The Secret of Success

long run he frequently finds himself forced to pay for his initial mistakes with his honour, reputation, career—sometimes, indeed, with his very life. If only people could swallow their pride sufficiently at the outset to make a candid admission of their faults, they could in all humility reset their course towards success, with clearer vision and the will to make far greater efforts than ever before. The Message of Life Life is like a trial. This is the greatest reality of this world. And the secret of all our success is hidden in our willingness to acknowledge this truth, whether it pertains to the success of this worldly life or to the success of life in the Hereafter. In the context of the present life vis-à-vis the life of the Hereafter, if things are bestowed upon an individual, regardless of what form they take, they are given for the sake of testing him and not as a reward for his merit. He should not, therefore, consider those things as his own, but rather as their belonging to God. At all events, they remain in a person’s possession only till his trial period is over. As soon as it is completed, everything will be taken away from him. Subsequently, he will be left only with his own good deeds and not with those things which he finds himself surrounded by today. In this world, all men and women individually possess the same freedom. For this reason the world has become a field of competition. It is because all individuals are free that they, as separate entities and collectively as nations, are continuously in open competition with each other.