Thanks to LinkedIn, some days back I reconnected with Dr. KRVS of BITS Pilani. He later turned an entrepreneur and now heads a company called “Radix Learning”.
I was sharing my last fifteen years of corporate struggle after 4 beautiful years at BITS Pilani (1990 -94). I happened to mention that after spending first seven – eight years in insignificant companies at inconsequential roles, I finally found reincarnation at VERITAS and since then have made rapid strides in my career.
He told me what only a “Guru” knows: “Sunil, what you have gone through in life is the pretty much the story of a vast majority of BITSians over the years from 1970’s till now. Many begin their career in what they think is “insignificant” and “tentative roles”. But over time, they reach positions of importance.”
It is so true. When we reach some position of importance we think that our initial years of struggle and learning were waste of time. We forget that initial years are the foundation on which the rest of the life is built.
We always visualize sunrise as the beginning of a new day and the sunset as the end. What we do not know is that without darkness there would not have been a new dawn. Like wise, without problems we would never know the value of life.
This advice from Dr. KRVS reminded me of a story that I had read.
A man found a cocoon of a butterfly. One day a small opening appeared. He sat and watched the butterfly for several hours as it struggled to force its body through that little hole. Then it seemed to stop making any progress. It appeared as if it had gotten as far as it could, and it could go no further.
So the man decided to help the butterfly. He took a pair of scissors and snipped off the remaining bit of the cocoon.
The butterfly then emerged easily. But it had a swollen body and small, shriveled wings. The man continued to watch the butterfly because he expected that, at any moment, the wings would enlarge and expand to be able to support the body, which would contract in time. Neither happened! In fact, the butterfly spent the rest of its life crawling around with a swollen body and shriveled wings. It never was able to fly.
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 God's way of forcing fluid from the body of the butterfly into its wings so that it would be ready for flight once it achieved its freedom from the cocoon.
Sometimes struggles are exactly what we need in our lives. If God allowed us to go through our lives without any obstacles, it would cripple us. We would not be as strong as what we could have been. We could never fly!
I was sharing my last fifteen years of corporate struggle after 4 beautiful years at BITS Pilani (1990 -94). I happened to mention that after spending first seven – eight years in insignificant companies at inconsequential roles, I finally found reincarnation at VERITAS and since then have made rapid strides in my career.
He told me what only a “Guru” knows: “Sunil, what you have gone through in life is the pretty much the story of a vast majority of BITSians over the years from 1970’s till now. Many begin their career in what they think is “insignificant” and “tentative roles”. But over time, they reach positions of importance.”
It is so true. When we reach some position of importance we think that our initial years of struggle and learning were waste of time. We forget that initial years are the foundation on which the rest of the life is built.
We always visualize sunrise as the beginning of a new day and the sunset as the end. What we do not know is that without darkness there would not have been a new dawn. Like wise, without problems we would never know the value of life.
This advice from Dr. KRVS reminded me of a story that I had read.
A man found a cocoon of a butterfly. One day a small opening appeared. He sat and watched the butterfly for several hours as it struggled to force its body through that little hole. Then it seemed to stop making any progress. It appeared as if it had gotten as far as it could, and it could go no further.
So the man decided to help the butterfly. He took a pair of scissors and snipped off the remaining bit of the cocoon.
The butterfly then emerged easily. But it had a swollen body and small, shriveled wings. The man continued to watch the butterfly because he expected that, at any moment, the wings would enlarge and expand to be able to support the body, which would contract in time. Neither happened! In fact, the butterfly spent the rest of its life crawling around with a swollen body and shriveled wings. It never was able to fly.
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 God's way of forcing fluid from the body of the butterfly into its wings so that it would be ready for flight once it achieved its freedom from the cocoon.
Sometimes struggles are exactly what we need in our lives. If God allowed us to go through our lives without any obstacles, it would cripple us. We would not be as strong as what we could have been. We could never fly!
