Page 28 - Utkarsh Jyot

2021
why we all carry his image on our currency-bills, because of his worth.
Another example I wish to present is that of Hanuman Poddarji, the progenitor and founder of
Gita Press, Gorakhpur, who is also fondly known as ‘Bhaiji’. Under the aegis of Geeta Press,
Bhaiji was instrumental in publishing more than 70 crore books on Hindu and Vedic literature.
To honour this herculean feat, the Government of India decided to bestow on him the highest
civilian award, Bharat Ratna. To everyone’s astonishment, he gently refused to accept the
award as he was happier with the journey and not the result. He was more than satisfied with
doing the thing he loved the most: to spread Indian scriptures and philosophy across India.
This is the worth I was referring to. The Almighty has truly been generous to us all, but it is we,
the humans, who have tried vainly to bend the natural scheme of things, thus creating
unnecessary complications. We are only made or unmade by our own self.
I should now turn my attention to the students in the gathering here. If any student is curious
to enquire as to what they should do in business or any other field in life, then I can advise
from my past 60 years of experience that you should train for a minimum 1000 days in e-
business. I have myself accumulated the wealth of practical experience for many years.
At this juncture, I wish to congratulate all the students who are going to receive their degrees
when they graduate, and I also wholeheartedly commend the university in shaping their
future, but know this for sure that this certificate of yours will only serve as a passport to
appearing in an interview. It is when you hit the real world, you have to show your worth and
how competent you are practically.
I should quote here an instance from Dr. A. P. J Abdul Kalam’s life. It so happened that at the
start of his career, Dr. Kalam received interview calls from two different agencies, one in Delhi
and one in Dehradun. One interview was for some Air Force Wing of the Indian Defense
Forces and the other was for some laboratory. Dr. Kalam could crack the laboratory interview
in Delhi successfully, but to his utter dismay, he wasn’t shortlisted among the top 8 for the
Pilot interview at Dehradun. Afterwards, he went to Rishikesh with his friend, where by
chance he met a Swamiji. The Swamiji naturally asked Dr. Kalam’s friend about the reason for
the boy’s sadness, and the friend narrated the whole bitter experience in the interview. To
this, the Swamiji sprinkled in his bits of wisdom, telling the young Dr. Kalam not to be
despondent about the result, but accept the destiny as it is, and to never stop trying. Years
later, mentioning this incident in his book, Dr. Kalam writes that had he not met the Swamiji on
that day, and had he passed that interview the day before, he would probably have risen to
the ranks of a commander but he would never have made it to being called the Missile Man of
India. Thus, it was not in his lot to pass that interview, but he was destined to serve a higher
purpose: To become the Missile Man and later the President of India.
Elsewhere in his life, when the missile was being formulated, Dr. Kalam, along with his friend,
went to see a minister to discuss some design plans. The minister suggested some
modifications with the design and gave Dr. Kalam and his team 4 days to finish. The team
worked relentlessly and instead of 4 Days, the modifications were done and incorporated in
just 2 days. The minister was really happy to see the prompt completion of the assigned task.
But he was even more surprised when he learned that on that day Dr. Kalam’s sister was
getting married and he was attending this meeting. Quite in awe when the minister asked Dr.
Kalam why he had not said anything about his sister’s marriage in advance, he replied that

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