Yoga many so called “experts” in Yoga have mushroomed. So the first task for me was to find out and ensure that the Yoga class I enroll myself in imparts the best yoga training, and has excellent Yoga teachers. With little search, I found one. The training is completely FREE.

One obstacle, however, stood in my way. The Yoga training classes were to start in the morning at Six AM sharp. The place of Yoga training is Eight Kms away from my home and takes approx Thirty minutes to reach there. This meant that if i was to reach there sharply on time, I should wake up at 5 AM. Tough task hmm..

Finally I gathered all my mental might and made a determination to join Yoga training and to reach the place 10 minutes before the scheduled time. While writing this I feel proud to mention that today was the third day in succession (the course will finish on the last day of this month) that I made it. I actually woke up at 5 AM; performed my morning chores including bathing, and reached the Ashram at 5.50 AM. I pray to Lord to continue to give me such motivation day by day, every day and even beyond that.

The teaching there is doubtlessly wonderful. By now they have taught me Utthit Vivekasana (standing pose in which one performs mental prayer, and also relaxes one’s body), Sharir Sanchalan (bodily movements, which frees your body and prepares you for performance of further Yogasanas), Tadasana (a standing pose in which one stretches one’s body where a slightly so as to make it energetic).

Yoga basically has eight limbs. Therefore Yoga is called as Ashtanga Yoga. And here lies the reason why I call the Yoga is a holistic personal development system. The eight limbs of Yoga are:

Eight Limbs of Yoga

Yamas
Niyamas
Asanas
Pranayama
Pratyahara
Dharana
Dhyana
Samadhi

Yama and Niyama constitute that part of the training which takes care of one’s social well-being. It teaches the individual those principles which helps him improve his social relationships, develop good conduct so as to make them trustworthy in the eyes of people, develop character.

Asanas and Pranayamas constitute that part of you a training which develops one’s physical health, and develops superbly. Asanas are certain bodily movements and postures which are to be performed very consciously and slowly so as to achieve the desired effect. The best part of these is that practice of Asanas and Pranayamas automatically helps and motivates the individual to practice and go for other limbs of Ashtanga Yoga.

Pratyahara and Dharana constitute that part of Yoga training which develops one’s mental and intellectual faculties.

Dhyana and Samadhi at that part of the Yoga system which take care of one’s spiritual needs. In fact, if one achieves Samadhi, then there is no need to go for anything else, for achievement of Samadhi results in gaining a self-knowledge. It helps the individual to achieve union with God.

Western management gurus and leaders have, on and off said that if one is to achieve total success in one’s life, then he needs to master for basic areas of his life. These areas are social, physical, mental and spiritual. Exactly this is what Yoga helps one to achieve. If all the four things fall in place, material prosperity automatically follows. Sometimes it so happens that because of acquisition of divine knowledge through practice of Yoga, the need for slowly and automatically subsides.

This is how one can understand the importance of practice of Yoga in one’s life. As I undergo more trading in Yoga, I will be sharing with you my experiences through these posts.

Let me share with you how I was initiated into the journey of personal development using success principles.

“When the student is ready, the teacher appears”, says Robin Sharma, the author of “The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari”.

The year was 1986. The classroom was filled with students of first-year law course. Majority of the students ranged in the age group of 16-17, in their late teens. In the corner of the classroom was sitting a boy. Because of his poor performance in the recent qualifying examination he was dejected, disappointed and depressed. The examination was important and had the power to decide the future course of the boy’s life.

The teacher was telling the class of 150 or so number of students with great conviction and emphasis, “each one of you has one or the other extraordinary quality. The unfortunate thing is that you don’t know it. I have studied psychology well. I have been observing you and I can tell at least one extraordinary quality each of you is possessing. But I will not spoon-feed you. I will leave it for you to discover your own unique extraordinary potential. The only thing I can assure you is that each one of you possesses at least one extraordinary quality”.

The teacher’s words strongly hit the boy, who having been left with no other option, had joined law course. He was completely filled with feelings of inferiority, low self-esteem, hopelessness and negativity. He felt completely lost. To him future seemed gloomy. He was a rank failure in his own eyes.

And the teacher was telling that the boy had an extraordinary quality. How could that be? The boy silently questioned with disbelief. But at the same time he could not disbelieve his teacher. His teacher was a very eminent, honest and respectable personality. His previous experience with the teacher was that whatever the teacher preached, had substance, and was worthy of serious consideration.

