Lessons from a Butterfly – Story
(A Story as said by HH Sacinandana Swami)
A man found a butterfly cocoon and decided to save it.
One day a small opening appeared, and the man sat and watched for several hours as the butterfly struggled to force its body through the little hole.
At one point the butterfly seemed to stop making progress.
It appeared as if it had gotten as far as it could and could go no farther.
The man decided to help the butterfly.
He took a pair of scissors and snipped off the remaining bit of cocoon.
The butterfly emerged easily.
But it had a swollen body and small, shriveled wings.
The man continued to watch the butterfly because he expected that, at any moment, the wings would dry in the warm air and open wide enough to support the butterfly’s body.
He thought, too, that the body would contract.
But neither happened. In fact, the butterfly spent the rest of its life crawling around with a swollen body and shriveled wings.
It was never able to fly.
What the man, in his kindness and haste, did not understand was that the restricting cocoon and the struggle required for the butterfly to get through the tiny opening was God’s way of forcing fluid from the butterfly’s body into its wings so that it would be ready for flight once it had freed itself from the cocoon.
Sometimes struggles are exactly what we need. Each hurdle in life is sent by Krishna to make us stronger, like an athlete in training.
The difficulties a coach places before an athlete are designed to increase his competence.
If Krishna allowed us to go through life without obstacles, we would become crippled—we would never be as strong as we could have been. We would never fly!
Never lose heart in the face of impossible odds.