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Leading A Spiritual Life

man loses has compensation, but if you lose your history
then you cannot compensate it with anything.
People know of the loss of ‘break in service’ but
they don’t know of the loss of break in history, and
perhaps Rajat Gupta was not an exception. One’s
history is one’s identity. It includes honesty, integrity
and reputation. These things make one’s identity. If a
person, by committing a mistake, loses this identity, he
will lose his value in the eyes of others. This is break
in history, and if due to some reason, one loses this
historical identity he will lose his most precious asset.
Such kind of a mistake can never be compensated for.

Apparently, there is no rescue for Mr. Gupta, but for
others it is a great lesson. Those who are in employment
are cautious about what is called ‘break in service’, but
people must be cautious regarding break in history
more than they are for break in service. Break in service
is redeemable, but break in history is not. There is a line
in Persian: Man na kardam shuma hazar bekunaid (You
take it as a lesson and don’t make the mistakes I made).
Perhaps this is the best message that Rajat Gupta can
give to others.
Learning from others’ mistakes is the easiest way
of not repeating that kind of mistake again. One can
learn the formula of successful life before entering it.
Although Rajat Gupta failed, he can say, ‘I hope my
failure gives others a tested secret of success.’

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