Get what you want?

There is this interesting quote that says 'When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it' or some such. Paulo Coelho, I believe, is credited with having written it in 'The Alchemist' or some such book. Made me think of the Universe as some sort of Blinkit which delivers what you ask for, you know. Just throw the wish out there and, presto, it gets delivered to you. (Not that it really happened to me. Been asking for those billions for lo these many years but...)

And, then, I discover that Tiru has said it way back in history. This one...

Ulliyadhu eidhal elidhuman matrunthaan ulliyadhu ullap perin - Tirukkural

He who seeks to achieve a goal shall find it easy if he focuses unremittingly on it - Loose Translation

Well, Tiru does not necessarily convert the Universe into a Blinkit for your wishes but he does say that if you seek to achieve a goal unremittingly, you will find it easy to achieve it. Tiru, of course, does not leave it at just wishing for something. He requires some effort from you...to focus continuously on the goal. So, yes, there is no Universe running around to deliver your Mungerilal ke haseen sapne (Alas, for me).

Does focus unremittingly on a goal suffice, then? I think what all of these guys are saying is not merely sit around on extended daydreams. If something is your goal, then you are expected to put in effort to get there. The thing about 'unremitting' focus is that you are not going to keep changing goals. Like work towards the IAS for a couple of months, switch around to learning AI, then think that becoming an actor is better and so on. So, if you pick a goal and stick to it, work towards it, you'll find it easy to achieve it.

You see, if you are working relentlessly towards one goal shit happens. Someone meets an expert in that area and remembers you; he puts you in touch. Another guy points you to a VC...things like that. THAT is how the Universe helps you, not by sending a cascade of gold coins down your chimney, if you have one. All these things happen only if you are relentlessly working on one thing; if you hop and skip and jump, these guys are unlikely to help you because they do not even know what sort of help you want!

So, yeah, in a way Tiru beat this Paulo Coelho chappie to it. AND it still requires you to do all the hard yards. Alas!

More inimical than enemies?

There is this thing about poet-philosophers. The poet tends to exaggeration to make his point. The philosopher delves into various facets of human nature. When you combine the two, you get things like, 'There is no worse enemy to success than impatience" and, later, "The worst enemy to success is anger" and so on. If you take it all literally, you get into debates about which characteristic is actually the worst. What you need to do, instead, is just understand that impatience is bad, anger is bad and leave it at that...unless you are making a living out of infructuous debates.

So, Tiru says this and you know how to take it...

Pallaar PagaikoLalir paththaduththa theemaiththe nallaar thodarkai vidal - Tirukkural

To lose the friendship of the wise is ten times as bad as gaining the enmity of many - Loose Translation

According to Tiru (and, possibly, almost anyone else), as a leader, you need to surround yourself with people who wish you well and have the ability to guide you properly in times of trouble. The difficulty is to get such a set of advisers whom YOU trust - those with goodwill may lack ability and/or have unconscious or conscious biases; those with ability AND goodwill may still have an ax to grind and so on. So, it IS very tough to get a good set of advisers around you.

Enemies are easily gained, in fact. I mean, you could gain a deadly enemy simply because you, unknowingly, smiled at HIS enemy; with a careless tweet; with a Like on Instagram...About the one thing that is sure is that most people seem to be walking around actively looking for a reason to get triggered. So, if you wake up in the morning with 'x' enemies and went back to sleep without any increase in that number, you must have been in a dark room silently meditating...and, even then, it is very likely that you added ten enemies because you did NOT acknowledge their posts on social media. So, many enemies are a given. You need not do ANYTHING to get them.

So, yes, if anything Tiru understates the issue. To lose those rare good advisers is a thousand times worse than gaining many enmities. Not just ten times. But, then, you have to excuse him. He did not live in the times of Social media!

Troubling trouble?

It is quite possible that someone achieves success without having to struggle in the process to achieving it. Possible, yes, but probable? (Oh, yes, I have had people misquote Holmes, saying "When you have eliminated the improbable, what remains, however impossible, is true." Really? 'Impossible' means probability of occurrence is ZERO; 'improbable' means probability of occurrence is LOW. What's impossible, therefore, can never be true.) So, yes, 'possible' means that it can happen but because it is not probable, the possibility of occurrence is LOW. If you intend to succeed, then, you need to be prepared for struggle.

Tiru has this to say...

Idumbaikku idumbai paduppar idumbaikku idumbai padaa-a dhavar - Tirukkural

They cause trouble to trouble who are not troubled by trouble - Loose Translation

Essentially, Tiru says that to overcome obstacles and succeed you need to have the strength of mind to not be overwhelmed by trouble. Like all good advice, it is pure commonsense. If you are going to roll over and die at the first sight of trouble, how on earth can you overcome it and progress? The point, though, is that, like all commonsense, it is something that you know and parrot but very seldom apply.

ANY endeavour is going to come  with its set of obstacles. It is the attitude with which you encounter those obstacles which decides your success. Are you going to react with 'Why do these things happen to me?' or 'I don't think I can work against this sort of resistance' OR are you going to face it with a 'Let's find a solution to this issue'? In other words, are you going to find a way to trouble trouble OR are you going to let trouble trouble you?

Once you have figured out that last sentence, you'll know which way leads to success!

Laudable ability?

As I have had reason to say, various human abilities are given pole position in different contexts by philosophers, especially if they are also poets. And, so, here we are with the most laudable ability of them all in today's post. Whether or not you agree is left to you.

Ah, no, no, no, I am NOT the poet-philosopher that I am referring to. Tiru is.

Enaiththitpam eidhiyak kannum vinaiththitpam vendaarai vendaadhu ulagu - Tirukkural

No matter what abilities you possess, the world shall not praise you if you do not seek determination in action - Loose Translation

I think I may have mentioned this before. That I read somewhere that 'Vision without execution is mere hallucination'. Yay! Tiru implied it way before. What is the point of having abilities if you will not apply them? And applying them would mean something only when you'll do the job to completion. You are the greatest engineer in the world, the greatest doctor or whatever not because you have the most degrees but because you put your knowledge to use AND you successfully complete the jobs you take up. THAT's when the world lauds you.

AND, again as I have had reason to say before, any job will come with its set of obstacles. You need to have the determination to forge ahead with your execution and complete the job satisfactorily. It is not just your intellectual capabilities that will take you to success. It is also your character. AND for THAT, you need to place that determination at par, if not above, the other abilities. Without that, you could always make the best plans on paper but the world will not appreciate you. A man with lesser intellectual abilities but with that determination to see through the execution will always earn more fame than the genius who will not leave his drawing board.

THAT is the difference between 'Mungerilal ke haseen sapne' and success. Determination in Execution.