Before we talk about failure, first we have to know what is success. If people have the wrong definition of success, then they will also have the wrong definition of failure. According to spiritualists, success is not in the result. Success is not in the achievement. Success is not what you get at the end. That’s not what defines success according to spiritual teaching.
Success is in your endeavor, your intention, your effort, the character that goes behind the noble thing that you’re trying to do and once you’ve invested all of those things whatever the result may be is actually inconsequential. It is already a success because in reality none of us are in control of the result. There are other factors in the universe beyond our control which are affecting the results that we gain. So, therefore, if you try to measure success by results, not only will you feel a failure but you’ll also be inhibited of even going on the journey for fear of failure. But when you understand that success is in the effort, the goal of life is not to be the best, the goal of life is to try your best; and in trying your best if it is destiny’s plan for you to be the best for the purpose of service and making the world a better place, then so be it. And if destiny for your plan is not for you to be the best, it doesn’t matter you’re still a success.
In the Bhagavad Gita, this is known as karma yoga or the art of working, the art of detached work and this is one of the most powerful things that people can use in their life. Because, in this world people are so stressed, people are so deflated, demoralized and depressed because they measure success in the wrong way. When we measure success in the wrong way, we fall to the cancers of the mind competing with others comparing with others but you’re on your own journey and you only need to do your best.
Keshava Swami
Tag: Success
Do I not destroy my enemies when I make them my friends?
Abraham Lincoln
Pain is temporary
“Pain is temporary. It may last a minute, or an hour, or a day, or a year, but eventually it will subside and something else will take its place. If I quit, however, it lasts forever. That surrender, even the smallest act of giving up, stays with me. So when I feel like quitting, I ask myself, which would I rather live with?”
– Lance Armstrong
You have to learn to ask questions in…
You have to learn to ask questions in a way that will elicit more nuanced answers, rather than the answers you would like to get.
-Jacqueline Mars
The key to realizing a dream is to…
The key to realizing a dream is to focus not on success but on significance – and then even the small steps and little victories along your path will take on greater meaning.
-Oprah Winfrey