Essay on “God helps those who help themselves”

An essay on “God helps those who help themselves” !

“The God helps those who help themselves” is an age old logic which is indisputable. We have all heard of the fable, in which a carter who on seeing his wagon stuck in the mud, prayed to ‘Hercules’ the god of strength to get it out for him.

Hercules answered his prayer by saying, “Put your shoulder to the wheel man”.

The carter took his advice and lo and behold, the wagon was out of the mud. This simple fable very effectively portrays the value of self-help.

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There are many true inspiring life stories of great men who were born in extreme poverty, but by sheer dint of their hard work and sincerity they rose to the highest position in their country. Names like Abraham Lincoln and Lai Bahadur Shastri are illustrious examples of what wonders can be achieved by self-help.

Abraham Lincoln began his life as a woodcutter while Shastri was a schoolteacher. They however rose to become the President and the Prime Minister of their respective countries, by virtue of their labour.

We are also privy to real life ‘Rags to riches’ stories of great industrialist, who had literally nothing to start with. They, however, not only became wealthy, but also created an industrial empire. Examples of such men are Swaraj Paul and our own Dirubhai Ambani of the Capro and Reliance empire fame. While Swaraj Paul came as a refugee from what is now Pakistan, Dirubhai a small trader of Gujarat, had the courage to challenge the multinationals and today his company Reliance is one of the largest companies in the country. They were able to achieve such phenomenal success due to their qualities of self-reliance, perseverance and enterprise. They are but living examples of the adage ‘Fortune favours the brave’.

In the Hindu mythology also , Karma or deed is of supreme importance and it is the purpose of our life. Lord Krishna in the The Bhagavad Gita, extols the virtue of ‘Karma ‘ to Arjun, inspiring him to wage war, for that was his Karma as a Kshetriya .The Gita also tells us that we must continue to do our karma (Duty) and not wait for reward, for it is bound to follow sooner or later.

We must therefore, pay heed to the above and continuously strive for our own betterment, We must not forget, that when even disabled people like Helen Keeler who was deaf, dumb and blind could overcome her handicaps and contribute to society, we as normal people have no reason to fail. We are reminded of what William Penn said “No pain, no palm, no thorn, no throne, no gall, no glory, no cross no crown.”