The miserable condition of imprisoned Jeeva.

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Human mind is very cunning and clever. It entices the Jeeva(individual soul) and makes the individual to dance to its tunes. None can escape from the clutches of the mind. It is similar to some small animal which is surrounded by ferocious dogs or wolfs. How the poor animal can escape from the onslaught of the terrific killers. Such a miserable situation could have been deftly avoided, if the small animal do not come into the wild forest and restrict itself to the premises of house hold where they are reared. In the Upanishads there is a beautiful story about the condition of human soul caught in samsar. It is akin to a wayfarer proceeding along the pathway in a deep and dark forest. Suddenly he found himself chased by a grown up tiger. To save his life, he ran away with all his strength gasping heavily. As the ground is thickly covered with creepers and grass, he was not able to see a deep well without any parapet walls. He slipped into the well upside down but fortunately he was caught in the wild growths from the side walls of the deep well. Hanging precariously, he found that a big cobra is hissing at him from the bottom of the well. The tiger which chased him was near the rim of the well at top awaiting anxiously for the flesh of the young wayfarer. At that time one black rat and one white rat were slowly eating the roots from which he was hanging upside down. At this juncture, a honey comb well above grown on a tree branch spilled some sweet precious honey and it so happened that it reached near his tongue and anxiously the wayfarer licked the few drops of honey even in such a dangerous situation. Our life is akin to this story. The way farer is the individual soul (Jeeva) driven by prarabdha and desires ran in the darkest jungle of life and he fell upside down in the "samsar'(worldly life) The relations are the growth on the sides of the well. The black and white rats are 'day and night' which reduces our life span in quick succession. The snake is death which awaits anxiously for our fall into its lap. Even in the precarious condition, the individual soul licks up the few drops of honey that drips from the top of a tree that is overhanging above the well. This is how every human soul drifts in this miserable samsar. Hankering after the few drops of honey(the small trivial sensual pleasures), we are ready to plunge into death due to the passing of time which are symbolised by the black and white rats. We all should think deeply on the points and guard up against becoming a slave to the sensual pleasures and try to extricate us from the miserable existence by the grace of Swami. Sairam.