God awards those who weathered all their differences to base their life on a higher principle, with deep affection and love for each other. Then marriage becomes a wonderful experience.-Radhanath Swami
To forget our mundane differences or to learn to tolerate them with a sense of responsibility towards each other becomes very easy when we lead a life with a higher goal. And when that higher goal is directed towards love of God, we gradually develop faith and loyalty towards each other. We soon become the best of friends, and those little differences seem much more tolerable than before.
A story: one winter, many animals died because of cold. The porcupines, realizing the situation, decided to group together. This way they covered and protected themselves; but the quills of each one wounded their closest companions even though they gave off heat to each other. Because they could not tolerate this pain after a while, they decided to distance themselves from the other and soon they began to die, alone and frozen. So they had to make a choice: either accept the quills of their companions or disappear from the Earth. Wisely, they decided to go back to being together and learned to live with the little wounds that were caused by the close relationship with their companion, but the most important part of it was the heat that came from the others. In this way they were able to survive.
Moral of the story: The best relationship is not the one that brings together perfect people, but the best is when each individual learns to live with the imperfections of others and can admire the other person’s good qualities. In other words: Learn to love the pricks in your life.
8 replies on “The Wisdom of the Porcupines”
Very deep and useful point. Thank you for sharing this wisdom from Radhanath Swami.
Radhanath Swami’s each and every words are so direct to the heart yet so soft like butter that anyone can accept those words, even though externally it might seem to be a prick. Its for our own betterment to develop deeper relationships with people.
Wonderful realizations and analogy with the story of the porcupine. We have to learn to live with differences.
This article reflects the success mantra for any relationship. The porcupine story gives us the pertinent example of managing relations with our closed ones. It is very crucial to not only let go of the negatives but to nurture the good qualities in others.Thank you for sharing.
My heartfelt gratitude for your wonderful blogs. They are working wonders in my married life. Many thanks to swami Radhanath for inspiring the lifestyle counselors of this wonderful website
Thanks to Radhanath swami for the wonderful advice to married couples..
Wonderful article with deep realizations. True that we will always people like “thorns” in our lives. We have to bear the pricks and accept them for what they are if we have to live in peace.
So truly said ……..The best relationship is not the one that brings together perfect people, but the best is when each individual learns to live with the imperfections of others and can admire the other person’s good qualities. In other words: Learn to love the pricks in your life. Thank you so much