Cultivating the Habit of Excellence
Rajarsi Janakananda (James J. Lynn) was the foremost male disciple of Paramhansa Yogananda. He also happened to be a self-made millionaire (by today’s standards, a billionaire), owning multiple corporations.
However, he wasn’t born into that wealth. Quite the opposite. He came from a very humble background. As a child, he would pick cotton and fruit from his father’s farm and sell it in the market along with butter he made from their cows' milk. He had to stop studying at the age of nine because his father needed someone to bring money into the family.
At fourteen, for two dollars an hour, he worked as a sweeper at a railway station. Though he had a job most wouldn’t consider “dignified,” he excelled at it. His sincerity and desire for excellence made everyone seek him out for jobs even when the job market was terrible.
At the age of sixteen, he resumed his high school studies and began studying law and accountancy – all at the same time. He became the youngest CPA in history and was admitted into the Bar even before he passed the law exam. By the time he was twenty-five, he owned the largest reciprocal fire insurance company in the world.
Later, when he came to his Guru at forty, he embraced the spiritual path with the same sincerity and excellence. Soon, he reached the highest states of divine consciousness and was the spiritual successor of Yogananda’s work after his passing.
Whether it was sweeping the floor, managing a business empire, or soaring in the clear skies of God-consciousness, Rajarsi demonstrated one trait at every stage of his life: excellence.
In the Bhagavad Gita (2:50), Sri Krishna says to Arjuna, “One who is united to cosmic wisdom in this life goes beyond virtue and vice. Therefore, devote thy own self to the art of divine union or yoga. Yoga is the art of proper action.” What do we mean by “proper” action? In his Gita commentaries, Yogananda explains that action alone is proper that is done with the consciousness of God.
Not everyone in the world is looking for God. But the Gita, being a true scripture, applies to all levels of life. Thus, a popular interpretation of the same passage is also prevalent: “Yoga is the art of working skillfully.” Even those who aren’t ready to seek God can strive to do what is in front of them to the best of their ability.
The lives of successful men – material and spiritual – demonstrate this principle wonderfully.
Steve Jobs famously cared about the inside of his products as much as the outside – even if no one would ever see them. He explained, “When you’re a carpenter making a beautiful chest of drawers, you’re not going to use a piece of plywood on the back, even though it faces the wall and nobody will ever see it. You’ll know it’s there, so you’re going to use a beautiful piece of wood on the back.”
James Garfield, America’s 20th president worked as a janitor in exchange for his college tuition. He did the job conscientiously without a hint of shame. In just one year, his sincerity, hard work, and conscientiousness led him to become a professor in his college, while he was still managing his studies. By the age of twenty-six, he was the dean.
These are but a few examples that show us the power of striving for excellence in everything we do. In that striving, we develop sterling qualities like concentration, patient application of willpower, perseverance, and determination. All these are essential for the spiritual path.
Whatever job you are in right now, I’m sure it has its mundane elements. Life itself requires us to do things that we are not always enthusiastic about – laundry, washing the dishes, cleaning the house, and so on. But, no matter what task is placed in front of us, it behooves us to do it to the best of our ability. Because how you do anything is how you do everything.
If everything is done well, excellence soon becomes a habit. I once listened to a talk by a successful army general who said that the secret to his success was making the bed in the morning. What does making the bed have to do with anything? Well, everything!
The simple act of making the bed, though small, was a way of achieving excellence in everything he did. Once this habit of excellence was developed, it spilled over to all other aspects of his life. “If you can’t do the little things right, you won’t do the big things right,” he concluded.
More often than not, success starts with the little things. It starts with what we are doing right here, right now. Are we concentrated? Are we giving our full attention? Are we doing it to the best of our ability?
As a young monk in his Guru’s ashram, Swami Kriyananda was working on a construction project. One of his brother-disciples was devoting more time than required to a section that would not be seen by anyone. When he was asked to explain himself, the man replied, “God is going to see it.” What a beautiful thought!
Swami Kriyananda wrote an affirmation on Work: “I will do my work thinking of Thee, Lord. I offer to thee the very best that is in me.”
God is seeing everything you are doing right now. The question is – are you offering to Him the very best that is in you?
If we can say, “Yes” to that question moment-by-moment in everything we do, we will grow spiritually. Whenever faced with the temptation to cut corners or to lower our energy in the face of a difficult task, let’s put out a little more energy than we think we can.
Yogananda said that no matter how many times you fail, try just once more. Excellence,, too will come easily if we choose to increase our energy a “little more” every time we feel tempted to “lay back.”
One of life’s greatest delusions is that the less energy we put out, the happier we feel. The opposite is true. When we put out more energy, we are most happy because we open ourselves to the flow of God’s energy within us.
I’ll end with a prayer that Swamiji adds to his affirmation:
"Beloved Lord, who so wonderfully created the high, snowy mountains; the bounding rivers; the colorful, fragrant flowers; the vast, heaving oceans; and the distant, glittering stars: Manifest, through me, Thy perfect joy." – Affirmations for Self-Healing
Don’t wait to achieve excellence in your work. Choose excellence NOW. Don’t wait to think of God. Think of Him NOW. Give your best to whatever you are doing NOW. Then you will find that He can manifest in you, His perfect joy.
