Anyone can be one among the crowd.  The joy of living life is in standing above the crowd, and in walking a different path.  It’s a choice you have to make.  Make the decision right now.  Do you want to be just anybody in life or do you want to be somebody in life? 

If you live like everybody, you will become like everybody.  Walk the path everybody walks, and you’ll reach the destination everybody reaches.  Walk a different path and you’ll create a different destination for yourself.

If you keep thinking the same way, you will keep doing the same stuff.  If you keep doing the same stuff, you will keep getting the same results.  Expecting your life to change without changing the pattern of your thoughts is insane.  Doing the same stuff but expecting newer results is sheer madness.  If the effect has to change, then the Cause must change.

If I have to reach where I have never reached, then I will have to take the path that I have never taken.  If I have to achieve what I have never achieved, then I will have to do the things that I have never done before.  If I have to accomplish what no one has ever accomplished, then I will have to do what no one has ever done.

If you want to be a pathfinder, then you must be willing to be a path breaker.  You cannot have a breakthrough unless you are willing to break with.  If you cannot run ahead of others, then dare to run completely in a different direction with the belief that one day this world will follow you. Come… let us go the other way.

Come… let us go the other way by
‘Redefining Charity’

In a world, where charity is considered as one of the greatest virtues, let us remind ourselves that charity keeps a poor man, poor.  Charity creates a comfort zone people get so used to and they slip into non-performing zones.  They get so used to being cared for that they no more wish to work.  When Government offers people, low cost rationed rice, free television for entertainment and liquor at cheap prices at government-run arrack shops, they no more have the motivation to work. 

A slum dweller will remain a slum dweller.  A beggar will keep begging.  Servant maids will remain servants.  Come… let us go the other way.  To us, let charity be to create employment and provide education.  Employment and education alone can lift a poor person out of his poverty.  Let us build successful enterprises and create job opportunities for more people. 

Let us create economic surplus and sponsor the education of deserving students.  Let us give, but give in ways that will create a tomorrow for those who receive.  Let there be ‘No free lunch’.  Let there be no undeserving charity.  Nobody gets something for nothing.  For what they receive they have to give back something – either his sweat or his performance or show progress.

Come… let us go the other way by
‘Aspiring for Abundance’

Though no religion advocated paucity, somehow religion is always used as a context to advocate scarcity.  The son of a king should not be a beggar.  As children of that omnipresence that represents abundance, we should not be living within meagre means.  Come… let us go the other way.  Let us focus on abundance.  Contentment doesn’t mean you should be ambitious. 

Contentment only means, “I will cherish what I have without any regrets.”  As long as I cherish what I have with no regrets and continue to strive for more, I can be ambitiously contended.  Our thoughts create our reality.  We get what we focus upon.  In any situation, we see what we expect to see. 

Nothing will be ours unless we are convinced that it belongs to us.  We deserve abundance.  Because like begets like, it is necessary to be abundant-minded to draw abundance.  Scarcity-minded people are always aware of what they lack.  So, they draw more scarcity into their life.  We can be abundant-minded by being grateful for what we have. 

No matter how little we have, we are rich, if we are grateful.  No matter how much we have, we are poor, if we are ungrateful.  A heart laden with gratitude need not go in search of abundance.  Instead, abundance will flow into our life.

Come… let us go the other way by
‘Making Work our Salvation’

In a world that wants progress, it pains to hear phrases like ‘Monday morning blues’.  It is shocking to hear that more heart attacks happen on Monday mornings than any other time of the week.  Work is our only salvation.  Work is the only way to progress. 

Nothing develops man like work does.  Come… let us go the other way.  Let Mondays become holier to us than Sundays or Fridays.  Let us become the generation that looks forward to the beginning of a week much more than the weekend.  Let work become our primary form of worship.  Anyway, 1/7th of our life will be Mondays.  Might as well, let us look forward to Mondays. 

Let us find a work that gives us the inner expression.  We will find happiness in it.  Let us make the world recognise the value we add through our work.  Thus, we will find success in it.  Let us be grateful for having found an inner expression through which we are able also find our success.  We will find god through our work.  Let us make this work of ours useful to the world.  And, we will find our life’s purpose in that work.

Come… let us go the other way by
‘Developing a Spotless Character’

With so much media attention and the need to sensationalise everything, the world has been prostituting character for reputation.  Reputation born out of character is sustained even during changing times.  But, reputation that is born in the absence of character not only needs a lot of servicing but also falls flat when the circumstances get stiffer. 

The number of spiritual gurus, who are gods one day and considered scandalous criminals the next day is a classic case of reputation being built without the foundation of character.  Come… let us go the other way.  Character is who you are.  Reputation is what others think of you. 

Character is the man.  Reputation is the shadow.  Every time you catch the shadow, when the man moves, you will lose your grip on the shadow.  Instead, catch the man and you have already caught the shadow.  So, take care of your character, and your reputation takes care of itself.  When your desire to be acknowledged by the crowd is more important than to stand up for what you believe in, you have already handed over the keys of your peace and happiness to the world. 

If you want everybody to be happy with you, then you will never be at peace with yourself.  What the world thinks of you is not your business.  You just go about your business, knowing in the heart of your hearts, that the loudest way to tell the world to SHUT UP is to produce results.  Dare to tell the world, “This is me.  I am proud of I, as I.”  Focus only on your character.  The rest are details…  Let us develop such a spotless character that even God will be proud of such a creation.

Come… let us go the other way by
‘Outgrowing the Bondages of Religion’

Most terrorist activities are manifestations of religious fanaticism?  We may not be a direct sponsor to these terrorist activities but most of us are religious fanatics.  Even the most intelligent of men become utterly foolish when it comes to their religious sentiments.  We have brought disgrace to the founders of each of the religion.  We have vulgarised their teachings and preaching. 

Each and every one of us should cry in shame for the way we have abused the wisdom of our spiritual masters.  Let us no more subscribe to this shame.  Come… let us go the other way.  Let us embrace God without embracing religious fanaticism.  Religious tolerance alone will not be enough.  We must renounce religious fanaticism.  We must denounce all feelings of superiority and inferiority derived out of religious fanaticism.  Remember, true spiritual evolution is to outgrow from the bondage of all religions. 

Will God reject us if we go to him as a human being, just plain simple human being, without any religious prefixes or suffixes?  I claimed that I am from this religion because my dad said that he was from this religion.  Can I today say that I do not belong to any religion so that my son will have no such fanaticism to embrace?  I just want to remain the child of God, who will agree with me that he himself does not belong to any religion.  I, as his child, too do not belong to any religion.

We need a new world. We need a new consciousness. We need a new future. We need a new path.

Can this be a new beginning!

Together, can we cause this new beginning!

Even if we are the minority, we should begin. Come… let us go the other way.