Hello and welcome to episode 35 of The Ask Sri Vishwanath Show. Today I want to talk to you about the reason why most people struggle with their goals. How do we achieve our goals despite all the obstacles surrounding them?
Today’s question is from Rosario who live in Italy. Rosario says “I’m having a difficult time achieving my goals. Obstacles keep coming one after the other. My goals just keep getting father and farther away from me. What can I do?”
Thanks for the question Rosario. A lot of people go through this problem. Let’s see what Krishna says.
Krishna says “He wins peace in whose mind enter objects of desires as river water enters into a full and stable ocean waiting to be filled and not one seeking desires”
Rivers and the ocean
Krishna says that you have to be the ocean. Your goals are the rivers that feed into the ocean. Most people think that they can’t achieve a goal because of an obstacle. The obstacle could be a person or a place or a resource. Krishna says this is not true and that the word obstacle is the obstacle.
Scripted
Obstacles frustrate us but they are not what stop us from achieving our goals. Goals are achieved when they are written in the script. If you watch a movie and you see the various scenes you will notice some the actors go through a range of challenges and still achieve their goals while others have fewer challenges and yet they don’t achieve their goals. This is because the actors must follow what is scripted for them. Life works the same way.
Look at your own life. There may be millions of obstacles yet you will sometimes achieve your goals. You may think that you achieve them because of your willpower or perseverance and these things are important but the real reason behind you achieving your goals is because it was scripted for you.
Perseverance and will power are great qualities to have and, yes we should always try to build them but we must also remember that our goals are achieved because they are scripted. If we do not achieve them it’s not because of an obstacle it’s because they are not scripted.
Take my life for an example. For the past fifteen years I would spend the first 3 hours of the day in prayer and meditation. Not once at any point over the fifteen years has that routine been interrupted. No matter what happens or who comes to the house I will not interrupt my meditation and praying. However I know that I achieved God’s grace because it was scripted to me not just because I have the dedication to pray and meditate every day.
There were many obstacles along the way but I still achieved my goals. Similarly there have been times when I had the best resources at hand but I didn’t achieve my goals because those ones were obviously not scripted for me.
If you take a look back at your own life you will probably find that the same thing happened to you. You’ll see that some things were almost meant to happen. Well they were, because they were scripted.
Frustration
Remember obstacles only create frustration and this frustration leads us to think that those obstacles are to blame. That obstacle could be a person or circumstance or anything really it doesn’t matter because it’s not to blame.
When these obstacles come we must try not to get frustrated. Krishna says that these frustrations are like waves. “He wins peace in whose mind enter objects of desires as river water enters into a full and stable ocean waiting to be filled and not one seeking desires”
We must try to be like the ocean. Calm and still. You must realise that if your goals are not being achieved then the timeline is not scripted for you. When you become frustrated you need to dissolve the wave and make the ocean calm again. Make the wave dissolve into the ocean of consciousness.
Stop Expecting and Start executing
Krishna also says we need to stop expecting and start executing. When you stop expecting and start executing you will become detached from your emotions. You’ll then be able to work like a warrior!
So stop getting frustrated and killing yourself with worry. Stop expecting things and start executing.
When the ocean is calm you will realise that you are only a medium through which all these things happen. The actor knows that he is a medium who just plays a part. He does not choose the direction. It’s already been scripted for him and he must just go with the flow just as you must go with the flow of the ocean.
When you fall back to your consciousness you will start to see a very clear pathway and you will move ahead with confidence. Stop having expectations and start executing. Doing this will ensure that things roll in your favour.
I hope I answered your questions. Remember you keep asking questions and I’ll keep answering them.