Incredible things are done in the world simply out of commitment. A great example is that of Mahatma Gandhi. If you look at this man, he was not talented or anything special, please see. As a child he did not show great potential. He was not extraordinarily intelligent. He was not an artist, scientist, or even a very good lawyer. He could not successfully practice as a barrister in India, which is why he went to South Africa for a better opportunity. Even there, he was not very successful. But suddenly, the man made a commitment towards something. He got so committed that he became a giant.
I remember what he wrote about his first case at a court in India – he stood up to argue his case and his heart sank into his boots. Does this sound like Mahatma Gandhi? The man went on to move millions of people. With just one incident in his life, suddenly all his identities broke.
He had gone to South Africa to make a living, and he was doing okay as a lawyer. One day he bought a first-class ticket in a train, got in, and traveled some distance. At the next station, a white South African got in. This man did not like a brown-skinned person sitting in first class, so he called the ticket collector. The ticket collector said, “Get Out!” Mahatma Gandhi said, “I have a first-class ticket.”
“It doesn’t matter, just get out.”
“No, I have a first-class ticket. Why should I get out?”
They threw Gandhi out of the train along with his luggage and he fell on to the platform. He just sat there for hours. “Why did this happen to me? I bought a first class ticket. Why was I thrown out of the train?” he thought. It was then that he identified himself with the larger predicament of the people. Till then his survival, law, and making money were important to him. But now, he identified with a much larger problem that existed. He just broke that little identification and moved into a much larger identity.
Many humans who are historically known as great beings; this is all that happened to them. They were living with a limited identification. All of a sudden, an event occurred that broke their identities and they were able to relate to a larger process happening around them. They did things that they themselves could not imagine possible.
Gandhi moved millions of people just like that. Not only in India, anywhere in the world you take the name of the Mahatma and there is a sense of respect. All this happened at a time when there were so many leaders who were true giants in India. They were more talented, better orators and better educated. Yet, this man stood above them all, simply because of his commitment.
Whatever happens, life or death, commitment must not change. Truly committed, you express yourself totally, in every possible way. When commitment is lacking, somewhere you lose your purpose. When the purpose of why we are here is lost, there is no question of fulfilling our goals, isn’t it?
So being committed is just something we have to decide within ourselves. If we are truly committed to whatever we have taken up in our life, the results are plenty, you know? If results don’t come, for a committed person there is no such thing as failure. If I fall down 100 times a day, what to do? Stand up and walk again, that’s all.
Commitment does not mean aggressiveness; this must be understood. This is where Mahatma Gandhi’s example is so apt. He was committed to India’s freedom struggle, but at the same time he was not against the British people. That was the best part, wasn’t it? This shows the maturity of the man.
Becoming Mahatma....!
The very aspiration for greatness comes from a very petty mind. It is always a very ordinary mind which aspires to be special. It is not necessary to aspire to greatness or to be special. If you make the focus and the ambit of your life well beyond the concerns of who you are, if you take away this one calculation, “What about me?” from your life, you will anyway be a great human being. How great and how recognized you will be in society depends on your capabilities. You may be a great man in your street or at home, or you may become a great man in your nation or the world. That depends on a variety of situations. One thing is the situation you are placed in. Maybe if a Mahatma Gandhi came today, he would not be as known as he was back then because there was a certain situation happening at that time. At the right time, the right kind of spirit came and things happened. Greatness happened to him not because he was seeking to be great, but because his way of looking at life is way beyond “What about me?”
Just drop this one calculation from your head, “What about me?” and function to the best of your ability. In some way you will be great. You will be a wonderful human being because once you take away, “What about me?” you are naturally looking at, “What can I do about all the life around me?” Once you are looking at this, you will naturally enhance your capabilities because there is so much to do! It is surprising to understand how people in India claim to be unemployed when there is still so much to do in this country. You are too concerned about, “What about me?” You are only willing to do a certain kind of job and are only working to fulfill certain kind of needs, so you think you are unemployed. Otherwise, there is too much to do in this country. How can you be unemployed?
Take out this one calculation and function to the fullest of your ability. What has to happen will happen. People may or may not call you Mahatma, it does not matter. You will live like a Mahatma, you are a Mahatma. Mahatma means you are a great piece of life. You are a great piece of life the moment you take away this one calculation from your mind. Then, wherever you are, you will shine.