The Vision of a Man

राखावी बहुतांची अंतरे, भाग्य येती तदनंतरे 
- रामदास स्वामी

Ramdas Swami or Samarth Ramdas was an advisor to Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj and he in turn looked up to him for guidance. This cannot even be considered an introduction for this great man. I myself do not know so much about him. All I can say is that I have heard enough of him and his teachings to understand that he is someone who had an immense understanding of the world and human beings. He had an acute understanding of life.

The title is actually an advice that he had once offered to Shivaji Maharaj. The essence of the advice basically gives us a revelation of how the world has not really changes in the last 400 years; or how the basics of success never really change. What Ramdas Swami advises Shivaji Maharaj is that he should maintain good relationships with everybody and he will reap the benefits of that later. In other words, when you have a good extensive network, it will help you in becoming successful. NETWORKING!

This idea of networking for success that has become the central point of any management lecture was probably propounded first by Samarth Ramdas 4 centuries ago. In an age where the population was measured in thousands and not in crores as in today; when modes of transport were not just risky but were not nearly as efficient or effective as today and when there were hardly any media for communication; in such an age this man realized the importance of networking.

I wonder what might have prompted to start thinking about this? What could have led him to the conclusion that maintaining a good network will benefit you in the long run? 

My father used to tell us about this saying by Ramdas Swami since we were kids. Although I had started realizing its significance a few years ago, I have started noticing its relevance recently. 

It is no secret that a good network will always help you but that is obvious to us now after this idea has been drilled into us day in and day out. We understand this today and go about creating our network including people who we really hate but might need help from later on but in the process we also meet some wonderful people who you become friends with and who would either offer help on their own or would not hesitate to help if you ask for it. Today, we also have several avenues through which we can create our network. We have our social networks and our professional networks. Networking has become so easy. Or has it? I am not really sure.

Is networking just adding friends to your friends list? I don't think so. Are we exploiting the tools we have properly? Do we even know properly what tools we have and how to use them? With so many option for us to network today, has it become easy or even more difficult? 

Samarth Ramdas had advised a creation of a network. Although I am sure there were the same social and professional networks existing at that time albeit without the internet and any of the electronic gadgetry we have today, I don't think he would have ever imagined such a scope for networking. 

For such a visionary, with such advancements in technology and moving beyond the basics of just creating a network online, I wonder what his advice would be today......

1) Do not unnecessarily add friends to your list just because you remember their face from school some 15 years ago and had never once spoken a word to them. (It's a different thing if you really like the girl but never had the guts to say so.....hehe)

2) If you are trying to reconnect after several years, don't expect people to recognize your name or face if either of them is missing. The name and the face should be clearly visible.

3) Playing Farmville for hours and hours only shows that you have too much spare time on your hands and that your mental growth might have actually been stunted

CHEERS!!!!