“In a gentle way
you can shake the world.” – Mahatma Gandhi
On the occasion of our 77th Independence Day, I was addressing the students. I shared with them that our country has the unique distinction of achieving independence without bloodshed. It is unheard of anywhere in the world. Mahatma Gandhi practiced Ahimsa or non-violence. He never thought against the British, but fought for Indian independence. The weapon he used was Ahimsa. It paid rich dividends. The British had to leave India without any choice. That is the power of Ahimsa. Gandhi motivated the Indians to be anchored to Ahimsa.
“Faith is the ability to trust what you are not able to see, the ability to believe what is not yet.” mahatria Ra
From my childhood I remember seeing my mother in the pooja room, one hour in the morning and in the evening. Life was very tough for her as a single parent. My siblings and I were a handful. She had to run the school too. All put together, life was challenging for her. But her faith in God was very strong. It was unshakable. She believed that one day God will lift her up in life. Did it happen overnight? It took decades for her to come up in life. Did she lose hope? Not even once she doubted her God. That was the power of her faith. Today, the NSN Group of Schools stand as a testimony to her perseverance & determination, and above all, her immense faith in the Almighty. Faith was her anchor in life, which helped her to move from a state of nothing to everything.
She was also a picture of courage. At a time when women hardly went to college, she qualified herself as a post graduate. She became a woman entrepreneur when she was just thirty-five. She rented a house and lived all by herself with her three daughters. Money trickled into her life, although she was born into a wealthy family. She lived like a queen even after her marriage, until that fatal day. All of a sudden, she lost everything in life. Anybody else in her place would have given up. But she was a courageous woman. Undeterred by the vagaries of life, she moved forward with grit and courage. I have been a witness to the way the world sometimes treated her. She has had her share of threats from people around. But that did not stop her from moving towards her goal. Courage too was her anchor.
I was someone who lived life expecting the world to be good to me. I used to get upset and disappointed when it was otherwise. My entire thought process of expecting goodness from the world was slowly shifted to accepting the world as it was, through my spiritual evolution. Today I have learnt to accept people and situations. What is, is. I don’t stay disturbed. I have learnt to move on in life. I cannot do anything about my area of concern. I have decided to act on my area of influence. As an educationist I have my fair share of both. My peace is intact when I don’t react, but only respond to situations. Acceptance has become a very big part of my life.
In my profession people come up with innumerable suggestions and opinions. But an educational institution cannot be run with the opinions of thousands of stakeholders. Decisions are taken with children as our main focus. It needs a lot of resilience to handle the day to day situations. We deal with human emotions, that of students, teachers and parents. Sitting in silence everyday provides me the required energy and resilience to run an institution. My greatest strength is my ability to absorb everything and stay calm. The dynamism for your doing comes from your non-doing. As much as you need to be dynamic, you also need to be centered. Only then will you experience peace in your life. Else you can easily get disturbed by the world. When you are anchored to your Silence, the universe will conspire to make things happen in your favour. Choose your anchor, to go through a seamless experience in life.
#Thoughtfulthursdays #nsn #nsnschool #mentoring #parenting
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