The thing most commonly unknown to people is that they are not aware that their problems are impersonal. When they consider them as impersonal, then all personal limitations break free. Everything dissolves into the vastness of infinite abundance.
What is the goal of your life – your individual aim? Think about it. What is your organizational vision – the goal that your organization aspires to achieve? Ponder these lines. Writing down your aim clearly is the key to a lifetime of success. A clear written statement generates clarity about your personal and organizational vision.
Usually people stop at the basic thought level; for example, I will become a doctor. Some people go a step further and aspire to becoming the best doctor. This also gives them adequate clarity of their mission. But a true leader is one who has an unambiguous vision about the impact his role will have on humanity. A doctor, who is an impersonal leader, will aim to be the finest so that he can serve the maximum people and aid them in living a healthy, disease-free life. His service thus reflects his impersonal vision as well as a selfless mission. People evolve from being ordinary to becoming great leaders because of their focus on being impersonal. The only ironical and a distinguishing factor between the ambitions of a common man and that of a true leader is the impersonal idea of service. A common man serves for his own benefit, whereas a true leader serves for the benefit of the common man!
Impersonal life – live for others because there is no other
What is the exact inference of an “impersonal life?” The dictionary says the word “impersonal” is unfriendly or formal or aloof. This is not what is implied here. What we mean by being impersonal is leading a life that is not personal or individualistic in attitude. Impersonal, as opposed to a personal life, refers to an inclusive (as opposed to exclusive) or universal (as opposed to individual) life.
A life lived in the service of Self is an impersonal life. It is not a selfish (swarthi) life. In fact it is a Self-ish (swa–arthi) life – a life where the individual has transcended and one lives established in the Self; where you live for others because there you know that in actuality there is no other. All are the ingredients of the same consciousness.
When one is established in the state of consciousness – there is just oneness. It is nothing, yet everything. Impersonal life is a life led where you are serving others with the understanding that all are one. When one is established in this consciousness, then every event is seen with a different outlook. When the words “I am” are added to “personal,” it becomes “impersonal.” This “I am” refers to “I am-ness,” the existential experience of consciousness present in every “I’’ in every individual.
From self to selfless
Your career or job or profession takes an incredible form once you identify this impersonal vision and pursue it. Then money and finances just become vehicles and medium to support your drive for an impersonal vision. As you practice living life impersonally, you will begin to get free from the shackles of thoughts like “I, me, and myself.” The moment you attain complete freedom from these words, you achieve liberation. This is the journey from “Self ” to “Selfless.”
Make a difference, aim high, start small
Know for certain that when you start living an impersonal life, something beautiful begins to happen in your life. There is a universal law of life – whatever you become a cause for, it manifests in your life as well. It multiplies in your life. Those who heal others first get healed themselves. When you strive to elevate the consciousness of others, your consciousness gets elevated.
Take on a higher aim; an impersonal plan. Ask what difference you can make in the lives of people through your vocation. How can you enhance the level of consciousness through your work? How can you serve people and aid them in achieving something bigger? Whatever your education or business may be, ask how can it help others; how can it be an impersonal one? How can it benefit mankind?
Once you do this, see the ways in which nature will support you miraculously! Simply aim and most of it will be taken care of by the loving and all pervasive nature. Train yourself for this impersonal vision and you will be able to see the impersonal side to the material benefits of a business. Let your business be for the divine service of people. Let your work help you achieve everlasting permanence and thus, peace.
Tejguru Sirshree Tejparkhiji’s spiritual quest, which began about 30 years ago, led him on a journey through various schools of thought and different practices of meditation. The overpowering desire to seek the truth made him relinquish his role of a college lecturer. After a long period of contemplation, his spiritual quest ended with the understanding that the missing link in all paths that lead to the truth is the “understanding” itself. Sirshree says, “All paths that lead to the truth begin differently—but end in the same way—with understanding. Understanding is the whole thing. And, this understanding is complete in itself. Listening to this understanding is enough.” Sirshree has delivered more than one thousand discourses and written over forty books on spirituality and self-help. He is the founder of Tej Gyan Foundation which disseminates a unique system for wisdom on subjects ranging from self-help to self-realization. www.tejgyan.org
