Are You Ignoring the 4 Higher Powers That Drive Your Success?

The visible and Invisible Forces Behind Your Success

High achievers, founders, CEOs, and senior leaders often carry an unspoken pressure that comes with success. The pressure to be strong at all times, to be decisive, to perform consistently, and to hold everything together even when the weight feels invisible to others. In modern leadership culture, success is often framed as self-made, driven by grit, intelligence, and relentless effort. Yet when we look more closely, something deeper emerges.

We are being carried, guided, and protected by forces and entities that are both seen and unseen.

Some of these forces are easy to recognize, and others have quietly faded from collective awareness, even though they have supported human success for thousands of years.

This reflection invites you to look beyond individual effort and explore the wider ecosystem of support that has always been present in your leadership journey.

(I also did a podcast on this topic, and you can listen to it here)

The Visible Forces We Recognize in Leadership and Success

The visible forces behind success are the ones most of us readily acknowledge. These include our families, who carry the emotional weight of our careers alongside us. Our parents who shaped us, mentors who guided our growth, coaches who helped us overcome internal barriers, and teams and peers who worked with us to achieve outcomes that make success visible to the world.

Investors, stakeholders, customers, audiences, and supporters also play a role in shaping the trajectory of our work. These are forces and entities we can see, interact with, and consciously feel grateful for on a daily basis. They contribute to our professional identity and our tangible achievements, and many leaders already understand their importance.

Yet visible support is only one layer of the story.

Ancient Wisdom on the Unseen Energies Supporting Leadership

Across ancient cultures, there has always been an understanding that human success is supported by unseen forces and entities. This wisdom was deeply embedded in Eastern traditions, particularly in Indian Vedic wisdom, as well as in cultures across the Orient, Celtic traditions, pre-Christian and pre-Islamic European cultures, African tribal traditions, including the Zulu lineage, and South American indigenous systems.

These cultures recognized the role of ancestors, protective forces, and guiding intelligences that contribute to success, stability, health, wealth, and fulfillment.

Ancestors were honored as active participants in the lives of the living, offering protection, opportunities, stable relationships, mental well-being, and healthy children through their blessings. Their energy was understood to flow through family systems and genetic lineages, continuing to empower future generations in fulfilling their goals.

This understanding did not diminish personal effort. Instead, it placed effort within a larger framework of support and alignment.

The Power of Ancestors in Leadership and Life

Ancestral energy moves through family systems and continues to protect and guide descendants as extensions of themselves. In many traditions, this support is not symbolic but experiential, felt through strength, clarity, resilience, and protection during difficult phases of life and leadership.

Alongside ancestral support exists the concept of the family deity, known in Indian tradition as the Kula Devata. This force is considered the first line of defense and blessing for generations of a family lineage.

The Kula Devata is not viewed merely as a deity but as the energetic firewall and fountainhead of a lineage. Many generations worshiped this force so that future children and families would be protected. Numerous dangers never reach us because they are intercepted by this protective presence.

As I deepened my own healing and growth journey, I reconnected with the female form of my family deity, the Kula Devi. By engaging in the rituals practiced in my lineage, I experienced a deep sense of connection and strength. This was not a placebo effect but something that can only be understood through lived experience.

This reconnection removed the illusion of carrying pressure alone. It created a felt sense of being supported and protected from both seen and unseen challenges, allowing leadership to emerge from grounded strength rather than isolated effort.

The Village or Town Deity as Guardian of the Land

Many traditions also recognize the village or town deity, often referred to as the Grama Devata. This force is understood as the guardian of the land where a family originates and where it currently resides.

For example, my family’s village deity comes from a village in Rajasthan, while I was born and raised in Mumbai. The name Mumbai itself originates from the deity Mumba Devi, with “Mumba” referring to the mother. Taking blessings from the city deity has long been a cultural practice, recognizing the intelligence that holds a place together and energizes those who live there.

In ancient India, no important activity began without first offering respect to the local deities of the land. I remember my father sharing a story about his factory manager, who had printed wedding cards for his daughter’s marriage but refused to distribute them until he traveled back to his village to offer the first card to the village deity. Only after receiving blessings did he begin inviting others.

Even in popular culture, such as the film Kantara, the village deity is depicted as protecting the entire community while guiding, guarding, and correcting when people stray from dharma.

How Migration Breaks Spiritual and Energetic Connection

Migration, whether driven by work, opportunity, or survival, often disrupts connection with land, lineage, and ancestral energy. Over time, rituals fade, relationships with protective forces weaken, and the energetic support system that once existed quietly dissolves.

