Commitment

‘An instance of being obligated or emotionally impelled : the action of committing oneself to a course of action : it is a pledge or promise to do something’.

‘Commitment’ is the essential required for both success and happiness in life. Every human being is committed to some ideal or action in life — his polestar — because without that ‘polestar’ a human-being does not ‘live’, he only exists. Let us for a moment pause to reckon as to how many ‘commitments’ we have in life, irrespective of whether we are conscious or not of those ‘commitments’. We are committed to :

•     our family
•     our job
•     our society
•     our nation and above all we are

committed to ourself, because unless we are committed to ourself we cannot fulfil our other commitments. But what do we mean by ‘commitment’ to ourself ?

In my view this commitment to ‘ourself’ means being true to ourselves. It is a promise to yourself. In other words, it means being in a position to analyse our thoughts and motives and also being in a position to chanelise our actions in conformity with our thoughts and beliefs.

I also believe that a plan without commitment remains a plan and no thoughtful and conscious action can be taken without ‘commitment’. Hence, success in every action is based on ‘commitment’. Even the action of a ‘suicide bomber’ is based on and motivated by ‘commitment’. ‘Commitment’ forsakes excuses, it breaks resistance, it makes our work light and not loaded. It represents honesty and leads to excellence. It lends strength to our character. It has been rightly said ‘commitment in the face of conflict produces character’. ‘Commitment’ represents conscious hunger to succeed and above all to live. According to Sri Sri Ravi Shankar :

“Life runs with ‘commitment’ and

‘commitment’ lends strength”.

The most salient commitment which we all have experienced is ‘mother’s commitment to her child’. It is what builds our character, because it is based on love — it is there — even when the recipient is not conscious of it.

Let us consider a few examples of ‘commitment’ :

•  Albert Einstein’s commitment to invent

•  Albert Schweitzer’s commitment to serve

•  Gandhi’s commitment to Swaraj

•  Kennedy’s commitment to put man on moon

•  Sachin’s commitment to cricket

•  Vivekananda’s commitment to preach Vedanta

It is apparent to us as to what they achieved with ‘commitment’. Obama’s commitment to peace and progress with change in attitude has got him the ‘Nobel’.

However, the questions which bother me are :

•  Are we fully conscious of our ‘commitments’ because according to Imre Lakatos ‘blind commitment to a theory is an intellectual crime’?

and

•  Do we really put commitment into our actions ?

Let us pause and think about this simple word ‘commitment’ and make our life consciously successful, satisfying and, above all, happy.