A young man named Arjun lived in a village. He was very ambitious and wanted to earn a big name in life, but every time he started a new work, he would lose courage at the slightest difficulty. Troubled by his failures, one day he approached an old guru of the village. Arjun said, “Gurudev, I work hard, but fail again and again. I don’t understand whether my hard work is lacking or luck is not on my side.”
The Guru thought for some time and asked him to sit with him at night. When it became dark, the Guru lit a small lamp and placed it in front of Arjun. Then he opened the window, through which strong wind started coming in. The flame of the lamp started wavering again and again due to the gusts of wind and was extinguished within a few moments. The Guru lit the lamp again, this time closed the window. Now the flame of the lamp started burning steadily and quietly.
The Guru smiled and said, “Arjun, did you understand anything?” Arjun said, “Yes Gurudev, when the wind was strong, the lamp got extinguished and when the wind stopped, it started burning steadily.” The Guru explained, “This lamp is your hard work and the wind is your weaknesses – like impatience, fear and giving up too quickly. As long as you let these weaknesses dominate you, the lamp of your hard work will keep getting extinguished again and again.” Arjun was listening carefully. The Guru further said, “Success requires not only hard work, but also patience and self-confidence. When you steady your mind, no difficulty will be able to stop you.”
Arjun understood his mistake. He decided that now he would face every difficulty with patience and would not give up quickly. After some time, the same Arjun started becoming successful in his work. Now he remained calm and firm in every situation. The lesson learned from this story is that not only hard work, but also patience and confidence are the keys to success.
