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Lessons from a butterfly

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 any 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 shrivelled 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 shrivelled 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 the fluid from the butterfly’s body so that it would be ready for flight once it had freed itself from the cocoon.

What is the moral of this story ?

1) Sometimes struggles are exactly what we need.

2) 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 !

3) Never lose heart in the face of impossible odds.

4) We should not only be compassionate, (as in the case of the helping man in this story), but also we should know whether what we do will really help the other person or not, or else we unintentionally and innocently do permanent damage to them, (as it happened to the butterfly in this story).

5) Whatever our dear Krishna does, it is all for our own good – whether we know it or not and whether we acknowledge it or not.

6) We should have a rock-like faith in our dear Krishna that He always loves us unconditionally and uninterruptedly, and we should express our deep and loving gratitude to Him always, for everything that He has been doing to us and continue to do to us for all eternity.

7) We should see the love of our dear Krishna in everything that is happening in our life and around us, and extend that love to all His dear children – all the living entities -- then our life will be a stream of unending bliss !

8) Krishna’s abundant love is permeating everything in this world, if only we

have the eyes to see !!

Questions for deep meditation

1) What steps are you taking to see the unconditional and uninterrupted love of our dear Krishna at all times and in everything that is happening in your own life and in the lives of those around you ?

2) Are you expressing your loving gratitude to our dear Krishna and if yes, in

what ways are you expressing it ?

3) What are your realizations after you are following the above two principles ?