Gerald D'Cunha

I feel like telling this today: An hour of fulfillment is like a lifetime of fulfillment! I had been invited by one of the reputed colleges in Mumbai to take a session, today, for its teachers… The subject had instantly caught on their imagination – ‘AM I A TEACHER BY DESIGN OR A TEACHER BY DEFAULT?’… I had an hour and a few minutes more to leave an impact… Yes, I did! How do you make out that you have left an impact? After decades of doing this teaching and training stuff, and, after having seen every kind of participant in the audience… I have stopped going by the traditional way of getting the ‘feedback’… You can’t satisfy all… All that you can do is: Put your total heart and convey your message. Keep it utterly simple… and practical… Make them feel you are one among them… And, never ever position yourself as a ‘super-human’… People relate to the underdog-heroes… to those, who are ordinary folks like them, but who rise up to greatness! ...

“When you start loving yourself, the same old life, which, you had once hated, you now start loving!” This is what Shashi (Sridevi) tells her French beholder, Laurent, in the just-released movie, ‘English Vinglish’. “Thank you for helping me/teaching me to love myself,” she adds. Success, prosperity, happiness – all these are wonderful states a human heart yearns for… In fact, the entire human endeavor in life is to achieve these conditions. However, what is ironical is that, often, in spite of all these achievements, the human heart still dies parching… Yes, as the famous lines go, it is like” Being knee-deep in water, still dying of thirst!” Waiting for something – love, affection, respect, fame, money or recognition - to come and fill our hearts is, make us happy and fulfilled in life is like trying to settle down in a bottomless pit! There should be that bottom – the base – in place… Then, alone, all else will settle down… We feel ...

When I was in college, I used to be fond of attractive wall posters with inspiring wordings on them. I remember one such poster. It had about six tiger cubs with their mother, all peacefully sleeping, cuddled to each other. "If you are comfortable with yourself, you are comfortable with the world." I loved those wordings, and the poster adorned our wall for some years. When we are young, we rarely think about the 'world within' - the world of spirit. The 'world outside' - the world of matter, the material world, is what fascinates us. Success means the material success - more money, more fame, more power and prestige. Our search for success begins with such pursuit and continues relentlessly, there after. Like chasing a mirage, we chase Success. But, we remain unfulfilled, disillusioned, eternally running ... hoping to come to a stage when we can stop running, remain fulfilled, content and happy. What we do not realise is, that, so long as we depend on the ...