In July 1999, I got the chance of visiting Malaysia and Singapore along with my wife. There was a conference on ‘Security Management’ at Penang in Malaysia in which I was invited to address a lecture on ‘Security – An Inner State of Mind’ and it went well. On our way back, we stayed in Singapore for four days. It was during these days that I was invited by Singapore Jaycees to speak on the subject ‘How to be Positive and Motivated at All Times’ and I was looking forward to the same. The convener of the programme was a young member of the club and he was to pick me up from my hotel. According to me, being positive and motivated at all times is what contributes to becoming a highly spiritual person. So, I was planning to speak on those lines.
I was also carrying a book authored by me, titled ‘Spiritual Lessons from Life’. When the convener was accompanying my wife and me from the hotel to the venue of the talk this book was in my hands. Seeing the title of the book, he became somewhat skeptic about the success of the programme. He advised me not to speak on spirituality, as this word was not familiar in Singapore and there were good chances of the programme turning into a disaster. I was amazed, though I kept silent. But inside me, I decided to speak only on spirituality and nothing else. In a way, it was a challenge to my concept of spirituality, which I got from my spiritual master. The only difference is that you are not aware of these great qualities of your own.” These opening remarks were received with great applause and, thereafter, communicating with them became very easy. Our interaction continued for almost three hours against the stipulated time of two hours. After the talk, all copies of the book titled ‘Spiritual Lessons from Life’ were bought by the participants and it was now the turn of the convener to get amazed. However, it was not his fault. The word ‘spirituality’ has always been interpreted very narrowly. In reality, it is the infinite expansion of the mind and once such a state is achieved, we always remain positive and motivated.
