Becoming a Mahatma

On the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti, Sadhguru looks at how each one of us can be a Mahatma.

Questioner: I have read the books of great people like Mahatma Gandhi and many others. I am inspired and I want to be like them. What should I do so that I am different from others and do not go nameless in society?

Sadhguru: The very aspiration for greatness comes from a very petty mind. It is always a very ordinary mind which aspires to be special. It is not necessary to aspire to greatness or to be special. If you make the focus and the ambit of your life well beyond the concerns of who you are, if you take away this one calculation, “What about me?” from your life, you will anyway be a great human being. How great and how recognized you will be in society depends on your capabilities. You may be a great man in your street or at home, or you may become a great man in your nation or the world. That depends on a variety of situations. One thing is the situation you are placed in. Maybe if a Mahatma Gandhi came today, he would not be as known as he was back then because there was a certain situation happening at that time. At the right time, the right kind of spirit came and things happened. Greatness happened to him not because he was seeking to be great, but because his way of looking at life is way beyond “What about me?”

Just drop this one calculation from your head, “What about me?” and function to the best of your ability. In some way you will be great. You will be a wonderful human being because once you take away, “What about me?” you are naturally looking at, “What can I do about all the life around me?” Once you are looking at this, you will naturally enhance your capabilities because there is so much to do! I cannot understand how people in India claim to be unemployed when there is still so much to do in this country. You are too concerned about, “What about me?” You are only willing to do a certain kind of job and are only working to fulfill certain kind of needs, so you think you are unemployed. Otherwise there is too much to do in this country. How can you be unemployed?

It is always a very ordinary mind which aspires to be special.

Take out this one calculation and function to the fullest of your ability. What has to happen will happen. People may or may not call you Mahatma, it does not matter. You will live like a Mahatma, you are a Mahatma. Mahatma means you are a great piece of life. You are a great piece of life the moment you take away this one calculation from your mind. Then, wherever you are, you will shine.

Editor’s Note: This article is an excerpt from the book "Ambition to Vision," which offers tangible first steps towards the ultimate plan of action – to understand every aspect of our creation and existence, and make ourselves the way we want.

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