BE A WINNER
Good afternoon to everyone. You know, I'm truly delighted to be here amongst you and I really mean this. You know, besides my passion for cinema and traveling, what I love most is to be with young people like you.
To interact, to interact, to understand, because I truly believe that the youth are the pulse of today, the present. You are the vibrant force of today. What you think, what you aspire, what you dream, the way you conduct yourself, the way you carry yourself, will not only determine the society of tomorrow or the country of tomorrow or for that matter, the world of tomorrow, but you also play a very vital role in the present.
That is my firm belief. What you do, what you think, what kind of taste you have, what kind of outlook you have, what kind of mannerism you have, makes the dynamism of today, of the present, as well. That kind of power you guys have.
What you choose will make a lot of difference. What you choose to eat, what you choose to drink, what you choose to wear, what kind of entertainment you choose to have, what are the kind of things that you like or dislike, determines the dynamism, not only in the society, but also in the marketplace.
If youth of today, if you decide, someone who is about fifteen to sixteen to up to thirty, if they decide not to drink certain types of soft drinks, the market of that soft drink will plummet. If you decide that you are not entertained by certain types of entertainment, if you feel going to the movie theaters and watching movies does not give you entertainment, the movie business will go down.
If you choose to dislike certain types of clothes, certain types of mannerism, the same thing will happen to that as well. That is the kind of power that you guys have. But I am not sure whether the youth of today are aware of that power or whether they are utilizing their power on their own.
Because I believe, you know, in today's age, in the information age, in the cyber age, other sources are making decisions for you. Other factors are directing you to do what you're supposed to do, what kind of fun you should have, what kind of food you should enjoy, what kind of entertainment you should have, what kind of clothings you should wear, what kind of gadgets you should own.
That is the thing that you should be deciding, but what happens is in this information age, in the digital age, in the cyber age, other sources are deciding for you. So more or less, that power has been snatched away from you because, probably because the youth of today is not aware of that power. Now, what happens is when someone else is directing you of all these things, the society becomes a one big herd.
There's a danger of creating a herd, a sheep-like community where everybody thinks alike, where everybody wants to wear the same thing, where everybody wants to have something that the other person has, and they do not make their own individual decision. They are giving away their individual power, and that is what you guys should be reclaiming now.
You know, it's all right to be similar, but it is much more better to be different, to have your own individual opinion, to have your own individual taste, to have your own individual creativity, and to be directed by that and to be motivated by that gives you a true personality, gives you a true identity.
So this is what I really want to tell the youth of today is reclaim that power that you guys have, your individuality, your personality, you know, the thing that you're capable of your own own. Because now I see you here, you know, gathered. I can either look at you as a bunch of students or I can look at you as individuals.
If I look at you as a bunch of students, I will just see similar things, similarities, same age, same reactions, same kind of thought process. But if I look at you individually, each of you have something to offer. Each of you have certain types of skills and talents that you can bring into the table, and you should be recognizing that, and you should be utilizing that.
Because I'm not saying that all of you are equal, but what I'm saying is each one of you are different. And cash on that. Utilize that. Don't compare yourself to others.
Don't go by what the trend is saying. Don't go by with all the information that you have been bombarded with that is the right way to do things or think things. Don't go by that.
Be your own creation. Utilize your creativity because each of you are an individual. Each of you have different types of skills, different types of talents, different types of capability.
All you have to do is recognize that, to pinpoint that, you know? Some of you might be good in the future, some might, some of you might be a great CEO. Some of you might be a great chef.
It doesn't matter as long as you are utilizing your skill, as long as you are utilizing your capability. Because, you know, in long run, when you go into life tomorrow, you at this stage probably all of you have certain goals, you know, the goals that you want to achieve You're probably saying that, "I want to excel in this, I wanna become this. I wanna become a great banker" maybe.
"I want to become a great CEO in the future" maybe. And you make certain goals for yourself. But let me tell you goal is not the end by itself.
What you think as a goal is only the means. What you should actually aspire for is the growth in you and the growth happens on an everyday basis. How to grow better, how to be a better person, how to achieve better things so that ultimately one day you'll be in your goals.
Once you have put your goals in place according to the capacity and capability that you have, on a day-to-day basis what you should concentrate on is how to grow better. Forget about your goal. As long as you're growing better each day, as long as you're learning each day, as long as you're being a better person each day, ultimately, if you get the goal, you become a very capable person.
And even if you don't get the goal, what happens is that you will not be empty-handed. You would have been, become a better person and you will end up doing something or the other. So the idea is the growth.
Because you know, in life, science says that whatever comes in life ultimately degenerates, you know, ultimately dies away, ultimately fades away. You know, you're born, you grow, you reach a certain peak, and then your decline starts, and then you meet your end. Everything happens like that, in the nature, in the living beings.
You know, you're born, you blossom, and then you die. But the only thing that remains with you throughout your life which you can grow it constantly is your knowledge, your spirit. That you can make it grow all your life, even if your body gives up, even if you're weak and feeble in your old age.
As long as you are constantly growing in your mind and in your spirit, you are becoming fruitful. So that is the only thing that keeps on growing for the entire life of yours, unless if you are attacked by some terrible disease of the mind. As long as that is not happening, that is the only thing that grows constantly.
Otherwise, everything else degenerates. Today you are young people, you have not peaked yet. At certain age you will be peaking, and then once you peak you will reach your saturation points, and then the downhill starts, and then the you know, the course of the nature takes place.
But that doesn't mean that spiritually and mentally that you will not be growing. As long as your mind is functioning, you'll be growing all your life. So that is what you should be concentrating and focusing on, to growth, to grow yourself mentally.
