Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Commitment!

Ramayan another great epic of India has a great story on commitment which is not part of the main story. After Ram returns to Ayodhya,Hanuman (the monkey God-whose charm is supposedly helping Obama win the elections in US) is always with him as a loyal assistant. There is no work left for the brothers of Ram (3 of them-Laxman, Bharat, Shatrungan). The brothers are upset that there is no room for them to impress Ram with Hanuman around. So they decide to turn the tables. They approach Ram with a proposal-we will list out all activities around you and split between the brothers so that there is equal opportunity for us to serve Ram. Ram understands the motive but agrees to the proposal. The brothers painstakingly prepare a list of more than 850 activities (like of our project reports) with who will do them(ownership). Ram reads them and agrees. Next day morning Hanuman has no room as Ram tells him about the agreement he had with his brothers and he has to approach them to find if he can get something assigned to him. Hanuman is worried with this turn of events but approaches the brothers for getting some opportunity to serve Ram. The list is put up before him and said if something is left out of the list he can take that up as they will have no objections. Hanuman takes the list to Sage Vashista to help him with something he can do. The Sage reads the list and says “This is an exhaustive list. I don’t find anything except there is a practice if master yawns the servant should make a click sound with fingers before the mouth of master as it is believed to take out bad energies. This is not really a task but I don’t find anything else left out”. Hanuman is happy. So he tells the brothers and Ram that this is his task and everyone agrees. Hanuman from that time onwards is watching Ram to perform his task. But alas-from morning to night Ram has never yawned. Hanuman patiently follows Ram to his bed-but is stopped by guards as this is beyond bounds. Hanuman climbs the roof and starts chanting “ Ram” which always brings him happiness. But there is chaos in below. Ram yawned in the bedroom and has his mouth opened as it refuses to close. Doctors are called in and they are puzzled by this new form of disease. Brothers are woken up as it is considered a serious situation. 4 hours of commotion prevails with Ram in open mouth. Then suddenly someone realizes that Hanuman is missing. They start looking for him and find him on the roof. Informed of the situation Hanuman jumps down to see Ram. Seeing Ram’s mouth open he raises his hand close to Ram’s mouth and with fingers makes the “Click” sound.
Ram’s mouth closes as though waiting for this. The brothers realize the heart of Ram and the commitment both Ram and Hanuman share. They tear up the list they have made and fall on Ram’s feet with tears for they have learnt the lesson of commitment. It is not professionalism or detailing that is a sign of commitment but the power to bond. Very few realize this as administration and micro management makes us feel we are committed to something but reality will be otherwise. Therefore it is important for us to define commitment in a right way before moving ahead as commitment can overcome any hurdles!

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Gothenburg, Sweden
Still finding introspecting to find who am I? Waiting for a Guru!