The Butterfly Brain

The various bright colors of a butterfly are a feast to our eyes. There is such variety in the fauna that we will be dumbfounded seeing the wonderful winged insects flying from one flower to another.

It is quite amazing when we realize that right from its birth the butterfly religiously gathers nectar, plays its role in continuing its species and then bids goodbye to this world. 

How long do you think a butterfly lives? The average adult lifespan of a butterfly is around 2 weeks. Such a short time period, isn’t it?

Now just change the scale from level of a butterfly to that of a human. A butterfly’s entire lifespan is too puny in our scale. But having forgot that we are still on the same scale but only on different levels, we humans think that we are here for eternity. 

Either we choose to conveniently ignore the fact or we don’t realize the universal truth. Thus the famous cosmologist Carl Sagan quoted 

“We are like butterflies who flutter for a day and think it is forever”.

This significant realization finds mention in yaksha prashna when yudhishtira answers one of the questions posed by yaksha. He indicates that it is the most surprising thing on earth. 

When we find ourselves in a different level on the scale compared to a butterfly, in addition to an increase in lifespan we are supposed to have an evolved brain. 

The butterfly’s brain may treat its short lifetime as perpetuity but the mature brain of humans should lead us towards the right direction. 

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Friends in life

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Distance the worries

There is no one on this earth who has spent an entire lifetime without worries. The sages and enlightened ones who have renounced the material world are possibly better off than the worldly people however they too are not spared by the mind’s unrest at some time in their life. 

In the Yaksha prashna (one of the episodes in Mahabharatha), to a question asked by Yaksha, Yudhishtira provides an answer that can be food for thought. “What is it which is more numerous than straws?”, Yaksha poses the question. The Pandava replies “Our worries are more numerous than straws”. 

We are constantly bogged down by our anxiety, troubles about the problems that we are facing; we are about to face and more importantly problems that we imagine to be occurring at a later point in time. As Yudhishtira points out they are numerous. You find a solution to one of the problems and within no time another worry pops out and their count keeps increasing causing the torment to never cease. 

The disturbances caused in the mind are so intense that we are consumed by them. The unsound condition of mind cannot differentiate between the assumptions and realities. It continuously goes on working to find solutions to the problems that are not even real and in the process create more real problems. 

The situation leads to a vicious cycle of constant perturbation. Thus it is mentioned in one of the subhashitas that there is a subtle difference between being worrisome and being dead. The Sanskrit word chintA means worry and chitA means pyre. Only a small difference (dot - anuswara bindu) distinguishes one from the other. 

Thus it is told that the pyre burns the dead, while worry burns the living.

Let us learn to consciously keep away our worries at a safe distance before we are engulfed by its flames. 

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Most surprising thing on earth

One of the popular stories in the epic Mahabharatha is the part of Yaksha prashna. When all Pandavas except the elder one don’t heed to the Yaksha’s warning they are put to death. Yudhishtira, the eldest Pandava is known for his righteousness. The yaksha asks him a series of questions and the answers that Yudhishtira provides are really thought provoking.

One of the questions posed to the exponent of dharma (Yudhishtira was also known as Dharma raja in some contexts) goes as “What do you find as the most surprising on earth?” to which Yudhishtira replied –

Numerous people are encountering death daily. Even though people are aware that they will have to die one day, they crave for worldly desires as if they are permanent on earth. There is nothing more surprising than this fact.

We are so engrossed in the material world that we do not acknowledge that our presence on this planet is uncertain. One might be hale and hearty, muscular and strong and likely to live for many more years but when death strikes, the once radiating figure just bites the dust. 

The person doesn’t exist anymore. But the person had accumulated so much wealth, possessed tons of gold, and owned many buildings. Will the person be able to carry all these along in the subsequent journey?

Everyone knows that the answer is “NO”. But the maya that surrounds us is so much powerful that we fail to notice the reality. We struggle endlessly to gain more and more material stuff without caring if they are actually required. 

A deceptive thinking creeps into our minds that whatever happens we will be here permanently enjoying the luxuries of life that we have grabbed for ourselves.

We have to agree with Yudhishtira that it is surprising indeed. But after acknowledging this, the next obvious question would arise – is there a way to get out of this trap?  

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