By Adi Narayan Ji

When we feel we have failed in the eyes of others, the shame we feel is the shame of the ego, not the perceived act of failure itself. It is a distortion of the ego. There is only ‘learning’ in the path of life; ‘failure’ is not a truthful qualitative description of experience in one’s sojourn. There are no failures, only challenges that grow us in thousands of seen and unseen ways. The ego’s trap is a well maneuvered cycle of shame and self-blame, leading to further sadness and depression; deepening the cavern between the false self and our true Atmic self. The feelings of sadness, depression and low self-esteem bind us to lower thought processes and thought forms, which further entrap us in the illusion of small ‘I-ness’ which separates us from our True Reality. One must drop the word ‘failure’ from their vocabulary completely and self-reflect instead: how best is this experience going to serve me going forward to living a more enriched and truthful experience of life? In what ways do I need to adapt my thoughts, behaviours, perspectives, and my inward vision, such that my next attempt will be successful? In short: what is the lesson?