Book 4 (Part II)

48 And though a man may have a tremendous Will in one direction it need not always be sufficient to help him in another ; it may even be stupid. There is the story of the man who practised for forty years to walk across the Ganges; and, having succeeded, was reproached by his Holy Guru, who said: "You are a great fool. All your neighbours have been crossing every day on a raft for two pice." This occurs to most, perhaps to all, of us in our careers. We spend infinite pains to learn something, to achieve something, which when gained does not seem worth even the utterance of the wish. But this is a wrong view to take. The discipHne necessary in order to learn Latin will stand us in good stead when we wish to do something quite different. At school our masters punished us; when we leave school, if we have not learned to punish ourselves, we have learned nothing. In fact the only danger is that we may value the achievement in itself. The boy who prides himself on his school knowledge is in danger of becoming a college professor. So the Guru of the water-walking Hindu only meant that it was now time to be dissatisfied with what he had done — and to employ his powers to some better end. And, incidentally, since the divine Will is one, it will be found that