Why falling behind is OK!
Do you ever feel like you’re falling behind but everyone around you is somehow moving ahead in life? If you think you’re slow, lost or wasting your potential, here’s a story from Hindu scriptures to give you clarity.
In the Mahabharata, Rishi Kashyapa’s wives Vinata & Kadru get boons - Kadru asks for a thousand serpent sons while Vinata asks for just two sons who’d be stronger than their half-siblings.
Seeing Kadru’s eggs hatch & conquer the world first, Vinata gets impatient & forcefully cracks one of eggs open - leading to her first son, Aruna, to be born prematurely & incompletely formed.
Aruna curses his mother for his fate, to become her sister’s slave & warns her not to touch the other egg. Years later, Garuda is born with his full potential & he rescues his mother from the serpents. The funny part is even Aruna finds his place as Surya Dev’s charioteer so no destiny is ever denied.
When we see other people getting promoted, richer, into romantic relationships, we panic & make hasty decisions to follow their path, forgetting that unequal destinies need unequal prep time.
Many success stories may actually just be about following the herd, but Garudas are often built on the sidelines in silence, with your head down & mouth shut.
Even when the Pandava brothers grow frustrated with their exile in the forest after losing in the game of dice, Vyasa gives Yudhishthira a specific vidya or knowledge & Arjuna is asked to break away & meditate intensely, which ends up with him getting the Pashupatastra & other powers from Shiva - this period of focused preparation is what gives them an edge in the final war.
What feels like falling behind is often just you trying to win too many external battles at once, while ignoring the biggest inner battle that’s about conquering your own unstable mind, heart & body.
So try to double down on that one area in life & win that steadily first before attempting a full transformation.
Whether it’s age of marriage, kgs of weight, or salary at the job or career stage, stop using everyone else’s average timeline as the reference & benchmark for your journey. And use your downtime to build up your inner strength & clarity.