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What does each of the following quotations mean to you? (a): “Every work has got to pass through hundreds of difficulties before succeeding. Those that persevere will see the light, sooner or later.”- Swami Vivekanand. UPSC IAS Mains 2021 General Studies (Paper – 4)
Perseverance is the ability to sustain one’s efforts in face of immense difficulties. Perseverance is the key to success in matters, small and big, as discussed below:
- Learning to walk involves falling over many times, before the first step is put forward in an upright posture.
- Integrity in adulthood, is built on years of value inculcation and winning over temptations of dishonesty – intellectual or material. For example, in school examinations, project dissertations, in personal life, etc.
- Gautam Buddha subjected himself to the most severe austerities, intellectual queries and debates, before he could achieve enlightenment.
- Mahama Gandhi’s ‘experiments with truth’ involved lying and stealing at immature age. His approach to freedom struggle evolved in contrasting ways between Chauri Chaura and Quit India movement.
- Swami Vivekananda himself was an inquisitive young man, questioning all dogmas. His open and unsatisfied mind led him to meet his future Guru Shree Ramkrishna Paramhans and in him he met his mission in life.
Difficulties, trial and tribulations, and failure are part of the way to success. Those who persevere see the light, which those who quit cannot.