Good Morning Respected Principal,
Respected Teachers, My dear Classmates and my dear young friends. A very happy
morning to you all. I am so thrilled and so happy to be standing here in front
of you in this Dias. The same very Dias where I have stood innumerable times as
a student. Now when I stand here as an alumni of this great school it is totally
an altogether different experience and it is so beautiful. I am really really
thankful to this beautiful and serene place Ooty, this KV school, its teachers,
this huge HPF factory, its quarters, my dear friends standing here and those
who couldn’t come who have given company to me all my initial years and I owe a
lot to all these people and place for whatever I am today.
Now the thought about Ooty and
the KV School brings a positive vibe and a smile in our face to most of us
standing here. Such is the power of positive thought. Yes Thought is a force
that has the power to define your character, change destiny, can make our life
an all-round success.
Lord Buddha says that We are
shaped by our thoughts. We become what we think.
Thought control, Thought Power
and Thought Leadership are powerful science and a vast subject by themselves. Let
us simplify and understand this science.
Influential thoughts transformed societies
and gained momentum as people movement. We have so many examples of this
category - Gandhiji and his thought Ahimsa as a tool to get independence.
Nelson Mandela’s thought against Apartheid. Lenin’s thought of Socialism in the
struggle between haves and have nots. What do you think is the commonality
between the thoughts of such great people leaders? These were thoughts were for
peace, non-discrimination is society, equal opportunity to all human beings.
Since these were positive and were for the common good for people, it
influenced the larger society and united the people to come together for common
cause.
Steve Jobs and Bill Gates were
thought leaders who believed that human lives could be transformed through
technology. Successful companies of today all have a vision and mission
statement that defines the thought process of the company. Company that works
for profit may not be as successful as a company that works for a cause and has
a powerful transformational thought as a driving force.
Now What is in it for me? I can
see many of you wondering what I am talking about. Let us come down to the
level of my young friends – the school children.
Positive thoughts and Good
Thoughts can mould us into better person. Success can be achieved by good
thoughts and good thoughts alone. At this young age all the actions that you do
should be guided by good fundamental principles. The good thoughts should be
centered around fundamental principles like Honesty, Truth, Discipline, Respect
for elders, Sincerity, Hardwork, Compassion to others, Selflessness.
If we throw a piece of stone in a
tank or a pool of water, it will produce a succession of concentric waves
travelling all around from the affected place. Have you seen this. Similarly
when there is a thought emancipating from a person, it produces similar ripple
effect. You can move the world through thought-force. Thought has great power.
When the teacher is teaching in
class and one of think it is very interesting and start asking good questions
and show lot of interest, it not only enthuses your friends and brings them
interest in the subject, but also the teachers who are teaching and they start
giving you extra information and the whole class become lively and positive.
How do you like this? On the other hand if someone starts distracting the class
negative atmosphere starts getting built.
When there is an exam or test,
have the thought to get maximum marks in the test. This is positive thought.
Everyone in the class can score centum. The thought that you alone get good
marks or you get more marks than you friend is not so positive. Then there is
no sharing of tips or helping of lessons with your friends. But the first
thought build positive competition and enables everyone to excel in education.
When you are sitting for an exam
and you don’t know the answers, your thought should be to repent that you haven’t
studied well and try to study the next time. That builds your character to
accept your action of less preparedness and the repercussion to face the
scoldings from parents and teachers. This is positive. As you sow so you reap.
You should get result for only what you deserve. There is no happiness in
getting things for which you didn’t work hard. So build the thought to accept
the results that are got due to the actions you perform.
You should speak sweet words.
Your presence should make the people around you happy. Never be harsh to your
friends or family. When your thoughts
are positive and good, your actions are straight forward, your face glows with
radiance and your physical fitness is at its best. The positive and good
thoughts not only can define your character, it actually defines your health.
It makes you happy always and there is no tension. All negative feeling like anger, hatred,
jealousy etc can be driven by positive good and calm thoughts.
Slowly as you grow you should start
developing good and positive thoughts about the people who enable you daily –
your teachers, you parents, your brothers, sisters. Now what do I mean by good thoughts for them.
Think about it. You are so happy today here studying in this school because of
your parents. Your mother and father do so much for you which you might not
have given due importance. You take things for granted. Your clothes are
washed, your food is cooked and put up in tiffen boxes, house is tidied, you
get whatever you want if you ask your father. But have you offered to help your
mom anytime? Did you ever think about how hard your father works, what kind of
tensions he goes through in work daily, which he hides from you. If you develop
a loving thought, a thought of compassion towards them, then you will obey your
parents. You will not argue unnecessarily with them over petty things. Slowly
you will start your thought process to make them happy and the best way to make
them happy is to achieve something worthwhile through positive means and good
means.
As you evolve and grow further, your
thoughts also start evolving with you and you start thinking about your town,
your state, your country and then the larger world. That’s when you want to
bring transformation in the place around you. Then you become thought leaders
who can transform your team, transform your workplace, transform your
organization, transform your society, Transform the environment and may be some
day transform the country and the world.
So you understood now clearly
that positive thoughts can do wonders to you as well as around you. It can
bring you wholesome success. The success that is not defined only my money or
fame, but success which brings happiness, peace and celebration to not only
you, but also brings happiness, peace to people who are related to you, around
you and the entire place where you belong. That kind of success is possible
only by positive and good thoughts.
This thought power cannot be achieved
in one day. It is a regular process and there are ways to develop this this
thought process and let me give you few principles you can follow to achieve
this.
- First step is to develop concentration. And simple method to do this is prayer. The practice to keep the picture of your favorite deity and pray is to make sure concentrate on that picture atleast for few minutes. When you focus and concentrate you can channelize your thoughts for some time on a particular item. Slowly the same method can be applied to subjects you read or the games you play.
- The second thing you can try is non-cooperation. You may hear some people say that I have prayed and decided that I wont eat sugar for 48 days. This is one way to control thought process. You non cooperate and say you will not speak lies for so many days. Come what may. Slowly you will become a person who doesn’t speak lies.
- Nip the bad thought when in bud. When the thought is in bud, it is easy to nip it off. When your parents discover that you lie, they may scold you it is to nip of the bad thought in bud. If you really care for your parents or for your own good take it positively and work to nip it, when it is pointed out by others. The people who point out your mistakes and yell at you are your well wishers. So respect them and hear to them and act as per their advice.
- Be with people who have good and positive thoughts. Satsang meaning gell with people who give you those positive vibes.
- Read good books that teach you fundamental principles of discipline, honesty etc.
- Watch good things. Watch only good movies. The movies are made because it is somebodies living. Just as how your parents work in different companies to feed their families, so do the movie stars or the sports stars act and play. Do not lose your precious time always watching them.
- Meditation and Yoga are some methods through which you can tune the mind to think positively.
- What you eat is what you are. Eat good Saatvic food. That plays a key role in what you think. Be careful about what you eat.
- Drive away from your mind all useless thoughts and rubbish thoughts. They hinder you from accumulating positive good thoughts.
- Put your good thoughts into action and make them your routine and slowly they become your habit and thus it becomes your destiny.
If you develop these kind of positive
and good thoughts all through your life and lead a life based on fundamental
principles of peace, truth, compassion, sincerity you will experience true
happiness which not only makes you happy but all the people around you also
happy. You will get wealth and fame automatically
as by products. Your success will be celebrated by the whole world. So children
develop positive good thoughts and all the very best to become future thought
leaders who can transform our country into a great place. All the very best.
