A gentleman was once visiting a temple under construction. In the temple premises, he saw a sculptor making an idol of God. Suddenly he saw, just a few meters away, another identical idol was lying.

Surprised he asked the sculptor, “Do you need two statutes of the same idol”. “No” said the sculptor. “We need only one, but the first one got damaged at the last stage”.

The gentleman examined the statue. No apparent damage was visible. “Where the damage is”? Asked the gentleman.

“There is a scratch on the nose of the idol,” said the sculptor.

“Where are you going to keep the idol”? The sculptor replied, “It would be installed on a pillar 20 feet high”.

”When the idol will be 20 feet away from the eyes of the beholder, who is going to know that there is scratch on the nose”? The gentleman asked.

The sculptor looked at the gentleman, smiled and said, "The God knows it and I know it ".

The desire to excel should be exclusive of the fact whether someone appreciates it or not.

Excellence is a drive from Inside not Outside.

Similarly, only We ourselves know all our weaknesses and shortcomings, and so only we can take firm steps to overcome them. It has to be our internal urge. No one else including the Guru can help unless we are ourselves kind to oneself and make this firm resolve.

For this we need to do our introspection and make a firm New Year resolution for achieving the Excellence of values in ourselves, just as the sculptor did. Further we need to monitor and rview progress fortnightly or at least monthly. After making maximum efforts we should surrender the rest to Him for his help in achieving excellence. This would ultimately make the life Blissful. Hence pl make firm NEW YEAR resolution today.