Marching head-long, they never dare heave a breath of relief as their life is too busy for these comfortable elements. An ant is surely an example of hard working creatures around us whom we, in the most inhumane manner, crush them under our weight and thus disregard and kill their spirit. But amazing are these small critters who unlike us move ahead with all the sorrows and short-comings in their lives. The zeal and passion to achieve their ultimate goal doesn’t die even if you keep a hurdle in front of them as, for them, these challenges are nothing but a potion of inspiration which fuels the fire in them to burn with an even greater vigour. Thus with the words of William James sealed on their lips, they march forth: Begin to be now what you will be hereafter.

Think big, while start small. This is the mantra followed by these small creatures-the ants and all the others whom this animal, the Homo Saipan has dominated to an extent far beyond rectifying. With little steps the tortoise had embarked on its journey with the rabbit that had left the tortoise far behind. But who ultimately win the race? We might waive away this nursery folklore with the victory of the tortoise and draw the conclusion that slow and steady wins the race, but this tale is rooted with deeper definitions of success. Success is a result of two things: first, a big thought to achieve something, and second, the will and hard work put to achieve that amazingly special something. Both of these when tuned together, can produce your aim in life beckon at yourself with a face gleaming at your victory.

The rabbit, although was ahead of the tortoise by quite a distance, failed in winning the race. But why? It is a known fact that the rabbit is a fast runner as compared to the tortoise and that both of them had started off the race with a hope of claiming themselves as winners. Being ahead of its opponent, the rabbit saw itself as the winner and struck by over-confidence took out time to relax and enjoy his quick achievements. While the tortoise had faith and self-confidence in itself, mixed it with a never-give-up attitude, ultimately led it to the doors of success. Thus, this immortal story of the rabbit and the tortoise teaches us to have a desire of doing something incredible by being patient and devoted and not being complacent about initial success in the path of ultimate goal.

Sure enough, all of us must be aware of a yet another Panchatantra story of the crow that quenched its thirst by levelling the shallow-levelled water in the pot by dropping stones in it. This story is an example which teaches us to apply our brains and put our hard work to it and achieve the impossible. There is no alternative to hard work and short-cuts can only leave us miss-guided in the long run. If we start our journey to our goal right from the beginning, we shall be able to judge ourselves fairly well and get to know of the places where we lag behind and improve on them, devoting a good amount of time on each of the aspects which requires improvement.

Like the many animals who teach us lessons of key to success, there are numerous legendary examples in real life who do the same. One such famous personality is Robert Frost, who has received loads of criticism and failure during the initial stages of his career as a poet. His poems were left unrecognized and the world had him demoralized but his capacity bear his flaws which were being openly mused about and still improve upon them and retain the confidence in himself remained ignited. Probably this is the reason why today his poems like “The Road Not Taken” have reached the pages of school-textbooks and the lines from the same light up a spark of hope in all while briefly explaining the difficulties he faced as an amateur poet:

“I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

I took the one less travelled by,

And that has made all the difference.”

Anatomically, our brain is partially governed by spiritual intelligence and actions. Thus a moral and a righteous path must be followed as those proposed by Swami Vivekananda and the other spiritual leaders of all time. “Receive some good knowledge even from the low-born, and even from the man of lowest birth learn by service the road to heaven” – Manu. Be it little child or an old sage, a beggar or a king, we must be open to learning and have a big heart for the world to reside in.

“Strength, strength is what the Upanishads speak to me from every page” as spoken Swami Vivekananda, asks us to be bold and fearless. Although we may not like the idea of following men in stereotyped orange, lets’ not ignore the fact that many of them live for service to mankind. Now, it is our duty to have them guide our path and sure enough we’ll reach our goal soon.

Start putting bits of effort to reach your destination while not become influenced by people around who will undoubtedly comment on your ‘insanity’ (as for them), and will try to pull you of off-track. But these people haven’t seen the dream you have and won’t even feel anything you’ll feel while living your dream. So how much indifferent and out-of-the-world your dream may be, stand up on your own feet and take up an ideal and give your whole life to it.

Geared by spirituality, hard-work, determination, and striving to discover a different personality within our own selves, we must drive ourselves slow and safe to the ultimate. Summing up with a quote of Tao Chiang, “Even a journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step”.