Once, I was to attend a meeting in Delhi. The meeting was in the afternoon and the meeting hall was located on the fourth floor. When I reached the Ministry after obtaining the entry pass, I moved towards the lift. To my utter disappointment, I found that the lift was out of order and I was to climb up to attend the meeting. I had come to the meeting just after lunch and was not physically and mentally prepared to climb four floors. Since there was no other option, I decided to climb but with reluctance and a sad state of mind. Immediately, better sense prevailed and I thought why I should be sad in this situation. A famous quote, ‘If you have not what you like, you must like what you have’ came to my mind and I started seeing the situation in that perspective. I further thought that why should I think of four floors at a point of time. Instead, I started thinking of one step at a time. The whole phobia of climbing four floors then converted into a joy of taking one step at a time. At one step, I also thought of chanting God’s name with every step. All this changed my state of mind completely, and I started climbing one step at a time. Soon, I was on the fourth floor to attend the meeting with cheerfulness and confidence.
This is an everyday affair for all of us. We all want to take big leaps in all the spheres of life. We express our goals every now and then but make no beginning. Not only that, we often blame our environment, time and others for not being able to do so. It results into continuous postponement of our actions and in the process life comes to an end and it becomes too late to start. We then wait for the next life, which is so uncertain. All those who have achieved high goals in life have wasted no time in taking the first step. Life is too short and precious to be wasted in waiting. It has been rightly said that even a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step and all mighty rivers can be leapt at their source’. Once we understand the value of time and the purpose of our life, our confusion disappears. Life then becomes not only purposeful but a happy journey too.
In this regard, I deeply appreciate the approach of the Dharam Bharti Mission, with which I came in contact with recently. It says that if you want to change things for the better and achieve high goals in life then begin with yourself, begin with small and begin now. Postponement can be a costly error.
