One of the greatest lessons I have learnt in my life is to pay as much attention to the means of work as to its end.
He was a great man from whom I learnt it, and his own life was a practical
demonstration of this great principle I have been always learning great lessons from that one
principle, and it appears to me that all the secret of success is there; to pay as much attention to
the means as to the end.
Our great defect in life is that we are so much drawn to the ideal, the goal is so much more
enchanting, so much more alluring, so much bigger in our mental horizon, that we lose sight of
the details altogether.
find that it was because we did not pay attention to the means. Proper attention to the finishing,
strengthening, of the means is what we need. With the means all right, the end must come. We
forget that it is the cause that produces the effect; the effect cannot come by itself; and unless the
causes are exact, proper, and powerful, the effect will not be produced. Once the ideal is chosen
and the means determined, we may almost let go the ideal, because we are sure it will be there,
when the means are perfected. When the cause is there, there is no more difficulty about the
effect, the effect is bound to come. If we take care of the cause, the effect will take care of itself.
The realization of the ideal is the effect. The means are the cause: attention to the means,
therefore, is the great secret of life. We also read this in the Gita and learn that we have to work,
constantly work with all our power; to put our whole mind in the work, whatever it be, that we
are doing. At the same time, we must not be attached. That is to say, we must not be drawn away
from the work by anything else; still, we must be able to quit the work whenever we like.
If we examine our own lives, we find that the greatest cause of sorrow is this: we take up
something, and put our whole energy on it — perhaps it is a failure and yet we cannot give it up.
We know that it is hurting us, that any further clinging to it is simply bringing misery on us; still,
we cannot tear ourselves away from it. The bee came to sip the honey, but its feet stuck to the
honey-pot and it could not get away. Again and again, we are finding ourselves in that state. That
is the whole secret of existence. Why are we here? We came here to sip the honey, and we find
our hands and feet sticking to it. We are caught, though we came to catch. We came to enjoy; we
are being enjoyed. We came to rule; we are being ruled. We came to work; we are being worked.
All the time, we find that. And this comes into every detail of our life. We are being worked
upon by other minds, and we are always struggling to work on other minds. We want to enjoy
the pleasures of life; and they eat into our vitals. We want to get everything from nature, but we
find in the long run that nature takes everything from us — depletes us, and casts us aside.
Had it not been for this, life would have been all sunshine. Never mind! With all its failures and
successes, with all its joys and sorrows, it can be one succession of sunshine, if only we are not
caught.
