Commitment and Capacity
Sri Sri
Life flows with commitments. Whether it is love, work, business or friendship, in any area of life there is commitment. Of course, our commitment is proportionate to what we have—our power, capacity and capability. If you are committed to taking care of your family, then you gain that much ability. If your commitment is for the whole community, then you will get that much energy, joy and power.
In life, what you want is something more. What is the “something more” that you want? More joy, more power, more energy. Anything you are given, you want more — more money, fame, beauty, joy and pleasure. But you do not need to look to your capabilities. More will be given to you only if you properly utilize what you have. This is a law in nature. Nature will not give to someone who does not properly utilize what is already being given.
So if you have talent, use your talent. The more responsibility you take on, the more energy and ability will be given to you. You have to increase your capacity. Instead of saying, “What more can I get?” you have to say, “What more can I do?” This tendency to do more, to want more, is already there. You only have to give it a twist. If you turn it around, then you will see there is joy, because joy is only in giving. The nature of joy is to give, and you are the source of joy.
Commitment is essential in life. How much commitment have you taken? The greater the commitment, the easier things are. The smaller commitments become suffocating for you. Smaller commitments suffocate you because you have more capacity but you are stuck in a small hole. When you have ten things to do, if one thing goes wrong you can keep doing the ten things, and the thing that was wrong will set itself right. But if you have only one thing to do, if that goes wrong, then you are stuck with it.
The greater the commitment you make, the greater the resources which will come to you automatically. You don’t need to sit and worry about how you will get the resources. The resources will come when they are needed. As long as your intention, your commitment is there to do something, you will never fall short of anything. Usually we think we should have the resources and then we will commit. At the same time I am not saying that you should go and borrow money from anybody and spend it lavishly—no, be sensible.
Take on more commitments. Say, “I will help ten people this year” and you will be able to help them. Then next year you will be able to help one hundred people. Things will come to you. Why should nature give you more when you are stuck with your little mind?
The greater the commitment you make, the greater the energy and ability to help in the commitment, and that is the beauty of life that is the magnanimity of life: you expand. This is the way to expand in life.
