Illuminating young minds
Words by: Rochelle D Souza Photographs from: Various Sources
“I remember this story of a married couple. The husband would return home every day and start screaming at his wife. At first she was upset and she could cry and have sleepless nights. Then one day, as usual he returned home and began his usual shouting and cursing but he couldn’t help but notice that his wife was just sitting there, calmly, listening to him but at the same time with a very peaceful aura to herself. So he asked her, ‘Why are you so happy?’ and she said ‘Well, I cleaned the toilet yesterday.’ He looked at her amazed and said ‘So what’s new about that? You clean the toilet all the time?’ She looked at him with a smile and said ‘Last night I cleaned it with your toothbrush.”
With a couple hundred managers gathered within the crowded halls of the Kochi Le Meridien convention centre and lending their ears to the inspirational man, Sadhguru shared his ideas in the form of umpteen anecdotes and jokes, teaching people how to attain and maintain a peaceful and sound state of mind, that not only kept the audience completely tuned in to the session but also made sure that his lessons for life were quickly grasped and remembered.
In this illuminating session organised by the Kerala management Association, Sadhguru largely spoke on the lines of India as a nation and the shortcomings we have faced and what it is that we should be aiming for in the future as well as his core focus area of strengthening the mind. Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev quoted an experience from his recent visit to IIT Delhi where he was in conversation with the management and students of the institution. A few disturbing facts and statistics were brought to his attention while he sat down with a few of the management of IIT.
“One in every four students at the institute was either under immense stress or was suffering from depressions. There are two reasons why this bothers me. Firstly because according to a recent survey, the average age of the Indian population is 27.6 years, which means that the lifeblood and backbone of this country. Secondly, because that this statistic means that 25% of the students here in IITs and IIMs, students who are some of the best minds in the country, students who are being moulded and shaped to lead this country into the future, are not of sound mind.” said the yogi, mystic, visionary, and founder of Isha Foundation, who was in the city on Friday (March 9) where he delivered a session on ‘Nurturing India’ as a part of the 36th annual convention of the Kerala Management Association.
“Before one sets about to manage man and material, before one decides to manage 1000 people and a mind you, managing 1000 minds is an immense task, one must be able to manage his own mind. Look at our great minds at IIT. All the talent and intelligence and skills in their hands and they cannot cope with stress and pressure. The problems lie at the very grassroot level. Right from the home and the fundamental levels of education that do not teach us how to manage ourselves, that doesn’t teach us the importance of achieving peace and happiness by simply being able to be in control of our minds, thoughts and feelings.”
He concluded the session citing, “There are three kinds of people in the world: Ones that make wonders happens, ones that watch wonders happen and ones that wonder what happened. Don’t ever be the last kind.”