Monk Wisdom Series: Love Failure

It was another day, another moment.A tiring day both physically and mentally.Today he could not sleep. It was pitch dark and the ambiance of the crickets seemed to bother him. Normally silence drew him into contemplation. "Interesting" he said to himself,when my mind is at rest this same ambiance puts me to sleep. Today my mind is filled with thoughts and it is disturbing. He reminisced the situations in life prior to him joining the monastery. Failed at work on his project , lousy investments, failed businesses, ditched by his beloved parents after few misunderstandings, soon the world changed and everyone considered him a loser. It was this disturbance that drove him to seek the inner meaning of existence. And now the thoughts were haunting him...

The breeze was flowing from the westerly direction and his robes were fluttering as if they were speaking to him. It was quiet and serene, between the noise of the wind. He never realized when his Master had joined him. He turned around and their their eyes met. He said helplessly “I am so disturbed by my failures. My thoughts are so suicidal. Please help me, Master”

Master had this calm and still look that soothed the disciple for the moment as he listened to this story from the Master…

The jungle was all praises for this little monkey. He was the star of the colony. Excelled in everything and success was at his feet every day. The mother was all praises about her son and bragged about his achievements. She created opportunities for him to excel everyday. In her own way she was pushing him to greater heights. The other parents felt the heat. Their children could not just keep up with the progress of their peer. Days went by and the little monkey went from strength to strength. Everyday the measure of their success was the fruits they plucked for the colony. Our little monkey always had the most exotic fruits and the most filled basket. One day things changed, it rained heavily and all the fruits had fallen and washed away. That day when he returned with his booty, he saw the another fellow monkey with just one leg had more fruits than he did. He was shattered. After this incident, he never achieved or performed like before. Just one failure was enough!!!! His mother never thought it was important to teach him; how to deal with failure. This was because he was always motivated on his achievements. However this time failure overpowered him.The young monkey began to lose hope and in despair fell in bad company. One instance of failure was enough….

The father of the monkey was a keen observer to all of this. The flamboyance of the kid, the showing off of his mother and the mindless celebrations of petty achievements. The heady behavior of the kid was causing him concern. On a rainy day the monkey, as he sat there scratching his belly, the father slid next to him and asked, “Son why are you no longer competitive, why don’t you hang around with the rest of the kids?” . “Oh!, I am no good, dad. Leave me alone” said he with mixed emotions.

“You never knew what failure was. Your problem was you gained because the others were no better than you. As you grow you will if you wish to be in good company, you will have to be choose the ones better than you. Embrace failure, learn from it and you will be more stronger. Life is not measured by successes in tasks and achieving milestones. It is the legacy that you leave behind in the hearts of others. Sometimes we pay more dearly for our triumphs than for our defeats. Those who do not strive will never fail”. The words echoed the sulking monkey. The next moment he sprang up and joined his friends in their favorite past time. “Scratching each other’s back!!!”

The Master moved slowly and perched on the boulder facing the disciple, while the he was still immersed in the message. The Master said in all his profoundness “ Do not brood on your failure, learn to love failure and learn from it. Success will eventually find its way to you”

The twilight dawned and the morning sun was making its warmth felt. The golden light signaled as if the disciple was enlightened. He looked behind to thank the Master and saw him walking towards to the monastery. He just smiled to himself and followed him.