Leading A Spiritual Life

it continues to grow till it becomes a super-mind. On the other hand, in an environment where there is no challenge, the human mind becomes like a stunted plant and gradually, it shrivels away into a state of underdevelopment. Peace is not a ready-made item. It is a self-managed item. One should be intelligent enough to develop one’s mind along positive lines so that one may deal effectively with unwanted situations. A peaceful mind is only the other name of a positive mind. The Scottish author Samuel Smiles has rightly said: ‘It is not ease, but effort, not facility but difficulty that makes a man.’ It is a fact that ease and facility are constant obstacles to intellectual development, while effort and difficulties are like stepping stones to the sharpening of the intellect. Life is a Challenge It is also important that the moment we feel we have taken a wrong step, we must immediately take a U-turn in order to save ourselves from disaster. T he British historian Arnold Toynbee has rightly pointed out that nations must inevitably face challenges. But, there are two categories of challenges: either that which is so severely adverse as to be