We are divine beings on a stopover at earth in our journey back to the Source of Light. We are gifted with highest levels of intelligence, discrimination, discernment and a host of great abilities. We have been given so much and we have made use of these gifts to improve our lives and health and live in great comfort and luxury. But the vices of desires, need for immense wealth, the compulsion for greater importance than others, pride, power, status, attachment etc bind us more effectively than the silken threads of the cobweb that bind the fly and the fly becomes a lovely meal for the spider. We are not able to rise and realize our Divine Nature as we bound by chains of our own making.
We can be free only when we live in the present and do not dwell in the prisons of past or the airy dreams of the future. It is our ego and desire which pushes us either to past or to future and we neglect the present. It is very difficult to live in present. We have dozens of fetters and chains which bind us and imprison us in jails of our own making. Those who crave for power will do anything to have it and are bound by power. Those who crave for money are bound by chains of wealth. Attachment, lust, jealousy, greed are few of the other chains which bind us very securely and we are unable to see the reality of life, death and the Omnipresent Power that is all around us. Let us look at the story of a rich miser and his chains:
A rich old miser was dying. All his life he loved nothing more than to earn and hoard money. He taught the same to his four sons. All his sons were like him – rich and miserly. When the sons came to know that their father was breathing his last, they all rushed to his bedside. As the father lay gasping for breath, the sons were more concerned about the last rites of their father and how to do them economically. They were not worried about the dying gasps of their father or that the fact that they would not see him again. Now the main problem for them was how to transport their father’s dead body to the graveyard.
The youngest son who was a little different from others due to his age and circumstances said: Let us carry his body in a Rolls Royce. He always wanted to travel in one but he never purchased or hired one for himself. While he lived he never bought or travelled in a Rolls Royce; let us give him his last ride in one. He has enough money and we too have enough wealth. Let us fulfil this wish of his.
Another son replied: You are too young and do not understand money matters. When father is dead, it does not matter whether we take him in a Rolls Royce which we purchase for him or whether we hire it for him. Why waste so much money on buying a new car? Let us hire a Rolls Royce and be done with it.
The third son said: Why should we waste good money on even hiring a Rolls Royce? I suggest we carry the dead body in a cheap truck. It is as efficient and we save money and earn the respect of our father. Really, it makes no difference for the dead.
The fourth son said: How could all of you be so immature? Why do you even want to waste money on hiring a truck? Let us lay his body on the pavement of the road. The municipal corporation truck will carry and dump the body of any beggar who is dead on the streets. It is totally free. Let us give our father a free ride. He always loved anything free.
Their father who was hearing them argue about means and costs could not tolerate it any longer. Between gasps of breath he said: Alas, all my sons are such wastrels and extravagant idiots. I have not trained you properly. Give me my shoes. I will walk with you to the graveyard and lie down in my grave and die. That way you save all costs!
A chain is a chain even if it is made of gold or silver or iron. Some of us wear iron chains and others wear gold chains. But we are chained! We need to live our lives without such chains and be free to live life to fullest, to soar high in meditation and love of God. Let us identify which chains bind us and unshackle them. Think over - what binds you?
