Magazine Expert Advice K K Bajaj June 2000

Courage makes everything possible

Jemes Keller narrates a story about Satan displaying the various tools his followers should use to mislead human beings. The impressive array included Pride, Hatred, Jealousy, Dishonesty and Impurity. Beside these large tools, a small, less noticeable tool was also displayed. “What’s the name of this one,” a devil asked, “and of what use can it be?” “Oh,” replied Satan, “it’s the most valuable instrument, I assure you. It always works when the other fail. I call it Discouragement.”

One of the devil’s cleverest tricks is to dishearten people to such an extent that they take this attitude. Everyone is affected by discouragement at one time or another.

But if one keeps on striving despite all obstacles, God will bless him/her with success.

In whatever arena of life one may be, there are challenges to deal with. Whatever may be the difficulty, if one does hard work and hard thinking, he/she will get the intuition to meet the challenge.

For courage, each one must depend upon his/her own inner strength. Swami Vivekanand has said: “Arise, awake and stop not till your and goals and targets are achieved. All the strength you want is already within you. Summon your courage, and it is there.”

A few traits of a truly courageous person are marked below. Go through the table (Strengths and Weaknesses), find your strengths and weaknesses and improve in the areas you need to.

The Britishers ruled the entire world for many centuries. The world historians have identified two pillars on which the British Empire stood : Courage and Discipline. The first quality of the Britishers in that era was their courage. They sailed the rough oceans looking for strange lands and opportunities. They surveyed new continents and scanned African jungles to establish their foothold. They did not understand the language of people in the countries they discovered. But they were very courageous and true to their duty to the British Empire.

The second quality of the Britishers in those days was Discipline. There was almost perfect discipline and law and order in all the countries they ruled. Their predominant qualities were:

• Treating work as worship.

• Doing everything according to well thought-out plans and schedules.

• Quick redressal of public complainants and grievances.

However, when the Britishers reached the peak of their success, they became luxury loving, lazy and even lost their courage. The result was that the once-powerful British Empire collapsed. The same is true for every body’s life. If one starts shirking hard work, he/she becomes lazy and weak. A lazy and weak person cannot be courageous. One who cannot discipline himself/ herself, cannot have discipline in family and in office. The result is failure on all fronts. The downfall starts with lack of interest in work, waste of time in unproductive things, misuse of telephone by indulging in long and unnecessary talks, and unwillingness to add to one's knowledge.

Let it not happen to you. Failure is never glorious. It is loss to oneself, to one’s family, to one’s office and to the productivity of the nation. Never get discouraged. “Tough times never last, tough people do”.

Keep company of the brave and courageous people. Shun the company of pessimists and those who are in the habit of discouraging.

Keep your aims high, God is with you. In Bible Jesus Christ has said: “Man is created in the Image of God.”. This means every man and woman is a new thought of God. Lord Krishna said in Bhagvad Gita, “I am the best friend of all human beings”. Who can be your better friend than God! The following great saying of Plato (uttered in a lighter moment) will fill you with courage and strength and make you a superman (or a superwoman): Most of us have inferiority complex that we cannot accomplish great things.

But there are some fools who feel they can do everything and go on trying and persisting. ...… And all the progress of this world is because of these fools.” Never be afraid of competition. Always remember you have only one competitor, that is yourself. “Beat your own record, exceed your own targets. Keep aiming to surpass your own best performance and always strive to reach higher levels.” And that will give you immense pleasure of being a person extraordinary. Always pray to God for your success and He helps those who help themselves.

Napoleon once said: “Courage makes impossible, possible. The word ‘impossible’ is in the dictionary of fools.”In fact even the word ‘impossible’ says, I-am-possible. So every thing is possible. You can make miracles happen in your life.... And one gets life only once!