Once upon a time, in a prosperous kingdom, there ruled a mighty king. One day, a foreign visitor arrived at his court and presented the king with a beautiful stone as a gift.
The king was delighted with the stone and decided to have it carved into a statue of Lord Vishnu to be placed in the kingdom’s temple. He entrusted the task of crafting the statue to his chief minister.
The chief minister approached the village’s finest sculptor and handed him the stone, saying, “The king wishes to install a statue of Lord Vishnu in the temple. You must craft this stone into the statue within seven days and deliver it to the palace. For this, you will be rewarded with 50 gold coins.”
Thrilled at the prospect of earning 50 gold coins, the sculptor eagerly took out his tools after the chief minister left and began working on the stone. He picked up a hammer and struck the stone repeatedly, but it wouldn’t break. Despite many attempts, the stone remained unchanged.
After trying 50 times, the sculptor raised his hammer for one final attempt but hesitated, thinking, “If 50 strikes couldn’t break it, what’s the point now?” He stopped and returned the stone to the chief minister, declaring, “This stone is impossible to break. It cannot be used to craft a statue of Lord Vishnu.”
Determined to fulfill the king’s command, the chief minister handed the task to an ordinary sculptor from the village. The new sculptor took the stone and, in front of the chief minister, struck it with his hammer. To everyone’s surprise, the stone broke with a single blow.
With the stone now workable, the sculptor began crafting the statue. Meanwhile, the chief minister reflected, “If only the first sculptor had made one final attempt, he would have succeeded and earned the 50 gold coins.”
Lesson
Friends, we often face similar situations in life. Sometimes, when confronted with a task or problem, our confidence wavers before we even begin, and we give up without trying. Other times, after one or two failed attempts, we abandon our efforts altogether. Yet, success might be just one more try away. To achieve success in life, we must keep trying despite repeated failures until we succeed. Who knows? The attempt we hesitate to make might be the final one that brings us victory.