Eyes on the Prize

We live in a world that celebrates multi-tasking. Getting hired for any management position seems to make this a priority skill. The presumption is that it facilitates productivity.

As any parent or teacher of small children knows very well, situations often arise that interrupt one’s focus. But is multi-tasking an optimal design for attentive living, for managing stress, for achieving success? Consider the creativity, inspirational impact and enormous body of work of Swami Kriyananda – his music, books, lectures, whole communities – all brought to life with total focus, one undertaking at a time.  

Can you multi-task while meditating? It curses the intended effect. Concentration and stillness flee the scene.

An axiom often repeated by Paramhansa Yogananda is another key to success: “The greater the will, the greater the flow of energy; and the greater the flow of energy, the greater the magnetism.” Whatever you want, you have to act with commitment, confidence and courage. The weaker the will, the weaker… You get it.

Another secret of success is self-study. What is it that you want? If you have failed to achieve it, why? Yogananda would constantly remind his disciples, “The season of failure is the best time for sowing seeds of success.” Get back on that horse, but with a clear understanding of what will keep you from being thrown again. Too often we approach a challenge with the same mindset that didn’t work the first time or the second or…. Stop! It’s time to rethink what you thought.

With humor and truth, probably from an old Reader’s Digest, a one-liner claimed that when you want to get somewhere, you have to know three things: where you came from, where you are going, and where you left your keys. 

Ultimately, of course, the vehicle is oneself, the destination is Self-realization, and the keys are the principles that comprise a dharmic life. But in our multi-task society, even with the best intention, help is needed to keep us from driving in materialistic circles, unable to locate the exit ramp. I, like many, once believed that I could find it on my own. I wasn’t ready for the true Guru to appear.

Worldly goals need not be at the expense of spiritual gain. They can, indeed, serve a higher purpose than personal ambition and self-indulgence, thereby serving also to invite the Guru’s appearance. The question then is who is given the lead, you or the Guru? “Open your heart to me,” the Guru says, “and I will enter and take charge of your life.” Are you ready for that too? How quickly do you want to reach where the Guru wants to take you? How willing is your will to let go of what’s in the way?

The Guru is an emissary of God. It is God’s guidance that is offered, along with God’s infinite abundance. Success in this world, no matter how great, vanishes the moment we die. The multi-tasker is instantly redirected to a whole new dimension of focus where that skill is of no use. Better to seek the true success of achieving our soul’s freedom. Eyes on the prize.