RADIO RUHANIYAT. 04-05-2014: Episode 346

                                                                       Staying Focused & Prioritizing!                                                                                

 

I like gardening and very often when I’m watering the plants, I realize that some of the pots have weeds that need to be removed. In the process of removing the weeds from the pots, I sometimes notice that one or two of the planters have dead plants. I’m usually able to convince myself that if something is not taken care of right away, then it will probably never happen. So I turn off the water, pick up my car keys and drive to Home Depot to buy a couple of new plants so that I can get done……and in my effort to get done, a few hours later  I come to the realization that my main goal of watering the plants…… was the one thing that NEVER GOT DONE!

I get so carried away that I don’t even realize when I swayed off my original goal. I get off-tracked and start to clean up the weeds, plant new plants, trim the plants…and in the process, a few hours later, my plants still were not watered. The plants could have lasted a few more days with the weeds and with dead plants, but they would not have lasted a few more days without water. Not only did I forget to stay focused, but I also forget to prioritize my goals!

This is exactly what we do in life! We get so carried away with our material pleasures, that we forget what we came into this world for. The human birth is the most superior of all the life forms. God has blessed the human mind with the capability to know and realize God. We need to stay focused on our journey and live this life as God would like it to be. He has blessed us with material pleasures so that our spiritual journey can be lived comfortably. But in the interim, we forget God and make the money-making process, the goal in life. Every aspect has its significance, so does the money-making process; but we usually fail to prioritize our goals. God and spirituality should always be on the top of the list of priorities, which is:

1.      God & Spirituality

2.      Family & Friends

3.      People & Fellow beings

4.      Money & Material wealth

……and then anything else…..

Money and material wealth can never hold a higher priority than God, Family or People. Always follow the general rule of thumb: “PEOPLE FIRST, THEN MONEY”. It sure is a fact that money is very important to survive but if there are three other things above it on the list, then imagine the significance of the other three.

Every city, state and country emphasizes on education. Children are taught the importance of education because it is the sole basis of establishing a career so that they can grow up to live a comfortable life. But how often do we emphasize on spiritual education? It is the lack of spiritual education that crime rate has increased and the humanity aspect has decreased. Those who live their life with the awareness that God is watching them, will never dare to commit a sin. In fact, God-fearing people have an elevated level of compassion for others. An immense amount of money is spent by governments in establishing laws, courts and hearings for crimes. Even if a fraction was spent on promoting Humanity, Morals & Ethics, crime rate would decrease significantly.

The young think that life is to be enjoyed while they still can because they have a life time to work and worship God. Little do they realize that their fun is short lived. Who gave them the guarantee that they will live an entire lifetime? People are dying at all ages! Those who stay focused in college are the ones who really enjoy life in the future.

The world today lacks the capability to stay focused on the goal of life: God-Realization! We act like little children who can be shown a candy and lured into anything. Money and material pleasures convince us that that is all we need. But the fact of life is that none of our material possessions go with us when we die: and death is inevitable! We all will eventually die…..and what we will take along with us, is our spiritual knowledge that we gained from God-Realization. Money, material wealth, assets….are all left behind. The traditional mind set is that we should accomplish and leave something for our children. The idea is noble! But stay focused! Even the airlines teach us to put our own Oxygen mask first before putting it on our children. We have to first secure ourselves so that we can assist in securing others!

We usually go with what we feel like doing rather going with what we should be doing. We must first learn to prioritize and then discipline ourselves with the art to stay focused!

No matter how often we slip and get off-tracked, if we keep trying, we will eventually win!

And remember: STOP COUNTING THE SEEDS, IT IS TIME TO FOCUS ON THE FRUIT!

-Preet Sahi