Words from the Master

In our meditation programs, we take people through a guided meditation wherein they are told to visualize that they are going to die in just 24 hours time and that they should complete all the things that they would like to complete before they die. It is a beautiful meditation technique. They are also made to visualize their own death ceremony.

Once after this meditation, a young girl shared her thoughts.

She said, “Swamiji, I saw a poster in a shop which said, ‘When you plan, plan concretely taking into account the future years to come. When you execute, execute like you are going to die the very next minute. After doing this meditation, I understand what it really means!”

I said, “Beautiful!”

You see, when you plan, you have to have a futuristic plan, so that too many things don’t have to be re-structured for at least a few years. But when you execute, you have to execute in such a way that every sub-task that you take up in the master plan is completed successfully without any loose ends.

Even if you are going to die then, up to the point of what has been executed, everything will be perfect and the master plan will still be there as a reference for people to follow or amend as the situation demands. This can be achieved only if you work without procrastination in every sub-task that you take up.

Often, procrastination is what takes you to poverty. Poverty is your own choice. When you defer decisions, you take your steps towards being poor. But you are blissfully unaware of this. You feel you have not been treated right by God and that life has been too short for you to realize your dreams. If you had used all your energy in the proper channel and with clarity, you will not feel this way and you will be ever ready to die.

If you just look at the mirror everyday and tell yourself that today is the last day in your life, you will stop procrastinating. You need not tell yourself this all your life; just a month will do. Automatically, you will start living your life without procrastination. Not only that. Your fears about losing your prestige, embarrassment, pride, expectations will all dissolve, because you will know that you have nothing to lose.

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This excerpt has been taken from the book: Guaranteed Solutions.