Living with Amma

By Swamini Krishnamritaprana; Excerpted from Matruvani, 2002

From Amma.org

For Grace to flow to us, Amma says that we must put forth a lot of effort. Many people say that everything that happens is destined and that there is nothing one can do about it. Such people, Amma points out, usually go off the spiritual path. The effort that we put forth creates our destiny. Therefore, we should always try to put forth strong, positive effort in everything we do.

There is a story about Beethoven that illustrates the point above. One night after he had performed a brilliant piano concert, many people converged around him to congratulate him. Among them was a young woman who said, “Oh sir, if only God had given me the same gift of genius that you have, I would be so happy.” Beethoven replied, “ Madam, it is not genius or magic. All you have to do is practice hard on your piano eight hours a day after 40 years, and you will be as good as I am.”

Another example is a story about Thomas Edison. He tried using more than 2,000 different materials as filament in a light-bulb, before finding the right material. When a young reporter asked him how it felt to fail so many times, Edison replied, “ I never failed even once. Inventing the light bulb just happened to be a 2000 step process.”

People like Edison and Beethoven have the right understanding about the value of the effort. That is why they were able to accomplish so much in the world. Only when we really strive hard will grace flow to us.