#DetachedAttachment
When you focus only on the process and not the result, you free yourself from stress and anxiety about success or failure. You learn hot to manage stress and this mental balance allows you to work calmly and effectively. (Bhagavad Gita 2.48)
Let us analyze one more master stroke from Bhagavad Gita on managing failures (and successes of course)
#DetachedAttachment
सुखदु:खे समे कृत्वा लाभालाभौ जयाजयौ | ततो युद्धाय युज्यस्व नैवं पापमवाप्स्यसि || Bhagavad Gita 2.38||
This sloka talks about three pairs of opposites and they are sukha-dukkha (meaning happiness and distress), labha-alabhau (meaning profit and loss) and then jaya-ajayau (meaning success and failure).
Fight for the sake of duty, treating alike happiness and distress, loss and gain, victory and defeat. Fulfilling your responsibility in this way, you will never incur sin.
Detachment means accepting both success and failure with the same mindset. Both are temporary, and neither defines your true self. When you are detached, you remain calm and unshaken, regardless of the outcome.
Detached attachment’ is the optimal mantra where the feeling of ownership is eliminated and replaced with a feeling of ‘custodianship.’ An ownership feeling creates a sense of attachment in an implicit manner, whereas a custodian feeling creates a detachment with a pure sense of love.
Would this mean we are not allowed to rejoice happiness, not entitled to celebrate success and profit as per #BhagavadGita. Definitely not. Feeling happy at success is quite natural and is a positive emotion. Bhagavad Gita is not suggesting being sober and quiet with success. That is not the qualification of a yogi.
The word same krutva in the above sloka is the key here which when translated to English gives the meaning treating alike. Success deserves enjoyment, deserves celebration. Lord Krishna’s suggestion is not to avoid celebrating success but to celebrate failures as well. Be happy at failures as well because they are the learning experiences for success.
Success does not mean crushing goals and dodging failure. Success and failure are inexplicably intertwined.
"The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time." —Thomas Edison.
Celebrate small wins
It can be difficult to see the bigger picture when you’re working toward a long-term goal. Recognizing small wins along the way is not only an important part of making progress but can also help keep you motivated.
As you celebrate accomplishments, it creates a deeper hunger to build an even stronger base and pull yourself to greater victory and triumph. You will raise your standards for what is possible and develop the rituals and habits necessary to make sustainable success.
Achieving your goals isn’t always easy. It takes hard work and inner strength. Celebrate success with self-care: moment alone, and some self-reflection, feel gratitude to others who have helped you with the success, appreciate and thank those who have contributed to the success, be with people you love, etc. You’ll feel re-energized for new goals.
Our successes are the fuel that keeps us going. Track your progress so that you can see how far you’ve come, even if you haven’t yet reached your ultimate goal. It will help you #StayPositive and #SpreadPositivity, which is the key to continued success.
Avoid the enemies
Lord Krishna did not ban celebration of success. The concern here is the possibility of success enhancing three of the six enemies (shadripu) ie greed, ego and attachment, Detached attachment to success will help to keep these enemies away.
The Importance of Failure
Failure is often viewed as something negative, something to be avoided, feared, and hidden away. In reality, setbacks and failures are valuable learning experiences that can provide an opportunity for growth, personal development, and a path to success. Embracing failure can lead to resilience, creativity, and a growth mindset that can help overcome future challenges.
Failure is an integral part of the learning process. Thomas Edison, the inventor of the light bulb, famously said, “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” This quote highlights the importance of failure and how it can lead to success.
If we are used to celebrating successes we must celebrate failures as well. Only then, we will do justice to Bhagavad Gita. Celebrating Failures? Unheard of? We will make it happen in the next episode.
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#PositiveNewsPage
Adapted from www.newindianexpress.com
#DrThangjamDhabaliSingh’s journey from abject poverty in a small Manipuri village to becoming one of Northeast India’s leading doctor-entrepreneurs is a story of quiet resilience, relentless focus and unshakeable values.
Born in 1954 in Awang Sekmai, Manipur, Singh was the fifth of ten children in a family that barely made ends meet. His father a poor farmer with modest schooling; his mother was illiterate.
Education was a luxury, but Singh’s parents prioritised it, nonetheless. Despite economic hardships, they made all efforts to ensure the children received proper education.
Growing up, Singh wore hand-me-down clothes from his elder brothers — ill-fitting pants and shirts that drew jeers from classmates. “Their comments about my dress sense hurt me deeply,” he recalls. But these slights only strengthened his resolve.
He completed his MBBS under Gauhati University in 1978 with high ranks and later topped his MD in Pathology at the prestigious Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), Chandigarh, after clearing a national-level entrance test.
After earning his MD, Singh briefly served as a senior resident at PGIMER before returning to Manipur with his wife, Dr S Rita, also a post-graduate in pharmacology. Despite their degrees, the couple remained unemployed for six months, relying on their families even for pocket money — an experience Singh calls “deeply humbling.”
The turning point came when Singh opened a small clinical lab — #BabinaDiagnostics — in a partially constructed building provided by his father-in-law, along with a modest start-up fund of Rs 20,000.
Named after their daughter, the lab had minimal infrastructure and was located in an inconvenient part of Imphal. Yet, it began to grow steadily.
Simultaneously, Singh joined RIMS (Regional Institute of Medical Sciences) as a demonstrator in the Department of Pathology and was later promoted to Assistant Professor. He continued his private practice during non-office hours.
Over time, earnings from the lab were reinvested, and in 1986, Babina Diagnostics became the first lab in Eastern India to be computerised — a pioneering move. In 1994, the lab was relocated to a better location on RIMS Road. A few years later, Singh made the bold decision to resign from RIMS to focus full-time on building a world-class diagnostic centre.
A multi-storeyed building was constructed, and by 2012, a much larger facility came up, housing advanced diagnostic infrastructure.
Singh’s vision did not stop there. In 2017, he set his sights on cancer care. The Babina Specialty Hospital, launched in 2019 in partnership with the American Oncology Institute, offers comprehensive oncology services, including nuclear medicine and bone marrow transplant.
More recently, a 200-bed multispecialty hospital was inaugurated, and a nursing institute is currently under construction. In 2007, Singh ventured into hospitality, recognising the region’s need for quality hotels. The Classic Hotel, Imphal’s first three-star property, opened in 2009. Buoyed by its success, Singh launched the four-star Classic Grande in 2015.
He later took over operations of Hotel Imphal and the scenic Sendra Resort on Loktak Lake. A five-star hotel is under construction at the Hotel Imphal site, slated for completion by the end of 2026. To professionalise the sector further, Singh established the Classic Hospitality Training Institute, aimed at grooming talent for the industry.
As Chairman and Managing Director of the #BabinaGroupOfCompanies, Singh today oversees a business empire employing more than 1,200 professionals directly and another 300 indirectly through franchises, taxi services, supply chains and tourism-related services.
Singh also chairs the Manipur Tourism Forum, which has played a pivotal role in boosting tourist inflow through collaborations with the state government and local stakeholders.
The Babina Group supports underprivileged communities and promotes early screening for cancer and infectious diseases like HIV and Hepatitis.
Dr Thangjam Dhabali Singh treated successes and failures alike, learnt from hardships and those are the key qualities of an important trait #Resilience. We will see more about resilience in the next episode of #MondayMusings.
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Conceived, compiled and posted as a weekly newsletter #MondayMusings every monday consistently for the past 315 mondays without missing a single monday by Jaganathan t (www.authorjaganathan.com).
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