A short moral story

This is a story translated from an article that appeared in tamil spiritual magazine. It is about how a desire for temporary bodily pleasures can become an obstacle in the path of supreme bliss.

A person was traveling in a forest bare footed. The pebbles and thorns hurt his feet. Wild beasts threatened him. Female demon chased him. By the sight of all these threatening things he ran for his life. While running, his legs got entangled and he fell into a discarded well. He saw a deadly poisonous snake inside the well. In order to save himself he clutched some creepers and plants which were on the side walls of the well. He raised his head and looked above. There he saw an elephant like animal with six faces and twelve legs. When he looked down he saw a mouse nibbling on the roots of the crippers to which he was clinging. He looked up wondering how to escape from there with his mouth open. There was a honeycomb on the branch of the tree which had grown over the well. At that time a drop of honey fell in his mouth. After tasting the sweetness of the honey, his mind forgot all threatening things around him and he started enjoying the sweetness of the honey. In his mind he started wishing more honey while forgetting to make an attempt to escape from the situation. 

The explanation for this story is given below.

Forest indicates the world. His path indicates his life span. Pebbles, thorns, wild animals indicate diseases that trouble. Female demon indicates the greying of hair and old age. The well indicates incomplete desires. Snake indicates death. Wild elephant like animal with twelve legs and six faces indicate twelve months and six seasons (rutus - grishma, shishir etc). Creepers indicate person’s passion about his body. Mouse that nibbles the root of the cripper indicate one day consisting of a day and night. Bees in the honeycomb indicate difficulties that one faces in life. Honey drop indicate those pleasures that he enjoys temporarily. This shows that even when a person encounters difficulties in life, his desire for endless temporary bodily pleasures do not seize. He considers these pleasures, which are temporary in nature, as dear and gets engrossed in them and forgets to continue his efforts to make an attempt to escape from this never ending cycle of temporary pleasures and pain and hence misses an opportunity to get permanent uninterrupted happiness i.e. supreme bliss. 

Hence, if one wants to attain supreme bliss, it is important to get away from temporary pleasures and stay focused on the path to supreme bliss.