Sachin Tendulkar has finally
announced his retirement from the game that made him God! While there are people
who are still awestruck by his legend, there are others, his admirers-turned-critics,
who opine that he should have quit the game at his peak – which was a few years
ago. Sachin himself explains his rationale for continuing to play well past his
prime in his statement, issued by the BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India),
yesterday. He says: “It's hard for me
to imagine a Life without playing cricket because it's all I have ever done since
I was 11 years old.”
I would like to share what I have learned,
so far, from Sachin’s Life. Each of us has three questions to answer and three circles
to fill in Life:
- What can you be best at in the world? – What’s your innate talent?
- What are you deeply passionate about? – What keeps you excited about living?
- What drives your economic engine? – What earns you money?
When you answer these questions and fill
the circles with your answers, the one vocation – or answer – that leads to the
convergence of these three circles is your inner core of joy, your bliss. When you
follow your bliss, you too will
become a world-leader and world-beater, and consequentially wealthy too, in your
chosen field. Of course, the time it takes to reach that pinnacle of greatness
varies from individual to individual – it is often a direct correlation between
effort, the time the individual is passing through, and the larger,
unfathomable, cosmic design. But one thing is for sure: if you have identified that
one vocation, which led to the convergence of these three circles in your Life,
your bliss that is, you will always be happy doing what you have chosen to do –
even though your financial success make take time coming. They key is to keep
following your bliss, as Joseph Campbell (1904~1987), the American thinker and
writer, famously said, knowing that doors will soon open where only walls
existed. The difference between people who have identified their bliss and
those who go on to become Gods, legends in their chosen fields, lies in the following. When you follow your heart,
your bliss, no matter what, you will
arrive where you truly must and deserve to be! Important, focus only on your bliss,
while following it, and not on becoming great! Greatness follows when you truly
follow your bliss! (Just to clarify: the
concept of these three circles was first presented by Management Guru Jim
Collins in the context of helping organizations derive their Core Purpose. But
I have found it extremely relevant in the case of individuals too – after all,
people make organizations tick!)
Osho, the Master, has explained following
your bliss beautifully. He says when you do what you love doing, when the doer
becomes the deed, for instance, when the dancer becomes the dance or when the
player becomes the game, magic happens. That’s when the Universal, cosmic,
energy is flowing through you. The actor and the action are in unison then.
That’s what the world calls genius, greatness. That’s how ordinary people
become maestros. Did you not see that magic in Sachin – then, and don’t you not
see it even now, when he is on a song? Sunil Gavaskar, the legend himself, said
this of Sachin Tendulkar when talking to India
Today, a couple of years ago: “The secret of
Sachin’s longevity in the game lies in his joy. His mind, body, soul – all three
are in a state of perpetual joy when he’s playing!”
To reach your own state of perpetual joy,
you need to only shift your attention from your economic engine circle to the
other two circles – concerning your talent and passion – in your Life. Then you
too will be soaked in bliss and will be able to uncork the magic within you! Here’s
then, cheers, to the MAESTRO called YOU!
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