Think Big

Hi,  my  name  is  Ambuj,  and  welcome  to  my Blog.  

One  of  the  last  bits  of  advice  I  remember  before  leaving  the  monastery in Himachal  was  from  one  of  my  teachers  who  to  this  day  is  still  a  really  important  part  of  my  life.  He  said  to  me,  "Think  big."  And  you  might  think  from  a  monk  that's  a  strange  bit  of  advice.  You  know,  it's  normal  when we  think  of  monastics,  we  think of keeping  life  very  simple  and very  clean, not  really  thinking  big 😀. But it's easy to think that being present and focusing on the present moment is keeping things small and preventing our dreams, hopes, and activity, however you want to call it, from manifesting in the world. 

It was something I took with me and carried into my working life, as well as in my personal life. The concept is that we limit ourselves in our thoughts and mentality. And if we can just let go of it, we give ourselves an opportunity. And thinking big doesn't always imply scale; it could just mean stepping outside of our comfort zone. It may be attempting something that we've always wanted to accomplish. But, for some reason, something is holding us back.

I  always  used  to  reflect  on  his  journey  when  he  gave  me  that  advice of thinking big.  You  know,  he'd  left  Tibet  at  a  time  where  it  was  incredibly  difficult  in  Tibet.  Tibet  was  being  invaded by the Chinese Communist Party Goons,  the  Tibetans  were  escaping,  many  of  them  over  the  Himalayas  into  India,  Nepal  and  other  countries (You can see glimpse of this historical era in the Golden Globe Awards winner movie “Seven Years in Tibet”).  And  this monk left  with  a  really  big  party,  hundreds  of  people,  to  escape  over  the  Himalayas  with  his  brother  and  some  other  important  teachers.  and  they  took  with  them  whatever  they  could. A  lot  of  the  monasteries  were  being  destroyed  in Tibet  and  so  they  took  the  teachings  that  they  had  to  escape  over  the  Himalayas.  It  took  them  a  long  time, from what I remember,  they took  about  six  months  to  actually  make  it.  And  during  that  time,  most  people  in  the  party  died.  They  died  of  starvation,  of  hypothermia,  some  were  shot  along  the  way.  And  it  was  probably  only  about I  think 12  or  13  people (out of hundreds 😥) that  eventually  arrived  from  that  party  in  India.  

They  essentially  showed  up  with  nothing  other  than  the  teachings  they  had.  And  over  a  period  of  time,  various  governments  around  the  world  offered  these  different  teachers  land  to  begin  a  new  life  on,  or  an  opportunity  to  move  to  a  new  place.  And  this  particular  teacher  and  his  brother  found  themselves  in  Himachal  in  a  beautiful  area,  a beautiful  part  of  the  countryside.  But  where  essentially  nothing  really  existed.

But  he  still  says  that  in  his  mind  and  in  the  mind  of  his  brother  was  a  vision  of  a  Tibetan  monastery  and  the  idea  of  bringing  that  to  life  and  they  had  no  money  to  do  it, they  had  no  means  to  do  it.  They  had  no  idea  how  they  could  do  it  but  because  the  idea  existed  in  their  mind  the  possibility  of  it  happening  still  existed  in  the  world  and  over  time  one  way  or  another  they  made  it  happen. 

Last year, I visited the monastery; now thousands of people visit it monthly and it is really huge. For so many Tibetans, it's a great venue with not only cultural protection but also a learning environment and a haven of refuge. But it only exists because an individual, a few others, a small group of people believed in it, so completely, without any limitations, without placing any limitations on themselves, on others, or in their own minds, that it eventually came to be something.

I  genuinely  believe  that  everything  is  possible.  It  doesn't  necessarily  mean  that  everything  will  unfold  as  we  would  like  it  to,  and  it  doesn't  mean  that  we  can  do  whatever  we  want.  We  all  have  specific set of skills  in  different  areas  of  life.  But  when  it  comes to  helping  others,  when  it  comes  to  creating/building  something,  if  the intention  in  our  mind  is  clear,  then  at  some  point  that  will  be  reflected  in  the  world.

So  whatever  you  do,  think  big!!