Success Quotes Success and Fame What is Success

Vijay Kumar:
I have been associated with the field of Spirituality ever since I was born. I have no knowledge of astrology, palmistry or numerology whatsoever.

As a knower of the Bhagavad Gita ... I can throw some light on the various aspects of life, which may or may not be of help to you.

Here I shall narrate a fact of life, which was told to us (me and my brother) by our father at the start of our career. The moment in life had come ... when both of us had completed engineering and were entering the family business of foundation engineering.

My father spelled out that there are two ways to govern a business in our country, India-

One was to practice and follow the path of the Tatas ... Jamshetji Tata was a visionary par excellence ... he could foresee that to develop the foundations of the country ... the technological base had to be very strong ... he laid the seeds for building up a technological India so that it could feed the largest democracy of the world.

The legacy of Jamshetji Tata was passed on to JRD Tata ... whose name in the annals of history would always be known as the Man of steel. A gut wrenching determination ... a laid bare goal ... the will to face every adversity head-on ... made JRD Tata embark on a mission ... which had no end to it. His mission in life was- I was born out of nothing ... when the time comes for leaving the mortal frame ... I shall again belong to the dust from where I was born! The feeling why crave for the materialistic riches ... made him choose a very noble goal in his life.

His vision was absolutely clear ... he wanted to serve the country ... he built one technological enterprise after another ... the goal never being earning money ... for this Man of steel JRD Tata ... money was only a means to an end. Never an end in itself. He wanted to serve the humanity as a trustee ... one who never owns anything whatsoever. According to him everything belonged to God and a human being is but the caretaker. The wanton desires ... the cravings of a normal human being ... were totally absent in him.

It is difficult to digest the fact that in his lifetime JRD Tata never made a house of his own. He did not believe in the fact that the richest person of the country must necessarily own a house ... Alternatively, he built a perfect five-star hotel adjoining the gateway of India, the Taj Mahal Palace ... wherein he built a suite for himself and his wife. It is a legacy in the Tata family that no son shall ever inherit the Tata Empire. JRD was not a direct son of Jamshetji Tata.

JRD thought that living in the suite would serve many purposes ... he had a passion for reading in the night ... Had he desired a cup of coffee in the early hours of the day ... he thought better not to disturb the lady of the house at odd hours ... the mere press of a button would find his favorite waiter with a cup of coffee (to his liking) knocking at the door. So small a thing ... yet, many top businessman of the country fail on this account.

JRD Tata also made an extra suite wherein only the presidents and CEOs of larger corporations from world-wide could come and stay ... Priority was always given to the presidents and prime ministers of other countries. The others suite was just facing his ... a noble way to introduce self to the cream of the society ... how many business matters ... how many deals finalized in the lift while traveling along with the various presidents and the prime ministers is only known to JRD Tata ... he never missed an opportunity! was made by him.

I am sure the thought of keeping some reserve money in a bank of Switzerland was beyond the thinking of JRD Tata. He believed in his own countrymen and the country. He always thanked God for having been kind enough for him. The need for scrupulous desires ... stashing money abroad in a hidden bank account were against the principles of JRD Tata.

I distinctly remember that JRD Tata was such a man of principles that he even kept the prime minister of the country waiting for about half an hour for she had come without an appointment. He was in the middle of an important meeting, which he did not feel like disturbing. He never liked breaking his schedules only because the other was at a higher position than him. Mrs. Indira Gandhi was a lady of a different kind. She felt bad about it.

When the opportunity arose she called JRD Tata from Bombay to Delhi for a meeting. She kept JRD Tata waiting for a long time ... but JRD Tata was not to wait for long ... he was never in the habit of doing so. He had come at the right time yet he was required to wait. Something was fishy. Yet, he never felt bad about it ... no complains ... he left for Bombay after waiting for about an hour and half. Subsequently, Mrs. Indira Gandhi wrote a letter of apology about not being able to meet JRD Tata as she was busy with the political affairs of the country ... but the message was clear ... no one is supposed to keep the prime minister of the country waiting!

What a noble man JRD was! An unbelievably tactful person ... the ability to read what the other person wanted to convey! JRD Tata did not waste his own time nor of any other person he came in contact with. He believed in the value of time and always kept his punctuality to the fore.

