Thursday, May 17, 2012

one has to be level-headed.

अफलानि दुरन्तानि समव्ययफलानि च।
अशक्यानि च वस्तूनि नारभेत विचक्षणः॥१३
॥बल्लालदेवस्य भोजप्रबन्धात्॥
aphalāni durantāni samavyayaphalāni ca|
aśakyāni ca vastūni nārabheta vicakṣaṇaḥ||13
||ballāladevasya bhojaprabandhāt||

A very appropriate guide for planning one's path of success as given out in the bhojaprabhandam of Ballaladeva.

"A man with keen intelligence will never embark on a mission

(1) which is apparently doomed for failure even at the outset, 
(2) which is likely to end in disaster,
(3) which will yield at the best only results just equal to the efforts put in or where the input would barely match the output
 or (4)  which he knows he is not capable of accomplishing."

"Discretion is the better part of valour" goes the wise saying.  It is futile to spend one's time and energy in projects which are not likely to yield favourable results.

 If keeping quiet is a better choice than purchasing disaster, the former course is to be preferred.  
But what we see in our day to day scenario in life is action diametrically opposite to this idea.  Planners even at macro level set out targets which are never realistic and politicians are adepts in laying foundation stones for projects which are never implemented. 
 Usually we are carried away by the initial euphoria and the hype. 
 One cardinal reason for such faulty approach is the lack of accountability. We just get carried away by our own words and the Goebbelian paradigm that a lie repeated too many times would be accepted by the masses as truth runs the roost. 


This does not mean that one should start only things which are coming in packages with promise of cent percent success. The ways of the world always have some uncertainty. 
 But handing out impossible promises or going ahead even when one smells disaster right from the start are not the ways to be chosen by a wise person.

 However  this should  not put an embargo on positive dreams.

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