The Financial Year 2025-26 has ended. Organisations/entities are engaged in closure of books of accounts. Planning, budgeting and fixing goals for the new Financial Year are being undertaken in full swing. Simultaneously, the process of evaluation/assessment of the employees/professionals of the organisation for the previous Financial Year (commonly known as ‘appraisal’) as regards their performance and achievements are also being undertaken by the seniors and top management of the organisation. Based on the conclusion of the appraisal process, the employees/professionals of the organisations may or may not get the sought-after promotion, hikes or bonuses. In other words, the appraisal process may result in joy for some people and disappointment for others in the organisation.
Let us say an employee does not get the requisite promotion he desired and in his place someone else got a promotion. He may end up being disappointed and may either curse the organisation, its leadership and its appraisal process on the grounds of unfairness and bias. Alternatively, he may demean himself and think that he is worthless and not a good resource for the organisation.
No doubt, an honest and robust appraisal process is very important for the progress and future of the organisation as well as its members. However, does the real worth of an individual depend only upon the judgements and viewpoints of people in the external world outside? Or is it derived more from something within the individual?
Our scriptures expound that the real achievement or success of a man is not dependent on the outer results, outcomes or events in his life, but rather predominantly on his ability to remain calm, satisfied, tranquil and even-minded from within in all situations whether favourable or unfavourable. Why? If one were to analyse carefully, every man who is chasing success (through outward means like expansion in business, enhancement in wealth, assets, indulgence in sense objects, etc.) in the material world has one single aim – happiness. And ‘Happiness’ as Gurudev Swami Chinmayanandaji indicates in his book Kindle Life is “measured by the tranquility of one’s mind.” More the tranquility and steadiness of the mind, fewer the agitations/disturbances (which cause sorrow) and consequently, more happiness. This is also indicated by Bhagavan Shree Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita (2.65) as under:
प्रसादे सर्वदु:खानां हानिरस्योपजायते |
प्रसन्नचेतसो ह्याशु बुद्धि: पर्यवतिष्ठते || 65||
prasāde sarva-duḥkhānāṁ hānirasyopajāyate,
prasanna-chetaso hyāśhu buddhiḥ paryavatiṣhṭhate.
In tranquility, all sorrow is destroyed. For the intellect of him, who is tranquil-minded, is soon established in firmness.
Further, being permanently established in this state of unruffled peace/tranquility and bliss which is the presence of God or Self or Atman within oneself (and attainable through the practice of Yoga and Vedanta as prescribed in our scriptures), man does not get shaken even if he were to face the greatest sorrow or affliction in life. In this regard, Bhagavan Shree Krishna in Bhagavad Gita (2.66) says:
यं लब्ध्वा चापरं लाभं मन्यते नाधिकं तत: |
यस्मिन्स्थितो न दु:खेन गुरुणापि विचाल्यते || 22||
yaṁ labdhvā cāparaṁ lābhaṁ manyate nādhikaṁ tataḥ,
yasminsthito na duḥkhena guruṇāpi vicālyate.
Having gained that state, one does not consider any attainment to be greater. Being thus established, one is not shaken even in the midst of the greatest sorrow.
The importance of this state cannot be explained in any greater manner than the prayer conveyed by Mata Kunti, the blessed mother of the Pandavas, after the Mahabharata war, to Bhagavan Shree Krishna (in Srimad Bhagavatam, 1.8.25) as under:
विपद: सन्तु ता: शश्वत्तत्र तत्र जगद्गुरो ।
भवतो दर्शनं यत्स्यादपुनर्भवदर्शनम् ॥
“O Jagat-Guru! May all those afflictions ever happen again and again so that we could behold You, for beholding You means that we will no longer see repeated births and deaths.”
Mata Kunti explicitly sought recurring sorrows from the Lord, because it is only in times of distress that one easily remembers the Lord, gets closer to Him and the Lord is the only source of true peace/tranquility and bliss (which is superior to the passing states of joys and sorrows in the world).
This idea is also beautifully expressed in the following Doha (couplet) of Sant Kabir:
दुःख में सुमिरन सब करे, सुख में करे न कोय।
जो सुख में सुमिरन करे, तो दुःख काहे को होय ॥
Everyone remembers God (prays) during times of sorrow, but no one remembers Him during times of happiness. If one were to remember God even during times of happiness, then why would sorrow ever come?
Further, it is to be noted that being established in that inner supreme state also enables one to objectively introspect and calmly analyse one’s conduct, behaviour and thoughts as well as undertake appropriate actions for further correction/development/improvement/refinement/change, etc., if required, in the external world both professionally and personally.
So, to summarise, let us all individually strive to improve our own real “inner” appraisal process and thereby take appropriate action as well as be unaffected by the “external” one. The real positive appraisal shall have taken place only when we are becoming calmer, peaceful, satisfied and joyful day by day; it is only then that we get the real “promotion and bonus” from the Lord – our true Boss of Whom we are the employees (Sevaks/Dasa)!
-Chaitanya Bhatt
