How Sand Mandalas portray impermanence! The meaning of self-motivation is clear

In my last blog, I had tried to decipher the subtle meaning of self-motivation through stories of iconic personalities you should definitely know about. Here again, I elaborate on the concept, but with a twist!

Dul- Tson- Kyil- Khor or Mandala of colored powders, preaches the most profound wisdom about the impermanence of the infinite universe. Create a beautiful art out of the colored sand only to see it wipe away in one sweep and flown into the running waters to be carried far and wide.

Tibetan Buddhism’s mandala is so sacred and subtle that it has a deep philosophy underlying it. The Mandala shows the truth of the universe.

What does the colorful Tibetan art mean to you? If you believe that your smile is permanent, you are somehow misguided. While Eckhart Tolle’s Power of Now did stress on smiling as much as possible while you are still living, do not ignore the clause “as much as possible”.

If light cannot exist without the dark, how can happiness exist without sadness?

You may misinterpret my line on the interdependency between the light and the dark. The word Light exists because it is the antonym of darkness. A place where you cannot see anything is termed as dark. This is where you need light.

Even the moonlight cannot exist without sunlight, and we talk about being happy all the time.

The motivational speakers may preach the art of being happy 24 hours, which is a fallacy. It is against the law of the universe. Even the sun has a fixed span of life.

Prince Siddhartha did not suffer for nothing. He became the enlightened Gautama Buddha because nature had shed the light of truths upon him, one of the universal truths being,

Nothing is permanent.

What is the meaning of self-motivation?

What does this line have to do with an oft-repeated term “self-motivation”? Self-motivation may mean determination or hard work or smart work for you, but it is much more than that.

Self-motivation is the comprehension of the universal truths that govern not only human beings but creatures and plants as basic as a little amoeba or bacteria.

Using the energies of the universe means basing your actions upon the truth, and any actions based upon the truth will guarantee success. This subtly indicates that failure is a must in life to achieve success.

What is success?

Success is not bringing attractive report cards home and displaying them with pride. Success can be as little as cleaning your dusty bookshelves.

Success is a highly misinterpreted term. Whenever I use this word, your silhouette with your arms raised as high as possible in pride is what you will generally visualize. Yet others may visualize success as you being in flashy pajamas with a pair or even a dozen of girls around your shiny expensive Porsche. If this is not enough, a private jet may complete your definition of success.

If you come across such visualizations, the depression phantom is as easy to reach you as you reaching to food when you are terribly hungry.

Self-motivation is the most essential ingredient to cook the recipe for success. But if the self-motivation was easy, success would have been a child’s play! Self-motivation will test you if you know the truth about life.

It is very easy to watch an inspirational video and call yourself self-motivated. But the fact is self-motivation comes when you possess some prerequisites that success demands. That prerequisite is if you are ready to lose.

Now the art of Tibetan mandalas might ring a bell. You will either lose someone or something. But losing is as inevitable as death itself. To achieve freedom at a national level required innumerable sacrifices be it India or America or any other country.

Success is like a test in the heavens asking you to lose your most-loved treasure. Self-motivation is not a mere adrenaline rush but the courage to know that you will lose and be bound to lose.

However, it does in no way mean that you will not grieve over your losses. Grieves can be haunting at times, leading to suicidal thoughts. Many of the icons are it entrepreneurs or celebs who had suicidal thoughts and even tried for it. It is at that point they know the truth about life.

If nothing is permanent, the self-motivation is impermanent too! Then how do you expect to be motivated at all times? Or did you misinterpret the meaning of self-motivation? Self-motivation is not a feeling; it is the chemical composition of your mind.

Understanding self-motivation is no rocket science, but it can be as subtle as you can think. You have a mind whose limits are indefinable. When you are self-motivated, your mind changes in such a way that not even a speeding “obstruction” can stop it from doing what it wants to. Even Germany’s Fuhrer was self-motivated!

If you think enough of what you want to achieve, your goals seep down into the subconscious like water seeping into the soil and nourishing the roots. Once the goals or your vision seep into the subconscious, your body and your mind will take you to a path which you did not even know did exist!

I am sure even Napolean Hill wouldn’t have disagreed with me if he was alive.

Self-motivation does not differentiate between right and wrong. Your self-motivation will carry you forward; it will either make you an Osama Bin Laden or a Mahatma Gandhi. But whichever path you take, self-motivation means getting ready to lose your treasures.

However, if you choose the latter, you will die a peaceful death, having lived what you were truly born for. Time and again, history proves that the most motivated man who understands the working of the laws of nature is unstoppable. Only he can stop himself.

Go ahead and design art with tremendous effort and destroy it. You will know the truth of self-motivation through the art of Mandala.

Originally published at https://www.yashkedia.com on October 1, 2020.