Jainism For Beginners Level 03

Author(s): Sayampurnashreeji
Publisher: Sayampurnashreeji

Page 89

contract in time. Neither happened! In fact, the butterfly spent the rest of its life crawling around with a swollen body & shriveled wings. It was never able to fly.
I asked for Love... And I got Troubled people to help.
I asked for Favors... And I got Opportunities. Treceived Nothing that I Wanted... I received everything that I needed!
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 were nature's way of forcing fluid from the body of the butterfly into its wings. By doing so it would be ready to fly once it achieved its freedom from the cocoon. Sometimes struggles are exactly what we need in our lives. If we were allowed to go through our lives without any obstacles it will cripple us. We will not be as strong as what we could have been. We will never fly!
Very often we want someone to help us and do things for us. However, it is equally important to learn to do things for ourselves. Then they will be done the way we want and they will be done when we want them. As in the above story, if the butterfly had been allowed to be selfreliant and had come out of the cocoon by himself he would have become a very pretty butterfly admired by all. When there was intervention, with the thought of helping, he was in fact hurt by it and lost far more than he gained. Just as gold is more pliable when it is heated, we get more self-sufficient and better as we go through life's difficulties and work out a solution for ourselves. We need to keep our standards high and rise up to them instead of lowering our standards to make our life easier and more comfortable.
I asked for Strength... And I got Difficulties to make me strong,
I asked for Wisdom... And I got Problems to solve.
I asked for Prosperity... And I got Brain and Brawn to work.
Living Values
I asked for Courage... And I got Danger to overcome.
To project Anger outwards, one must burn internally and to commite violence upon others, one must first turn violent upon the self.