If what the teacher was saying was true, it was actually a matter of great respite for the boy. “Do I possess extraordinary quality too? Am I worthy of being accepted? Which is the unique and extraordinary quality which I possess? How can I find it? Can I overcome my past? Can I do better?…” the boys started pondering.

One day, the teacher gave a list of books to the whole class, with a recommendation to read all the books on the list. The teacher said that the books were not just books, but priceless jewels. Fortunately, one of the good qualities the boy possessed was the habit of reading. He loved to read. Seeing the list, the boy quickly sensed the importance of each and every book on the list. He had developed a vision to understand that the books on the list had immense power to change his life (or anyone’s life, for that matter) for the better.

Three things, however, stood in the boy’s way. The books were in English language. Till then the boy had not read many books in English, and therefore had no command over the language. The boy had no money to buy the books. The boy did not know where the books were available. What the boy had was a strong urge and longing to change his life for the better; to find out the wisdom of the gurus and to apply the wisdom in his own life. The books on the list had intensified his longing more and more.

It is rightly said by one of the gurus that if you have a dream, the universe conspires to fulfill your dream. One day the boy was wandering through the secondhand books market in his town. The boy had the yearning to raise himself above his prevailing state of affairs and he knew that the books contained the key to what he wanted. Suddenly he spotted one of the books on his list. The book lay there, in the stack of books, ignored by people. It didn’t seem to attract anyone’s attention. Moreover it was in very old condition. However, it was still readable. And what’s more! It was very cheaply priced. No wonder, the boy grabbed the book and purchased it with his saved money.

Though poor in English then, the boy somehow managed to read and understand the book. (Side by side the boy was also on a self undertaken English improvement program). In the course of time, the book greatly changed the boy. It taught him lessons of immense importance. It taught him the power of thought. It offered practical suggestions and methods by applying which he could transform himself and his life from failure to that of success. The boy took full advantage of his new-found guru, the book and greatly changed his life from failure to success.

Today, the boy is successful. He is happily married to a charming woman of his choice and has a lovely kid of six. He has risen to become one of the successful lawyers of his town. He is deeply indebted to his teacher as well as to the new-found guru, that is his book, which he still possesses and continues to draw guidance from time to time even today.

With the reading of the book, began a personal development journey of the boy, way back in the late eighties. In the beginning, the journey was slow and steady, and gradually increased. The journey still continues, and the boy still grows. During his journey, the boy read a lot. He applied the success principles, the success techniques, the suggestions, tips and tricks for personal development to his life. During his success journey, sometimes he succeeded, sometimes he fine tuned the application of the success principles taught by the his gurus, the books to his own peculiar situation. In the process of application of success principles for his personal development, the boy realized that there is always something new to gain and nothing to lose. There was always inner growth inside.

The self growth journey, however, continues. and the boy knows that it will never be completed till the end of his life. While traveling this journey of self-development, on more occasions than one, the boy felt a strong inner urge to share the wisdom of his gurus, the success mantras which he tested and applied to his own life. This first post which you are now reading is the result of that strong inner urge of that boy to share.

Yes you have rightly guessed by now that the boy was none else than the author of this post.

I do not claim to have achieved perfection. I do not assume “I-have-succeeded-let-me-tell-you-how-to-succeed” posture in starting this blog. What has motivated me to start this blog on success mantras for sharing success principles for personal development is the strong inner urge to share the account of marvelous and interesting journey of my personal development with a strong hope and belief that just as I have benefited from the distilled wisdom of success principles, so may you. When I look back in retrospect and think over what I would have been without learning these success principles, the feeling is uncomfortable. There is a vast difference between what I would have been without the success principles and what I am today with, and because of, success principles.

Let me be honest. One of my selfish motives in starting this blog on success principles for personal development is to deepen my own learning and understanding; to gain new insights for success, personal development and self growth, in the process of sharing. Till now I traveled this journey by myself. From now onwards I welcome you to join me as my companion. This is my first post. I look forward to a great companionship with you, and hope that we will have great time in this process of sharing.

Oh yes! Before finishing this first post, I must break your long held suspense by telling you the book which initiated me into my journey of personal development by application of success principles. The name of the book is Think and Grow Rich, a famous timeless classic by Napoleon Hill. More on that later….