MONDAY MUSINGS SEASON 2 - EPISODE 368
1st June 2026
Pains of Procrastination
That happiness which is illusory from the beginning to the end, which is derived from sleep, indolence, and negligence, is said to be in the mode of ignorance. (Bhagavad Gita 18.39)
Excessive sleep, laziness, and carelessness are the three most threatening enemies for attaining eternal bliss. Laziness comes with an unasked-for accomplice known as procrastination. Let us start the week with an interesting and thoughtful story highlighting the problems of laziness and procrastination.
Losses from laziness
Vivek grew up as a lazy boy and his father was very worried about Vivek getting used to the three bad habits of sleep, laziness and negligence. A saint near the town used to be popular and well respected. Vivek’s father entrusted Vivek to the saint, asking him to teach him the values of a good life.
The saint tried very hard but Vivek would not change. Saint thought of a trick to make him understand the value of time.
The saint gave him a feather with a message, “Son, this is a magic feather with the potential to convert a mud pot to a golden pot. But beware: its power will work only for a day, from sunrise to sunset tomorrow. Make best use of the magic feather and become rich”.
Vivek thanked the saint and preserved it safe. He thought of buying mud pots from the town’s market the next day and getting as many golden pots as possible, conscious of the fact that the job had to be completed before sunset. He had no mud pots with him but still felt lazy to go to the market immediately. Anyway, lot of time left to go to the market, he thought.
As usual, he got up late the next day, much later than the sun rose in the sky. He could not get up even after he woke up as usual. Once he got up from the bed, he thought he would finish his breakfast before getting to work. After finishing breakfast, he felt like sleeping again. He was excited to test the magic feather, but alas, no pots. “There is enough time before the sunset. It takes only half an hour to go to the market and get back. What is the hurry? Let me enjoy some sleep before I go to the market,” saying so, he slept again.
It was noon by the time he woke up again and he felt like having a good lunch before he walked to the market. After a sumptuous lunch, he fell asleep and slept, thinking that there was still time left anyway. After he got up, it was raining, and he did not feel like going out. There is still enough time to go to the market, he thought.
By the time he finally decided to go to the market, the sun was coming down in the sky. He got into a panic. He got ready to go to the market and opened the door only to find the master at the door. The master collected the feather, saying that it had lost its magic power, and Vivek lost the opportunity.
Vivek understood the significance of his problem and transformed.
The story is a children's story but applicable to many of us in our corporate life. Many times we behave as absurdly as Vivek in the story. We postpone submissions to the last date, thinking that there is enough time, only to end up getting stressed on the last day.
Procrastination is the most obvious reason for most of our stress,
Dedication to Responsibilities
यत: प्रवृत्तिर्भूतानां येन सर्वमिदं ततम् | स्वकर्मणा तमभ्यर्च्य सिद्धिं विन्दति मानव: || Bhagavad Gita 18.46||
Lord Krishna tells us the importance of being committed to our responsibilities in this beautiful sloka.
Being imperfect in your responsibilities is better than being perfect in someone else’s responsibilities.
The sloka looks confusing and the interpretation is important. We will see the interpretation in the next week.
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#PositiveNewsPage
This week’s positive news page is the technology wonder, the world’s highest rail bridge across the river Chenab.
I had the opportunity to visit the Chenab Bridge on Sunday and was amazed at the wonder. Looking at the bridge from the bottom of the pillar is amazing.
Chenab Rail Bridge in Jammu and Kashmir, connecting Jammu to Srinagar, stands 359 meters (1,178 feet) above the riverbed, making it 35 meters taller than the Eiffel Tower. Spanning 1,315 meters and built to withstand magnitude 8 earthquakes, extreme temperatures as low as 20 degrees centigrade and wind speeds of up to 266 km/h, it is an engineering marvel.
It was not an easy task. The railway line connecting Jammu and Kashmir was a long dream of the region and I could practically realise the time and money saved for the people of the region because of this engineering marvel. Kudos to the designers and engineers who made this dream possible for the people of the region.
Another positive news is that I managed to post this episode of #MondayMusings against many difficulties. I was travelling over the weekend and had difficulty getting internet access. I still prepared the episode by Monday afternoon, only to realise that my laptop's power supply had failed at the nick of time. With no access to the laptop, I had to resort to editing and posting the episode through my mobile phone. I ended up posting as a LinkedIn Post and whatsapp messages by the deadline of Monday night.
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Conceived, compiled and posted as a weekly newsletter #MondayMusings every Monday by Jaganathan T (www.authorjaganathan.com).
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PROMOTIONS
My new book Select & Delete is getting very good response. About 500 books sold in the first month and many readers shared the feedback that the book gives unstoppable thrill of reading.