You know, there is a story of this, great writer, and this writer says, you know, at one stage of his life, a disease, a fatal, very, dangerous disease hits him and his body becomes very weak and he degenerate- generates. So his whole body is not functioning but his mind is still functioning.
And even at that stage, because his mind is functioning, he's willing to grow all the time, he's willing to lift up his spirit all the time. And then what he wrote at that stage was, he says, "My hands are weak" because he's a sick person, he's an old person. He says, "My hands are weak, but my writing is strong."
He says, "I have lost my speech, but my voice is strong." He says, "I have diminished," but then he says, "I have grown at the same time." So that is what happens.
As long as you're concentrating on becoming a better person, growing all the time, that will, you know, complete you as a human being and that will be by your side all your life. So that is what you should concentrate on. As long as you're growing, there's no doubt that if you have known your capacity and your capability and if you have set a goal, you will definitely reach a goal.
And once you have reached a goal, once you become whatever you wanted to become, you know, whether you wanted to become a CEO, a doctor, an engineer, a lawyer, or for that matter an actor, in long run what happens is, in the society what is most important is, it's not what you do. What you do is not important. Lot of people concentrate on what they are doing, you know?
They are saying, "You know what I do? I'm a doctor. You know what I do? I'm a businessman. You know what I do?
I'm a politician." Most of the people concentrate on what I do, but the emphasis should be on why I do what I'm doing. If you're able to get that message across of why you are doing what you are doing, the society respects you even more. They admire you even more, and your achievement becomes a true achievement if you are able to explain why you are doing what you are doing.
You know, if a doctor is a, is able to explain why he has become a doctor, what is the reason he has become a doctor? What kind of contribution he wants to make to, make to the society? If a politician, instead of concentrating on what he is, if he concentrates on why, what, why is he what he is, then the society respects him more.
He will be able to clarify why he wants to be a politician. What are the reasons he wants to be the politician? If he can get that message across, the society will accept him and respect him even more.
And for that matter, even an actor. If I keep on saying that I'm an actor, what I do, I'm an actor. What are you? I'm a superstar.
If I only say that. And if I'm not able to disseminate the message of why I'm doing what I'm doing, why am I contributing all my years in an acting field? Why did I start, my acting career?
What was the reason why I wanted to be an actor? If I'm able to put that message across to the society, the respect and the acceptance comes much more easily. So don't concentrate on what you want to become.
You know, try to find out and answer why you want to become whatever you want to become. What is the reason? Why is it that you wanna be whatever you wanna be?
You know, ask yourself. And for that, you need certain type of awareness. You know, awareness is the most important thing.
When I'm saying awareness is the most important thing is because, you know, as a human being, we are more or less made in a same fashion, in the same manner. After all, we're all humans, you know. We have similar emotions, whether we are a great scientist or we are ordinary person, you know, we have similar emotions, we have similar mechanism, we react to similar things.
But if you are aware, the people who are aware, they get the same actions done to them, but the people who are aware, they react differently. If someone makes you angry, if you are not aware of your emotions, you intend to get angry and and you know, retaliate. But if you're aware of your emotions, you know, that might give you a realization that how am I gonna control my actions?
How am I going to, you know, behave in this manner? So awareness is very important. You know, having emotions is not a big deal.
Don't try to say that, "I'm a good person, I don't get angry, I don't like to, do this or do that. I'm a very nice person." Don't say that because we're all affected by the human emotions.
We're all affected by anger, we're all affected by love, we're all affected by disappointments, we're all affected by success in the same manner. But it is the people who are aware that channelize it differently, you know. We come to know how to channelize our emotions, and that becomes very important.
And I think a person who is aware will be able to, you know, determine its future and his future path in a more accurate way. People can take away your money, people can take away your clothings, people can take away your possessions, but what they cannot take away is how you react to a situation.
How are you going to react to a situation is going to be with you and that is going to be your power. If some people teases you it is within your power how you're going to react. That power, nobody is going to snatch it away.
If somebody says, "I'm going to kill you," how you're going to react to that is your power. That power, no one can steal away from you. If somebody comes to your house and robs everything, how you're going to react to that situation is up to you.
So the person who knows how to react in a situation is the person who is finally going to reach his destination, and I think that is very important. But at the same time, you know, I'm not going to say that by doing everything correctly, by having your goals, by being aware, by being a determined person, you know, by recognizing one's power and responsibility, life is going to be easy.
I'm not gonna say that. Nobody said life is gonna be easy. Life is not a bed of roses.
Life is gonna be tough. Life is gonna have challenges along the way. Life will always have challenges and hurdles, and they will be there at every interval.
Don't think that just because you have gone through one challenge, that you have succeeded in life. Just because you have reached a successful point at one phase of your life, don't think that your entire life is successful. Until you live, you will have to achieve lot of success, you'll have to face lot of challenges, you'll have to face a lot of hurdles.
And as long as you are willing to face that, as long as you make yourself capable of, you know, facing that will determine whether you are going to be the winner or you're going to be the loser. Because in life, no matter what happens, you know, winning is important. To win is important.
But not winning by hook or by crook, not winning by any means, but by winning in an honest way. You know, winning by helping other people, being compassionate to other people. When you are getting to the winning position, helping other people along the way as well.
And despite that, if you actually become a winner tomorrow, everybody will appreciate that. Everybody will consider you as a true winner because you have gone there by your honest means, by helping other people, by being compassionate to other people, and not by hook or by crook. So I ask you all to be a winner in life.
Be a winner in a very honest way, in a compassionate way. Protect your individuality and have a wonderful life. Thank you very much.
Thank you everyone.
