Those days, I used to go every morning to Marina beach to jog. So, I finished from Lighthouse to that… labour statue is there, I finished that, and I was walking back. And there was one huge bush, absolutely plush green, one solitary flower was there. So, in this green background, one solitary flower, white in colour, looked brilliant and in that early morning breeze the leaves were dancing a little, this little flower was also dancing… it looked nice! I stood there, and I was looking at it.
Do flowers talk to you? If you go and tell a psychologist, flowers talk to me, they will tell you, we will check you up. ok. But you are looking for a message. The more and more you grow in life, you will realise, growth is caught, it’s not taught.
A scene in the movie can change your life. A paragraph in the book will change your life. Somewhere just observing an incident that is happening, between two people on the road can change your life. A paragraph in a song can change your life, just the lyrics of that song can change your life.
Somewhere I was looking at that flower and I felt the flower was telling me, ‘Blooming is my nature. I didn’t bloom for your sake. It’s my nature. Whether you had come in this morning, or you didn’t come this morning. Whether you had noticed me, or you didn’t notice me, whether you admired me or you did not admire me, I would have still bloomed this morning. Spreading fragrance is my nature. Whether you enjoy my fragrance, you don’t enjoy my fragrance, whether you appreciate my fragrance, you don’t appreciate my fragrance, whether your type, your taste for, you know the fragrance is not mine, it really doesn’t make a difference to me. To bloom is my nature, to dance in the wind is my nature, to spread fragrance is my nature. You, noticing me is an accident, me blooming is an incident.’
I was only planning to walk back but I started jogging again.
So much about my life changed on that day. There was no teacher there, but the student was ready. I told myself, you have to hold yourself to certain standards because you should make it your nature. You cannot decide the standards of your life based on others.
They are anyhow coming late, why should I go on time?
For you there is a standard…
Whether others are coming late or not, to conquer the clock is a wonderful arrogance to have. The clock doesn’t defeat me. I defeat the clock every time.
You should hold yourself to certain standards and live up to those standards.
Only one person is there in the program, seventeen people are there in the program, hundred are there in the program, thousands are there in the program, how you teach should not depend on your audience.
For us… What?
For us… we have a standard!
Whether it’s the customer who’s going to buy big or a customer who’s going to buy small…
For us… we have a standard!
Whether you are chairman of an organization… for you and your driver or your servant… my respect, when I relate with people will exactly be the same, because it doesn’t have to do with you. People have to be respected. In fact, one of the manifestation of human evolution is your ability to respect a fellow human being, that he is a human being, not his designation, not his status.
And that flower taught me that.
It said, ‘I didn’t bloom because you will come, I bloom because it’s my nature.’
Boss sees me, I will do one type of work, boss does not see me, I will do another type of work. In front of the teacher, I will have one behaviour, behind the teacher I will have another behaviour… With my friends I will behave differently, when I come home, I will behave differently. Then, there is no standards for you.
That flower is telling me, ‘I have a standard for myself, and I will live up to only that standard. I will not…’ My life changed!
That morning, something in the core of my being got transformed. The way I feel about my work, the way I think about my work, the way I want to hold myself to certain values, certain character standards, service standards, everything… Everything changed on that day… because you tell yourself, it’s, it has nothing to do with others. I want to set certain standards for myself, and I want to live up to that standard and I wish my standards are higher than the standards of expectations that the world has towards me.
When you reach that stage, where the standard of expectation you have from yourself is higher than the standard of expectations….
To infinitheists, I tell them.
‘Mahatria, if you are coming to our shop, please let us know. I will be there’.
‘Why?’
‘No, we can give you good service’.
‘The day you can give the service that you give to Mahatria to all your customers, you will not ask me this question, ‘How to take the business to the next level?’
You will not ask me this question because you never know which customer is big. You would never know which customer will become big. A lot of one-time transaction will go on to become one of your biggest customers at some stage. Now you should have certain standards of customer service. It has nothing to depend on the customer.
Every time when somebody tells me, ‘If you’re coming, please let us know that we want to be there…’. The way you want to relate to Mahatria, ensure that, that is how you are able to relate to everybody.
You should have certain standards for yourself, whether it’s customers service, whether it’s your value system, whether it’s your behaviour, whether it’s your character traits, whether it’s your performance.
You should have certain standards for yourself, and it cannot depend on others.
For us… we need to have a standard!
And that day in that flower, the whole thing changed.
Why I’m saying this is, we never know the right input. I’ll use the word knowledge, the right knowledge at the right time. When I say right time, you should be in the right frame of mind to absorb… in the right environment has to come. We never know when that moment is.
The same message, why did it have an impact on one of you and did not have any impact on the other. Knowledge is the same. You are not ready for it. Somebody was ready for it.
Why is that something you hear for the fifth time and this time it makes an impact. This time you were ready to absorb it. This time you were in the right environment. Earlier it did not have an impact… lot of things in life. You never know when it hits you. You have heard it and heard it and heard it and heard it and heard it and you know it, but it’s not yet a part of your life, but sometimes it comes and hits you.
And having seen so much of life, one thing I am convinced. You need that little grace to… for all this to come together, you need that hand above your head. You need that existential grace that you were in the right frame of mind. You are ready to absorb, you were ready to… and it’s… when I’m saying ready to absorb or I’m saying you should be in the right frame of mind… It also has to do with, when you are ready for ambitions in life, when you are ready to put your life into the next level, when you have right now challenged yourself with new goals.
Those of you, who have accepted status quo in life. I will study like this only. I can perform like this only. I am like this only. Anyhow what? Everybody is there like that only.
So, those of you, who don’t have an ambitious goal, those of you are not ready to take your life to the next level, those of you who are not ready to shift yourself into a different orbit of living, you are not ready for it.
But somewhere your desires have upgraded, your goals have been reset, you are there on the threshold of ambition. Somewhere you have told yourself, ‘This is not how I am going to live my life anymore. This is how I am going to live my life anymore’. You are ready for it.
In your mind you have imagined a future and right now in the present, you don’t have that competence or that clarity or that direction of thinking or that maturity to go. So, there is this level of restlessness, where I have suddenly told myself, ‘I am not a 25,000 rupees per month person. I think I’m setting my target, next year onwards, I am going to earn one lakh per month’. You have set your mind, but right now you feel… ’With my qualification or this thing, everybody is only getting so much, so how am I going to shift from here?’ So, there is an element of resistance…. you are ready.
That time somewhere a scene in the movie, a conversation that’s happening between two people. So, somewhere this need to upgrade my life from where it is to another level, spiritually, financially, in terms of character, in terms of behaviour…
Somewhere when that readiness is there in you and there is this restlessness, where from an ordinary future, I have set my eyes on an extraordinary.
You made that decision, but you don’t know how to reach there. You are ready for it.
Something happens in that session, and you feel… a lot of adults have said this. ‘You exactly gave me what I was looking for’.
You were ready, so the teacher appeared.
I have been giving exactly what you require every time. You didn’t think it was for you, so you told the one sitting next to you, ‘This is your message! He is telling for you only!’ Papa this is about you, Mama this is about you. Oh! This message is for God, actually not for me! Okay, but when you are ready, you feel, I think that was your message.
