The Determination to Achieve

Undaunted by the task ahead of him, Fr. Heras took up the study of Indian history with such tremendous zeal that he not only became a competent teacher of the subject, but eventually established himself as a historian of the same class as Sir Jadunath Sarkar and Dr. Surendra Nath Sen. The Heras Institute of Bombay stands today as a living memorial to Fr. Heras and his life’s work. Had Fr. Heras not been imbued with missionary fervour, he might have remained quite content to secure a job for himself, teach European history with which he was perfectly familiar, and receive a regular pay packet at the end of the month. But because he was so determined to place himself in a position where he could communicate with the youth of the country at close quarters, he took up the extraordinarily difficult task of learning a completely unfamiliar subject in order to teach it. If one has a purpose in life, one will overlook all other considerations, in order to concentrate on achieving one’s goal. Everything one does will be directed towards that end. Mundane profits, temporary benefits and easy living will have no attraction for one so inspired. Losses and hardship will be manfully endured if this serves to bring one closer to one’s objective. Gerard of Cremona Gerard, born in Cremona, Lombardy, in 1114, was a mediaeval scholar who translated the works of many major Greek and Arabic writers into Latin, there being a great body of scientific and philosophical literature in those languages which were well worth making available to all the known world at that time. In this way, he performed the same service for his countrymen as Hunain ibn Ishaq had done for eastern Arabia.