Path to progress and development goes through the rocky terrain of adversities. The person who fears difficulties in life cannot aspire for advancement. The sole meaning of progress is reaching the height. In order to do this, ardent efforts are required, unlike that needed for walking on the planes. On the other hand, no special efforts are required for moving down the slope; neither much time is spent in the process. If out of two people one is told to move down the slope, while the other is made to move uphill, we would find that the person moving upward would take four hours in covering the distance covered by the person moving downwards in just one hour. Also, the former does not need to put in any special efforts, while the latter would be found sweating profusely.

Adversities are natural companions on the path to progress. If this would not have been the case then everyone in this world would have become great; no one would have been ordinary or downtrodden. Overpowering the adversities is progressiveness.

What is the difference between a human being and an animal? The human being is progressive and progress-loving creature while an animal remains in the same state from beginning till the end. It does not know anything about progress. It does not have the wisdom of understanding the adversities, fighting them and protecting itself from them. It could only sense the danger through its fear instinct, under the influence of which it runs away, hides or dies fighting. When its fear instinct inspires it to run away it does that, and when it directs it to fight, it fights till death. This action is not decided by the brain. It cannot fulfil its duty after profound contemplation. Fighting the danger or facing it does not involve its cowardice or valiance.

The special attribute of a man is that he performs his actions after contemplating on them prudently. One who does anything under the impact of impulses and frenzy should be considered to be in the category of animals. In spite of appearing as a human being from outside, he is still an animal from within. The aspiration to progress is a divine attribute of man. Thus, it is the duty of a person who considers himself as a human being that he should endeavour to make more and more progress in his life.

It is certain that the path to progress goes through adversities. Therefore, every person who aspires for progress should attain the ability to understand the adversities and how to overcome them.

What are difficulties? Difficulties are those adverse circumstances of life which create obstacles in the path of the person moving towards his goal. These circumstances could be either manmade or created by nature. The former category includes those impediments which one person creates in the path of the other due to competition, envy, abhorrence or arrogance; and this may take the form of trickery, forgery, deception, criticism, betrayal, opposition or controversy. The latter includes the sudden mishaps or accidents. Such type of obstacles could come in the life of any person at any point of time. Therefore, one should be ready at every moment to face them.

There could be numerous types of challenges. It is not always possible to predict about them in advance; neither is it possible for any person to be prepared for every type of upheaval beforehand. Therefore, it would be wise to find out a way through which any sort of threat could be dealt with successfully. The sole and best remedy for this is – our attitude.

It is the attitude of the person through which he perceives his foes as companions and vice versa. It is the consequence of his perspective that sometimes the benefit could appear malefic or evil may seem to be noble. It is his outlook due to which sometimes he gets perplexed even by ordinary events; while at other times, he remains at ease amidst grave afflictions. All the conflicts regarding the virtues / vices of others are mere reflections of an outlook of a person. They do not have their independent existence. If a person could develop an outlook of equality then all the
afflictions would be eliminated on their own.

Many such situations come in our life when our heart becomes agonized. Under such circumstances, one’s actions lose enthusiasm while grief fills one’s heart; and only hopelessness and adversities appear before him. But, such a state is harmful for the person aspiring for progress. Such a regressive atmosphere adversely impacts both – his time and potentials. Those who want to move forward should be happy, joyful and zealous at every moment.

All the hardships which could be seen in the world are the mere consequences of our perspective. When we are in darkness, the entire world appears dark. On the other hand, when we are in light, the world appears to be radiant. If our attitude towards our foes could become amiable, then the envy, hatred or abhorrence we experience on seeing them would vanish away and consequently, our inner joy and elation would remain uninterrupted and we would be protected from the loss experienced in its absence.

The same thing implies to circumstances and adversities. When we consider the hardships as our opponents and adopt an indifferent outlook towards them, we get gloomy and impatient as soon as they appear before us. This disturbs our mental balance and we are unable to find their solutions. In the absence of any solution, the adversities begin to impede our path to progress.

If we could keep a positive perspective towards difficulties and consider them as the divine instruments for making us more attentive, alert and dynamic, then we could use them to our advantage.

Positive attitude is the greatest benefactor of man. It can be attained only when the person begins to consider every activity taking place in the world as the will of God. One who greets favourability and hates adversities can never progress in his life. One who expects only favourability in life is bound to wander in the wilderness of failures. One who becomes the worshipper of favourability from his heart and mind and spares no room for adversities should always be prepared to become haphazard after being moved by the occurrence of adversities. Those who are happy in favourability and complain in adversities keep on moving back and forth like a pendulum; they cannot make any headway in life. Therefore, we should follow our duty and believe that every incidence occurring in the world is the will of God.

By doing so, there would be no instance of being gloomy or depressed. One who remains balanced in every situation and is free from grief, anxiety, fear and agony certainly reaches the peak of progress. This perspective of everlasting happiness may be developed by keeping immense faith in God and considering every incidence occurring in the world as His will.