SOME ASPECTS OF LIFE IN YOGA

  December 10, 1972

Failure: All failures, smaller, big, are essentially failures of the human consciousness to rise to the situation. How best to draw the experience out of the situation is another matter. But there are different grades in it. For instance, there is a failure brought about by the egoistic attitude of the sadhak, there is the one that issues out of the consciousness of the colleague. There are others. The nature of work permits success only after a few trials. In some work we know that only 5 out of 10 attempts alone would succeed. There are certain fresh efforts where till the work gets organised and established, a good allowance for failure is to be made.

In work done as sadhana, for failures that issue out of the sadhak's egoism, imperfect methods, lack of understanding or organisation, the progress of work will soon eliminate these aspects. Or if the individual persists in his attitude or methods, he will be eliminated. In other items of work where the sadhak does not introduce any vitiating elements but failure is brought about by extraneous circumstances, one can observe that working conditions improve, simultaneously eliminating the inhibitions.

The sadhak can find in himself a certain inward growth. Where the nature of work permits a certain amount of failure, the progress of work will simultaneously be attended by an expansion of opportunities though visited by initial failures. Needless it is to say that the inner gain in the sadhak will be considerable. Where the work is among a cross section of population one can witness the corresponding growth of consciousness in that section of population.*

It is for the sadhak to classify his work according to the best lights available to him.

* During periods of impasse, work initiated meets with repeated failures, each failure less exacting than the previous one. These are of a special type which prepare the future moment of success. It is during such time one says, "The time is not yet".