Decoding the success mantra in a church in Rome

Promotion to the next grade in school would involve a lot of work such as covering hardbound books and notebooks. The covers often carried inspirational quotes. I still remember three such slogans defining the success mantra. They were: Definite aim, burning desire and constant working.

I followed this mantra in letter and spirit. Those days, there were no phones or TV. You had to divide your time between study and games. The first priority on coming back from school used to be finishing the home task. Thereafter, you were free to spend the evening in the street playing hide and seek, gilli-danda or football. Cricket was still a far cry.

Studying late into the night was a conscious choice I made to fuel the burning desire for achieving success. It worked, at least for me. Getting an engineering degree, a post-graduation in literature and a PG diploma in teaching, all through private studies, won accolades from elders and teachers.

A steady progress in career too was the result of studiously following the mantra learnt from notebook covers. It gave me all one needed to spend life in a befitting manner.

But was it enough? Something was missing. Perhaps the mantra was incomplete, for I did not achieve the peaks I had so often imagined and cherished. I was still a cog in the huge corporate wheel. Spending long hours in the library and examining the strategy did not reveal much about the gap I was experiencing. Perhaps, it had something to do with the intensity of belief in the success mantra. Or was the intensity of hard work lacking?

The revelation of the truth came much later while visiting the church of Saint Peter in Chains in Rome. Standing in front of the marble statue of Moses, sculpted by Michelangelo, I was listening to each and every word of the story being told by the guide.

He said that Michelangelo was so engrossed in his work that he did not look into the mirror for 16 long years! When he saw his bearded face in the mirror after such a long gap, he could not recognise himself. He had turned all white like his marble statue!

When the king of Italy saw this sculpture, he was stunned. Every nerve and every hair on the back of the hand of Moses had come alive. The king asked, “But why does Moses not speak, Michelangelo?”

This revelation about intensity of belief and hard work got confirmed once again after I came to know that Michael Faraday, the inventor of the electric dynamo, always used to carry heavy magnets in his coat pockets as he had an inkling that magnetic field could be converted into electricity. The weighty magnets constantly reminded him of his mission, even while going for his daily walk. He was ultimately able to achieve his mission later in life.

You may call it ‘junoon (madness or passion)’ or whatever, but without such craziness we wouldn’t have had the statue Moses or electricity or many other trappings of modern life.

The regret of not knowing the full import of the success mantra early on will remain with me till the end. After all, you have only one life to live. In the words of Greek philosopher Heraclitus of Ephesus: “You cannot step in the same river twice.”

But then the Creator knows best and it is not necessary that all our dreams come true. Everybody can’t be a Michelangelo or a Faraday.

YOU MAY CALL IT ‘JUNOON (MADNESS OR PASSION)’ OR WHATEVER, BUT WITHOUT SUCH CRAZINESS WE WOULDN’T HAVE HAD THE STATUE MOSES OR ELECTRICITY OR OTHER TRAPPINGS OF MODERN LIFE