Failure is not an end, Never give up.

Soichiro Honda

In 1938, when Soichiro Honda took his first working sample of piston ring to Toyota, they rejected stating the samples were not upto their standards. Rather than focusing on the failure, he continued to work on his goal. After two years of redesigning, he finally won a contract with Toyota. He built a factory to commence production, which was bombed and destroyed due to World War. He rebuilt a new factory which was brought down into rubbles by earthquake. Honda was not a man who would accept failure as a possibility. Recession and depression caused by the war had created extreme gasoline shortage in Japan. So people resorted to walking and cycling. Honda designed a tiny engine and attached it to his bicycle. His neighbours too wanted one of those motorized cycles from him. He was unable to meet the demand. So he built a plant and manufactured his motorcycle ‘The Super Cub’ which earned him the Emperor’s award. Today, Honda Corporation employs over 100,000 people. Why Honda never considered failure as the end.

Swamy Chinmayananda

Great people became great people because of the way they dealt with failures and setbacks in life. At every fall they refused to remain fallen. They refused to quit. They refused to give up. They refused to accept a ‘No’ from life. “Their greatest glory,” in the words of Swamy Chinmayananda, “was not in never falling, but in rising every time they fell.”

The newspaper editor fired him because he had no good ideas. A pastor employed him to draw canvassing material for the church. He was allowed to stay in the backward of a mouse-infested church garage. One of those mice inspired the man so much that Mickey Mouse was born, and Walt Disney was revealed to the world. Walt Disney epitomized what Churchill preached, “Never, never, never, never, never, never give up.”

Chester Carlson’s 

Chester Carlson’s idea was rejected by over 20 corporations and after seven long years of rejections that idea unfolded to the world as Xerox Corporation.

Colonel Harland D Sanders 

Colonel Harland D Sanders heard 1009 ‘No’s to his proposal of a good chicken recipe before he heard the first ‘Yes’, and the multimillion-dollar KFC corporation was born.

Sylvestor Stallone

The Rambo we know, Sylvestor Stallone was rejected by over 1000 Holywood agents before he had his first breakthrough. One of the greatest inventors of all times who went on to receive 1,093 patents, more than anyone in the history of the world, is Thomas Alva Edison. Even he had to fail 9,999 times before he perfected the light bulb.  Einstein’s parents thought he was mentally retarded.

Thomas Alva Edison

Steven Spielberg

 Steven Spielberg was placed in special class for learning disabled. 

Sir Isaac Newton

Isaac Newton did poorly in grade school.

Beethoven

Beethoven’s music teacher told him, ‘you are hopeless’.

Michael Jordan

Michael Jordan was dropped from his high school basketball team. Winston Churchill failed in his 6th grade. Edison’s teacher told him he was too stupid to learn anything.

Abraham Lincon

Abraham Lincoln failed in business at the age of 21 and again at 24. He was defeated in a legislative race at the age of 22, and twice in the congress race at the age of 34 and again at the age of 36. He then lost a senatorial race at the age of 45 and again at the age of 49. He failed to become the vice-president at the age of 47. Yet, after all these failures, Abraham Lincoln went on to become the historic President of United States at the age of 52. Lincoln showed to all of us that if one wants rainbow in life, you got to be willing to put up with the rain.

Failure is a parenthesis inside which success hides. There is no sunrise without sunset. There is no life without death. There cannot be only-success and no-failures. Champions understand that it is better to face outstanding failures than mediocre success. Only those who are willing to persist inspire of temporary setbacks, only those who would not succumb to defeats, only those who persisted in spite of midway failures went on to write success stories.

Nothing wrong ever turned to be right in the long run. The very fact that so many failures have finally turned into success implies that failures are not wrong. Learn from your failures and move on. Edison said, “Many of life’s failures are people who did not realise how close they were to success when they gave up.” Just don’t give up. Keep on keeping on.

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To sum up briefly, failures are not an end itself. Never, never, never give-up. Learn from your failures and move on. Keep on keeping on.

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Who are you Krishna? Who are you!

It seems after a man died, God was uncertain whether to send him to hell or heaven. He had to his credit as much good deeds as bad ones. So, God offered the man to execute a choice. The main said, “I am quite practical. Unless I have a site to visit to both the places, I cannot make up my mind.” So, accompanied by one of God’s second lines, the man first visited the hell. There he saw an extraordinary banquet, outstanding spread of food, and yet no one was eating. Everybody looked dull and weak. In fact, it did look hell. The man was then led to heaven. Here again he saw an extraordinary banquet, outstanding spread of food, and everybody were eating, dancing and rejoicing. Everybody looked cheerful and excited. It did look heaven. On his return to see God, the man expressed his confusion. “Dear God, though the atmosphere looked the same, why was hell so much hell, and heaven so heavenly?” With a smile, God replied, “You didn’t look properly. In hell and in heaven, a four-feet fork and a spoon are been tied to their respective hands. In hell, everybody is trying to feed themselves, which they cannot with a four-feet fork and a spoon. So they are starving and feeling weak. Their selfishness is turning their atmosphere into hell. In heaven, everybody is feeding the one in front of them. So they are healthy and feeling jubilant. Their selfishness is turning their atmosphere into heaven.”

After an elongated pause, it seems God concluded, “Not only in this eternal world, but even in that earthly world, you will get everything you want from life, if you will help enough other people get what they want from life. In lifting others, you are lifted.

That’s Krishna. From his biological parents to his adopted parents, from his friends to the gopis, from the birds to the animals, from Draupadi to Sudham, from Arjuna to Duryodhana. Krishna was there for everybody. He was dependent on nobody, and yet dependable for everybody. He lived up to the ideal of ‘Love all. Need none’. It never mattered what others did for him. What mattered is what he could do for others.

There lived a man by name Samuel in a Small Village. Samuel was a man of love, affection, integrity and innocence, who helped people at all times and by all means. An embodiment of love he was; but never ever prayed, nor did he know the meaning of prayer. He preferred to serve the masses instead of attending the Sunday Mass. One day an angel appeared before Samuel with a book in her hand. Opening the book the angel read the names of Paul, Peter and Marry and asked Samuel, “Could you please show me the house of these people.” Samuel asked the angel, “What book is this?” The angel replied, “This is the book which contains the names of those people who love God.” Out of curiosity, Samuel asked the angel, “Could you please check for my name too!”. The angel said, “Sorry, your name does not figure in it.” Hearing this Samuel was shaken. The next day the angel came with another book and as she opened it, the name Samuel topped the list. Again out of curiosity Samuel asked the angel, “Now what is this book?” The angel replied, “The Book which I brought yesterday contained the names of those people who love God. This book which I have brought today contains the names of those people whom God loves.” There are people like Samuel in this world who teach us that, “The hands that help are holier than the lips that pray.” The Creator cares for those who care for the creations.

Selflessness is another name for Krishna. You are Krishna, when you go into every relationship looking at what you can give and not what you can receive.

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Source: FT April 2011.

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