people say they can be two possibilities either there is no God
and the rule of jungle is prevailing so the rule of the jungle is survival of
the fittest in Hindi there is a saying jiske lot he who seek him has when the
rule of the jungle prevails whoever owns the stick the buffalo belongs to him so
either that is the rule of the world and that is why bad things are happening to
good people or else God is not really good when we talk about bad things and
good things we have to understand this is in reference to a time frame what is
a good thing what is a bad thing something that appears to be good in the
short run turns out to be bad in the long run and vice-versa
there is a story that we used to hear there was a Chinese farmer one day a
wild horse ran into his farm the neighboring farmer said what a good
thing has happened to you you've got a free horse he said good thing bad thing
this God alone knows a few days went by the horse ran out of his farm back into
the wild the neighboring farmers came to
commiserate they said this is a very bad thing
you have lost your horse he said good thing bad thing who knows a few more
days went by the same wild horse brought 20 horses along with it and they all
came running into the field again the neighbors came to congratulate the
farmer you have got lottery you've got 20 free horses this is the best thing
that has happened to you he said best thing worst thing who knows
a few more days went by the farmer's son was riding one of the horses and fell
off and fractured his leg again in the evening gathering people said this is a
bad thing if the horse had not come this would not have happened
he said well bad thing good thing the future will tell now that country went
into war with another country and the king sent his soldiers to recruit all
the youngsters in the countryside all the youngsters the children of the
neighboring farmers got recruited and got sent to the war front this neighbor
son was left behind because he had fractured his leg so what was a good
thing what was a bad thing when the horse ran away from the field it
appeared to be a bad thing but then he came back with 20 horses when the
farmer's son fell off the horse it appeared to be a bad thing but with a
little more time perspective it turned out to be a good thing so when we talk
about good things and bad things what is the time frame that we are referring to
let me tell you a very interesting story in this regard there was once a boy who
found in his garden on the plant a cocoon hanging the boy became delighted
he said I will actually witness the butterfly emerging from this cocoon so
every day while going to the school and while coming back he would observe the
status of the cocoon one day sure enough a dot had appeared it happened to be a
Saturday every two hours he would go and check and the dot was becoming bigger
and bigger
he was transfixed finally the head of the butterfly emerged and he was
witnessing with his own eyes the miracle of nature taking place the caterpillar
had been transformed into a butterfly and it was emerging from that cocoon
bursting through shedding its shell it came halfway through and then seemed to
get stuck no matter how much it tried it was not able to extract its big stomach
out of the hole the cocoon was bobbing up and down up and down the boy felt
pity on the butterfly and as an act of kindness he ran into his house he picked
up a pair of scissors and he slipped the cocoon into two the butterfly fell onto
the ground he thought it would be a few moments before the butterfly soared into
the sky but it was never to be he saw that the wings
of the butterfly were shriveled and the stomach was swollen he thought
very soon the stomach would shrink and the wings would fill up but it was never
going to happen the boy had not realized that it was in
the struggle of extracting itself from the cocoon that the pressure would have
been applied on to the stomach which would have forced the fluid into the
wings of the butterfly without that struggle the butterfly would remain
handicapped for life
similarly we people desire to shed our difficulties we look for someone who can
cut our cocoon and release us from difficult circumstances without
realizing it is in going through these difficult times that we fill our wings
it is God's Way of preparing us for the flight ahead it is these difficulties
that ensure the unfoldment of the soul and the Saints who have realized this
have said so Swami Vivekanand an Indian Swamiji who came to us a more than a
hundred years ago he said life is the continuous unfoldment of a being under
circumstances tending to press it downwards and we see this in the lives
of great personality and USA the example of Abraham Lincoln
is awful given he grew up in very difficult circumstances but it was those
difficult circumstances that forged in him a great character that has inspired
Americans for centuries after that we also have the example of Thomas Alva
Edison I am told that he was terribly poor at one time and he used to sell tea
in the trains and he was a little hard of hearing so one day the ticket checker
and the Train got annoyed and whacked him on the ear as a result Edison became
deaf for a couple of years later on he was asked do you have any regrets for
that period of difficulty he said no my external ears were closed but my
internal ears opened and it was in those years that I progressed maximum the
progress being referred to is not progress in material prosperity but the
progress of the soul in its journey of evolution and that progress often takes
place much better in difficult circumstances that is why I came across
a very sweet and wise saying it goes like this
I prayed to God for strength and he gave me difficulties to overcome so that I
may become strong I prayed to God for wisdom and he gave me problems to solve
to make me wise I prayed to God for prosperity
and he gave me brawn and brain to utilize and become prosperous I prayed
to God for courage and he gave me dangers to surmount and become
courageous I prayed to God for love and he gave me the needy to help and develop
the quality of love my prayers were answered so when we talk about bad
things happening we have to understand many of these bad things are actually
very good things