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   Desire is an auspicious resolve for a human being. It is nectar for living creatures. Just as the entire vegetable kingdom obtains nourishment from the Sun, desires create strength in a person. Every kind of progress, success in life and fulfillment of the cherished goals, all are achieved by entertaining the requisite longings. If there were no impelling expectation in human beings, the world would become uninteresting, unmanifested and lifeless. Therefore, our Rishis have advised:

Nirashayam samam papam manavasya na vidyate │
Tam samoolam samutarth hyashavad parobhav ││

“There is no sin worse for man than despondency. One must immediately get rid of it and become optimistic." By emphasizing that hopefulness is the only basis for the achievement of success by human beings, they have further elaborated it:

Manavasyonnati sarva saphalyam jeevanasya cha │
Charitarthyam tatha srishterashavadam pratishthitam ││

“Oh human beings! The purpose of coming into the world is to attain success in life. Therefore you must first have a positive attitude. "
All worthwhile tasks in life are accomplished with the power of motivation. A student utilizes his full time in studying and labours night and day. He puts up with the scolding of his teacher. Brushing aside all comforts and conveniences, he concentrates on the acquisition of knowledge. What is his motive in doing so? Having become educated, he hopes to be a responsible citizen and actively take part in the upliftment of the society at large. Above all, having acquired adequate education, he hopes to earn and lead a decent life.
Hopefulness is an auspicious indication in life. With an optimistic bent of mind, a human being laughs away at his difficulties and gets over all kinds of negative thinking. A person who is dejected and feels frustrated in life, should be considered dead for all practical purposes; on the other hand, an optimistic individual is ever ready for hard work. Such a person builds up his own fortune. He never seeks the help of others; instead he himself affords protection to many.

Tamerlane, the Emperor of Turkey, was continuously defeated in many wars. In the 21st encounter, his army was depleted and limited to his personal bodyguards only. Once he was sitting in a cave plunged in deep thought when he saw an ant trying to climb up a wet stone. The creature fell down again and again but it did not lose hope and went on trying to go up. This incident gave him encouragement. He thought like this. “If a tiny creature could attempt several times to go up in spite of failures and had not become disheartened, why should I, a human being, lose heart?” He mustered up courage, gathered strength, collected the resources and defeated the enemy. Strong desires build up the quality of work by which persons become capable of executing big plans, like Tamerlane.

A man of character never becomes despondent because his feelings and emotions are high and progressive. Every minute he battles with difficulties and maintains the capacity to achieve his objectives. Men of superior order, even in times of danger, get the light of hope and with this improve their circumstances. If only Harishchandra, the very embodiment of truth, had despaired whether he would be able to give the due fees to his preceptor, he would have gone into oblivion. He had not in his possession what his teacher wanted. Landing himself in difficulties and selling his wife and children, he paid the dues of his teacher and thus gave a clear indication of his quality of robust optimism. Man is not a slave of circumstances; he decides his own fate but this is possible only if he has a hopeful bent of mind. Before undertaking any piece of work such a person carefully weighs the pros and cons.

He searches for and removes all difficulties, collects the necessary resources and than takes up the work with maximum attention and wisdom. No obstacle, however severe, can discourage him. Only such an individual achieves success. Only that person, who entertains positive thoughts, gives relief to those who are immersed in negativity and entangled in troubles; he alone gives inspiration and light to society. But a dispirited being is an impersonation of mental weakness, creates all round imbalance and pushes others also in utter darkness.

A frustrated person never achieves success in life. He sees everywhere only misfortune and unkindness of God. The heinous qualities of finding fault with others, jealousy, hatred and other mental aberrations and weaknesses firmly get hold of him. A person of sanguine temperament perceives auspiciousness in all directions. For him, the world is a merry playground having nothing to do with apprehensions and perplexities. Every moment, he experiences beauty and sweetness in creation. Even poverty and want do not dampen his spirits. Hopefulness and self-confidence are his permanent companions. Such a combination exists in nature also; waves in ocean, light in the flame of a lamp, and heat in fire. It is but natural that a hopeful person is self-reliant.

By the virtue of self-confidence, all the latent powers within him are awakened to their full potential. With the exercise of this innate strength, he achieves phenomenal success in anything he undertakes. Work done with the full exercise of one’s mental capacity is never unsuccessful. On the contrary, despondency is a blemish which confuses the mind and destroys its capacity. In such a state the pessimistic individual undertakes any work with fear and half-heartedness. It is no wonder that he fails. Where there is no hope, there is no effort. Without effort, nobody has achieved his objective in this world uptill now. It will be so in future too.

The great scholar and thinker Sweat Marten has written: “Pessimism is a dangerous devil waiting for an opportunity to destroy us.” A pessimist does not think in terms of advancement. Whenever he thinks of improvement, difficulties take the shape of mountains in his imagination. Weak and destructive thinking gets hold of him even before he has started the work and he is half-dead even before making any effort. On the other hand, the expectant person starts with delight. He considers difficulties as helpers in his march to the desired goal. Till the end he remains focused on the appointed job with full enthusiasms, hence his desires are completely fulfilled. Hope is life; despair or dejection is death.

A person had a good and flourishing business in Calcutta. With a huge income, a mansion, cars, servants etc. he was very comfortable and happy. All of a sudden, there was a change in the situation. The business sustained a terrible loss and the creditors began to knock at his door demanding payment of their dues. This gentleman was an optimist. He sold the car, furniture etc., withdrew from the bank all the money he had and paid to full the debts due to his clients. Whatever little was left in the shape of ornaments he sold, raised some capital and started a small new business. In a very short time, the new venture flourished and he regained his original status. A person of hopeful temperament does not get frightened when facing adversity, while a despondent individual gets depressed and sits motionless even when an ordinary difficulty crops up. On many occasions, such persons succumb to heart attacks.

It is therefore appropriate that we should, while experiencing satisfaction in the present state of affairs, continue to hope for an infinitely better state in the future. Then only can we achieve some thing worthwhile in life. Inactive people are satisfied with an unchanging state of affairs. But our dignity lies in aspiring for a more beautiful future every minute. Constantly think positively about a future much better than the present and work for it, from this very moment. The chief virtue of a truly spiritual personality is that he entertains only thoughts of hope about a glorious future every minute.

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