I distinctly remember ... such was the zeal in JRD Tata that whenever any new vehicle was produced in his enterprise ... he did not release the vehicle in the market unless he had tested it himself ... he almost took two months time to sample every vehicle he produced. Only when he thought that all improvements had been made did he approve of its release in the market.

In the present scenario ... the present incumbent Ratan Tata is rather so busy that the vehicles get released in the market even without him having driven it even once. Had it not been so, how come then, the Tatas sumo I owned turned turtle thrice while braking at the speed of 40 kilometers per hour. I tried to get the defect removed but all efforts were in vain. I took the vehicle to the garage of one of my friends brother (an authorized service station for Tata sumo) for a checkup and surprisingly even without my permission (as I had instructed them not to carry out any repairs unless the estimate had been prepared) I had to pay a bill of about Rs 17,000.

It was only later I came to know that the total work, which had been done on the vehicle, costed Rs 70/ only. I was taken for a ride by this authorized service station ... a nice way to repay friendship! My life and that of my daughter was saved only with the grace of God. The new Tata sumo I owned leaked all over ... no one seemed to care ... the brand new vehicle had openings of about one centimeter at the edges of the door from where the sunlight could enter. and if the rain entered it was not a surprise.

The owner of about $10 billion enterprise is not a manager ... how come Ratan Tata is not able to find time for the basics of the business ... he is totally contrary in approach to that of JRD Tata. JRD Tata deeply resented this fact but he had no alternative. The owner of an enterprise in a country like India ... is always a trustee ... one who manages the affairs of the organization in the name of God. How trouble free JRD Tata kept himself ... he did not even own a house he could call his own!

The basics of running a business empire, as a trustee is what doing an MBA and finally becoming a manager will give to you. Here you can work on your free will ... as per the dictates of the owner of your organization. You primarily would not own the enterprise ... but can always excel as a manager and live a comparatively free life.

The other example my father told us was that of the Birla clan ... the industrial group, which helped develop industries all over the country. In this form of business enterprise ... none is a trustee in the actual sense ... they own the enterprise ... they are not willing to part with the money earned through their efforts ... the personal whims and fancies prevail!

If an industrial enterprise of the Birla clan is set up at a price of say Rs 40 million then suppose it takes another five years for generating an income of Rs 40 million then the modus operandi of the Birla clan would be to put another unit costing Rs 40 million elsewhere ... this would result in multiplication of the industrial units put up by the Birla clan. This is the way ... the Birla clan has developed the industrial empire of India.

In the Birla system of working ... the words of the owner is the final governing authority ... managers and down below have very little say except that all are required to work in a fashion that income gets generated ... failures have no place in the Birla way of working!

To the contrary ... JRD Tata would consult all the board members ... giving a serious thought to the viewpoint of all and finally come to a conclusion. The goal and the final outcome of the decision always aimed at the benefit of mankind.

In your case joining the army would be like working for the Birla clan. You shall never have a say at any stage of your life ... you do what you are required to do ... and you get paid accordingly. You have a chain of bosses under whom one is required to work ... the dictates in the army are required to be followed ... no breaking of the rules ... discipline is a strictly enforced ... lest army would not be able to carry out its assigned task!

In an industrial enterprise, if the owner does not enforce the rules of the working ... one can never expect scheduled returns ... the venture can fail in case of a lapse ... similar is the case with the army ... one is required to follow the task assigned ... no questions allowed!

Success and fame in life are purely a matter related to your personal working ... whether you join the army or venture out to become a manager ... all is dependent upon your sincerity in the profession, the hard work you put in, the patience you practice ... the honesty you display and various other factors over which none has control other than you.

The goal of the life should be clear ... you want materialistic riches alone or you want a graceful life as that of an army officer as well. Take your decision and go-ahead. Rest, the experiences themselves will teach you more as you proceed ahead in life.

Always there to clarify your queries (send your query),

Essay by: Vijay Kumar "Atma Jnani" ... The Man who Realized God in 1993!

Full text of query: hello sir i am intrested in two career feilds joining the army and doing an mba and become a manager. which one will i acheive and which option will give me good success and fame in life.

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