MORE THAN LEGAL RIGHTS

Not by Demand

SATYENDRA Nath Bose (1894–1974) was an Indian physicist who specialized in mathematical physics. He is best known for his work on quantum mechanics. He was known to be a very hardworking student.

One of his stories from student life has a great lesson for us. While doing M.Sc. at Calcutta’s Presidency College, he once performed so well in a mathematics exam that he was unusually awarded 110 marks out of 100! He was given extra marks because he solved some complex problems by more than one method!


All those who are engaged in what they call ‘rights activism’ have a better choice to adopt; that is, 'opportunity activism'.

This incident illustrates a great lesson — and that is, if a person proves himself competent enough, he will be awarded more than his legal rights. In our world, there is no place for complaints or protests. All those who are engaged in what they call ‘rights activism’ have a better choice to adopt — that is, ‘opportunity activism’. They must tell people: 'Don’t press for your rights, but, rather, do better, and you will certainly receive more than your legal or constitutional rights.'

Every man and woman is born with a divine gift in the form of an unlimited potential. Discover this divine gift and avail of it by converting your potential into reality and you will emerge as a super-achiever. You can shape your future on your own. Make yourself a 'giver-member' of the society rather than a 'taker-member'. Asking for your rights is a kind of begging. When you have such great potential, why do you prefer to beg? There are many so-called ‘empowerment’ movements — movements in the name of Muslim empowerment, women empowerment, economic empowerment, and so on. But the greatest empowerment is self-empowerment.

Choose self-empowerment, and you will certainly achieve more than what you had expected from others. Every man can emerge as a super-man, every woman, a super-woman, provided they discover this potential and apply it to their own lives.