July 21, 2018, 2:00 AM IST Speaking Tree in TOI Edit Page | Edit Page, India, Spirituality | TOI
By Acharya Mahapragya.
Despair is a major obstacle to progress. It scuttles the process of gaining success. “It cannot be done!” This sentence is a great stumbling block to any kind of success. It was my sutra, never to despair. Why should we think something cannot happen? When we believe that the soul has infinite potential, then, why should we think something will not happen?
The second stumbling block on the path to success is laziness, lack of effort. It can be done, but we do not do it. There are those who have the ability but because they put in less than the required effort, they are not successful. Therefore, build up your capacity to work commensurate with the goal to be achieved. Disappointment comes when we desire something, but do not work toward it or we have not built our capability to achieve it.
If you place hard work in front of you, and not destiny, then automatically, your hard work pays off, and what it yields becomes your destiny.
The third deterrent to success is carelessness, negligence. It is alright, it will be done, it does not matter…this attitude hinders success. People work a lot but are not able to consolidate it because of their casual attitude.
These are three stumbling blocks to success: despair, laziness and carelessness.
Additionally, I had resolved that work should be executed with patience,for, hurry yields nothing. No work that is undertaken, goes waste, if you have patience. If you are impatient, then the unripe fruits that your work yields will be sour. A fruit is said to have come to fruition only when it is fully ripe. A ripe mango tastes many times sweeter than a raw one.
A young man asked Tolstoy, “How long to be patient. Can water ever hold in a sieve?” Tolstoy replied, “It will hold, be patient. When water turns into ice it will be held even within a sieve.”
Patience is a very great mantra to success…I have seen that those who remained patient have gone far ahead in life. Those who were impatient and restless got left behind, lost.
Another sutra for success is pleasant conduct. A person may be very knowledgeable, very wise but if he is not good with people, he is not able to achieve anything.
When does a person’s fate turn inimical? When he starts wishing others ill. My resolve was not to ever think ill of anybody. I do not remember ever having imagined anyone in poor light. All through my nine decades I do not think I have done or thought ill of anybody.
I had one strong conviction: I should never let inauspicious or useless thoughts about anyone enter my mind. I should be able to respect everybody. Whether he is illiterate, knows less, whatever be the traits — I should not look upon them with any less respect.
I also thought it necessary to keep my emotions under control and did do so. In nine decades of my life if someone were to ask me how many times I got angry, I would have to think. I believe that a person who seeks success has to bring his emotions under control or else they might have to negotiate a slippery ground.
(Excerpted from Yatra Ek Achintan ki)