The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success

Deepak Chopra has been branded many things. New age guru. Hodge-podge philosopher. The celebrity guru. Very recently he came to be known as Michael Jackson’s spiritual adviser. It matters not that MJ never proclaimed him as such. For me, coming from the Indian-Hindu tradition, he is a philosopher more than any thing else. He is no doubt an extremely savvy marketer and purveyor of Hollywood chic. Hey… lets get real. So was most of the greatest philosophers of the modern world. Somebody once told me of how he is inspired by Bob Dylan’s philosophical lyrics. If Bob is a philosopher, Deepak is definitely one. And please, don’t equate him with St.Augustine, Sankracharya or Khalil Gibran or Lao Tzu. He is not but he makes sense. Anybody who can help dense souls like yours truly make sense of quantum physics deserves some respect.

One of his books, usually The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success which I bought on Christmas day in 1998 is always on my bedside. I have read it a dozen times and I am still reading it.

To be honest, you need to understand a little of Indian philosophy and cosmology before you can truly grasp the messages that Deepak tries to convey OR you need to have a totally open mind and heart to allow the messages to be absorbed. OR, you must have been exposed to this world view in some manner to appreciate it. Otherwise, I doubt you will have the Seven Spiritual Laws of Success by your bedside! If you do, and if I am being presumptuous… my apologies.

One of the things that I find fascinating about Deepak’s approach is his belief that the universe works instantaneously and effortlessly. There is no pressure or compulsion involved. The universe just works its magic. The energy in all flows effortlessly. Butterflies just fly. Flowers bloom. The sun rises and sets. Water flows. Babies smile. They don’t try. They just do it. He terms it as the Law of Least Effort. We have within us the ability to move mountains without missing a heart beat. Didn’t somebody once say – be silent, and the universe will dance at your feet? As I am writing this, Morgan Freeman comes to my mind. If you watch his movies, you will think that he happened to walk by the shooting set and decided to pop in and have some fun. He doesn't act….he just IS. Now, I am also thinking for Zinadine Zidane, Lois Armstrong, Mario Puzo, Stephen Hawking,Tagore, Fateh Khan. They never showed that they strived to achieve their ‘stardom’. Their lesser competitors amply illustrated that they were ‘working hard’. Yet they never achieved the level of success as enjoyed by their idols.

So, the saying that ‘what’s worthwhile, is worth fighting for’ may not always hold true. The human race has developed a paradigm that struggle is to be respected. Strive and toil is honorable. In fact the ancient Chinese used to scorn traders as they were seen as enjoying the fruits of ‘no-labour’ ( in other words – least effort) while the farmers were held in high esteem as they ‘worked hard’ for their living. They were honest while the traders were not; so it was said. Is this true or does it makes sense at all? At least for me, all those things that I fought hard for are no longer with me. They even seem so irrelevant now. What I have now and what seem to have lasted are things that happened to me instantaneously and effortlessly. My love and my life - my beautiful and gentle girlfriend Alcie, my twin daughters Vana & Vila, the peace I enjoy, the serenity I experience, my new extended family that I am getting to know. All these happened to me effortlessly. Sometimes, I am embarrassed about it as I often feel I don’t deserve them as they just happened. Without much effort from me. Am I not supposed to ‘work hard’ for them?

Even some of the people I have met and still meeting in my life. They bring new and profound meanings. It makes me stop in my track as these individuals are adding so much value into my life and they are painting it with such beautiful colours that I sometimes wonder how did I attract them into my little universe in the first place.It takes my breath away. They are just popping up, literally, everywhere and we are connecting instantaneously and effortlessly. Even my relationship with my mother which was strained for many years have undergone a total transformation – again without any particularly strenuous effort from me; for once.

These things began to happen as I slowly learned to ‘let go and let God’ (as a dear young friend told me recently). In my case, I let the universe take care of the details. This probably came about as I began to realize that in the end, we don’t really control anything. It’s an illusion to think that we are in control. We only have choices not control. We can take actions but we can’t determine the results.

Even in the world of business, I think there is a place for ‘letting go and letting God’. As leaders and managers, there is a need for us to be able to make things happen instantaneously and effortlessly. If we are constantly fighting raging fires, running all over the place, being busy all the time, constantly on edge, harassed; something is wrong with our leadership and management style. Calmness in a business leader is an underrated thing. Great achievements are a result of being ‘in the flow’ and it is a state where we ‘create’ unprecedented successes almost by magic. Usain Bolt ran 100 metres in 9.58 seconds a few days ago and he looked pretty relaxed at the finishing line. The number two, and three were huffing and puffing. If you ask him how he did it, he will probably say “I just did”. Anyway, coming back to leading and managing, we need to accept the humbling reality that we can’t control everything. We need to ‘let go and let trust’ work. We need to trust that our people will do what is expected of them and that they will do the best they can. Sometimes they may not repay that trust in full but that's a price we have to pay so that we can let go of the trivial and get on the real stuff. Stuff that really makes a difference for the organization. We need to be conscious of the choices we make and the actions we take but not the end results as they are determined by factors beyond our control. Maybe this is what Krishna was saying to Arjuna on the battlefield of Kurukshetra. Maybe that's what Jesus was saying to his followers. Maybe this what the Sufi mystics have been saying in their lyrics and hymns. Make the choice and don’t be burdened by the results. Float. Be light. Be free. Let go of the control.

Float like a butterfly…soar like an eagle (sorry Ali!).

Oh, by the way…did anybody wonder why Silvio Berlusconi still manages to be in power? He doesn’t try very hard. He just IS with all his faults and strengths and the Italians love him for that. The rest of the pretentious politicians ‘work very hard’ to be other than what they really are.