I once attended a family constellation workshop in Seattle conducted by a German facilitator trained directly by Bert Hellinger, who carried forward ancestral healing work rooted in Zulu traditions. She shared how large-scale migrations during wars caused deep energetic disturbances because people lost connection with ancestral lands where most of their lineage energy resided.

This observation becomes especially relevant when looking at communities displaced during events such as the partition of India, where many families migrated from Sindh and Punjab. The ancestral energies remained rooted in the land, often resulting in unresolved disturbances that required sensitive and conscious healing.

In modern leadership contexts, frequent relocations for career advancement can similarly disconnect individuals from cultural and energetic roots, creating subtle instability that affects clarity, confidence, and resilience.

The Divine Forces Supporting Every Human Function

Ancient wisdom also recognized that every human function is supported by a specific intelligence or force. In the Vedic worldview, breathing is governed by Vayu, movement by Indra, digestion by Agni, sight by Surya, speech by Vak Devi or Saraswati, and the mind by the moon.

These forces operate continuously, yet modern life often takes them for granted. When leaders internalize the belief that they are solely responsible for every outcome, the pressure to perform perfectly becomes overwhelming.

Greek culture held similar understandings, recognizing Athena for wisdom, Poseidon for the sea, Zeus for protection, Hermes for transitions, and Apollo for creativity and illumination. Across civilizations, leadership was never viewed as a solo endeavor.

Even farmers in India traditionally seek blessings from the land before sowing seeds, acknowledging that success arises through cooperation with forces beyond individual control.

Lineage, Skill, and Sacred Gratitude in Work

I have known generations of carpenters in Mumbai whose craftsmanship reflects mastery passed down through lineage. Their precision and expertise are not accidental but cultivated over generations.

Once, while working in my home, they took a day off to observe Vishwakarma Jayanti, honoring Vishwakarma as the originator of their craft. They fasted, prayed, and expressed gratitude for the skills received through him. This conscious honoring reinforced their relationship with the intelligence behind their work.

Ancient cultures understood that human beings function within a web of cosmic forces, and those who remain rooted in this awareness often feel energized and empowered in ways that go beyond conventional productivity.

You Are Not the Sole Doer: A Leadership Insight from the Bhagavad Gita

The Bhagavad Gita explains action through five factors: the body as the instrument, the soul as the doer, the senses, effort, and divine arrangement or unseen blessings. Effort and divine support work together to bring outcomes into existence.

When leaders forget this, they may become anxious, disconnected, or ego-driven. When they remember it, they become grounded, humble, guided, and resilient, drawing strength from a deeper source.

Real Client Stories of Healing and Leadership Renewal

One client came to me after enduring years of toxic abuse in his marriage, which deeply eroded his confidence. Although he was on a leadership track, repeated sacrifices slowed his career growth, leaving him feeling left behind compared to his peers.

Through coaching, healing work, and reconnecting with Eastern wisdom, he revisited the rituals and practices of his lineage. I encouraged him to travel to his village and reconnect with temples and traditions from his childhood.

When he returned, he shared videos of himself reconnecting with his family deities, ancestors, and village deity, setting up an altar, and resuming rituals he had been prevented from practicing for years. The change was visible. His strength increased, his emotional stability improved, and his career began moving forward with greater ease.

Another client, struggling after job loss and repeated interview failures, began a simple daily ritual of honoring ancestors with water offerings and black sesame seeds. Within months, opportunities began flowing again, and he secured multiple job offers.

While logic may explain these outcomes in practical terms, those who experience such reconnections often feel a deeper sense of alignment, protection, and empowerment that transcends explanation.

A Simple Daily Practice for Modern Leaders

When leaders understand they are part of a larger macrocosm supported by multiple intelligences, effort becomes aligned rather than forced. Decisions improve, emotional resilience strengthens, and intuition becomes more accessible.

For those disconnected from their cultural roots, a simple two-minute daily practice can begin the reconnection. This involves offering gratitude to ancestors, family deities, village or town guardians, and all those whose sacrifices and blessings flow through your life.

These beings are not abstractions but personalities. When remembered, relationships are rekindled, creating pathways through which grace flows into leadership, families, organizations, and future generations.

This remembrance softens ego, sharpens clarity, and brings calm. Leadership rises not through isolation but through recognition of support.

Leading with Grace, Lineage, and Depth

We are not self-made. We are lineage-made, dharma-made, and grace-made.

For leaders seeking to integrate modern leadership science with Eastern wisdom, deepen emotional and executive capacity, and evolve with depth, I invite you to explore the Lead With Ease Circle. This private community is designed for senior executives, founders, and high-caliber leaders committed to growing together through inner mastery and conscious leadership.

May this reflection rekindle something within you, reminding you that you are carried, supported, and guided as you lead.

Categories: : Leadership