‘You have a Bright Future’
Their mother was on the deathbed.
Bed of wet leaves.
The rain had been too much for their mother to bear.
So she was dying.
Her children were sad, naturally.
But their sadness was somewhat chronic.
The children were unhappy with themselves.
They were unhappy with their appearance.
They were unhappy that they were born so ugly.
“Instead of you, we should have died, mother,’ cried a son.
“Never talk like that. Foolish child. You have a very bright future.”
The son looked his ugly body and replied, ‘Bright future indeed!’
‘No hopes for us, no future for us,’ we are born ugly.
But their mother was insistent.
‘I tell you my dear children. Don’t be disheartened. This ugliness is only superficial.
This weakness of yours is only for a limited time. You shall certainly change.
You will all certainly be beautiful. O my god! Dear children. You are my children!
Why don’t you understand. See how brilliant I am!”
Yet, they doubted. They went nearer to their mother.
“Before I die, I wish to see you all smile. All my life I saw you all weeping and wailing.
I have told you, and shall promise you, soon, you shall come out of these limitations.
You shall shine. You shall be more glorious than I am.”
And she died. The children were sad. But they saw their mother’s sacrifice.
One of them said, ‘For once, let us believe our mother. Let’s wait and see.
Let us be positive.’
That was the mantra. They needed to be positive.
Their mother taught them all their lives to be positive.
‘Work hard! Be Positive and work hard! Your beauty is within you!’
This was her mantra to her children.
She was the proof!
She always said her children would be the most beautiful creatures on the planet,
though they appeared to be ugly now.
She tried to show that through her own life.
Indeed she was. Their mother had the most beautiful wings ever.
She flew better than the birds. She added glory to the garden.
Flowers looked dull and faded when she approached them.
She would say, ‘Children! You are not creeping ugly worms. You are brilliant, shining children of light!’
*******
More leaves fell.
More water poured.
Their mother was now only memory.
Soon, something strange happened.
The children had shraddhā in them.
They worked like heroes!
You must have seen their struggle!
Shraddhā is that power which makes us strive to achieve our goals.
And with this power of shraddhā, the beautiful butterfly’s children worked hard.
How hard they worked to come out of their ugly bodies!
Soon, there they were!
The entire garden became bright.
Those very crawling worms, which thought they were helpless, weak, ugly, useless creatures,
flew everywhere, brightening the world.
Their mother was true.