When we fail at anything, we feel disheartened. Some people, however, become so disheartened as to become chronically depressed. Some youths, on failing in an exam or in a relationship, even kill themselves.

How can we deal with failure without succumbing to extreme negativity?

By re-envisioning failure, which happens best when we re-envision life itself.

Today’s materialistic culture teaches that life is meant for material enjoyment. Accordingly, we define our life’s value in terms of some material goal such as a career or a relationship. If we fail in that goal, we feel as if we have nothing to live for. The road of our life was meant to take us to that goal – with that goal frustrated, we feel that our life has come to a screeching halt, an unsurpassable dead end.

Can we go around that dead end? Yes, provided we recognize that life is meant for something bigger than any material goal. Gita wisdom shares that vision by explaining that we are eternal beings, souls on a multi-life journey of spiritual evolution. We are meant to evolve towards an eternal life of love and joy with the supreme spiritual reality, Krishna.

When we understand our spiritual identity and destiny, we re-envision material failures: they are just bumps on the long road of life. We are affected, but not devastated. The Bhagavad-gita (05.20) states that those who are spiritually informed and realized get neither elated by joy nor dejected by pain. Knowing that we at our core are indestructible and that Krishna’s love for us is inexhaustible, we soon regain our composure and re-focus on our purpose of serving Krishna.

By thus revealing that our destiny is bigger than the biggest adversity that may befall us, Gita wisdom equips us to process failure intelligently and optimistically.

Think it over:

  • How does materialism make failure seem like the end of the road of life?
  • How does the Gita expand our conception of life?
  • How does Gita wisdom help us process failure positively?

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