Discouragement and moods are two obstacles that often assail us on the spiritual path. There was a time during my first few years at Ananda when certain things happened that left me feeling pretty discouraged and downhearted. Fortunately I had a dear friend, an older gentleman who’d been on the path a long time, to whom I could go for counsel.
I remember sitting at his kitchen table one day with my head dejectedly in my hands, asking, “Why does God make life so hard?”
His answer was impersonal and wise, though it took me some time to appreciate it. “Perhaps there is value in the struggle itself,” he replied.
This thought is well illustrated by a story I read about a family who had two butterfly chrysalises gestating in a terrarium. For weeks they’d been watching them, and were eager to see the beautiful butterflies hatch from their shiny green cases.
Finally the first one began to stir, and they saw the head of the butterfly appear as it chewed a hole in the chrysalis. After a tremendous effort to squeeze through the small opening, the exhausted little creature emerged, its wings all wet and crumpled. After resting to renew its strength, the butterfly pumped fluid into its wings until they spread out revealing the magnificent markings of a monarch.
Then the second chrysalis began to stir on its little branch. After seeing the great effort it had taken the first one, the two children compassionately cried, “Let’s help it get out!” With their parents, they got a sharp razor knife and carefully slit open the chrysalis to help the butterfly hatch without much exertion.
But what happened next was not what anyone expected. To their horror the second butterfly clung to the branch for a few moments, and then died and fell to the ground. Apparently it was the struggle itself that had given the first one the strength it needed for the rest of its development.
In our own life, when the struggles come, don’t get discouraged. Try to see them as necessary, even essential, steps for us to emerge onto our next stage of spiritual development. If it were easy, we would remain as we are and never realize our true potential.
Paramhansa Yogananda describes our soul’s destiny in one of his prayer-poems:
Now I am Thy soaring butterfly of eternity, flitting freely through immeasurable skies of time. The beauty of my wings I spread out through Nature everywhere, to entertain all beings.
With joy in God,
Nayaswami Devi
15 Comments
Oh so beautiful to read on this very cold winter morning!!! Sage words to remember and live by. Thank you but again… Blessings and joy to all!!!
Dear Devi:
Thank you for the encouraging words. How very true your comment is. I have found myself saying the same words “why does it have to be so difficult”. I appreciate your reminder and beautiful story to illustrate our need to accept, embrace whatever comes our way and know that it can takes us deeper and closer to our Home in God.
WOW – a beautful, wonderful story of Truth that I needed to hear!
Thank you, Devi.
much Love from Dallas
ooooh! i so needed to hear that today!
love Andrea
Thanks for this great reminder. So easy to forget when we are trying to spread and dry those wings.
Thank you Devi…Additionally, I have found the navaratnas bangle, (9 gemstone bangle), to be helpful
as described in Chapter 16 of Autobiography.
Injoy
Thank you for your timely message. I am facing a very big decision and this is an answer to my prayer. What at first seemed like the best thing to do for someone, may not be the best for them at all. I love butterflies and this story brought forth the truth so clearly.
Blessings, Annette
THANK YOU, exactly what I needed to hear today!
~~~Peace, Josette
Wonderful story with apt message which was needed.
Thank you.
Thank you again, Devi! The butterfly’s struggle reminds me of Lahiri Mahasaya’s saying, “Banat, banat, ban jai” or “Striving, striving, one day behold!”
I too am consciously practicing thanking God, Master for everything that comes, everything! The flu and cold I had to the opportunity to serve in the kitchen, etc. and the results are really astonishing! There is the struggle at first, and remembering that this is now my practice. But then the sweetest warm wash of love in the acceptance flows through me!
Thank you for this wonderful story!
You are ever in my heart! Love, Brindey
Thank you Devi for your wisdom, for your sweetness and your love for all of us.
Pranam Deviji,
How beautiful and inspiring the story is! Thanks for sharing and reminding the need to remind one of the need and value of the struggle.
It’s so much more invigorating to perceive nothing as wasted in our life experiences than to see the bulk of these as “chaff” and only little morsels as the “grain” we so desire! A poignant lesson, artfully delivered, Devi!
Dear devi ji,
That was lovely and inspiring…..i needed it very badly because i am fighting with my health .