Bollywood most celebrated personality and the charming hero, Baadshah Shah Rukh Khan has been honored with a doctorate in the recent times. The doctorate was awarded to King Shah Rukh Khan by the University of Edinburgh for his extensive services towards arts and humanity. His speech at the University of Edinburg bore witness to the question why he rules Bollywood. Delivering an inspiring message to the students of the University of Edinburgh he held the audiences at the occasional ceremony in awe with his life lessons. Here are top 11 best excerpts of his perfect speech amalgamated with wisdom, humour and the sheer enormity of experiences he has had in his Bollywood journey transform them into pearls of wisdom.
#1. All the names you give yourself are just labeled. You aren’t defined by them. What defines you is ‘your heart’.
#2. Don’t let your fears become boxes that enclose you. Open them out, feel them and turn them into the greatest courage you are capable of. I promise you, nothing will go wrong.
#3. If you can’t find a resolution easily, don’t panic. Even disaster eventually dissolves. You don’t have to figure things out.
#4. Stop whining and start moving. Don’t attach yourself to sadness or happiness. Laugh at yourself. Shed a tear or two.
#5. There’s no such thing as ‘normal’. That’s just another word for lifeless. Madness (of the particularly nice/romantic kind) is an absolute prerequisite to a happy and successful life. Don’t ever treat your little insanities as if they are aberrations that ought to be hidden from the rest of the world. All the most beautiful people in the world, the most creative, the ones who led revolutions, who discovered and invented things, did so because they embraced their own idiosyncrasies.
#6. Don’t become a philosopher before you become rich. Art is more important than the artist – have no attachment to your own art – it’s regressive, move on. Study hard. Work hard. Play harder. Don’t be bound by rules, don’t hurt anybody and never ever live somebody else’s dream.
#7. If you ever find yourself cheated of all your money and sleeping on a grave, do not fear, a miracle is near, either that or a ghost. In other words, no matter how bad it gets, life IS the miracle you are searching for. There is no other one around the corner. Develop the faith in it to let it take its own course, make all the effort you can to abide by its beauty and it will not let you down. Use every resource you have been given, your mental faculties, the ability of your heart to love and feel for those around you, your health and good fortune: all of the thousands of gifts life has given you to their maximum potential. Honour your life. Honour each gift and each moment by not laying it to waste. There is no real measure of success in this world except the ability to make good of life’s endowments to you.
#8. Our values are our values, they don’t make us any better than anyone else, at best they make us different. Always try to see the other person’s truth because like every movie has a story, every human being has one too and you have no right to imagine that yours is better than anyone else’s.
#9. An act of goodness becomes worthless when you assign a brownie point to yourself for it, no matter how subtly you allow yourself to do so. Regardless of how rich, successful and famous you become, don’t ever underestimate the grace that other people bestow upon you just by being the recipients of your kindnesses. You might be able to buy your friend a Rolls for his/her birthday, but it’s no substitute for a patient hearing of your sulky rants on a bad hair day.
#10. Don’t forget where you came from and who you really are. It ought to be the compass by which you navigate through life’s vicissitudes. The North that keeps you oriented despite a series of misfortunes or a shower of privilege.
#11. Embrace all that this life has in store for you, let your heart be as deep as the deepest ocean and as wide as the farthest horizon. Know that it is limitless. Love is not an excuse to grab or to hold or to own or to barter. It is the only excuse you will ever have to call yourself special. And if someone you love lets you down, don’t fault yourself for not trusting him, fault yourself for not trusting your love enough to forgive his/her trespasses.
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