Ready, Set, Go!

Some would call me unemployed, but I like think of myself as a wandering storyteller. I am Shobha Narasimha and this is my story. About a month ago, I come across a fundraising campaign at TCS 10k Marathon for Isha Vidhya. I wanted to try something challenging which I had never done before in my life. It took me a while to muster the courage, but I finally decided to take the leap and made my own campaign page and registered for the marathon.

Reality Check

After two weeks of nervously refreshing the campaign page, I was shocked to see that only one of my friends had donated. Hopelessness engulfed me and it seemed that I would fail to achieve even half of the target I had set. Then suddenly, I looked at it like a game. With a burst of creativity and a flourish of fresh thoughts, I devised a plan.

Fresh Inspiration and Entrepreneurial Success

Deciding to take the entrepreneurial approach, I began to think of this campaign as a product and decided to market it well. After all, marketing is everything! Like an entrepreneur conducting a product launch, I went around spreading the campaign. Some ideas worked, some didn’t. But one of my final efforts was actually to take this to the children. So I decided to play to my strengths and conduct a storytelling session for children.

Let me tell you a secret here – stories never fail with children! This opportunity came through another Isha volunteer, Akshaya Lakshmi who encouraged me Amongst other things, I also told the children about what Isha Vidhya was all about. I told them that those kids were first generation schoolgoers and came from very humble backgrounds, and how we should all create an atmosphere to help each other. It was so overwhelming to see how eager they were to help. It was incredible to see kids rushing to donate money from their own piggy banks. With their large hearts and little hands, so many children came forward to donate money to us. When we counted the amount to Rs. 2150, it just moved me to tears. These little children inspired me further to not give up. I realized that inspiration can come to you in many ways, from many places. If you strive hard enough, you can make it happen. Filled with so much determination, fun and learning, the campaign was a success – I reached my modest target of raising Rs. 40,000 for the Isha Vidhya children.

The Unexpected Run

The next step was the marathon. I wanted to finish the run within 90 minutes. This seemed very ambitious given that I had hardly got in any practice. Achieving my target looked bleak but I decided to look within and I observed one thing about myself - when I stay focused, I can run longer without a break. These self-observations made a magical difference and somehow I was able to complete the marathon in 77 minutes!

Being Conscious – Engineering Joy

As I look back, when I ran consciously, I enjoyed every step. I took up the fundraising and then ran for the cause only with the desire to do my best. There are no words to express what I received in return. I always wanted to be an engineer. Today it feels so good that without going to any university, I can proudly say that all engineering tools are within me. I have learnt the real engineering, the one that matters – Inner Engineering. And with the practice of Shambhavi Mahamudra, I am getting better at it every day! Thank you, Sadhguru, for giving us Isha.

Editor's Note: Find out more about Inner Engineering, including upcoming program dates and venues.