We often say that we have consecrated the work, told to Mother, and doing accordingly etc. But it still fails. Though we have to take all results of consecrated work as the result of the Mother, we hide our wishes behind consecration. The possible cause of failure has to be analysed. There are many causes of difficulty and failure in a work that we say that we have consecrated and doing it for Mother.

Sri Karmayogi says, all of them are due to an inadequate response of the human consciousness to the situation. The failures may stem from:

• A lack of receptivity, openness, transparency to the Divine impulsion.
• An insufficient capacity of the personality to carry out the task.
• The seeking of egoistic gratifications rather than the success of the work,
• Excessive involvement and attachment to the work which prevents maximum performance.
• Corresponding attitude in other contributing workers and the interference of powerful external forces.

Vitiating elements such as these may result in one or many setbacks and temporary failures. But if the work is made in sincerity and carried out with patient persevering determination, most often even serious defects will be gradually revealed and eliminated in the course of the work and eventual success will result.

When difficulties of any sort arise in a consecrated work, even the most material and those seemingly the result of outside circumstances or chance, it is always well for the Devotee to carefully observe his own psychological attitudes, motivations, purity and sincerity. In most cases an honest self-inquiry will reveal some inner block or defect in attitude or consecration which when removed by conscious rejection or offering to the Divine immediately brings a rapid progress in the outer work.

In case of the consecrated work not giving the expected results Sri Karmayogi  asks us to follow these tasks to keep us enlightened by the consecrated work.

A dull hour: Our consecration may be intense or not; our progress may be fast or slow, but a dull hour should not enter our day. It is a warning. If a dull hour comes, it is time to look seriously at ourselves and remove the roots from which the dullness issues. The progress can have a maximum and minimum intensity. Naturally, it has a range. But it should never be allowed to fall below a minimum. That means the work done has not yet been established properly. Once this crack appears a total loss of consciousness too is possible.

Expectation: We can be enthusiastic, eager to accomplish the Divine work. But a sense of expectancy reveals the fact that all is not well with the nerves. The moment that is noticed, one should set about building patience and dissolving the vibration at its centre.

Need for company: When the consecrated work is no more interesting, one spends time with others either for work or something else. One can enjoy other’s company, but if you notice that you crave for company and the need is there, it is certainly an area that needs attention and a real danger signal

Annoyance: One can make a list of persons and things that are annoying. That way one can get enough material for homework. Annoyance is, after all, a nervous incapacity to meet the created situation.

Results: We act; results issue. When expected results issue, we forget everything. When the unexpected happens, we react or worry. In either case, we have to teach ourselves to discover the Yoga in the receiving of the results.

Even if no inner cause is observed or inner adjustment made, often after repeated failure an unexplained break-through will occur in the work which is accompanied by unforeseen expansion of opportunities for further extension of the work. At these times one may observe an inner growth in oneself or a corresponding growth of consciousness among a cross-section of the population involved in the work. This is so because all resistances and causes of failure in work are related to inner resistances, and a development in either field has its positive effect on the other. Each success in work is a success in individual as well and each true inner progress expresses itself in the unfailing success of the work.