Successful Life,
Unsuccessful End
The life of all super-achievers can be described thus: ‘successful life, unsuccessful end.’ This is because man has unlimited desires, but God has placed their fulfilment in eternal Paradise. Successful is one who devotes his present temporary life to make himself deserving of eternal Paradise, where all his desires will be fulfilled.
A typical individual from the Western world had the sole ambition of making more and more money. He believed that he could find all the happiness in life through money. He made lots of money. He built a palatial house for himself. He accumulated all sorts of comforts and luxuries. But he failed to find real happiness. Finally, he reached old age. He became physically weak and bed-ridden. During the last days of his life, he recorded these words in his diary: ‘Now, I am 90 plus and bedridden. My story can be summed up in these two words— successful life, unsuccessful end.’
This is the story of all those who are called achievers or super-achievers. Those who have achieved great successes are able to find very little happiness in this world and finally they leave this world in a state of frustration. There is no exception made for any man or woman in this matter.
One of the well-known names of the Indian super achievers is that of Lata Mangeshkar. Now she is more than 90. She was able to have everything in life that is desired by people—wealth, fame, popularity, awards, titles, etc. She shopped in international markets and bought as much jewellery as she wanted. She has everything that worldly people desire. But having reached the final stage of her life, she feels that she has failed to find what she wanted.
In 2007, Lata Mangeshkar was interviewed by Ms. Sudeshna Chatterjee. This interview was published in the New Delhi edition of Times of India in its Supplement: Times Life, on September 30, 2007. According to this report, in spite of all her successes, Lata Mangeshkar lives in a state of dejection. This interview is titled “My dreams have never got fulfilled.”
The interviewer asked Lata Mangeshkar if God were to ask her what would be her greatest desire at this stage of her life, what her reply would be? She promptly said: ‘I would like to leave this world.’ (Supplement: Times of India, New Delhi, September 30, 2007, p. 3)
In this story of the failure of successful people is hidden a great lesson for all men and women. It is that the happy life, to achieve which they devote their whole lives, is not at all achievable in this world.
The existence of desire, but the absence of the fulfilment of desire indicates a great and important reality. It is that what man wants to find in the pre-death period, has been placed by God in the post-death period. In such a case the greatest wisdom lies in man making himself deserving of success in the world after death. He should devote all his energy in this present temporary life to the preparation for his eternal life.
Man by birth is an idealist. But in this present world everything is far from ideal. This is the actual reason for all tension. Whatever man achieves by devoting all his energy to it, always appears to fall short of his desired ideal.
To know the difference between the desire and the object of desire is the greatest wisdom. One who knows this difference will engage in the realistic planning of his actions and then he will reach the destination of success. Such a person will never suffer from tension.
