Some people think, “If you just work hard, you can achieve anything.” However, many people work hard throughout their lives, but still don’t achieve their dreams. Why? Because what we achieve depends not just on our outer actions, but also on our inner convictions. Apart from working hard to achieve something, we also need to believe strongly that we can achieve it. 

Significantly we need to believe not just strongly, but also correctly. If we simplistically believe that we can achieve anything we want, we are essentially believing that we are omnipotent, that we are God. That belief is an illusion that gets exposed when we try to resist a strong call of nature. 

Gita wisdom helps us align our beliefs with reality. It explains that we are souls who are parts of God. He wants us to evolve toward ultimate fulfillment by connecting with him through inner recollection and outer contribution. To this end, we all have been given certain interests and abilities. Using such gifts, when we wholeheartedly strive to contribute with him in a mood of service, we find ourselves empowered to do things that would have been otherwise impossible for us. Pertinently, the Bhagavad-gita (11.33) urges Arjuna to act, assuring that divine arrangement will clear his path. 

Still, even if we have both a service attitude and a belief that we will be empowered by God, that doesn’t make us God; it doesn’t mean that we will achieve all our dreams. But such devotional conviction empowers us to strive wholeheartedly and to attract providence, thereby increasing our chances of success. More importantly, that conviction empowers us to persevere, irrespective of success or failure, till we achieve loving, lasting absorption in God. And such absorption is life’s supreme achievement. 

 

Think it over:

  • Can we achieve whatever we want merely by striving? Explain. 
  • If we believe strongly, can we achieve whatever we want? Explain.
  • How does devotional conviction empower us? 

 

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11.33 Therefore get up. Prepare to fight and win glory. Conquer your enemies and enjoy a flourishing kingdom. They are already put to death by My arrangement, and you, O Savyasaci, can be but an instrument in the fight.

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