Mission ultimate

For the past two years, Vikrant has been talking about this higher purpose in our life, something that goes beyond our immediate interests, ...

For the past two years, Vikrant has been talking about this higher purpose in our life, something that goes beyond our immediate interests, why we are on this planet, our mission, our Swadharma. And every time he would begin his discourse, I would think, “God, here he goes again.” What is this Swadharma, how does it relate to me? As for purpose, what could be better purpose than to be successful, wealthy, enjoy life? What’s the big mystery?

I got a hint about this last month when I travelled to Orlando to attend a training workshop. I was the youngest in a group of 60 participants who represented various MNCs. As I sat there waiting to get trained to be a good leader, the trainer suddenly introduced a concept of the Ultimate Mission. I thought with a sigh, “Not again!”

I turned around to see the reaction of the other participants, expecting smirks. What I saw was rapt attention. Jim, the facilitator, introduced the concept and gave us 15 minutes to write down our ultimate mission. Sixty pens began a furious journey to seek that mission out, but gave up within a few minutes. Jim asked why? “We don’t know our mission.”

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Then Jim said, “You have come ahead with 40-50 years of your life without knowing where you are headed or what you want. Do you want to continue like this?” He showed how most of us spend most of our lives reacting to crises and responding to other people’s expectations, without giving any thought to what is it that we actually want in life, what is it that drives us, creates and sustains passion in our life.

The room was filled with a loud silence as we grappled with these issues in our minds. We had the evening to think about this and then develop our ultimate mission. That’s when Vikrant’s Swadharma suddenly clicked into place, almost like the last jig-saw in an existential puzzle.

So, that’s what he meant, I thought. We ignore this because it is inconvenient to think about it. My lifestyle doesn’t have time or space for Swadharma. It’s like a block on a fast track, it slows me down, waste of time. A thread of peace passed through me and I saw it in other faces too. Most had tears streaming down.