Success - the magical word!

One word around which the world revolves around or at least it is projected to revolve around by Rs. 599.99 only/- books, is 'success'. Everyone wants to win and be successful. But how many really know how to define their success? To dig (or digg as the word has turned into! :)) a little deeper, does the word have a universal definition?

The definition of this word can vary from getting the first rank for a school goer through reaching the paramathma (the divine self) to a saint! To a project manager, concvincing a good resource to stay in a useless project is success and to a film director, a hit movie is a success. The beauty of success lies in the variety that surrounds it. Unforunately, there is a generalized version of success that is being accepted widely off late - 'money'. This evil invention of man has corrupted almost everything known to man and success is no exception. Nobody cares anymore about other virtues/talents and the ability to make money is considered to be the benchmark on the grounds of ignorance or lack of other acceptable benchmarks. The impact that this leaves in individuals especially at their early twenties through mid thirties is unimaginable. Innovation, ideas, satisfaction, interest and all the other good stuff that the education he had thought him to nurture is being pushed to the backseat by this new factor. When making money becomes the goal and the measure of victory, the fear of being looked down upon and the desperate need to score slowly retards all the above said factors he nurtured and life starts becoming more and more unhappy but more and more 'successful'.

I spoke to a friend after a long long time and it was a surprise to see a person so happy with what he was doing and to me it was literally like watching or should I say 'hearing' a miracle. Satisfaction has become such a rare phenomenon and finding one happy person in the maddening crowd is an achievement these days. There are people who give crap saying perception is everything and if we follow our dreams we are bound to win... Well, following dreams is not crap, I'm completely for it. But as much as I'm for it, the difficulty that surrounds it is way too much unless you are already a millionaire. As long as man continues to be a social animal, his success is defined by the society and as I mentioned in one of my previous posts one success story and a million failure stories make one in a million and not every dubba-wala who has high aspirations and works smart, becomes an Ambani. How long will success continue to be defined as a measure of money? Should I have a personal definition of success and be successful in my own terms? Should I throw away even the practical fears I have and give my dreams a shot? I hope I find the answers soon... For now, it's time to meditate, assimilate and evolve!