Pressure is something that only comes to one who earns it. We should respect pressures as an honour. We cannot be successful unless we have the courage to fail. And every failure contains the seed of success. To be successful in any venture of life is very difficult. To fail is very easy. It is very difficult to roll a stone to the top of a mountain; it is very easy to push it down. When we learn from our mistakes, we become stronger.
Thomas Edison tried 8000 various experiments before he finally invented the battery. Later he was asked about it. He wasn’t discouraged by all those 8000 failures. He said, “I at least learned what doesn’t work”. That is success.
Now in Bombay we are undergoing the monsoon rains. It is very inconvenient. Most people don’t like when it is raining and that is a universal principle all over the world. Rains are an austerity. You practically cannot do anything outside. Children cannot play their sports, adults cannot have open parties. And whatever else they do to get from one place to another, it becomes very difficult. However, the rain nourishes the earth, provides grains, foods, vegetables, flowers. Without rain there is no life. There is a song from the 1940’s from America: when ample showers come your way, they bring the flowers of blue and bay….
So when we see rains coming, mind should be focused on the flower that they would bring. When difficulties, obstacles, pressures and even failures come into our lives, we should always be seeing the invisible, feeling the intangible, so we can achieve the impossible. We may not understand exactly why. But if we have faith, if we have hope, we can always be looking at that flower that will grow from this rainstorm. That is the substance of a successful man. When opportunity knocks, most people complain about the noise. We should see an opportunity in every situation, we never really loose until we stop trying.
–Radhanath Swami
