Failure is an unpleasant but unavoidable part of life.

Different failures call for different responses. In some cases, we may persevere despite the failures; in others, we may pursue a new avenue.

Success in most fields of life requires some material abilities. A singer needs to have a decent voice. This necessity of material abilities extends even to most spiritual disciplines. For example, a seeker with modest cerebral capacity can’t succeed in jnana-yoga (the path of intellectual reflection); nor can a seeker without capacity for bodily austerity succeed in ashtanga-yoga (the eightfold path of yoga).

No doubt, many material capabilities can be improved by practice. Still, some limits can’t be escaped. A dumb person can’t become an opera singer.

Thankfully, there exists one path that doesn’t depend on material abilities: bhakti-yoga. Of course, if we have material abilities, it can put them to the best use, but such abilities are not prerequisites. Bhakti-yoga is essentially a path of the heart – it links the human heart with the divine heart through love.

All of us have a heart, that is, the capacity for emotions. After all, we are souls with an innate capacity for spiritual love. Though this capacity is presently dormant, it can be revived by the universal process of bhakti-yoga. No material limitation can stop this revival; the Bhagavad-gita (09.32) indicates that bhakti can elevate everyone, whatever their material background.

During our practice of bhakti, we may slip and fall, but such hiccups don’t have to dishearten us. Because in bhakti no one is disqualified; everyone has what it takes to succeed.

By thus meditating on the universal redeeming potency of bhakti-yoga, we can take heart, march steadily on the path of the heart and eventually attain the ultimate treasure of the heart – pure eternal love for Krishna.

Bhagavad Gita Chapter 09 Text 32

"O son of Prtha, those who take shelter in Me, though they be of lower birth – women, vaisyas [merchants] and sudras [workers] – can attain the supreme destination."