resultsWe are always bothered about results and achievements! How does one not focus on the results in this material world? Every time it is mentioned that you shouldn’t be bothered about end results and you are only supposed to work! So how does one do that?
Any which way, you can never say with a guarantee that this will be the perfect answer. No one can predict the end of any activity. Yet, we are always focused on results. We study to pass in flying colors. We get married to have a happy married life. We have sex for pleasure and beget children. We watch movies for entertainment. We take long holidays for relaxation. We exercise to reduce weight or increase it. We play the lottery to win a prize. We read a book to gain knowledge or understanding. We buy properties to enjoy life. We work to earn money. So we do everything in this world with absolute motives. We are completely focussed on results.
If you observed in the paragraph above, there is no certainty in any of those activities. Not all sexual episodes will end up pleasurably or having kids. No marriage will end up happily ever after. In the same token, nothing above can give us satisfactory and perfect results.
So then, why does a person try to achieve perfect answers when he knows very well that there aren’t any perfectly predictable end results?
Yet, the holy books exhorts you to only do your duties without focussing on end results. So how does one achieve that? You can never tell your mind to shut up and just do work. You know you will have to get right answers.
I shall tell you one simple example which will help you understand that.
Let us say you have to participate in a hundred meters race. What do you do? You focus on the hundred meters, keenly looking towards the end point and look at your competitors too. You are completely concentrating on the hundred meters mark. You start the race with the end point in mind. Also focussing on your running, track, starting and ending. With only one objective in mind and that of winning the race. You begin at the starting point, gain momentum, increase your speed, watch at the corner of the eye for your competition and race. You can hear people cheering, jeering and huffing and puffing. Once you reach your last ten meters, you actually decelerate and hope to breast the end point. The result would be completely beyond your control. This is how every human being does in life.
Now let’s see my method. At the beginning of the race you know you have to start at the go signal, follow on single track by rote, so you get ready. On your mark, ready, steady, go, you are off. Except this time you have closed your eyes. You are not sure of the end point. You just focus on running and your breathing. The people are yelling in the background, but you are only concerned with running. You run a distance and after some time you open your eyes to see that you have crossed more than 150-160 meters. You know you were at your peak speed at the hundred meters mark. Since your eyes were closed and not focussed on the end point, you have given perfect performance.
Something else has happened along the way, since you weren’t focussed on the end of line. You outsmarted everyone and surged ahead. You realized that you have much more potential than visualized before. You could run at peak speeds beyond 100m. You understood now that you are capable of much more. Two hundred meters would be your next step. Your world has opened up for you only because you didn’t stop.
So learn from that. Don’t stop after you have achieved or reached your destination. Continue to go ahead. Let whatever results that are supposed to come, let them fructify. Don’t keep on dwelling on past glories or failures.
Your job is only to perform the work at your peak performance and nothing more. What results are destined for you shall appear as a natural progression. Don’t stress on the how’s and the why’s of winning. Just play for going ahead. You are racing against your own self. There is no competition except your own mind.
Shut your mind to all things desirous and just play to go ahead. You have so much more in you and that is unimaginable. So surge ahead. Don’t focus on results. After one match, there are many more. You may have to play 18-19 times before you see results, just like the King of Scotland Robert Bruce who fought against England. Or like Krsna who had to fight Shishupal so many times. So just put in your cent percent efforts. Let God decide what He has to give you. Your only option is to work with diligence.

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