Ashutosh Kumar

13th May is the 4th publication anniversary of my 1st book, "The Journey Towards Greatness: Learning from the Lives of Legends".

Years back, when I started introspecting over the purpose of my life, what I want to achieve, and how I may contribute to the profession and society, the lives of the legends helped me to understand life in a deeper sense. For a middle-class person, it's not an easy task to make his own place beneath the sky.

Out of millions of books, why should one read or suggest others to read this book? One should not do it because it is written by someone known to you, but because it will help others to understand how to lead a purposeful life and help them achieve success in life and leave footprints on the sands of time.

Thanks to all readers who have spent their valuable time to read the book.

The book is available at all major ecommerce websites across the world.
https://amzn.in/d/0ijgMsMB

Today is Lord Buddha Jayanti. His birth was indicated by a garden in the midst of which stood a tree and his mother, his renunciation by a horse, his enlightenment by a bodhi tree, his first sermon by a wheel flanked by deer. It is interesting to know that he was born under a tree in the Lumbini garden, attained enlightenment under a tree at Bodh-Gaya and entered Parinirvana in the shade of a tree at Kusinara.

Despite his father’s effort, destiny has its own chosen path. When he went out of his palace, he met an old man and felt that he was subject to the frailties of age, met a sick man and felt that he was liable to sickness and met a co**se and felt that he was also subject to death.

The Buddha does not claim any divine status for himself, nor does he assert that he is an agent of human salvation. He claims to be, not a personal saviour, but a guide and teacher. Since wisdom or insight is the chief instrument of enlightenment, the Buddha always asked his disciples to follow him on the basis of their own understanding, not from obedience or unquestioning trust. He calls his Dhamma “ehipassiko,” which means “Come and see for yourself.”

Remembering Lord Buddha, Swami Vivekananda once stated: “Let me tell you a few words about one man who actually carried this teaching of Karma- Yogi into practice. That man is Buddha. He is the one man who ever carried this into perfect practice. All the prophets in the world, except Buddha, had external motives to move them to unselfish action. The prophets of the world, with this single exception, may be divided into two sets, one set holding that they are incarnations of God come down to earth, and the other holding that they are only the messengers from God; and both draw their impetus for working from outside, however highly spiritual may be the language they use. But Buddha is the only prophet who said, “I do not care to know your various theories about God. What is the use of discussing all the subtle doctrines about the soul? Do good and be good. And this will take you to freedom and to whatever truth there is.”

In his funeral oration, Pericles said, “The whole earth is the sepulchre of famous men; and their story is not graven only on stone over their native earth, but lives on, far away, without visible symbol, woven into the stuff of their men’s lives.” His journey from Siddhartha to Lord Buddha will always remain inspiring for generations to come.

(From my book "The Journey towards greatness: Learning from the lives of Legends)
Link- https://amzn.in/d/064i587g

14th April is Birth Anniversary of Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar. It was Winston Churchill who said that one mark of a great man is the power of making lasting impressions upon people he meets; and another is to have so handled matters that the course of after events are continually affected by what he did. If greatness consists of a combination of both and if it is to be measured by the lasting value of solid work done in the fields of thought and action, Dr. Ambedkar was beyond question one of the most outstanding man.

His life story is an example of extreme humiliation. Barber refused to cut his hair, in fear of getting polluted. There was instance when cartman refused to associate with him and his brother in a bullock-cart and even they could not get drinking water for the whole journey. In school, he was forced to sit apart and could not mix with other boys or play games with them. The teachers would not touch his note-book. The Sanskrit teacher did not teach Sanskrit to him as he was untouchable. He was forced to take Persian as the second language in high school. Once when he was asked to write on the blackboard, his fellow colleagues feared that their food would be polluted by his presence near the board. They ran to the blackboard and hurled their tiffin-boxes aside before Ambedkar could reach and touch the blackboard. When he felt thirsty in the school he turned his mouth upward and then somebody would kindly pour drinking water into their mouths, as if through a funnel. Whenever he passed through the street he would announce by ringing the bell which was tied round his neck so that people should close their doors because an ‘achoot’ was passing.

Dr. Ambedkar was aware that there would be always danger that a person with his kind of background who born in lowest caste would retreat into a corner and remained there struggling for bare existence, unless some great turn of circumstances propels him into a more favorable environment. He knew he had to create his own opportunities. He believed in action and used every opportunity, every talent and every minute that was available to him to further his ideals. He resolved to exercise his “empty, hungry mind” by reading. During his study days, when his fellow colleague’s slept or played, he studied day and night.

He built a bungalow in Bombay and named it ‘Rajgriha’ (Buddha’s palace). He had his own library where he stayed, took his meals and even slept in that library. He used to say, ‘For a man like me who is socially boycotted, these books took me to their hearts.’ He described his love of books as the love of a lover for his beloved.

Above-all, his life was par excellence, a life with a theme, a life dedicated to the great thinker’s ideal:
To see as far as one may;
To feel the great forces that lie behind every detail;
To hammer out as solid and compact a piece of work as one can;
And to leave it unadvertised

From my book: "Journey towards Greatness"