On Idols, Goals, Hardwork and Fulfillment || Acharya Prashant, with youth (2013)
Question: Sir, I want to know what does the word ‘Hard Work’ mean? Does it mean studying 16-18 hours a day?
Speaker: I go jogging in the morning and I don’t really enjoy it. It is lot of hard work for me. There is a colleague who goes along with me and has to keep pushing me all the time. When I play, be it Table Tennis, Cricket, or sometimes Soccer, I run around. I do not mind running around. I run around like a hare. Why?
Listener 1: Because you are not into it.
Speaker: If you are not into it, then the mind gives a lot of resistance, that resistance is called ‘Hard Work’. Hard work is not any physical action. Hard work is the resistance that the mind puts up. My mind puts up lots of resistance even when I am jogging mildly. It says, ‘What stupidity? Why are you jogging? It is so humid, go back and sleep.’ That is hard work. When your mind is playing all kinds of tricks and resisting what is happening, then it becomes hard work.
When your mind is not resisting, you do a lot of things, still it is not hard work. When your mind is supportive, when it is all in a smooth flow then a lot of work is happening and yet it is not hard work.
Listener 2: Sir, are idols or inspirations important?
