Question: What is the relationship between eagerness and perseverance?

Sri Chinmoy: Eagerness expedites everything; it goes faster than the fastest. With eagerness we can climb up the Himalayas. But sometimes eagerness gives up when it meets obstacles and hurdles in life. With all eagerness we try something once, twice, three times, and then we give up. We approach somebody to ask for this or that, but after two or three attempts we feel it is beneath our dignity to approach that person again. Then we fail. But if perseverance comes to join eagerness, then we are saved.

When somebody succeeds, others may say, “Oh, he was lucky.” But it is not luck. Previously, this person may have failed over and over again; many times he may have been unlucky to the extreme. But unlike others, he did not give up, and then finally he succeeded.

Many people are eager, but after two days their eagerness disappears. Two days is more than enough for them. If they do not succeed in two days, they will bring me the report: “I tried so hard, but it cannot be done.” To succeed, we have to maintain our eagerness day after day. Eagerness can move mountains. But if eagerness cannot do something, then perseverance and patience are needed.