Is Hard Work,The Mother of Success?

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Hard work is the mother of success. Is it?

When it is crystal clear that  hard work alone helps us to reach the goal , can anyone have a doubt in this.

Even I was also of the same view . But then,there were times when hard work did not work for me.

So what is stopping me from reaching my goal even after all my perspiration. Whenever I got disappointed, I consoled myself that my hard work was not up to the mark.

But it is not so. There is some other hidden secret to success. That is what I realised after I came across a Zen story. You must also be eager to know what is the story about.

The story goes like this,

There was a Zen teacher who teaches sword fighting. An enthusiastic student bowed before the teacher and requested him to accept him as his student. The teacher readily accepted him as his student and told him that he is sure to excel in sword fighting in ten years time.

" Ten years !" the student exclaimed and said, " Master! I cannot wait that long to excel in sword fighting. I can work hard.' and thinking that  the teacher expects more hard work  from him,  added'" I can work hard twice as much as others do."

The teacher immediately replied, " oh! Then you can learn in twenty years."

The confused student said ," Sir  I am prepared to work hard as you expect , so as to reach my goal of learning the art in just five years."

The teacher said," Then it is going to take you  longer time,to learn than you think. If you have set a goal and target it with hard work alone, you are sure to miss the target."

The student looked at the teacher with still  greater confusion.

The teacher added," If you set yourself a goal, you will work under tremendous pressure. Instead of learning with conviction, your attention is disturbed by the goal in front of you. This makes you half blind. How can you work hard with one eye?"and Added,"on the other hand, if you enjoy your learning without goals, you would have excelled in the art, in no time .

Though the student got confused by his teacher's explanantion,  eventually  he realised that his teacher guided him in the right direction.

 

Not only the student , even I understood what the teacher meant..

When we look at  scientists who had come out with so many discoveries, many of them had been possible only when the scientists were relaxing.

Newton, the great scientist , gave to the world the great concept of Gravity , only when he was relaxing under an apple tree .

Archimedis principle was Known to the world, only when Archimedis was relaxing himself in a bath tub.

If we work with full concentration, we can enjoy the work we do and also succeed in that effortlessly.

Does that mean that if we work hard we wont be able to succeed.?
No. Many a times hard work does produce the desired result, but in most times we would not have felt happy doing that work. 

On the other hand, if we enjoy our learning/ work , we are sure to succeed effortlessly.

Lord Krishna had also preached us the same in Baghavad Gita .

He says, 
"Do your work.  Do not be worried about the results."