Failure and fear

What is a mistake after all? If we think that a mistake means something that is to be followed by punishment, then we are totally wrong. First of all, let us take it as a failure. What is failure? Failures are the pillars of success. Let us take failure as God's experience in us. God is constantly experiencing Himself in us and through us. At the same time, He is running and carrying us towards the ultimate Goal of perfect Perfection. Let us take mistakes as half truths. If we take them as something abominable and unpardonable, then they will never be rectified or shaped into truth. But if we consider mistakes as imperfect or infinitesimal truths, if we see in a mistake an iota of truth, only then can we feel that the mistake can be rectified and transformed into truth.

The very idea of considering a mistake as something shameful or unmentionable creates a wrong vibration. We should always identify ourselves with our largest part, with the all-covering, all-embracing part that includes the whole world, the entire humanity. At that time our so-called mistake is not a mistake. Then we feel that it is only an imperfection. It is a game of imperfection that we have played unconsciously but not deliberately. Instead, what we actually do is separate ourselves from the mistake as if it were something dirty, obscene and so ugly that we cannot touch it. With this approach we will never make progress. Instead, let us take the mistake as a lump of clay. This lump of clay can easily be shaped, moulded or beaten into a different form. Then, if we have wisdom enough, light enough, we can use that form for various purposes.

Instead of taking each mistake as a curse, we can take it as a blessing. First of all, we should not commit any mistakes consciously and deliberately. But if a mistake takes place in our inner nature, in our vital nature, in our physical nature, in our outer mind or physical mind, then immediately we should be ready to confess it to ourselves and to God, because confession is our immediate emancipation. Otherwise, we shall grow into a mountain of mistakes. The moment we have the courage to confess our mistake, God's adamantine Protection runs towards us. His Protection shelters us. His Protection immediately becomes our haven.

Why do we find it so difficult to confess our mistakes? The immediate answer is fear. What is fear? Fear is something that constantly binds us. Fear is something that constantly tells us that we are entirely different or separate from others, that our existence is only for ourselves. Fear is something that does not allow us to enter into our infinite freedom.

When fear enters the physical mind, we immediately cry for protection. But this physical fear is not the only kind of fear; there are other types as well. Physical fear cannot be conquered until mental fear is conquered. Mental fear cannot be conquered until psychic fear is conquered. If one has fear in the heart or in the vital, then he has to overcome this fear or transform this fear into strength with the soul's light. Otherwise, fear, which is man's worst enemy, will kill the victim like slow poison.

Why do we fear? We fear because we have separated ourselves from God's Love aspect. We are apt to try to approach God the Omnipotent, rather than God the all-Love. But it is not the omnipotent God who is standing with an iron rod, in our imagination, to threaten or strike us whenever we commit a mistake. Our conception of God is so peculiar. It is this wrong conception of God that is the source of our fear. We feel that if we deviate just an inch from the path of truth, then God, who is like a primary school teacher, is ready to beat us black and blue. But that kind of God is no God. There is no such God as God the tyrant. There is only one God, and this God is God the Love. This God does not punish us. He knows that it is He who is the Doer, it is He who is the Action and it is He who is the Enjoyer, both as the Action and the Doer. He is acting through each one of us, constantly shaping us in His own Way. But we feel that His only act will be to punish us for our wrong actions.

It is God's Dream that each individual embodies. It is God's Reality that each individual has to manifest here on earth. In each human being, God's Reality and God's Dream are looming large. God cannot be separated from His Vision and Reality. Similarly, man's existence can never be separated from God's Love. It is in God's Love aspect that He reigns supreme here on earth. Let us try to grow in God's Love and we shall see that there is no fear, no failure, no punishment, no confession necessary. In God's Love our life on earth is all joy, all achievement and all fulfilment.