What career advice can you expect to get from the Buddha.
In my opinion all that you need to know to master a profession – or any money making skill – is summarized in the following few verses:
We are what we think
All that we are arises with our thoughts,
With our thoughts we make the world,
I was reminded of the above sentences when, during a social occasion, some friends of mine commented on the UPites and the Biharis. They said that the people from UP and Bihar are generally street smart and have a lot of jugaad because they have been brought up in the company of people who have these qualities.
I have trained as a Chartered Accountant where it is necessary to do two or three years of apprenticeship under a qualified CA. In these three years you learn to think differently as you are exposed to the thought processes of a superior person. In my case I spent about two years under a CA in New Delhi who was a true gentleman. In addition to teaching me how to earn a living he also taught me how to live. I also was mentored for some time in Mumbai by another gentleman CA.
So guard your thoughts and immerse yourself in the thought processes of superior persons and persons who have the skill you want to learn. That is the way to master a profession or any money making skill.
Where can you get access to such thought processes?
Well, I do not have all the answers. I can only tell you what I know. And what I know is the reading of books.
Now I fully agree that not all knowledge can be found in books. In India we had the guru-shishya parampara in which the there is a form of mentoring of the disciple by the guru. The really powerful insights are only given to the truly worthy disciples.
So it would be best if you could find yourself a guru or a mentor of that sort.
If that is not possible read.
If you want to be an entrepreneur read the biographies and autobiographies of people like Steve Jobs and Bill Gates. If you want to be a scientist read about the life and teachings of Albert Einstein. And so on and so forth.
But it is not enough to just read once. You must read these books repeatedly, over and over.
I have written a blog that describes this process in detail in an earlier blog. Please see the link below:
The Buddha of course of giving advice related to spiritual growth and attaining the Divine. But this teaching of his applies equally to mastering a profession or skill.
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