The Struggle
For a butterfly to emerge from a tiny opening in its cocoon takes an immense amount of struggle. The restricting cocoon and the butterfly’s struggle are nature’s way of increasing its strength, in order to force the fluid from its body into its wings so that the butterfly will be ready for flight once free of the cocoon.
Sometimes struggles are exactly what we need in our lives. If God were to allow us to go through our lives without any obstacles, we would not be able to develop the strength required to overcome the many hurdles we have to face on our challenging journey through life.
The butterfly’s struggle is a fitting analogy for our mental struggle, and for the effort required for our journey to the eye centre to release our soul, trapped in the cocoon woven by the mind. This struggle invokes our Master’s grace. It is only through his grace that we will develop the love and spiritual strength required for this gruelling battle of escape.
The butterfly’s cocoon is woven from miles of silk thread, whereas the cocoon that entraps our soul has been drawn from the spinning wheel of the mind. The thousands of powerfully resistant threads it wraps around our soul are made up of endless thinking, imagining and worrying, intertwined with our memories, fears of the future, attachments, and our pride of possessions. Are we not tired of creating this endless spool of thread? It is up to us to stop spinning it!
The Master is aware of the enormous effort that is required of us to break free of the mind’s cocoon, and he has taught us the method required to succeed in this battle – our simran and bhajan. By doing simran at every opportunity throughout the day it will eventually become a habit, rolling along in our minds automatically, as it reverberates ceaselessly within. The more our simran grows, the less thread we spin for the mind to weave.
Having been made aware of the trickery of the mind, we should therefore try to become more conscious of our thoughts and actions. Perhaps we could keep in mind the wise words of Omar Khayyam, the Persian mystic and philosopher:
The moving finger writes; and, having writ, moves on:
nor all thy piety nor wit shall lure it back to cancel half a line,
nor all thy tears wash out a word of it.
In other words, whatever we do in our life is our own responsibility and cannot be undone. Furthermore, we are currently reaping consequences of the karmas we ourselves have created over many lifetimes.
It is now up to us to clear away the layers of karma that cover our mind and soul. Just as the rust on a knife is removed with a grindstone, so our mind is cleaned by rubbing it with simran. This in turn will free the soul, restoring it to its original pristine state.
It is vital to be aware that our lives are unfolding exactly as they should, for the Master is orchestrating our daily lives and arranging the repayment of these karmas as he sees fit. Everything is happening according to his will.
Whether we are a butterfly struggling to escape from its cocoon, or a soul struggling to escape from the prison house of the mind, we have to follow the divine laws laid down by the Supreme Being. This is his divine play operating by his rules. He has designed the perfect spiritual system, in which we can develop a love for him that will ultimately help us escape the binding threads of the mind – an escape that must be conducted with patience, perseverance and dedicated effort.
The Master so often tells us that our most important duty is our meditation, because it is through meditation that our soul will escape from the dark cocoon of the mind and return home. Now at last we have met the Master, who has made us aware of the route back home. It is his love and grace that support and strengthen us on our journey, and we should therefore undertake this task with love, faith and deep devotion.
So with a heart full of love and a profound sense of gratitude, let us do everything in our power to please our Master through our actions. By following his instructions with faith and love we will stop the mind’s endless spinning and be reassured that our escape from the mind’s cocoon will come when the time is right.