Most people see success or see people who have achieved mastery in some aspect of their life and make statements like “he is lucky”, “oh he inherited this”, “ah, that’s just a result of circumstance”, “oh whatever he wants just comes his way” or “he has a knack of getting his way”. For me this reflects a very fundamental point – that most people shy away from giving credit where it is due and often people do not even understand what leads to success or mastery (note: I do not define success only in monetary or other socially conditioned terms). While its easy to pin “luck” onto people, most do not see the long hours of discipline, practice and dedication which leads a person into a state where the right things attract themselves to their lives, where either their work, art or service become easeful as a result of their mastery and things happen because they are open to the cues being given by the universe.
For example, it takes time to master playing a musical instrument. Now most people only see the good performers perform and either think this can happen overnight or simply say this is a “God given” talent. And of course to add to the perception, it seems like the performer is playing without a care in the world, comfortable with his instrument and carefree and casual with the amazing tones he/she can produce with it. But what most do not see is that this “natural gift” or “lucky talent” comes with hours and hours of practice, often filled with a fair amount of drudgery and a lifetime of discipline. Most people who take up an instrument, give it up after 6-9 months; but if they persisted, anything could have happened and they could have been playing with the same mastery of the performer they are seeing.
When I see people who have achieved mastery in some or more aspects of their lives, I pay obeisance to this discipline, on whose base they can be masterful, lighthearted and carefree. If you are not mindful of your perspective, this seeming carefree nature, can be mistaken for “luck”, “talent”, “he knows how to get his way” or you may even dismiss the entire person as a “freak” or “genius” or “mad” (all unnecessary terms though). Instead it would be very useful to see – that mastery comes from practice. And repeated practice, takes you closer and closer to a better, higher and the next version of whatever you want to be.
Dennis Taraporewala 
Dennis,
Every time I make a comment, I have this square blue face with a tongue sticking out above my name 🙂 Let me know who handles picture allocation at your blog !
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Why Anand, why do you have a square blue face with a tongue sticking out? Could it be internet karma? -:)
On a more serious note – the wordpress site automatically assigned picture assignments. I can turn the feature on or off, but not select the picture assignments. Wold you like me to turn it off?
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I enjoyed reading Manishas perspective on the erasure of the sense of “I” and our surrender to the cosmic flow. Simple and inspiring 🙂
With regard to her observation that “Effort towards mastery implies an aspiration to a state in the future – whether you term it perfection or not – it means being something that I am not today…” – it leaves one in the moment with a sense of completeness. Lovely!
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Ananda, I am glad you enjoyed reading Manisha’s perspective. Manisha, thanks for posting your thoughts here and participating in th dialogue.
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Great points, Dennis, clearly and intelligently made as always. I agree with everything you say. Everything must be earned, and even what seems to come easily and early for some are only the fruits of practice during previous lifetimes. Captain Karma deals out just rewards for each of us, and we reap what we sow and get what we give. All the best.
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Dear D.R., Your thoughts and comments above are much appreciated. Thanky you for taking the time to go through it. I like the term Captain Karma -:)Sometimes don’t we wonder who is on the selection body of the team…ha ha ha ha.
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Couldn’t agree more
Anything done well involves ages of practice, discipline, application – totally giving yourself up to doing it and doing it well.
And then the performance, the doing it without care comes from knowing one has given it their best and then just surrendering to God and losing themselves in just doing without thinking of outcome or reward
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Anand, well put. Surrendering to God (universe, univesral consciousness, Inner Self) has a liberating feeling and IS liberating. Great to hear from you buddy.
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Finding and embracing the perfection within also comes from practice – and mastery through practice in this endeavour sets one free to engage in the experience of the moment with greater attention and mindfulness.
I remember many years ago, sitting alone in a room in Baroda during a lovely monsoon evening and telling myself that i would love and accept every aspect of who I was – it set me free, for a powerful moment, from the external impressions of who I was and the dualities of good and bad – and taught me to reciprocate this by accepting and allowing everybody else to be who they were in a manner that abides in a loving energy footprint.
The practice of this ‘idea’ was intermittent but spontaneous, but this small moment of earnestness in my life has shadowed me ever since and showered upon me the opportunity to often dwell in an uplifting silent stillness.
