Importance of Being Unimportant

                                                                                              *Saumitra Mohan

            As a human being, all of us hanker to be appreciated and recognised though not all of us are lucky enough. Biologically, all of us have the requisite faculties to make it big if we have the desired motivation and perspicacity to recognise the umpteen opportunities, often disguised as hard work. Destiny and your past Karma are definitely factors, but not beyond a point after which you can easily mould and make your own destiny. It is all up to us as to how determined and dedicated we are to leave our footprints on the sands of time.

            As a human being, we have all been favoured with the Almighty’s grace to be born as the most intelligent of all the living beings. Still, we are all unique, endowed with distinctive capacities. Each one of us is said to be an axis of this world and we often feel perplexed noticing the entire world moving around us. Notwithstanding being unique, all of us are part of a larger matrix. Coming to the world to play our role as part of the larger cosmic plan, we need to do the same with due care and dedication. If we succeed doing the same, we not only contribute to our own spiritual evolution, but also to the enrichment of the cosmic intelligence. However, not all of us are capable enough to recognise our assigned task to make our mark.

            Whatever be our vocation, avocation or position, we all have our share of opportunity to shine and be recognised in the society we live. Each and every one of us reaches different levels of fame, popularity and status. The said recognition or importance could extend to one’s family, community, locality, village, city, state, country or the entire world. It could also be confined to one’s office, trade, profession, business, industry or a particular grouping. Depending on the extent of a person’s ambition, s/he has the craving to be appreciated and recognised in the said circle or sphere. One’s aspirational level is however predicated upon multiple factors including the level of one’s consciousness, one’s socio-educational background, and one’s received cultural and motivational capital.

            Most of the people remain satisfied and happy in one’s own cocoon, without continually thinking of incremental upgrading one’s sphere of influence. But there shall always remain some who would not stop at any achievement or success. Like a fire is only aggravated with every pouring of oil or butter into it, similarly our desires constantly keep multiplying pursuant to the satisfaction of one or the other desire. Man’s desire to further explore and extend oneself keeps growing after satisfaction of his/her next desire. Endowed with boundless aspirational energy, s/he would not stop till one identifies with the entire cosmos by one’s eventual merging into the Supreme Consciousness.

            But we must understand the supreme truth that all this yearning for evanescent recognition or importance has no value as such but for helping us with our spiritual growth. After all, this fame or recognition has been found to be immaterial and irrelevant beyond a point. Our own Karma or actions in the past lives appear alien to us in the next lives because we don’t recognise the same. However, we do have an innate identification or affinity with particular deeds or thinking because of the permanent impressions grafted on our eternal consciousness. More than the status, fame or importance, it is the lessons learnt in each of the birth stations which is important to us as a spiritual being.

            In fact, every position or situation is nothing but a facilitating stage for learning right lessons for improving one’s Karma for one’s upward spiritual evolution. After all, the greatest of the celebrities, the most famous or the powerful movers and shakers of the world are also soon forgotten. So, any attachment or fascination for fleeting glory or fame during our temporary stay on this Blue Planet is not at all advisable. Most of us never pause to cogitate over the relevance of our birth or assigned role in the entire scheme of things.

            We should all try to do and be our best as long as we last and survive here. Time and again, it is noticed that many of us, in our bid to race past others to attain that elusive power or importance stemming from either being a celebrity, a powerful political or business leader or the master of our profession, either never get the hang of the Cosmic Drama or simply lose the plot of the game. Many religious scriptures including the Bhagwad Geeta repeatedly says that whatever belongs to us today belonged to someone else yesterday and would belong to someone else tomorrow. When we are soon to be replaced and forgotten by others, why should we take the mundane ups and downs in our lives to our heart?

            As per Bhagwad Geeta, we should keep on engaging in the everyday chores of our lives without ever thinking of the fruits of our actions. However, many have questioned this scriptural prescription on the plea that such an attitude would actually take away the primal zeal and motivation to move towards continual social, economic, cultural, educational, scientific and other enrichments of the human civilization. But against this mind bogglingly gigantic Creation population by mind bogglingly diverse variety of creatures and living beings, it’s only the humans who are endowed with the logical and rational faculties. Again, only a minuscule minority from amongst the humans are capable enough to indulge in cerebral activities to uplift themselves spiritually.

            If we notice, we would find that we all have different periods of crests and troughs in our lives. Many of us take these temporary or periodic lows in their careers, personal or public life very negatively because of which the same start hurting their spiritual evolution. A human life is very beautifully crafted by the Supreme Lord and He has a micro plan for each of us. As they say, if things are happening our way, it is good. If the same is not happening our way, it is actually better as then it is happening God’s way. So, we should not feel depressed or down in the dumps during such occasional periods of lull or so-called unimportance. These are, actually, God’s way of making us stronger to face bigger challenges of life.

            As Swami Vivekananda once said, “I asked for strength and God gave me difficulties to make me strong. I asked for wisdom and God gave me problems to solve. I asked for prosperity and God gave me brain and brawn to work. I asked for courage and God gave me danger to overcome. I asked for love and God gave me troubled people to help. I asked for favours and God gave me opportunities. I received nothing I wanted, but I received everything I needed”. So, instead of looking at life’s adversities pessimistically, we should see the same in a different perspective. They are actually God’s way of preparing us for larger and bigger roles. Hence, we should not keep looking at the door which has been closed because by doing so, we lose the capability of viewing the many doors which are lying open for our exploration.

