If You Want Real Progress, You Can’t Believe the Lies You Tell Yourself Anymore
That feeling of confronting the unknown? That’s scarier than a devil you know.
What if your entire life was built on a lie?
All of it. And I don’t just mean that story about your estranged Aunt Sally. Your birth, your name, and your role in their chess game.
It could be more likely than you think, and Kalki from “Blue-Skinned Gods” shows us how.
Kalki has blue skin.
His father knew that Kalki was a god.
When Kalki was born, a cobra snuck into his crib and bit him. Rushing at his cries, his parents could only stare in disbelief. Not because their baby boy died from a cobra bite, but because his skin turned blue.
Kalki’s heard the story many times. He’s the last incarnation of the blue-skinned Hindu deity Vishnu, prophesized to lead the world from darkness into light. Once his parents realized this, they gave up their old life to help Kalki become a fully realized god in his father’s ashram in Tamil Nadu, India. He gives hope to the people who visit it, ranging from local followers to foreign visitors.
At least, that’s what his father tells him.
Unraveling the lies you’ve been told
Kalki spends his childhood in the ashram. As visitors come and go, he heals illnesses and comforts woes. He has his faithful father to rely on, never questioning his duty as a god.
But after a while, he starts to see loose threads poking out of the woven fabric of his life.
- Why did his previously ill aunt never tell him directly that his healing sessions cured her cancer?
- Why was he able to heal a sick girl in the ashram, under the close guidance of his father, but not a girl who had died in a car crash in the street?
It’s not until Kalki runs into his cousin in America that he realizes his whole life is a complete lie. His father faked Kalki’s entire life, including his birth certificate. Kalki wasn’t the last incarnate of Vishnu.
He wasn’t even Indian.
Kalki’s real name is Johnathan, born in Kentucky, USA, and had a rare genetic disorder called methemoglobin.
His parents adopted him and brought him to India, where his father began to weave Kalki into a grand plan to bring himself wealth and power.
Instead of divinity being the cause of his epidermic abnormality, it was a gene mutation.
You’re living your life according to outdated lies
Kalki believed in his own fabled story, trying so hard to understand the mystic science of his healing powers. He wanted to show his parents, especially his father, that he was taking this seriously. He was trying.
But he had just been living life according to someone else.
Maybe you were only “loved” by others when you gave in to their every demand. Maybe you were drip-fed lies about who you needed to be in order for people to value you.
Kalki’s story isn’t about a god learning to become human, or even about a child who was abused by their parent. It’s about our insatiable desire to believe.
Even after many signs that Kalki wasn’t the person his father claimed he was, he wanted to believe. Because it meant he didn’t have to confront a horrific reality where he was a pawn in someone else’s game.
You believe the lies you tell yourself, because no one taught you to see with clarity. You may not have blue skin, but you might believe that —
- You could never leave your hometown
- You could never switch careers
- You could never walk away from that abusive relationship
- You could never start a business
- You could never learn a new language
Because belief is addicting.
It’s familiar. Even if — under the surface — you’re unhappy, at least you know this feeling.
That feeling of confronting the unknown? That’s scarier than a devil you know.
Your moment of clarity is the first step
Kalki didn’t recover from this betrayal in one day, and neither will you.
When you confront the undesirable truths, you make room for better relationships, situations, and opportunities in your life. It’s scary and comes with many ups and downs, but would you rather live life on your own terms?
Or will you keep playing the part given to you?
If you liked this post, you might like the book it’s based on: “Blue Skinned Gods” by SJ Sindu.
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