Page 42 - Failure to Triumph - Journey of A Student

Chapter 9
Love: An Obstacle or a Catalyst?

“Life without love is like a tree without blossoms or fruit.” - Khalil
Gibran.

Love is the most beautiful feeling in the world.
The bhakti saint Kabir said,

ं
ु
“ पोथ◌ी पढ़ि◌ पढ़ि◌ जग मआ , पिडत भय◌ा न कोय ।
े
े
ं
ढाई आखर म क◌ा , पढ़◌ स◌ो पिडत होय ।। “

Translation: “Reading books upon books, everyone died
and none became wise.

Four letters: love.
Read those and be wise.”
There is no right time to fall in love and to quote Alfred Lord

Tennyson, “Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have
loved at all”; All this is true but if you get pulled into a love affair at
the wrong time or with the wrong person, your entire life can turn into
a disaster. I keep getting asked these questions: why cannot a
girlfriend or a boyfriend help us in our studies? Why can’t they be a
source of motivation? Why can’t they help us to move ahead in our
careers? Why cannot they help us to pursue our dreams and
encourage us to chase our goals? And if they can, then what is

wrong with ‘falling in love’?
In my personal view, there is nothing wrong in it—any relation which

is based on love provides us with a positive outlook towards life. The
feeling that ‘we have someone with us’ all the time does not give us
the feeling of loneliness. If we face any kind of failure or
disappointment in life, then we know that we have somebody to
share it with. Victory or failure, happiness or sorrow, pleasure or
pain, it is a great feeling when we have someone always standing
with us.

However, when it comes to falling in love and staying in a
relationship, we have to be careful about a few things. Before I
explain what I mean by this, it is important for you to understand that