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THE ART OF POSITIVE THINKING
nothing, I've come back empty-handed. But tomorrow might be fruitful. On the second day, and again on the third, I put the same question and he returned the same answer, 'I could get nothing today, have come back empty-handed, but I hope to get something tomorrow. Thus a whole month passed. For the entire month, the thief could procure nothing. I said to myself, "The thief goes out for work every night. He spends 7 to 8 hours on it. He loses his sweet sleep, and yet gets nothing for his pains. For a whole month, he has not been able to procure anything. And yet, he has not lost hope. He always says, 'If not today, I'll get something tomorrow'. I said to myself, 'The thief has displayed exemplary patience. Even on returning home empty-handed, he never gave way to despair.' So from the thief, I learnt never to despair in the way of devotion. While engaged in a good work, one must never abandon hope."
But how strange and incomprehensible is man's disposition. A person engaged in good work is too soon disappointed, while the evil-doer never abandons hope. The thieves, the plunderers and the dacoits never despair.
This is a fact. After a great deal of thought I have arrived at the conclusion that the evil commands faith much more than the good, To have faith in goodness, one must have greater devotion. It is the absence of faith that spells despair. Faith and evil seem to be so bound together that a man takes to evil and his faith therein is strengthened by itself. Not much effort is required in that direction. But for the strengthening of faith in the path of goodness, a tremendous effort is called for.
What is right thinking and how are we to think rightly? It is essential to know this because a man with a negative approach would reject even the factual truth, while a man endowed with positive thinking accedes to truth and is thereby able to find a solution to his problems.
There are two ways of thinking-negative and positive. Much too often a man indulges in negative thinking; he does not think positively. The negative approach invariably results in despair, loss of enthusiasm, sentimentality, disdain of action, and deviation from duty. In short negative thinking mcans the beginning of failure in life.
The key to success lies in constructive, positive thinking. And only that man is capable of constructive thinking, who has understood the significance of meditation, who has lcarnt how to keep his heart pure, whose mind is capable of concentration, and who is frcc from attachment.
Both constructive and negative thinking have certain criteria by which we know them.
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