Sai Prem
This podcast is dedicated to our spiritual Master sharing His universal teachings of Truth, Love, Right Conduct, Peace and Non violence through human value and moral stories . Stories connect with any age group people. Profound messages can be conveyed through simple stories. This is our humble attempt to spread these values through stories and experiences sharing. These are collection of stories from various resources which are collated in our blog Saibalsanskaar. (http://saibalsanskaar.wordpress.com) Most of the stories will be in English and from time to time we will be sharing in other Indian languages as well. Looking forward to all your support.
Sai Prem
The Monkey and the Peanuts
One should give up the delusion, illusion, and attachment towards wealth.
The more we are attached and refuse to let go, the more we will be caught in the worldly trap like the monkey.
http://saibalsanskaar.wordpress.com
Value: Contentment
Sub-Value: Right conduct
This is a story about how a monkey catcher trapped a monkey in his trick and caught him. Once a monkey catcher saw a lot of monkeys on a tree and came up with an idea for catching them. He bought a lot of peanuts, put them in a long but narrow-necked jar, and left it below a tree. The monkeys sitting up the tree were watching and waiting for the monkey catcher to leave so that they could dip their hands into the jar for their favorite food.
As soon as he left, one monkey jumped down and slipped his hand through the mouth of the jar to grab the peanuts. And, he grabbed quite a few of them! He was happy to have so many in his hand, and he quickly tried to pull up his hand to eat the peanuts. However, despite several attempts, he couldn’t get his hand out as the hand had got stuck in the narrow neck of the jar.
Although the monkey could have slipped out his hand by opening the closed fist and leaving the peanuts in the jar. But, he was so attached to the peanuts, which were in his closed fist, that he did not want to let go of the peanuts. The monkey’s greed and attachment to peanuts bound him helplessly to the jar. As he was so caught up with an attachment to the peanuts, he completely forgot to keep an eye on the monkey catcher. Consequently, the monkey catcher came quietly, caught the monkey, and took him away.
If only the monkey had let go of the peanuts, he could have escaped. But his attachment and greed for the peanuts did not allow him to do so. As a result, he got stuck and ultimately fell into the hands of the monkey catcher.
Learning
The Masters tells us to bring understanding and awareness in our lives- to develop love and will for detachment. One can earn very essential money, but one must earn it with honest means and be content with what we earn this way. One should give up the delusion, illusion, and attachment towards wealth. The more we are attached and refuse to let go, the more we will be caught in the worldly trap like the monkey.
"The world has enough for everyone's needs, but not everyone's greed," Mahatma Gandhi.