According to a Hindi poem- ‘Koi bhi koshish kabhi naakam yon hoti nahin, manzilein na bhi milein to faasle ghat jaenge.’ (No effort will ever fail. Even if the objective is not achieved, the path to it becomes shorter.) This line of the poem explains the importance of endeavor. Indeed, not every attempt succeeds, but after many attempts, there is an attempt that directly leads to success. It is impossible to reach the destination if one gives up and stops making efforts before attaining success.One who learns something with every effort, every endeavor, is constructive in his approach and moves swiftly towards his destination. But he who perceives every unsuccessful attempt negatively and gets disappointed due to it could never move forward towards his goal.
There is a notable context to illustrate this point. The incident occurred in the last month of the year 1914. One night, a fire broke out in the huge factory of the great American scientist, Thomas Alva Edison. Huge flames were flaring out, and Edison was watching how the earnings of his entire life and his work of years were burning down to ashes. His twenty-four-year-old son, Charles, was perplexed and was looking at his sixty-seven-year-old father. As soon as he saw his son, he loudly said, ‘Go and bring your mother. She will never see this kind of scene again in her lifetime.’By the dawn, all the dreams and hopes of Edison were shattered to ashes, but he came out of that pile of ash in a new form like a Phoenix bird. According to the legend, at the end of its life cycle, the Phoenix builds a nest of woods and twigs around itself and burns within it. Then, a new phoenix is born from the same ashes. Similarly, Edison proclaimed with full vigor and intensity to the crowd gathered there to see this destruction – ‘Demolition leads to profit, not a loss. All our mistakes are burnt to ashes in this fire. We are thankful to God that we can start afresh because of this incident.’Then, after a few days of this devastating incident, his company invented its first phonogram. Indeed, what Edison had was over, but the future was yet to come. Though his resources were destroyed by fire, time was still with him. Edison lost his means in the fiery flames, but not his experience, and with it, he made a new beginning and succeeded in it.This anecdote teaches us that one who cries in failure is a human being, but he who remains composed even during the adverse circumstances is divine and prudent. The wise know that the seeds of success grow and foster in the soil and manure of failures. These seeds may take time to flourish, but the longer it takes for these seeds to germinate while striving through the manure and soil of failure, the stronger they become. On the contrary, the lesser the time they take to flourish, the weaker they become.
This means that those who struggle more in life and confront failures before reaching success value it, and with the same strength, they hold on to the heights of success. On the other hand, those who quickly attain success after minimal strife fail to understand its significance, and thus, success does not stay with them for long.Nature teaches us from its own example that we cannot get everything in life. Whatever essential and valuable we get, we also have to lose a lot for it. For instance, at the beginning of spring, mango trees begin to blossom. If the blooming mango trees are observed carefully during that time, one could see numerous bunches bearing many green-yellow tiny beads hanging on the small branches. Every day so many flowers are shed under these mango trees that it appears that the tree has spread a marvelous carpet under its shade.When people pass by those trees, they experience a peculiar intoxication. The sweet scent of mango flowers that spreads all around makes even the cuckoo to sing. The sweet fragrance of mango flowers and the cuckoo’s melodious voice together proves to be an elixir for the mind.Here one should think whether mango trees should mourn for the breaking and falling of these flowers or should assume that it is the law of nature that new leaves can come only after the old leaves perish. Once we understand this process of creation of nature, then we get a fundamental formula for success. Society has its own criterion for success and failure. If the objective is achieved while making efforts, then the individual is hailed as successful, while if the aim is not completed in the pursuit, he is declared a failure. But upon glancing at history, we find that time has also worshiped, praised, and bowed down to failures.Success does not mean only getting what we aspire. If that were the case, Subhash Chandra Bose would not have been a golden figure in Indian history. He succeeded in qualifying I.C.S. (currently known as I.A.S.), which was considered the greatest success for India’s youth at that time. Later, he relinquished this success for working for the country’s independence, an endeavor in which he could not succeed during his lifetime. Yet, the country reveres his failure instead of his success in becoming an I.C.S. We want to succeed and are intimidated by failure. However, we should get out of the mental dilemma of success and failure and do our work with full spirit. In the Gita, Lord Krishna has also explained the perspective of karma, as – ‘One has right only over his actions. He has no right on its fruits.’ So, if we want to enjoy life, then we should refrain from the implications of success or failure and take pleasure in making endeavors.
“Your purpose in life is to find your purpose and give your whole heart and soul to it. – Buddha”
Source: Akhand Jyoti Magazine 2020 Nov-Dec