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We all feel elated when we are praised. We must have a deep intellectual understanding about praise. Beware of praise when you are growing.
Nothing is more embracing to a sensitive person than being unduly praised. Those who so praise him may be well meaning, but he nevertheless feels uncomfortable. He feels uncomfortable because such praise only reminds him of his limitations. A fool, however, enjoys being praised because he is not able to realize how ridiculous it is that he should be praised. It is in fact an implied insult but he is not able to see it in that light. A truly intelligent person is, on the other hand, always suspicious of praise; at least, he never accepts it at its face value. He knows he has to far to go to reach his goal. If somebody praises him, he can only feel sorry for that man’s poor judgement. Praise gives him satisfaction when it comes from persons who are superior to him. Even then he is not sure he deserves the praise. He trusts his own appraisal more than that of others.
A truly gifted man is not so much interested in recognition as in improving his gifts. If others recognize him, he knows it is no criterion of success. Success is not the same thing as recognition. Galileo discovered a truth, which should have earned him noble prize (if it had existed then), but the only reward he earned was public humiliation! A gifted man is always an unhappy man, for he never feels he has achieved enough. His is the constant struggle to bring out the best in him. He dislikes praise because it is a temptation to relax.
But pity the man who is carried away by praise. When a gifted man begins to enjoy being praised, take it that his deterioration is at hand. If one is susceptible to praise one is also susceptible to criticism. How will be gifted man react when he is criticized? Very likely, he will react violently even if the criticism is very well founded. This is as bad as being elated when one is praised, perhaps worse. In a sense, the critic is a man’s best friend, for he can point out one’s own merits and demerits which one can not see oneself. Our spirituality says that one should be above both praise and criticism. This is a sound advice, for both may be wrong. Relatively speaking, criticism is better, for even if it is wrong. It serves as warning. If you are a sensible person, you will take note of it, if only to make sure that the shortcomings it attributes to you are totally non-existent. One has to examine oneself, more critically than the worst critic, for the path to perfection is through self-criticism and not through self-adulation, through struggle and hard work and not through ease and comfort.
A man of character is his own best judge. His standards are his own, standards he keeps pushing higher and higher. He is never satisfied with himself, for he knows his best is yet to come. If people criticize him he is not dismayed unless it reveals defects he had never suspected they existed in them. If, however, people praise him, he hardly take notice of it unless it comes from persons really competent and knowledgeable. He may feel glad about it but would be the last person to admit it. He would much rather have criticisms than praise, for the former would keep him on the move. Success is an elusive goal but there is pleasure in its determined pursuit. One avoids praise lest it denies oneself this pleasure. Praise gives a false sense of euphoria and to that extent, weakens; it extinguishes the zeal needed to meet all 0dds squarely with courage. LIFE IS A SERIES OF FAILURES, YET IT IS THESE FAILURES THAT ARE THE PILLARS OF SUCCESS. To accept failures calmly but always with a stronger will to fight back is the real test of a man.
NOTE :This mail is not my own collection. My effort is copy paste only. All are downloaded from internet posted by some one else. I am just saving some time of our members to avoid searching everywhere. So none of these are my own creation.
Dr.E.S.Prabhakar