Plan, Prepare, Perspire and Pray- Pujya Brahmavihari Swami's message for event organizers

PujyaBrahmavihari Swami is a senior spokesperson for BAPS, a worldwide religious and civic organization within the Swaminarayan branch of Hinduism. The Sanstha has built 1100 temples around the world, among which Akshardham in Delhi,Gandhinagar, Swami Narayan temple in Robbinsville and London have received global recognition. At a recent gathering of event managers at EMF ACE 2015 in Ahmedabad, Swami Brahmavihari delivered an eloquent and inspirational message tailored specially for the event community. Following are some excerpts from his address.

If you look at it, events- big or small- are organized across the world in an attempt to get away from the daily grind of life, to get some respite from the monotony of routine. From this respect event organizers are the vehicles for bringing happiness to people.

But in order to share happiness with others it is important for one to remain happy, calm and content within. But we all know that this is easier said than done; especially for people from your industry who are expected to sacrifice family time, work odd hours and meet gargantuan client expectations. The world is not fair and we all have our fair share of troubles. But the choice is ours- to accept these troubles and move forward or live in denial and remain critical.

To cite an example- Charlie Chaplin was acclaimed as one of the most talented men on earth. His unique looks and ability to make people laugh simply through gestures won him popularity far and wide. On one occasion he saw a billboard advertising a ‘Charlie Chaplin look alike’ contest and decided to participate. To his surprise he secured the 7^th place. What this incident indicates echoes in Chaplin’s memoirs- We live in a world where showmen succeed and real men fail. The point I’m trying to make is that we too live in a world where talent and celebrities surround us, but in the end our belief in ourselves will ultimately determine how comfortable we are in our own skin, thus how happy we are.

Once a man visited a psychiatrist and explained he was depressed. The doctor gave him some pills and sent him home. Few days later the same man returned saying that his mental health has seen no improvement, so the doctor upped the dosage and sent him home. Another week went by and the man returned claiming that he’s still depressed and nothing is helping. So the doctor suggested that he should do fun things that lift sadness and told him that there’s a Russian circus in town that he should visit thrice a week. He said that the clown in the circus is hilarious and the man will surely not feel depressed once he sees him perform. At this the patient retorted “but I’m the clown from the circus that you speak of”. I narrate this story because I want you to understand that it doesn’t mean much to make a million people happy if your own being isn’t happy. At the end of an event when you look at the mirror do you see a happy person?

An event manager’s profession is married to mental stress. Just like a mountaineer’s profession is married to physical stress. Once a mountaineer asked me if there’s an easy way up, I suggested he should take a helicopter. You must accept that situations will create stress, but you cannot be passive. You need to develop your own unique way to overcome stressful situations, to shield yourself and emerge unscathed. But this alternative doesn’t come to mind thus we complain. We are so comfortable being part of a system and imitating others that we fail to think out-of-the-box.

It is said that a man with two watches is never sure of the time. An assistant at a clock shop would notice that a man would stop in front of the shop everyday and tune his watch to the time in the shop. This happened relentlessly for 30 days and made the assistant very proud of the accuracy of his clocks. So one day as the man stopped in front of the shop as was routine, the assistant confronted him and asked whether he was an important man to always want to be on time therefore tuning his watch everyday to the clock shop. At which the man replied that he works as the chief security officer at the factory nearby and its important for him to know the right time so he can blow the whistle in the morning to commence work and once at five in the evening to suspend the days work. At this the assistant responded, “wait a minute, I tune the time of my clocks based on the 5 o’clock whistle”. The point is that we are all like that- tuning to each other’s time when we should be adjusting our time to our hearts.

It is important for us to make conscious decisions. My approach that I will recommend to you all is to Plan, Prepare, Perspire and Pray.

Event planners often take a template and make repetitive events based on it. You should plan for unique experiences. You should be clinical in your work and prepare thoroughly. And perspire; do not give your work to others. Lastly, pray. Certain things are out of your control, fretting over those things is pointless.

I once asked a student how his exams went. Without flinching or remorse he said, “oh, I’m definitely failing”. When I asked how he is so sure, he replied its because everything was out of syllabus. I then told him that a lot of things life will offer him will be out of syllabus- cancer, deaths of family and friends, losses- he needs to prepare for them and cannot avoid the consequences by saying that it was unexpected.

Most important things in life one does not choose, one simply accepts. Your name, your parents, your face, your birthday, death, your nationality, your intelligence- you have influence over none of these things, so you choose to accept them. It is important to understand that life doesn’t run through your choices. Peace will come when you accept.  Accept yourself and rise above your problems, especially ones that you haven’t chosen. Everybody can offer sympathies and a shoulder to cry on, but you are your own cure. Don’t victimize yourself. Take responsibility and readjust yourself. Overcome uncertain problems by sheer faith- faith in God, in gurus, in family- whatever it takes. Faith will give you the strength to take a negative situation and turn it over its head to make it positive.

Lastly when things go out of control, do not admonish the soundwala, the electricians, your team members. Calm yourself, the situation and your team members. Guests will come and go, your people are here to stay. Keep them happy.