Ever thought of getting top rank in the exams or of achieving great milestones in your life ? If your answer is yes, then I have a simple question for you. Is it possible to achieve these things without working with full focus and high determination?

On the first insight, the answer is “it is not possible at all”.

Indeed that’s true, without focus and determination, it is very difficult to achieve great things in life.

Without determination Steve Jobs, would not have founded Apple!

Without determination Elon Musk, would not have established Tesla!

So determination is needed if we wish to do anything great!

The Question is, Why My Determination Fails!

Sometimes we feel so charged up and energetic that we work with focus for some time. But our battery which was full of energy soon discharges and we return to the same previous track with very poor concentration and enthusiasm.. Why does this happen?

To understand why this happens, we take help from our biggest encyclopedia, ie Srimad Bhagavad Gita. Bhagavad Gita describes (Chapter 14) how nature has three modes (Sattva, Rajas & Tamas) and then later (Chapter 18) how they influence our determination.

Until our nature is not Sattva Guna having a steady determination is not easy.

Under influence of Rajas, we will feel inspired for few days, then this will fade away, then we have to hear a motivational talk and we will become recharged for a few more days, this is not sustainable.

We need to cultivate Sattva Guna to access a steady determination.

According to Srimad Bhagavad Gita, “Determination that which is defined as Unbreakable, and Resolutely or Dutifully Unwavering, and that which controls the activities of Mind, Senses, and Life (is determination in Sattva) (verse 18.33).

So do you want such determination ? Continue reading till the end.

Before we cultivate Sattva Guna ..

We need to understand our prominent Guna first, whether we are prominently in sattva, rajas or tamas. Why ? Because when we understand how the determination in Rajas and Tamas is harming us , we will become more serious to cultivate Sattva Guna, otherwise this desire to cultivate Sattva will also fade away.

If you want you can directly jump to last section where we discuss how to cultivate Sattva Guna.

What Gita says about Determination

We can find the different types of determination mentioned clearly in the 18th chapter of Gita from verses 18.33 to 18.35. In that section of the Gita book, we can easily find different determinations and identify which kind of determination we are possessing.

So, according to Gita, the determination a person can have is divided into three parts based on different modes of nature. The determination of a person either belongs to the mode of goodness, the mode of passion, or the mode of ignorance.

We begin by discussing determination in the mode of Rajas.

Determination in Rajas Guna.

The person who is prominently influenced by Rajas has a fluctuating determination. Why ? Because he is focused more on the result, he dreams a lot about the result but he is not thinking about the actual endeavours required.

Before he decides his goal he does not estimate the endeavours required for that goal, so when he has actually work he becomes disturbed.

Simply by sticking a poster of BMW we do not get a BMW we have to earn a crore rupees to buy that BMW.

So due to lack of planning and estimation of one’s abilities before one decides the goal, one’s determination goes down.

Worst still, if the outcomes of one’s endeavours are not positive, one will become depressed, he may take even wrong actions harming himself and or others also.

So we need to Cultivate Sattva so that we can take goals that we can actually achieve with our abilities and we are ready to endeavour for.

Determination in Tamo Guna

The worst case of Human determination is that of the Mode of Ignorance, in which a person can’t go beyond Dreaming and Imagination (verse 18.35). ****Due to problems and struggles in life, one may altogether give up the desire to do big things, this is result of Tamo Guna.

Because of fear of failure one may not even target a big goal. One influenced by Tamo Guna and thus not focused on putting in honest efforts one becomes filled with grief and sorrow. Naturally a person with this kind of determination develops a short-tempered behaviour.

For most people this can lead to some stage of depression and hence there are so many cases of suicide nowadays.

So again, it is very encouraging and supportive if we cultivate Sattva Guna in our Life.

Determination in Mode of Sattva

According to Srimad Bhagavad Gita, “Determination that which is defined as Unbreakable, and Resolutely or Dutifully Unwavering, and that which controls the activities of Mind, Senses, and Life (is determination in Sattva) (verse 18.33).

**Here the determination is said to be Unbreakable which means it is without any breaks or is continuous and that it is unwavering from its path, a person with this kind of determination has full control of his/her activities physically as well as mentally.

So to develop this determination we need to cultivate Sattva Guna.

How to Cultivate Sattva Guna ?

Here we discuss first steps for developing Sattva Guna, we have a dedicated article for developing Sattva Guna, for more details you can check out “Practical Guide for Developing Sattva Guna”

Tips for Cultivating Sattva Guna :

Improve your sleeping habits

You might have heard of 5 AM Clubs or 4 AM clubs, big big CEO they wake up at 4 AM or 5 AM to achieve big things in life.

Gita also recommends us to regulate our sleeping habits, we should sleep early and then naturally get up early.

If you sleep now at 12am do not worry, start by sleeping at 11:45pm then 11:30pm and slowly slowly come down.

Best time for a quality sleep if from 9pm to 5am. Try to sleep by 10pm ,and get up by 5am, then you can take bath and focus on your day’s duties.

Regulated Eating Habits

If we eat at any unspecified time, this increases Rajo Guna and there by chaos in our life. Gita suggests us to eat at regular fixed intervals and fixed amount of food.

• You can fix your eating times, say 8am to 9am we can take breakfast between this time, lunch can be taken between 1pm to 2pm, and dinner between 7pm to 8pm, or you can change these as per your schedule, but keep them consistent for majority days.
• You may also try to fix the volume of food that you consume.

Cleaning

This is very very important, “Cleanliness is next to Godliness”.

Say if your desk or table is very unorganised naturally we will not be able to focus for our work or studies.

We should wash , clean and organise our room, table, almirah and list continues.

You might argue, if i give this much time for cleaning when will i work ? Don’t worry, “Purity comes before Productivity”, when you keep your environment clean your Sattva Guna increases, now you can work more efficiently so even with less time, you will achieve more that is the secret.

And the results of Sattva will be very sweet with time 🙂

See you next time. And Yes,

For entire guide for cultivating Sattva check out “Practical Guide for Developing Sattva Guna” .