‘Apni galtiyon se seekho!’

Swamiji says …

” ‘What ! A mistake made by me. No, no, no! It is simply not possible for me to make a mistake !’ I retort smugly; displaying a misplaced self-confidence, that the likelihood of making lapses – does not exist in a rare gem like me; but, is most definitely virulent in my foolish brethren, and I so enjoy the pleasure of seeing them goof up. ‘But I am not like them ! ‘ I reassure myself, with the right amount of conceit.”

“ It is not very difficult for most of us to visualize a scene like this in which we thought that we were better than the rest.”

“Self – opiniated that we are, we have placed ourselves on a pedestal – to which only few are worthy of being elevated to, by us – confident that we are infallible, incapable of making mistakes. Just think rationally for a second! Is it really possible for any of any of us to live a life devoid of errors ? Is it possible that we can go through life without making any blunders?”

“Mistakes and man have ages old relationship. All of us have made mistakes, and in all probability will continue making them repeatedly, if we remain blind to them. It is normal to make mistakes. Human tendency is such. But the main problem arises when we fail to acknowledge that an aberration has been made by us, and refuse to learn from it ! Our rigidity to disallow any change in us – will only lead to a futile, blind replay of our earlier foolish behaviour ! Will the fruits of such an attitude be beneficial in any way? Why should we be in a state of self-denial and not muster the courage to accept that we too make mistakes easily – without thinking twice about what we are doing or saying?”

” ‘ You have made a mistake! What you had done was not right ! You had said that ! You shouldn’t have done so.’ These words have been said to us by someone or the other, and we have been at the receiving end of these words during different phases of our life – childhood, adolescence and adulthood. But our spontaneous, instinctive reaction on being checked or corrected by others is, at times, aggressive – as we believe that we have been cornered and are unnecessarily being accused of wrong-doing. Instead of interpreting this honest criticism in a positive, gainful manner; we remain adamant and stick to our point and feebly resort to the age old and most convenient form of verbal defence – ‘I didn’t do that. I didn’t say that. There is nothing wrong in what I did ! I refuse to accept it !” – and this refusal to accept our wrong-doing is our biggest weakness.”

“We are unable to simply say, ‘I’m sorry. I made a mistake.’ These apologetic words accepting our mistakes seem to get lodged in our throat as our false sense of pride holds us back, fearful that we would feel small in acknowledging the fact that we had erred.”

” Remember – ‘To err is human’ and one who accepts his mistake and realises that he has erred – has done or said something, knowingly or unknowingly, that has hurt someone – turns it to his advantage smartly, as he learns a lesson for life from it, and is filled with determination not to repeat it. A person with intent like this will definitely progress in life, as he is able to overcome his weakness, his handicap. ‘Insaan jab apni galti ko mahsoos karta hai, aur galti ko maanta hai, tabhi woh aage badh sakta hai! ‘One’s ego should never come in the way of acknowledging- ‘Yes, I made a mistake.’

“We should in fact be grateful to those who draw our attention to our drawbacks and try to help us turn into better versions of ourselves. A change in our perception and acceptance of the fact that we are imperfect and fallible can work wonders in making us see our mistakes as life lessons. A genuine attempt should be made by us to spend some time in isolation, introspecting about ourselves – our strengths and weaknesses. Self-analysis is always helpful as, irrespective of how hard we try, we cannot turn our eyes away from what is written clearly on the wall – to be seen by all, and by us. Yes, we had made a mistake and it is normal for all of us to falter, fumble and fall , and now is the time to stop, to halt, to check and prevent ourselves from repeating our mistakes, mindlessly.”

” We should not accept the hold that this weak habit of making mistakes has over us and acquiesce to its mastery over us. It needs to be uprooted from our system at the earliest. We need to get into correction mode immediately, and recognize and accept the ugly flaws and imperfections that were a very comfortable part of our personality till very recently. An earnest endeavour must be made by us to relate and personally identify with the consequences of the countless mistakes that have been made by us. Were people hurt in the process ? Did others have to suffer on our account ? Just try to experience fractionally – the varied reactions, responses and emotions of hurt, pain, anguish and hopelessness that our mistakes could have caused others ! What is the point in feeling like a worm, juvenile and selfish unless we firmly resolve to change ourselves, by not submitting to those unguarded moments when we end up doing as we desire, uncaring about the consequences and the impression that we form of ourselves on others. One can understand that it is not easy to learn from one’s mistakes , but believe me, your mistakes can be your greatest teachers too ! “