Wednesday, May 4, 2016

Get out exactly as you got in

In the Panchtantra there is a tale. A fox was roaming the forest for a long time searching for food. It could not find any and starved for days. It became so thin like a skeleton. One day, to its surprise, it found a tree hollow with lots of different kinds of food. It immediately jumped in and started devouring the food. It ate so much that the belly bulged like a pumpkin. 

Tired of eating, it slowly slipped into sleep. When it woke up and tried to get out, the tummy doesn't fit through the tiny opening. It didn't know what to do. A rabbit was passing by and noticed the struggle. It asked the fox what the problem was. 

The fox said it wanted to come out of the tree hollow, but was not fitting through the opening. The rabbit asked, "How did you get in in the first place?" The fox replied, "I was starving for days and became so thin that I could squeeze in." The rabbit replied, "Then, starve again until you become thin enough to get out. Get out exactly as you got in."

We too came into this world with a blank mind. But we kept feeding information into the mind through our five senses, so much that it bulged enough to give us constant pain. If we really want to get out of the cycle of rebirths, we need to get rid of the bulge by starving our minds. We cannot attain freedom until we get rid of all the worldly imprints from our minds. Meditation is a great tool in cleansing the mind. But it can only help when we stop feeding unnecessary things newly into the mind.