It is said that out of a hundred percent of the people five percent write
down the goals of their life. And the five percent who actually write them
down and have clarity of vision, 95% of them achieve their goals.
There's a beautiful story I heard of a lady called Florence Chadwick. In 1952
she aimed at conquering the Catalina channel
she was an astonishing swimmer she's been the best long distance ocean
swimmer in women history. She conquered the English Channel
two times either way and many other channels of the world and then she made
an attempt in the Catalina channel, shark-infested area in 1952 when she
made an attempt it turned out to be a foggy and misty day. A boat was
accompanying her just in case of a shark attack she has to be retrieved and the
mother was in the boat and it was quite a distance maybe 50 miles or whatever
and she continued the whole way until finally all she could see was fog and
mist and she gave up. And when she gave up she came to know later on that the
shore was only 1 and 1/4 of a mile away. So she said
the reason I gave up was, I was not able to see my goal. Two months later she made
another attempt and this time she had absolute clarity about how far the goal
is and she succeeded. So all of us must have that clarity, what is our goal we
wish to attain God! In order to effectively utilize your time and effort
you must have clarity of goal. Even if it is the brightest day of the year and you
put a magnifying glass under the Sun over a piece of newspaper if you keep
shaking the glass, the paper is going to be untouched but if you just focus those
rays in one place in less than a minute the paper will have caught fire. That is
the power of concentration of focus. So if we wish to accomplish a material goal
or a spiritual goal we need to be focused, our efforts should be having
razor-sharp concentration
Just like, when you came here for the retreat you didn't just drive your car anywhere. You
had a goal in mind, without a goal where would you be
One man driving the car asked a passerby where does this road go
the passerby said where do you wish to go
he said anywhere the passerby said then why do you ask
take any road. Well that is exactly what will happen if our goals are not clear
It has said that out of a hundred percent of the people five percent write
down the goals of their life and the five percent who actually write them
down and have clarity of vision 95% of them achieve their goals because they
have a target to hit. A study was carried out in Yale University of the students
passing out, three percent of them had written down their goals and ninety
seven percent had not written their life goals but those three percent who had
such razor-sharp focus at the end they achieved far more than the 97% put
together. So goals enable us to focus our efforts, they help us measure our
progress, they keep encouraging us and help us surmount the most difficult
obstacles. A game of football is fun because there are goals and you remove
the goalposts what is left you can't play that kind of football for more than
five minutes you will be bored. When the goal is there you will be
filled with enthusiasm to attain it. So goal is the highest realization and what
is the highest realization god-realization that is the focus of all
of us, that is the meaning of our life. Every mantra of every Vedic Scripture is
pointing in the direction of God. "quoting scriptures"
every Veda mantra directs
us to God he is your goal. "quoting scriptures"
"quoting scriptures"
every Kriya, every Yagya, every Yoga is aimed at Vasudeva
the supreme lord. We have come here to participate in the retreat. You must
have your goal clear what do you wish to achieve if you do every moment you will
progress towards it and if that clarity is not there "fir sab chalta hai!' you can
take a break walk here walk there but if it is your decision I wish to enlighten
myself I wish to learn new things practice the spiritual discipline to the
best of my ability and enhance the love for the Lord in my
heart then you will find that by the end of the retreat you will have
accomplished far more!