Success is three-fold by Chanakya’s

Chanakya’s three ways to become successful

According to Chanakya, what are the three types of successes, and how can we achieve them? Radhakrishnan Pillai explains.

Kautilya’s Arthashastra contains a total of fifteen books. Out of these, the sixth book is made up of only two chapters. Yet it’s very important as it explains how a king can run his kingdom successfully.

It also contains the three types of successes and how we can achieve them.

Chanakya had said: “Success is three-fold: That attainable by the power of counsel is success by counsel, that attainable by the power of might is success by might, that attainable by the power of energy is success by energy.” (6.2.30).

While it takes an entire day’s workshop to understand the above line’s full meaning, we can at least get an essence of the same:

Success by counsel

There are many people who try and keep trying, and still don’t succeed. Frustrated, they believe it’s not in their destiny to succeed. But they may have not got the right advice from the right person.

I remember a foreigner who was trying to do business here and could not get started for nearly two years. He finally approached a legal advisor who gave him just a few tips, and he was off!

This accurately portrays the first kind of success which, according to Chanakya, is achieved by listening to and learning from the right experts.

Remember, success is an attitude a person develops. So never give up till you achieve your goal. Chanakya had said, “Even after a hundred trials, an enthusiastic man will surely succeed.”

Success by might

When we fight our battles alone, the chances of winning are less. “Together we grow,” a spiritual master had once rightly said. Therefore, the second method is to succeed by might–that is, by the power of association.

I have a friend who is into politics. He always rues the fact that he had to spend a lot of time trying to understand just how politics worked.

“I wish I had a Godfather who would have guided me,” he once confessed.

That’s as close to the truth as you will get in today’s highly competitive world. In life, if we get to associate with a powerful person, success is virtually guaranteed.

Success by energy

There are quite a few people who, even if they miss out on the first two successes, still succeed driven purely by their energy and dynamism. Such people are very contagious too. They have a ‘never give up’ spirit. For them, life is not about how many times one fails. Rather, it’s a feeling: “Success is just a step away!”

They learn from their mistakes, from books, from every person they meet and from every event in their life. Life is a journey for them–and never a destination.

Remember, success is an attitude a person develops. So never give up till you achieve your goal. Chanakya had said, “Even after a hundred trials, an enthusiastic man will surely succeed.”

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