What is the Meaning of Success?

The Meaning of Success

success: outcome of undertaking; favourable outcome, accomplishment of what was aimed at, attainment of wealth or fame or position.

                                                                             

Does success mean rich and famous?

Rich and famous people make headlines, so it's easy for children to conclude that turning out well means being well-off. There are many success stories of people who gain wealth by using their talents and working hard, then live happily while giving to others to make this world a better place to live in. It is also true that among the rich and famous are some of the unhappiest people in the world. Tabloids are full of the "unsuccess" stories of celebrities: failed relationships, drug and alcohol addiction, suicide. Many financially rich persons are emotionally poor. As a psychologist friend once told us, "If you want to know how much wealth you have, count your friends."

 

What is the meaning of success? What is success?

I recently thought about these questions and couldn't quite come up with an adequate answer on my own. This was because I came to realise that there is more to success that what we normally perceive it to be.

 

So rather than give my own ideas on the matter I asked subscribers to "The Dreamer's Guide" Motivation Newsletter what success meant to them. The answers were quite varied, although quite a lot had some things in common.

This just goes to show that, to some extent, success is a personal thing. You may achieve exactly the same thing as someone else and yet not feel as successful as the other person. It all depends on your perspective.

The Real Meaning of Success

All over the world, and particularly in the United States, people identify the concept of success with having a lot of money, achieving fame, having a good career, finding your true love, raising a family, owning your own home, possessing all the things you ever wanted, being able to retire, and things like that. But countless people have achieved these goals only to find themselves feeling unhappy inside more often than they thought possible. They wonder if there is supposed to be more to life than all those things, or if they just missed a secret somewhere along the line.

I would begin by equating real success with undisturbed peace of mind. I would follow that up by equating true peace of mind with happiness because if you've ever been really peaceful for a significant period of time, you know how happy you feel inside when you're in that state. Nobody on earth is ever peaceful 100% of the time, but truly successful people know how to return themselves to a state of peace relatively quickly whenever they become disturbed. This ability transcends all types of possessions and achievements, and it does not depend on anything for its continuing existence.

One problem with money, fame, careers, families, and possessions in general is that it's entirely possible to lose them after you've gotten them, and losing these kinds of things after achieving them can be a very painful experience. Another problem is that it's also entirely possible to get something you've always wanted and then find out after some time passes that it really isn't doing what you thought it would do for you. But for the person who has achieved true peace of mind and knows how to return to it when disturbances occur (and that's the real key to it all), nothing on earth can take that skill away.

Western religions preach to us that the most important thing in life is having a "one on one" relationship with God, and there's something to be said for that concept because among other things, we're told that God is Peace. Jesus Christ preached, "Peace on Earth to men of good will". Albert Einstein, who was arguably the most brilliant human being ever born on Earth had a very strong belief in a peaceful God, and he also understood that his Theory of Relativity strongly implied the existence of an infinite power that exists somewhere beyond the speed of light and outside our three dimensional universe. Jesus was in a state of constant peace. He only lost it one time, and that was because the money changers in the temple of his religion were so blasted blasphemous that a bit of righteous anger was definitely appropriate. There's really nothing more offensive to God than people who break God's laws in the name of God.

Eastern religions teach that the most important thing is peace of mind. Buddhists aren't even sure that there is a God that's worth defining, but they do believe that peace of mind is a pretty good substitute definition. The Yogis say that to know God, you have to become God, and the general path leading to that goal is achieving peace of mind that cannot be disturbed. But there's a great story about a yogi who meditated for many years in a cave in order to become peaceful all the time. After he felt that he had achieved that state, he came out of his cave so that he could spread the good word. Right away he encountered a woman and he began to tell her of his experience. The woman couldn't grasp his concept right away so she said, "You seem to be very peaceful, yogi. Is that true?" Of course, he said "yes". Then she said, "Come on, yogi, are you REALLY peaceful?" He said, "I just told you that I'm peaceful." She said, "But are you really peaceful all the time?" He replied, "Yes, all the time." But she kept on. "I don't believe you, yogi, nobody is peaceful ALL the time." The yogi blurted out, "Damn it woman! How can you be so stupid? Can't you see how peaceful I am?" Oh, I certainly didn't make that story up. I got it straight from Sri Swami Satchidananda Maharaj.

So with all that said, you're really successful if:

• You're able to have somebody else dial your phone calls for you.
• You have somebody else drive your own car for you.
• You don't have to do your own laundries.
• You're completely inaccessible.
• You have Milton Berle living inside your brain.

And that last one is true because if you can't achieve constant peace of mind, you might as well be laughing about it all the time!

The bottom line is, success relates to accomplishing a goal, no matter what that goal might be.

So, what we are really dealing with is not any particular ex-pression of success, but the bottom line meaning of success. Ultimately it comes down to an individual's personal value system to determine whether or not success has been accomplished. Every person can become successful at the point where they put their efforts.

So, whether you want to be successful making money, making music, or making a good child, you can do it if you are willing to put forth the time and effort to make it happen.

Follow the crossed star to the place where dreams meet reality.   Therein lies immortality.

Regards,

UJJWAL