In the previous episode, we’ve continued with the accord of Vidura, who is narrating a mysterious story. He talks about a boy who has been entangled in between a dense forest, wherein several animals are trying to attack him at the same time. On one side a tiger is ready to pounce and from the other, an elephant is ready to attack. This boy is hanging from the top of a banyan root (hanging root), where there is a huge beehive. From the beehive, drops of honey are spilling over into his mouth. This boy is relishing the honey taste, unmindful of the fact that he is in great danger. Meanwhile, the root of the banyan tree upon which he is hanging, is slowly starting to give up, as two rats are trying to bite it. Not realizing this fact that he is going to fall into the tiger’s and elephant’s “danger zone”, this boy is going behind the honey drops and gets carried away by its sweet taste! Narrating this story, Vidura explains that King Dhritarashtra is like the boy in the forest! As usual, King Dhritarashtra doesn’t understand the head or tail of this story, and Vidura is now going to give a beautiful clarification.
Moving on further, Vidura says thus, “Oh King Dhritarashtra! I’m saying that you’re like this boy because you do not understand the impending danger of the “Samsaram”, which is like the animals that are ready to pounce upon this boy. You are getting carried away by the “Maya” (illusion), which is the honey in the story. Just like the boy is getting carried away by the drops of honey falling on his mouth, you are getting carried away by the “Maya” that is preventing you from understanding the impending danger you are in. Oh King Dhritarashtra! Life in this world is very fickle. We are surrounded by several impending dangers, which we are unaware of most of the time. However, we are carried away by the momentous infatuations of life, just like the boy getting carried away by the honey drops. Now let me tell you the analogy in detail – The dense forest is the “Samsaaram”. The well into which the boy is about to fall is the “Shareeram” (Deham or physical body). The Atman is embedded into this “Shareeram”, and this living being is unable to know where he is going. Similarly, we are unable to understand any way to get out of the “Samsaaram” in our life and we keep wandering here and there! However, as we go deeper and deeper into the forest called “Samsaaram”, we fall into the pit, which is something from which we are unable to come out! This pit is nothing but our “Sense organs”. These sense organs pull us into several impending dangers every passing day! The animals including the tiger, elephant and the snake are none other than the impending dangers and challenges that we are suffering every day. Similarly, the beehive which is on the top of the banyan tree is the collection of all the desires that we have in our life every day. The honey drops that are dripping from the beehive and the sweetness associated with them is nothing but the sweetness of the temporary desires that we are experiencing day by day! Oh King Dhritarashtra! Please understand – Life is merely a “Maaya” (Illusion) and we are getting carried away by the “sweetness” of the desires accompanied with it!”
This is a very important accord that Vidura is giving here. So for today, let us understand this beautiful analogy that Vidura is giving here, and let us reflect it upon ourselves to understand the extent to which we are getting carried away by the “Maya” associated with our lives! We shall wait till the next episode to continue further from here! Stay tuned!
The Indian Dharma 