The key to success, more often than not, is simply persistence. It's the ability to push past the nagging voice in your head, which revels in surfacing your deepest fears and reminding you of your perceived inadequacies. This voice, let's call it Mr. Nags for the sake of this article, is what often stands between you and your most meaningful achievements.
Two people who are highly susceptible to being impacted by Mr. Nags are entrepreneurs and serious spiritual seekers. Serious entrepreneurs often flirt with new and edgy ideas. They are building the road as they drive on it and flirt with failure because, during their early days, every decision they make disproportionately impacts their survival. That's one of the key reasons the most successful investors talk about mental resilience as one of the most critical attributes they look for in fellow entrepreneurs.
Spiritual seekers are also massively tormented by Mr Nags because they are seeking something extraordinary. Sanatana Dharma promises liberation from the cycle of birth and death but does not stop there. The Dvaita route promises that devotion can help you merge with the divine you revere, while Advaita goes one step further and states that you are already a manifestation of the absolute reality and are unaware of it. Now, look at your daily life, where you struggle to balance your needs versus your families. Think about how much you struggle with discipline to meditate, chant, avoid sweets, eat healthily, and save money. Suppose you genuinely believe that liberation and union with the divine are actual futures available to them. In that case, you invite Mr Nags to wreak havoc in your lives. Whenever you sit down to chant and meditate, Mr. Nags whispers about the latest transgression where you yielded to an impulse and set the mind racing. Some seekers abandon their practice, while others somehow grit their teeth to complete it but get up feeling unworthy and dissatisfied.
So, how do you find a small ray of hope to overcome the ever-persistent Mr. Nags and continue your journey? How do you continue to believe when every fiber in your body wants to give up? We rely on stories that inspire us and tell us about people who have made this journey.
Let's start with Henry Ford's entrepreneurial journey. Henry, the mercurial founder of the Ford Motor Company, was born in 1863 in Michigan and displayed an early interest in mechanics and engineering. Even as a 12-year-old, he spent most of his spare time in a small machine shop and built a steam engine when he was fifteen. He went on to work as a machinist's apprentice. Then Henry worked as an engineer at the Edison Illuminating Company, where he became chief engineer. He impressed Thomas Edison with his skills enough to make him a lifelong friend and mentor.
Henry first entered the automobile industry by establishing the Detroit Automobile Company. His dream to produce robust and attractive vehicles was shattered when the production cars were poor quality and overpriced. Henry was also a perfectionist and loved redesigning vehicles, leading to production delays and escalating costs. The company declared bankruptcy in 1901, marking Ford's first major business failure.
Henry Ford's passion for building cards became even firmer after his failed attempt. He set up the Ford Company in 1901, but unfortunately, this venture faced numerous challenges. The other investors had significant disagreements with Ford, leading to his departure from the company. The investors eventually rebranded the company and called it Cadillac Automobile Company, which became successful without Ford's involvement.
One failure can create doubts in one's head, but two quick failures can completely immobilize the best of people. Henry Ford, however, completely ignored any nagging doubts in his head. The pain of abandoning his dream would be far more than anything failure could inflict upon him. Hence, he went on to launch the Ford Motor Company. His approach this time was markedly different. He wanted to create a reliable, affordable automobile for the masses. Henry spent the first few years working tirelessly to develop a car that would meet his standards of quality and affordability.
His efforts led to the launch of the revolutionary Model T, which was simple to operate and maintain and was launched at an affordable price of $850, which was later reduced to $300 due to operational efficiencies.
In 1908, the breakthrough came with the introduction of the Model T. This vehicle was revolutionary in many ways. It was simple to operate, maintain, and handle on rough roads. Most importantly, it was affordable, initially priced at $850 and later reduced to as low as $300 due to production efficiencies. Henry Ford pioneered concepts such as the Assembly line, the $5 workday, which doubled workers' pay, and the introduction of other successful models. Henry could do all this because he refused to be held hostage by the little nagging noise in his head, which would have constantly reminded him about the prospect of failure and embarrassment.
You may wonder how this ability to deal with self-doubt is relevant to spiritual seekers. Let me tell you a story that really inspired me. I often assumed that most people who achieve liberation in a lifetime are born perfect. Sri Ramakrishna Paramhansa, Meera Bai, Swami Vivekananda, Ramana Maharishi, and my own guru Om Swami are absolutely perfect and resolute in their pursuit of discovering their truth. Many days, I did not even feel like trying because I never believed I could make any meaningful progress since Mr. Nags had convinced me I was born with too many vices, such as laziness and greed, which could never be overcome in this lifetime.
The Sri Sukhtam is among the most powerful and ancient chants in the Rig Veda. The mantras embody the sonic form of Ma Lakshmi, the consort of Lord Vishnu and the goddess of wealth and prosperity. The Sukhtam includes 16 chants invoked by some of the greatest sages in Sanatana Dharma, including Maharishi Kardama and Maharishi Chiklita. They were both sons of Lord Vishnu and Ma Lakshmi, and they emerged from the churning of the ocean, which also gifted the gods with immortal nectar. They had already invoked the first two verses of the Sri Sukhtam and wanted to invoke the remaining verses. Lord Vishnu knew that mantras and their invocation were the domain of Lord Shiva since he was the origin of all mantras we know today. Hence, he instructed Kardama and Chiklita to ask for permission before invoking the following two verses.
