Once you step into the world, there’s going to be a lot of filth. There is corruption and much nonsense happening everywhere. There is a set of people, who will develop an allergy for this filth — they can’t take it. They usually run to the Himalayas.
If you want everything pure, it’s not possible because filth of the world has, one way or the other entered our minds. So those who are allergic to filth try to run away but they cannot. We cannot avoid filth, it is there. Another, larger segment of people unfortunately have come to think that since the world is already full of filth, let me also become filth.
Lotus as a symbol
What we call as filth, however, can also become great manure. Indian spirituality often uses the lotus for symbolism. A lotus flower blooms best where the filth is thick. We, too, have this option, every moment of our life. If the atmosphere that we live in makes us, we cannot call ourselves managers. If we make the atmosphere that we live in, only then we can call ourselves managers. Being a manager means that we are going to create whatever we see as the most beautiful thing to happen right now. Allowing situations to create you is not management at all; creating the situations that you want is management.
Let’s say somebody got a job. On his first day at work, his table is the most fantastic place in the world. But within a few years, behind the same table, are: blood pressure, diabetes, ulcers and what not. It’s not that there’s something wrong with the job or the world in which we live. This is simply because we have not paid enough attention to ourselves.
You need to make yourself capable, not only in terms of management and other skills, but also capable as a human being. You need to be like a lotus flower, to be able to go through situations untouched; maintain your beauty and fragrance even if you’re in the filthiest of situations. Then you can float through life untouched. Otherwise, life will eat you up.
Good Management There’s no such thing as perfect management. If you give yourself absolutely to what you’re doing, things will happen. Management is your ability to be capable of inspiring people to do their best. If everybody around us is doing their best, that’s the best possible management that can happen.
Manipulation won’t work; good management comes with dedication and love. You should be willing to give yourself one hundred percent to the person who is sitting next to you at that moment. Learn to touch the core of his humanity – you see that every human being is willing to do his best for you, always. Only if people around you love you and they want to do their best for you, you will not get ulcers doing management.
Only when people around us really want to do their best for us, management can happen wonderfully. Our lives become beautiful not because of what we do, our lives become beautiful simply because we have included everybody around us as a part of our dream of well-being.
Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev is a spiritual master for whom yoga is not an esoteric discipline from the past but a contemporary science. Founder of Isha Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to well-being, he is widely sought after by prestigious global forums to address issues as diverse as human rights, business values, social, environmental and existential issues. www.isha.sadhguru.org
