From Twilight to Light: The Sunlit Path, Talk 4: ‘Career : By Chance or By Choice?’

AuroYouth has been conducting a series of talks to help youth discuss and discover issues prevalent in recent times. This series of online interactions titled “From Twilight to light – The Sunlit Path” aims to help youth navigate through issues related to mental & emotional health. In the fourth talk of the series, we had Manoj Pavitran, a practitioner of Integral Yoga and an active volunteer at Auroville, who interacted with about 125 youngsters on the topic “Career: By Chance or By Choice?” on July 12 ,2020. He dived deep into questions like:

• How should I go about choosing my career path, so that I can align my inner passion and my outer profession?

• How can I evaluate my career decision based on the expectations of my loved ones, society, culture etc.?

• What do I consider when I choose my career path? For e.g. money or fame or power?

• How can I be happy and successful at what I do (career-wise)?

He started the session by defining three aspects of one’s career namely, a career by Chance, a career by Choice, and a career by Grace. If we feel that our career is by chance, then it’s never too late to introspect and work towards what we aspire to do. He discussed next career by choice, the question that always prevails in our minds is how can we grow unendingly? Exploring the ‘how’ question will lead us to understand what we want from life.  For a career by grace, if we connect with our inner self, then we will just be mere instruments and it is the Divine that takes control of what we do.

While laying emphasis on having a bigger picture of our aspirations, we need to question ourselves on what is the purpose of life? Whenever we have to make decisions and choices about our career, we should break it down into the three steps of Purpose, Path, and Practice. After defining the purpose, we need to follow the path and practice it diligently, for the Divine to take control. As the Mother has also said, ‘Blessed are those who take a leap towards the Future’, we should act instead of just thinking on how to.

Moreover, Manoj also explained that we should continually try to convert our little inspirations into bigger aspirations, which are not confined only to a personal being, but also globally, which will allow us to find the path towards the right career.

The three important things that will always help us in the long-run and we should always keep in mind are Communication, Community Thinking, and Collaboration. Through these, we will be able to celebrate the glories in life.

This insightful discussion led to throwing the table open for deep and pertinent questions that the participants had, and Manoj beautifully answered all the questions.

Full session recording is available here.

Click for details of The Sunlit Path Talk 3, Talk 2 and Talk 1.