Page 33 - Kailaspati: Paramhans Hansdevji Avadhoot

and material life are nothing but an illusion. he then had totally detached himself from the kingly duties, renounced everything earthly and sat absorbed in meditation. in course of time, he enjoyed enlightenment and came to be known as a great sage.
in order to make all of us believe that we were simply wasting our time day in and day out for nothing, the sage (i.e. our Baba) told us a tale by way of an example. a certain king, on being afraid of his enemies, used to always remain well-armed. One night while sleeping in his royal bed, he dreamt a fearful dream that a tigress, accompanied by five of her cubs, was out to pounce on him. afraid, he began to run, being chased by the tigress and her cubs. On reaching a forest, he climbed up a tree and took shelter there. The tigress, below the tree, began howling. as he looked up, he saw a venomous snake looking at him. he also noticed a couple of huge rats, one white and the other black in colour, were busy gnawing the roots of that tree. There was a deep well adjacent to it. Frightened to the core, he looked upward and saw a huge bee-hive through one of whose holes honey was oozing down. he opened his mouth or had a taste of a drop of honey which really tasted sweet. Greedy to have another drop of honey, he opened his mouth and looked upward. in the process, he managed to forget that a snake was ferociously hissing atop his head, the rats below that tree were gnawing its roots and a tigress below was howling for him. it was greed that made him forget all the dangers he was fraught with. he failed to follow the passage of time. at last the tree, on being gnawed at its roots, fell down into the deep well. Being afraid, he began to shout. and the very sound of his shout awakened him.
after having narrated this story, the sage explained to us that we humans are always ready to fight against the enemies, without knowing little, that mind within with all its five vices is undermining us. having got on the tree of life we remain engrossed in occasional happiness, thereby forgetting that death in the shape of a huge venomous snake is always hissing above our head, the pair of rats are always shortening our life-span. Time, in the form of a well, is ready to engulf us in its huge jaws.
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