The First Principle of Success
Siri Singh Sahib ji
You want to know the key to success? Simple – don’t walk on others. Don’t step on others’ toes. Carry others, carry people with you, above you; God shall carry you.
Some people ask me, “How do you know the answer to everything?” I said, “What is there to know? You know everything anyway.” You only need to know one thing: anybody who approaches you, just put him one step higher than he is. The job will be done, and you’ll be blessed.
Once a teacher came to his master and said, “Master, I am in a lot of trouble.” The master said, “What’s the problem? Why are you yelling and screaming for me? What’s your problem?” “You sent me to the city to teach, but everybody is just yelling at me and calling me a fake.” “They come and abuse you?” “Many people gather in the morning, and they are just mad.” “Oh, you are on a very successful note.” “Master, none have come in; none have come to learn from me; no one has come to say hello. All they do is yell and scream abuse at me. They shout and ridicule me.” “You are a great success. That’s all I wanted to hear.” “But what should I do about it?” “Go and stay there. When they come in the morning, smile; when they yell at you, smile; when they throw eggs at you, smile; when they throw stones at you, stand erect, with discipline and smile – keep smiling. Let us see what happens.”
He went, and people came, and they yelled, screamed, made faces, and he just smiled and blessed them. He stood as they threw vegetables at him and dirt at him and shoes at him; and he kept smiling, saying, “thank you, thank you.” Three days they continued. On the fourth day, they gave up and came and sat down. On the fifth day, they started abusing him again, but then stopped and looked at each other saying, “What are we doing?”
They decided they should go and apologize to him. So, two thousand people from the village came and told him, “We are very sorry; we never understood you.” he still smiled. They said, “Are you not happy?” He still smiled. “It doesn’t mean anything to you?” He smiled. Finally they said, “All right, give us the one final answer: Why are you smiling? He said “What else is there to do?” Let us pray and meditate – that’s the meditation. Smile.”
One smile can win the world, and one frown can lose it.
Just smile at adversity. I tell you it runs away. Two things cannot live together: adversity cannot remain where a man is smiling, and prosperity doesn’t live with those who are frowning. The face is an index not to the mind but to the soul.
You see people who are very unsuccessful – what do they do? When you start telling them many things, they lean in; they listen. There is no vitamin C that can stop them. That’s how they are. You must understand when somebody talks to you, if you are not willing to hear them out, you are foolishly going for an unsuccessful future. The first principle of success is, when somebody is talking, hear it. Don’t interrupt. Let him complete the sentence; hear him properly. When they are done and you are asked to speak, do not answer the question if you cannot uplift the person. If your answer uplifts that person, you shall be prosperous.
Siri Singh Sahib Ji
© Teachings of Yogi Bhajan
Reprinted from February 2014 Dasvandh Flyer.
