THE ANCIENT FORMULA OF SUCCESS

(Inspired by my friend pavementfreud , I have written this blog. It is about the factors that decide the success, the outcome of our efforts)

 
We all want success, in every field. Whether it to get a good post in a reputed company or to get a good partner-in-life. But we really do not care for the important aspects, the ingredients, that led us to success. 

Here I have tried to narrate the important five aspects that drive the success home. 

KARTA

Karta means the doer of the action, the actor who executes the work. He or she is important factor for the successful ending of the task. For example imagine our struggle for independence without the presence of Mahatma Gandhi, Nehru or Sardar Patel. It was nearly impossible to do the task. So the Karta (with all his or her abilities) is vitally important

 
KARAN

‘Karan” means the ways and means or the tools we use while executing the project on hand. If the Karta is an able person, but he or she lacks the tools of the trade, there would be no success. Let us take the example of Maharani Laxmibai. She was the leader of the war of independence against the foreign rulers. But she was not equipped with the modern weapons and the techniques of war. Her opponents were well-equipped. So in spite of better leaders like herself and Nana Saheb Fadanvish, we could not get success in 1857. That is the effect of the KARAN, the tools. Another example is of Babar. He was a good warrior and he brought the big guns (mortars) for the first time in India in the year1524 or so. Succeeded. So the second aspect deciding about our success is the Karan, the tools we used.

PLACE

All the good Kartas (doers) and powerful Karans (tools) cannot guarantee the success if the war is fought on a wrong platform, at a different place than it should be fought. Here the war includes all the acts.  We can see that with all their might and superiority, the western nations have not succeeded in Afghanistan. The Russians were also defeated there in Eighties. So the choice of improper place to execute an action shape out the outcome of our efforts.

TIME

There can be nothing more important than the proper timing of our efforts, if we want to be successful. Had there been no Mangal Panday incidence, and the starting of the war of independence prematurely by one month, the outcome of 1857 struggle for independence would have been quite different.  So this should be the golden rule of success: think before you leap and see the ripe time to jump in the battlefield. One more example of miss-timing: the Russian winter had written Hitler’s defeat in Second World War.

IT IS THE FIFTH

If all the above four aspects are present, the success is bound to be there. But sometimes it happens that despite such positive aspects are present, we fail. Take the case of Rajiv Gandhi. There was only one week's time left before him and his becoming the prime inister of India, in 1991 election. But he could not. Here enteres the fifth aspect that shapes our success: THE LUCK. Bhagawan Shree Krishna said in Geeta that ‘Daivatra Panchamam’ (luck is the fifth).

Now think about Mahatma Gandhi here. Had Gandhiji been not there as the main executors of the affairs, we would have not been successful in getting the work done. He had all the factors of success at his disposal. 

One: he was a good leader mobilising support from the masses, a good Karta. Two: he used the ‘virgin weapon’ of ‘non-violence’ against those who had the latest weapons in hands to defeat the enemies. He had better undefeatable tools. Three: unlike the opponents, the place, the bettlefield was his own country; and he was to fight with the help of his own men and women. Four : the timing was proper, as the people around the world were against the autocracy and foreign rule.

And what about the Fifth Factor: Yes, Gandhiji had his luck too. The British people were so weaken by the outcome of Second World War that they were not able to keep India under their boots for long. 

[The above blog is based on one of the slokas in The Bhagawat Geeta. [Chapter 18: Sloka 14]
"In respect of this, there are the prime mover, the several agents, the varied endeavours, the sustaining power, and likewise the fifth means that is providence.’’ - Jay Shree Krisha]


SHREE KRISHNA PREACHING ARJUNA     courtesy web