Clarity of thought...

This is turning out to be one series of articles on pseudo-philosophical and moralistic lines. But then, I like thinking about all these things. Now, there are a couple of lines in Sanskrit that I know which go like this...

"Buddhir balam yashodhairyam nirbhatavamarogataa
Ajaahyam Vaakpatutvam cha Hanumat Smaranaath Bhaveth"

"Taddrshtva Vyaaditam Chaasiyam Vaayuputrassubuddhimaan
deerghajihvam Surasayaa sughoram narakopamam..."

I am not too good at understanding Sanskrit, but these lines are in praise of Lord Hanuman. The first verse just invokes His Name and says that those who remember Lord Hanuman will be blessed with Intelligence, mental alertness, diplomacy, strength and clarity in speech.The second verse just praises His presence of Mind. Lord Hanuman was supposed to be an epitome of clear thinking and this is what is painfully lacking in many people today (me no exception).

This lack of clarity in thinking is found in many aspects. Take academic learning for instance. Our course requires a lot of clear thinking on many concepts that are taught in class. In fact I believe that a lot of our problems in understanding the concepts taught will be solved if we give ourselves the time to sit back and ponder over what was taught in class. Now there is nothing that prevents us from doing it but sheer laziness. Thinking is one the toughest activities one can ever do. The rewards are great but so are the efforts and the distractions!

Clarity in thinking is a difficult thing to achieve but it is amazingly productive...Believe me I have seen some very live examples (within my study group here at IIMA) and firmly believe that there are few things more admirable than instances of clear thinking. That is what I am trying to emulate myself. It is incredibly tough to really get to the brass tacks and think uninterruptedly. Then again, the rewards are great.

Take another instance of confused thinking... Career choices! Do I want to go into marketing? Finance ? Operations ? Strategic administration? Most of us do not even have a clue. Things here are purely driven by mob mentality and introspection often takes a back seat. As a result, many people take up jobs they are not comfortable with and this does bring a lot of unhappiness in our lives later. The turnover rate among fresh graduates at IIMA is incredibly high and I would probably put it down to lack of clarity in thought (Of course, there are also some cases of lack of opportunity, but then clear thought and action creates its own opportunities!)

Oh I could go on and on about this instances. But I think this is too long already. I need to blog off and spend some time ..... THINKING !

Sitan aka Rangarajan