Kardama nodded sagely, but Chiklita could not understand why his father, lord of all realms, would defer to someone else. He voiced his doubt to Lord Vishnu and was again instructed to approach Lord Shiva as his guru and seek his blessings. It took them a few months to reach Kailasha. While both Chiklita and Kardama emerged from the churning of the ocean, they had different temperaments. Kardama knew instantly that obeying the word of Lord Vishnu and Lord Shiva was the only thing he needed to do. So he walked in majestic silence with no other care in the world. Chiklita, meanwhile, had nagging thoughts that he fed so that they could gain power. He kept asking Kardama why Lord Vishnu had to send them all this way to Lord Shiva when he could himself give them permission to invoke the following two verses. Kardama kept walking in silence, immersed in such deep contemplation that Chiklita was forced to accompany him without uttering another word.
They reached Lord Shiva, paid their obeisances, and requested him to provide them permission to invoke the remaining two verses. He initiated them into the third verse and asked them to chant it ceaselessly for three summers.
aśvapūrvāṃ rathamadhyāṃ hastinādaprabodhinīm ।
śriyaṃ devīmupahvaye śrīrmā devī juṣatām ॥
Both Chiklita and Kardama followed his instructions with supreme concentration. While the first two verses invoked a devotional experience, this one opened a different dimension, and they felt they would melt and become one with the verse. They chanted for three summers and went to meet Lord Shiva, who called them "mantramayi", or someone who had become one with the mantra.
He told them it was time to offer him Dakshina - the gift given to the guru - as they had promised. He asked them to give up their attachment to their mother, Lakshmi, since they needed to learn detachment. He told them they had already realized her formless aspect since both desire and propensity, which she represents, are formless.
Sage Chiklita was tremendously attached to his mother, Lakshmi, and the thought of giving her up sent shivers through his body. Lord Shiva sensed his discomfort and reminded him that this was simply one of the stages of the invocation. He explained the esoteric meaning of the mantra, which you can read in my beloved guru Om Swami's book - The Legend of the Goddess.
Sage Kardama nodded sagely and said he was happy to invoke the formless nature of his mother, Lakshmi, while Chiklita was deeply uncomfortable. He asked Lord Shiva to enlighten him as to why he felt so differently from his brother, but Mahadeva knew the answer would be revealed in due course. He put his left hand on Chiklita's shoulder and his right hand on Kardama's shoulder and whispered the mantra to them.
kāṃsosmitāṃ hiraṇyaprākārāmārdrāṃ jvalantīṃ tṛptāṃ tarpayantīm ।
padme sthitāṃ padmavarṇāṃ tāmihopahvaye śriyam ।।
The moment Lord Shiva was done, Chiklita wanted to run back to his mother's physical form while Kardama was unaffected. They both returned to the cave and started invoking the fourth mantra for the next three years. While Kardama chanted from a place of immense discipline and contentment, Chiklita was tormented by ambition, aggression, attachment, and envy. He wanted to surpass Indra, the king of gods, and such thoughts befuddled him since he had never had those desires before. He tried to seek help from his brother, but it was like talking to a stone who radiated absolute contentment. The more Chiklita meditated on the mother goddess's golden form, the more he was traumatized by his thoughts. How could he, the son of Lord Vishnu and the Divine Mother himself, have such thoughts? Surely, he was unworthy, especially seeing how his brother was glowing like gold every day.
As three years passed, Ma Lakshmi gave them her vision in physical form. Sage Chiklit held her feet and sobbed like a child. Anyone who has prayed to the goddess and felt her presence in their life would tell you there is no greater pain than feeling distant from her. Nothing else matters at that time than trying to find her presence in your life. Chiklita had felt for three years that his mother had abandoned him because he was not worthy, and all that pain flowed as warm tears that bathed the divine mother's feet.
Ma Lakshmi also had tears in her eyes as she wiped his tears and told him to meet Lord Shiva and ask for answers. He was their guru, after all, and the guru knew precisely when a disciple was ready to receive answers. The siblings trekked to Lord Shiva's abode and paid their respects. Chiklita could not hold himself back and asked Madhdeva why he had been so tormented over the past three years while his brother floated through it as light as a cloud. Lord Shiva smiled and comforted Chiklita by telling him not to be so hard on himself. He reminded Chiklita how he had questioned Lord Vishnu's instructions and how that one seed of doubt blossomed into a fully-fledged tree. He told him that due to his doubt, he sat on the left side of Lord Shiva and was initiated in the left-handed path of Vamachara, designed to grant material and worldly desires. Kardama sat on the right-hand side and was initiated into Dakshinachara, the path to liberation. He then initiated Chiklita into the right-hand path. He asked him to do Sadhana for twelve years before returning to Vaikuntha to unite with Lord Vishnu and Ma Lakshmi.
Sage Kardama, meanwhile, stayed back in the Himalayas and was the father of the legendary Kapil Muni, considered an avatar of Lord Vishnu himself.
Sage Chiklita's journey is a reminder that when the son of Ma Lakshmi and Lord Vishnu had to go through so much pain to complete his spiritual journey then you and I don't have any shortcuts. We know that were are not Kardama. Hence, like Chiklita all we can do is persevere and continue walking till we reach the end.
The story of Maharishi Chiklita and Kardama is from the book "The Legend of the Goddess" by my guru Om Swami. The Sri Sukhtam Sadhana mentioned here can be performed using the incredible Vedic Sadhana app.
We often hear the glorious stories of the various sages that have graced the Bharatvarsha and feel intimidated. Their tapasya and their discipline seem untouchable. Yet, it helps to remind yourself that a journey of a million miles begins with the first step. Take your first step with the free and incredible Vedic Sadhana app. The app helps you identify your ishta and then perform daily rituals that deepen your relationship with them. It also makes the ancient rituals and practices followed by the sages of India available to you.
