IndiaPost.com - The basis of success in all human endeavors

What you think, that you become.This is a universal law. You should always ceaselessly affirm that which you want to become, and then one day you will end up becoming that. This law is inevitable and nothing can hold it back.

The second great law is: Persistent effort in any one direction overcomes all obstacles. No obstacle can withstand the assault of persistent effort. That is why in the Srimad Bhagavad Gita, when Arjuna tells Krishna that it is impossible to control the mind, Krishna replies that if one keeps on persisting in this effort, one will overcome, and the mind will be subdued. Persistence overcomes all obstacles and ultimately reaches its goal.

Whatever it is you are pursuing, you will get it with persistent effort. The first law is once again: what you think, that you become. Think you are good for nothing, and you become good for nothing. But, how could you really be good for nothing? It is an insult to God to think that you are good for nothing.

Maybe your goodness is temporarily covered up, but it is in fact there. If you think that you have got the potential for everything beautiful, then you will become that. Think like God, and you will become like God. Think like a sinner, and you will become like that. Think that you are unhealthy and weak, and you will always be in a mess regarding health.

Think that you are full of health and strength, and you will end up becoming healthy. Because you are thinking that way, those conditions become actualized. This is the law that Vedanta invokes in its approach. It rejects the assumption that you are only this conglomeration of flesh, bones and organs. It asserts that you are the Atman-ever-pure, ever-perfect and divine.

At any stage, if there is a wave of anger or jealousy, you assert that you are not this anger or jealousy. You have nothing to do with it, for you are the Atman, which is always full of peace, joy and light. Reject the different conditions of mind and intellect, and affirm your all-full divine spiritual nature. If you are always fearful of things, you will attract to yourself conditions of fear. Have firm trust in God, and all conditions will correct themselves.

The Law of Persistence The second great law is, once again, that persistent effort overcomes all obstacles. As an example, I could describe a situation found at the public water taps in rural India. The entire locality has to fetch its water only from that one tap, because there is no proper water supply in most parts of the country.

Sometimes these taps go out of order and cannot be completely closed, and the faucet keeps dripping on the granite stone, and a hole is made in the stone just from the accumulated effect of these drops of water! These are examples given by the great teachers to put heart into the seeker. In spiritual sadhana, persistent effort overcomes all obstacles standing in the way and ultimately secures its ends.

There is nothing that persistent effort cannot bring to you. To prove this point, the stories of the Puranas abound with narrations of numerous instances in the past where seemingly impossible things were achieved through sheer force of persistence.

One great classical example was the story of a certain sage who lost his entire family in a tragic circumstance, and the funeral rites were never performed for them. Many generations afterwards, this fact was brought to the attention of one young man of that family line.

Their ashes had been scattered in some region, but the celestial River Ganges needed to pass over these ashes in order to purify them. This young man resolved to bring the Ganges down to earth, and to do so he renounced everything and started doing penance.

He persisted so long that ultimately the gods had to yield, and they asked the Ganges to descend and honor his request. One further obstacle though was that the descent might destroy the earth, so through more of the young man's penance, Lord Siva consented to take the immense flow of the river on his own head.

Yet, for various other reasons the young man had to do even more penance to finally fulfill his goal. His name, Bhagiratha, has become a byword for great persistence and extraordinary effort.