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Ananda, good to hear about this experience and its impact on your life.
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I agree with Shaival’s luck thing. Destiny or whatever. I meet many immensely talented people who put in great effort and often have mastery, who do not succeed in conventional terms (people going wah wah and moolah flowing) while others do…who may not have that mastery…it’s inexplicable…other than destiny. So Manisha’s thought of finding perfection within is freeing. If you are happy with your own mastery then you are free from the need to seek applause outside. Tough though. Wah wah’s are fun. That’s a way of thinking that needs its own disciplined cultivation …and mastery 🙂 And yet Dennis, I like your essential point about appreciating that someone’s moment of great performance may be the pinnacle of years of disciplined effort and it’s nice to recognize that 🙂 I like this post..
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Great to hear from you Bomi. Thanks for pointing Malcolm’s efforts. You are correct – statistics often hide more than what they reveal.
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Hey Dennis,
Your first para (10 lines) is exactly what Malcolm Gladwell talks about, with statistics, in the second chapter of his famous book “Outliers”. It’s called “The 10,000 – Hour Rule”.
I’ve held a thought for a long time that statistics hide more than what they reveal. Malcolm is a master at revealing many a social aspect in a “Blink”.
This book, about exceptionally smart, rich, successful people, who function at the extreme outer edge of what is statistically possible and there by answering not what successful people are like but where they come from is a must read.
Cheers,
Bomi
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Hey Dennis… interesting dialogue. To add some more angles to view it from…
I think there are two distinct points in your post. One – practice makes perfect and two – give credit where it is due. I agree with both whole heartedly at a certain level. Beyond that, consider this…
What is your definition of ‘perfection’? What are you trying to master? The pursuit of perfection can also become an obsession and perfectionists are not necessarily perfect human beings. To me perfection has now become associated with a state of being – of looking at the chaos and madness around me and feeling completely one and at ease with it and be able to say – wah! Perfect chaos!!! I always turn to Nature to look for fundamental explanations and I wondered – isnt Nature perfect? Has there been practice in this achievement of perfection? Rather I find Nature feels perfect because it is so completely and unapologetically itself. It is not aspiring towards a state of perfection.
The second point of taking credit (even though I am always ready to give it)is a bit risky because the flip side of it is to accept blame. For those who praise me for my mastery can also turn around and judge my life to be a failure – they are both the two sides of the coin of doership. My only effort is to allow the energy of the Universe to flow through me – what it achieves when it flows is none of my concern – I may judge some of it to be beautiful and some ugly – some masterful and some mediocre – yet these are only my own perception.
Eventually, my experience of perfection lies within me – irrespective of external measures – as I watch my life unfold as a flower – following the forces of life – independent of my ‘perspective’ of it! This is always the right place and this is always the right moment and I am exactly where I am supposed to be!
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Dear Manisha,
Thank you for taking the time to put your comments down. They are interesting angles. Of course just for clarity I have not said “Practice Makes Perfect” so I am not sure why you quote that; in fact I have specifically not used the word “perfect” in this post. What I have said is “…and repeated practice, takes you closer and closer to a better, higher and the next version of whatever you want to be.”; no mention of “perfect”. So thus there is no aspiration towards a perfect state as well. But I am glad that your experience of perfection lies within you. Thats where IT is anyways.
On the second point, what I was referring to is not the ‘taking of credit’, but more – developing the “giving of credit” aspect in our lives. People need to be magnanimous and give credit where it is due (and which we in India especially find extremely difficult to do). You see it in friendships, business or in general civic life, to give a heartfelt acknowledgment of good work is slow to come by.
Dennis
Warm Regards,
Dennis
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Effort towards mastery implies an aspiration to a state in the future – whether you term it perfection or not – it means being something that I am not today…
Yet, Nisargadatta talks of earnestness in ones search and Gurumayi speaks of self effort.
Connecting these to a sense of being the doer is where I always falter – ‘I’ am making so much effort, ‘I’ am going to be a master, ‘I’ have earned this …
I watched an amazing video of the monks of Shaolin (which you and Gitika must watch with me one day) in which the levels of mastery achieved by young boys of six blow your mind. It felt to me as though their practice had been primarily to obliterate their sense of ‘I’ – to learn to become pure channels of the Chi and to step aside and observe it flow masterfully through their bodies!