            So, the periodic irrelevance or unimportance is actually an essential phase in our life to make us appreciate and value things when we have or don’t have them. Often, some of us get supercilious, irreverent or egotistic when we have power, affluence, success or importance emanating from different sectoral successes of our short life. Such transitory societal unimportance not only helps us value things better when we have them, the same also makes us humble and down to earth. Most importantly, such periods or time should be creatively and constructively utilised for rediscovering and reinventing oneself.

            There are many things we have always desired to do in our life or there are many relationships which become neglected for want of our desired affection and care. By deriving our importance from passing positions or situations of power, we make ourselves amenable to the arbitrary control of our eternal Self which could and ought to be carefully nourished through intelligent investment of time, care, attention and affection. Such periods of insignificance or unimportance should be wisely utilized to nurture one’s long neglected Muses and relationships instead of moping about things we have temporarily lost.

            What we lost was anyhow never ours and was going to be alienated sooner or later anyway. So, it is advisable for us to create a permanent source of importance for us, something which makes us immune to such temporary ups and downs in our fortunes. Such a permanent importance could come only by continual investment in our relationships and in the development of uplifting qualities in our personality which eventually lead us to the growth of our eternal consciousness which moves with us from one life to another and also stays with us in the finer realms after our death.

            The failures, unimportance, setbacks or periodic downfall in our stock are the most important teachers of our life. Such a phenomenon makes us appreciate and respect our fellow human beings whom often we ignore or mistreat during our temporal prominence. This also affords us an opportunity to restrategize and rework our life’s objectives. It gives us the required respite and pause to replan and redo things to take our lives to the next level. As they say, if you want things you never had, you must try things you never did. Our privations, weaknesses and challenges are God’s signal to a bigger task and achievement. After all, bigger achievements require bigger sacrifices and bigger efforts.

            Such periods should, therefore, be intelligently utilized to recharge our batteries, catch up on our family responsibilities, spend more time with our relatives and friends, learn newer things, pursue our passions, upgrade our skills and add uplifting qualities to our individual consciousness. Instead of crying over spilt milk or ruing the lost opportunities, positions or power, we should spend quality time in rediscovering ourselves to enjoy the present moment in the divine company of our friends, colleagues and family members. We also get to learn and add superior qualities like patience, forbearance and humility during these times. A significant character building happens during such times. Instead of sulking at the loss of our desired things or successes (which anyhow is nothing but momentary), we should focus on snatching the smaller pleasures of life from the present. It is such smaller pleasures which eventually add to our eternal bliss and contentment.

            In fact, the real sense of power comes from helping the helpless others and earning their admiration and gratitude. Heartfelt appreciation and admiration from the people around us is the real intoxicant or aphrodisiac. However, helping others with a selfish motive is said to be spiritually degrading. Lord Krishna in Geeta says that we should indulge in Nishkam Karma, deeming our every act as an act of prayer, without any expectation. This could be the greatest investment in our future as the same comes back to us multiplied. We often curse the God for what he has not given us or taken away without acknowledging what he has given us in abundance. We understand the value thereof only after the same is lost.

            As they say, life is like our favourite ice-cream. We must relish it before it melts. So chase your long cherished passions, nurture your creative Muses and spend quality time in the divine company of your near and dear ones. Often, in the rat race of success and achievements, we forget to uplift our character and soul. God’s ‘micro plan’ affords each of us an opportunity to undertake all such activities through these temporary lull or momentary periods of unimportance. Our attempt should be add enduring substance or quality to our individuality, something which would not be compromised with such periodic losses or would not go with the sudden loss of power or position, thereby making us stronger to stand tall in such periods of personal losses or crises.

            We should try to outgrow these externalized positions of power or importance to add permanent value to our character and individuality. Such a thing also uplifts ourselves spiritually and plants permanent impressions on our souls as part of the eternal consciousness to travel with us to next world or dimension when we finally kick the bucket. Those who understand this, carefully indulge themselves through constructive and creative pursuits. If we add such eternal value to ourselves, society would be forced to sit up, notice and value us. So, let’s make ourselves endowed with such timeless qualities that people find it difficult to ignore us.

            Mind you, life is not a destination; it is a journey. We can’t afford to stop at a particular juncture or remain stuck in the attractions of a specific position of power or importance. Often people spend such time cursing others they mistakenly think responsible for their downfall. As many Hindu scriptures and sages have said time and again, anything happening to us in this world is our own making and consequence of our past Karma. So, possessed of our insecurities, inferiority complex or momentary failures, we start bitching or backbiting about others without realising that the same would take us backward in terms of our personal growth. Such an outlook blinds us to the future opportunities and brighter prospects awaiting us. As they say, as long as you are trying to get even with others, you can’t get ahead of them. Mind you, as we can’t take someone’s destiny, similarly none can take ours. So, instead of blaming others for our woes, we should treat them as the result of our own Karma and should wise try to get out of the fleeting periods of unimportance by dint of intelligent rediscovery and enrichment of our eternal Self.

            So, let’s not crib and sulk when things are bad for us. Rather, when the life is pulling us back, be sure that Almighty is preparing you for a bigger launch like the arrow. The more backward an arrow is pulled, the longest does it travels. Periodic lull in life is an essential phase of life. If we could understand and appreciate the importance of being unimportant at regular intervals of our life, we can definitely accomplish greater tasks and achieve greater successes, not to speak of enriching our eternal consciousness.