To Persevere And Let Go

Perseverance and letting go are both positive qualities that we all possess. However, despite their being life-enhancing qualities, these are often complementary and even antagonistic to each other, and need to be employed in sequence, and at the right time, rather than in isolation for us to achieve success, peace and harmony.'Try, try till you succeed' is something we've all been taught in school. Success is 99% perspiration, and 1% inspiration, we're told, to highlight the importance of hard work. And work we must, for that is the very nature of life. Karma Yoga, as outlined in the Bhagavad Gita by Krishna speaks highly of work as a form of worship. Swami Vivekananda persuaded his followers to work ceaselessly till the goal is reached. Success is determined by a combination of factors.Hard work is only one of them. Besides hard work, we also need talent,inspiration, creativity, luck and destiny. If only hard work would lead tosuccess, we would only have to toil to achieve our goals. While most of us workhard, true success and joy come only to some, while most others have to remaincontent with whatever they get.This brings us to the relationshipbetween perseverance and letting go. Perseverance is the quality of sticking toone's job and to one's goals, come what may. Letting go, on the other hand, isexactly the opposite. It consists of putting one's faith and trust in a higherpower, whether we call it God or destiny, waiting patiently for results. Whilethese two qualities may seem to be opposites, they are in fact, not so; they arecomplementary to each other.Every venture, dream and project needsdivine grace for its successful completion. Those who decline to believe in thepower of the unknown are likely to continue struggling and will have to dependsolely on their own efforts. They could meet with limited success, often hittingroadblocks which seem insurmountable, or which drain away tremendous amounts oftime, energy and money. The human mind and the ego are such that giving creditdoes not come easily. This is not only true where other people are concerned,but our mind and ego often do not even want to acknowledge the Power that runsthe universe, day in and day out, without exception. Not wanting to give creditto God, destiny or fate, and wanting to corner all the praise is one reason whypeople find it difficult to let go and trust.Hard work andperseverance are absolutely necessary, doubtless. But somewhere along thecourse, after having exhausted all human possibilities, one must learn to sitback, be detached from the outcome of our efforts, and hand over our endeavoursto a higher power. How and when to do this, is purely an intuitive orinstinctive phenomenon. When we sincerely let go, not out of laziness,complacency and lethargy, but after having done our very best, it is then thatthe process of life shifts to another plane, with the unseen hand coming intoplay. And the power or destiny works in myriad ways. A chance meeting, somethingoverheard or read in the newspapers, the stirring of a memory, a differentthought process, sudden release of funds that had dried up - something is likelyto happen, which would put our work and project back on track. Whensuccess becomes palpable, it is important to remember and acknowledge and givethanks to existence, without proudly proclaiming that everything was achievedonly by our ownperseverance.