Was breathtakingly beautiful!!!
When we can finally see the energy of the Universe operational in ourselves we can openly and wholeheartedly recognise it in others – the credit goes all to it – no matter which forms it operates through!
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I remember watching you perform at the impromptu stage at malhar years ago…where they gave your team an absurd situation to enact based on random words, and you made up a song about the situation and sang it like it was a really well known track you’d sung all your life. Perfect rhyme, rhythm,tempo, pitch… I remember thinking wow,so easy…and it was just what you are saying here…i’ve grown to appreciate that 🙂
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-:)
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That is what I define as the luck element Dennis! Noone has a clue what is the right place and the right time. If anyone did, then life would not be interesting and challenging. On the one end of the conundrum, there are those who persist with determination and discipline in a particular area of interest for life without achieving recognition that goes with success. On the other end of the conundrum, there are others who achieve “mastery” and recognition of talent that goes with it comes as a natural progression and without much effort in seeking that very recognition. Therefore, I strongly feel luck is that defining determinate between success and lack thereof between two similarly talented individuals.
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Dear Shaival,
From the higest perspective there is no other moment but the present moment – the now. So the right place is HERE and the right time is NOW. RIGHT HERE and RIGHT NOW are the only place and moment that matter. To that extend RIGHT HERE and RIGHT NOW are already in our hands and there maybe no room for any “luck” there or timing, since its already “HERE AND NOW”
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The initial 6-9 month that you speak of, is the period when a particular skill is yet to take root, and is therefore an ardous process. Once the basic elements of a skill find their feet within you, the process of practice is uplifted becuase one can see the skill make the pratice much more enjoyable. I think this is the stage when one can begin to learn in a self-fuelling kind of way with ones own targets and goals for progress being set.
While the above is the crucial reason why many people dont cross the tipping point of developing a skill, in whatever area, I also believe in the essential spontaneity of a particular area of work/practice, that once again uplifts an activity into a natural progression of ones life.
The aspect of how people view others with a degree of ‘mastery’ etc. without a proper understanding – i could not understand. While they may be erroneous in their perspective in this regard, a lack of perspective is one of the most universal realities of human existence and a response to such a lack of perspective using the tools of communication and logic have a limited use. I feel the only way to respond is to not respond but be.
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Ananda, the first two paragraphs in your comment above – absolutely.
The last paragraph – Of course I was not referring to anyone’s perspective as “erroneous”. There are hundreds and thousands of perspectives and ways of seeing the world and as you say “…a lack of perspective is one of the most universal realities of human existence..”. True and there is no response, only being. And at the same time an awareness of some of the more limiting perspectives and a gentle different thought, could have a Eureka moment for some – primarily because people overate the importance of their “thoughts” and “thinking”.
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Very true Dennis! I might add here that it is a delicate balance between dedication and the luck factor. Otherwise how does one account for the millions of talented people in various spheres of life, who are still struggling to see light of day? Hard work and discipline are tacit in achieving success but these factors on their own do not guarantee a highway to utopia. I strongly believe in the luck element riding on these virtues, which is the critical success factor. Essentially, one also needs to be in the right place at the right time! Also, I feel that people who do not give credit where it is due, are plain envious and narrow minded and need to undergo therapy of the cerebral kind.
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Shaival I agree one needs to be in the right place and at the right time. But how does that happen and how does one happen to be in the right place at the right time? I have found through persistence of the long term kind, slowly and steadily with determination, right places and the right times begin to “happen” and yes, sometimes they “do not happen”. But even if one had “luck” and found oneself in the “right place at the right time” the opportunity could go wasted if there has not been the level of mastery required and that mastery comes through practice, practice and more practice. Thus I guess our job is to focus and keep developing ourselves, our art, our passion and our vision of who we would like to be.
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Picking this up whilst at Atlanta Airport.What inspired to write this one !
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Neville good to know people as far away in Atlanta, USA are picking this up. Don’t know what inspired me to write this, but like all my posts, was moved to pen these down -:)
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