Page 234 - https://ia800806.us.archive.org/12/items/mwk-eng-book/Leading-a-Spiritual-Life.pdf

No Shortcuts

without doing any hard work, or if you start your career
in politics and try to attain a high position in the
political system without doing the required field work,
shortcuts of this kind will not get you anywhere in real
life. In such instances, planning to reach one’s goal by
taking shortcuts is ill-conceived and is destined to lead
nowhere.
This formula does not pertain only to individual
life. It also holds true for the life of a community or
a nation. Leaders of the Muslim community in India
invariably insist that, for some reason or the other,
Indian Muslims have become a backward community
and that the only way to give them a boost is to give
them reservations in jobs and services. Failing this, they
will remain backward.

A demand of this nature is a demand for a shortcut.
But, according to the law of nature, this is not feasible.
No amount of favour shown to any community can bring
about its uplift. The only way to empower its members
is to enable them to meet the challenges posed to them.
Life is based on competition and challenge. Without
facing competition and challenge, no community
can prosper. There is no escape for anyone in this
regard. Offering favours only paralyzes the ability of a
community, whereas when a community has to face
challenges, this proves to be an energizing factor for it.
Shortcut is a word that may be found in the dictionary,
but it has no relevance in real life.

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