Unleash The Power Within - Anupam Kher's Weekly Article in Deccan Chronicle (15-Aug-2010)

Many people I come across are under the impression that merely by attending self-coaching classes, or sitting at the feet of a guruji, will make them self-realised individuals. Such a feeling is far removed from the truth, just as if mere recitation of prayers will make us better human beings.

The main aspect is to realise, as I have explained before, that we have to be internally awake and conscious of every action and thought of ours. And the key word is ‘internal’, as without that internal will, no amount of external force can make us realise the power within us. No one who has achieved any bit of success can deny that before the external obstacles were tackled, the journey to success had to begin by fighting the internal obstacles. These could be in the form of sloth, fears, low-self esteem, distractions, temptations, worries, past failures etc.

As I write these words, I am reminded of my own internal conflicts which I had to overcome on the road to achieving success. I was already balding at 23, I had studied in a Hindi medium school and was not proficient in English. Coming from a family of very modest means in Shimla, I was not acquainted with the use of cutlery nor had been exposed to fine dining experiences. My one leg was marginally shorter than the other. I would think that such handicaps were quite a plateful for me to surmount. But I did it.

In life, I have discovered through analysing my experiences, that it is always the inner that shapes the outer. As someone told me the other day — have you ever wondered over the preponderance of ins in the language of self-realisation? Why it is w-in and not w-out, in-trospect and not out-rospect, in-tuition and not out-tuition, in-sight and not out-sight, in-spiration and not out-spiration, in-stinct and not out-stinct. And the list goes on…

All great breakthroughs have always been from our thoughts, which are internal. Whether it was Archimedes discovering the Principle of Floatation or Newton discovering gravity or Einstein enunciating his Theory of Relativity. The internals have been the subject of our sages who understood its importance thousands of years ago.

A lot of current research in advanced fields such as neurosciences has only proved the power within us; that even the best of us use barely 10 per cent of our mental capacity; that the brain rewires itself continuously and is capable of learning new things at any age.

So the road to self-actualisation is to address the internals and ACT. Focus your attention on the task at hand, do not give in to stray thoughts and easy options.

As I always say, you cannot learn swimming by reading a book; you have to dive into the pool. So take a dive into the pool of life. You will not merely experience the change within. You will unleash the power within.