WHAT IS YOUR "X"?

Once upon a time, there was a major technical problem at a billion-dollar atomic power plant. This malfunction was slowing energy generation and reducing the overall efficiency of the entire operation.

As much as they tried, the plant's engineers could not identify and solve the problem. So they brought in one of the nation's top consultants on atomic plant construction and engineering to see if he could determine what was wrong. The consultant arrived, put on a white coat, took his clipboard and went to work. For the next two days, he walked around, studying the hundreds of dials and gauges in the control room, taking notes and making calculations.

At the end of the second day, he took a black felt marker out of his pocket, climbed up on a ladder and put a large black "X" on one of the gauges.

"This is the problem," he explained. " Repair and replace the apparatus connected to this meter and the problem will be solved."

He then took off his white smock, drove back to the airport and flew home. The engineers disassembled the apparatus and discovered that, sure enough, this was the cause of the problem. It was soon repaired and the plant was back up to full capacity.

About a week later the plant manager received a bill from the consultant for $10,000 for "Services rendered."

The plant manager was surprised at the size of the bill, even though this was a multi-billion dollar nuclear facility and the problem had been costing an enormous amount of money in lost generating capacity. After all, he reasoned, the consultant had come in, stood around for a couple of days, written a black "X" on one of the gauges and then returned home. $10,000 seemed like a high fee for such a simple job.

The plant manager wrote back to the consultant. "We have received your bill. Could you please break down and itemize your charges. It seems that all you did was to write one "X" on a single gauge. $10,000 appears to be excessive for this amount of work."

Some days later, the plant manager received a new invoice from the consultant. It said, "For placing "X" on gauge: $1.00. For knowing which gauge to place "X" on: $9,999."
This simple story illustrates and summarizes the most important single principle of success, achievement and happiness in life. Your ability to determine where you put the "X" in each part of your life is the critical determinant of everything that you accomplish, or fail to accomplish.

This "X" is your focal point. This is the one thing that you can do, at any given moment, to get the very best result possible for you in that area. Your ability to choose the correct time, place and activity to place your "X" has more of an impact on your life than any other factor.

In the book "Focal Point", you will learn a practical, proven and powerful process that you can apply in every area of your life to achieve better, faster, easier outcomes and results than you ever imagined possible. Just as the sun's rays, focused through a magnifying glass, can create intense heat and fire, your intelligence and abilities, focused and concentrated on a few key activities, can enable you to accomplish vastly more than the average person, and in far less time. Just as normal light and electricity concentrated into a laser beam can cut through steel, your ability to choose and decide upon the most vital element of any situation will enable you to perform at extraordinary levels in any area of endeavor or activity.

- From the book "Focal Point" by Brian Tracy (book available upon request)

 

 

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MY PARENTS AND THE HOLY NAME

As I am trying to put the holy name in the center of my life, which I intended to do for the past year, and inspired by Sacinandana Swami's Kirtan Retreat, some interesting things are happening.

As I am writing this, my father, a retired high school psychology teacher, is chanting his first round of the Hare Krsna maha mantra. And my mother, who remembers the whole mantra, is teaching him the mantra.

How did this came about?

This morning my mother told me that my father has attacks of depression from time to time. I said he should start chanting on beads. So later on I explained to him the benefits of the spiritual sound giving an example of the famous sound experiment and he agreed to try.

I also explained that God is always happy and if you are in touch with Him via His name it is impossible to be depressed. I told him that since I started chanting in 1982, I was never ever depressed. And my father knows that I did have periods of depression when I was young.

I told my father that whenever he feels bad or depressed he can take the beads and chant. So let us see how he gets on.

 

 

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THE LAW OF ACCUMULATION

Devotional service rendered to the Personality of Godhead never goes in vain. Since the Personality of Godhead is eternal, intelligence applied in His service or anything done in His relation is also permanent. In the Bhagavad-gītā it is said that such transcendental service rendered unto the Personality of Godhead accumulates birth after birth, and when the devotee is fully matured, the total service counted together makes him eligible to enter into the association of the Personality of Godhead. Such accumulation of God's service is never vanquished, but increases till fully matured. SB 1.6.24 Purport
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Get better a little bit every single day, and your improvement will accumulate over time to make you perfect.

 

 

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The Vaikuntha Planets

In the Vaikuntha planets, it is described that the ladies - although they are living like queens in palaces. They sweep those palaces themselves, and they sweep them everyday. But, there's no dust. (Mimicking) "Oh for crying out, is there anybody who is going to sweep our floor? Where there's no dust. I mean, let's be real man. You got to be little cracked or something if you are going to sweep our floor, where there's no dust".

No no, here we need the dust, just like a car which is dirty and somebody writes on it, 'I want to be washed!' in the dust on the car. Here we have that dust to force us to do the service. But in the spiritual world - Vaikuntha they understand, the purpose of the floor is to serve Krsna. So floors are meant to be swept – that's what they're for. That's what you do with the floor – you sweep it, and the purpose of sweeping is to serve Krsna.

Here the purpose of sweeping is to gleam. Ok, we then can use that in serving Krsna. Without dust they wouldn't do it. But, if there is a lot of dust on the temple room floor and somebody finally writes in there, ' Please clean the temple room floor!' Well alright then, I'll clean it. So it's interesting, a clean floor without dust. So, if we are always absorbed in service to Krsna, then we will be so much relishing our life. Then everything becomes positive, and that's how Prabhupada has such a positive outlook.


(Kadamba Kanana Swami, August 2010)

 

 

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