The world is beautiful and filled with wonderful things that satisfy our wants and needs. We are attracted to various objects through our five senses of sight, smell, taste, touch and sound. These senses are given to us by God to appreciate the gifts of nature and help us in locating and identifying safe foods and pleasant places to dwell and rest. The sense organs also help us in appreciating and taking immense pleasure in our foods, clothes and other objects around us. They also help us to cultivate beauty around us and be thankful for pleasures of life.
All of us have certain weaknesses of desires which bring our downfall. We are strong and able to overcome many things. But when it comes to our specific weaknesses, we simply give up and drown in the pleasure. Our weaknesses causes us to lose our common sense, intelligence, logic and will power; consequently endangering our principles, morals, ethics and our very lives. The story of the red blooded monkeys tells us this terrifying truth:
Long ago, in a certain forest, at the foothills of the Himalayas, there lived a rare species of monkeys. Their blood was deep red and translucent and was highly prized as a dye by cloth merchants for the color would not fade or streak. This particular dye was sought after by cloth and silk makers and also the royalty. The monkeys were clever and knowledgeable. They were aware of the peculiar quality of their blood and why they were hunted so much. They were adept at escaping all the traps and nets set out for them. But they had two weaknesses: They loved rice wine and they enjoyed wearing and parading around in fancy foot wear.
One day, a group of hunters discovered the location of the monkeys in the forest. They set up several huge kegs of wine nearby and let the wind carry the aroma to the monkeys. They also scattered hundreds of brightly colored and decorated wooden shoes near the barrels of wine. Then they hid themselves in the surrounding bushes and waited. The monkeys were enticed by the fragrance of the wine and came to the barrels. They looked around and warned each other: This is surely a trap. The men in the village are wicked and want to catch us. If we drink the wine, we will get caught and will be killed for our blood. Let us get out of here.
The monkeys scampered away from there to the safety of the high branches of the tall trees. But some of the monkeys kept looking back. The aroma of the wine was far too heady. Some of them ran back to the barrels. They said: Let us try a few drops of wine and then run away. Else we will get caught and be skinned alive. Sneakily, they dipped one half of a finger in the wine and licked it. Then they inserted a whole finger and then a whole hand. The poor monkeys could not resist the smell of wine. How could they resist its taste? Soon all the monkeys followed suit. They drank the wine and lost all their cleverness and caution. Then they discovered the colorful wooden clogs. They wore them and paraded around in a delirious state of joy. The hunters soon pounced on them and caught all of them. The monkeys could not flee as they were not only drunk but also weighed down by the heavy wooden shoes.
We are no different from the monkeys. We are experienced and aware of the dangers of our weaknesses and desires. We resist the lure and temptation for some time but we give in ultimately. We all have our own shortcomings – the rice wine and shoes- and these are different for each of us. When it comes to our particular desires, we know of the dangers and yet we have this belief that a bit of it will not hurt us and we go in cautiously. Then we taste, throw caution to the winds and dive into it in full force. Finally we end up paying a heavy price in loss of health, relationships, wealth and even life.
Logic and intelligence rarely work in overcoming desire. One of the easier ways of overcoming desire is to offer all our objects of desire to God and then partake of them as prasad. When we attach God to all our work and desire, sooner or later, Divinity helps us overcome our weaknesses. Regular japa of SitaRam mantra, meditation and following the teachings of the Guru help us overcome our weaknesses and desires.
