Thread, beetle and freedom
Today I am going to tell you a story that I read in one of the books by Swami
Vivekananda. The story is indeed a good learning for all the Yoga students. The
story goes like this...
Once upon a time there was a minister of a great king.
Because of his misfortune he fell into
disgrace. As a punishment the king ordered him to be locked up in the top of a
very high tower. The King's men immediately followed his order. The minister was
very sad.
He
had a faithful wife who came to the tower at mid night and called to her husband to know
if she can do anything to help him. He delighted to see his wife and told her to
come back again along with a long rope, some stout twine, pack thread,
silken thread, a beetle and little honey. The wife wondered at his husband's
request. But she obeyed
her husband and brought him the desired things.
The minister asked her to attach the silken thread firmly to the beetle. He
then asked to smear a drop of honey to its horns and set it free on the wall of the tower with its head
pointing upwards. The wife obeyed all these instructions and the beetle started journey
towards the top in the search of honey. When the beetle reached the top of the tower the
minister grabbed it and got hold of the silken thread. He then told
his wife to tie the other end of the silken thread to the pack thread. He gently
pulled the
pack thread up. He repeated the same thing with the stout twine. Finally he did
the same with with the
rope. Once he got hold of the rope the rest was very easy. The minister climbed
down from the tower with the
help of rope and happily made his way to home along with his wife.
This is how a Yogi acquires the liberation. Our breath is the silken thread.
The nerve currents are like pack thread. Thoughts are like stout twine and Prana
is like the rope. We conquer each one of them one by one. This journey is of
course not simple. It may take several years or even life times for a Yogi to
get the freedom but unless we start today how can we expect to reach the
destination? So friends, never ever skip your practice. Let no other material
desire come in between you and your practice. Only then you can expect some
fruits.