Let go or Hang on?

These are 2 stories on the same concept but with a different ending.

Story no 1:

http://serenityhelp.com/addiction-information/understanding-monkey-traps/

In South Africa a young girl watched her mother weave a simple basket. She asked her mother, “What are you making?” The wise mother replied, “We are short on money and need to buy coal for our stove. So, I am making a monkey trap.”

“But, momma that basket is far too small for a monkey to fit into. I know it won’t work.”

“Well, the trap is quite small child. But, the trap needs to only fit the hand of the monkey, not his body to work.”

“Mmm, I don’t understand.”

“You see we chain this basket to a strong tree and put inside a delicious piece of fruit. When the monkey notices the fruit inside the basket, he grabs the fruit quickly and tries to pull it out. Surprise, our trap is not wide enough for him to remove his clenched fist with the bait. So, he is stuck, trapped, and we can sell him alive to the Afrikaners.”

“Why doesn’t the monkey just let go of the fruit and escape?”

“Because the monkey is greedy, single minded, and obsessed with the fruit. He will not let go because he is afraid someone else may get it or he will have to find something else to eat that he cannot see.”

“Momma’ I’m very glad I am not as dumb as a monkey!”

Story 2:
Tales & Parables of Sri Ramakrishna

In a certain place the fishermen were catching fish.

A kite swooped down and snatched a fish. At the sight of the fish, about a thousand crows chased the kite and made a great noise with their cawing.

The kite flew to the south and the crows followed it there. The kite flew to the north and still the crows followed after it. 

The kite went east and west, but with the same result. Whichever way the kite flew with the fish, the crows followed it.

As the kite began to fly about in confusion, lo, the fish dropped from its mouth. The crows at once let the kite alone and flew after the fish.

Thus relieved of its worries, the kite sat on the branch of a tree and thought: 'That wretched fish was at the root of all my troubles. I have now got rid of it and therefore I am at peace.'

Learning?

If the monkeys just surrendered what they were holding on to, they could have been free. They are stubborn, hoping that they will be able to have their food and their freedom at the same time. 

As long as the kite was holding on to the fish, it was under lot of pressure from the crows to release it. The moment he released it he was at peace.

Worldly desires put a lot of pressure on us. The pursuit of those desires force worries, anxieties and restlessness on us. These desires are the Nuts that we are hanging on to which deny us the Peace. We do not rest till those desires are fulfilled. When one desire is fulfilled, another one crops up creating more and more pressure. 

let us introspect: What are we holding on to? What can we let go to be free? Is living life like a roller coaster ride is what we want or a peaceful life?

Of course, it is hard to let go but not impossible. One should be mentally strong to control those desires. But no sooner do we renounce these desires than we start enjoying peace of soul.

Do you want to be the monkey or the kite? 

Greed makes you lose your sleep

There lived a King who always found himself wondering why he just never seemed content with his life, given all the riches and luxuries he had.

One day, the King had woken up earlier than usual to stroll around his palace. He saw that one of the servants was singing and had a very contented look on his face.

This fascinated the King and he summoned this man to his chambers and asked him why he was so happy.

To this the man replied: “Your Majesty, I am nothing but a servant, but I make enough of a living to keep my wife and children happy. We don’t need too much, a roof over our heads and warm food to fill our tummy. My wife and children are my inspiration; they are content with whatever little I bring home. I am happy because my family is happy.”

The King dismissed the servant and summoned his Personal Assistant to his chambers.

The King related the story of the servant to his Personal Assistant, asked him to come up with some reasoning that why he who had everything he wished for at a snap of his fingers was not yet contented, whereas, his servant, having so little was extremely contented.

The Personal Assistant listened attentively and came to a conclusion. He said, “Your Majesty, I believe that the servant has not been made part of The 99 Club.”

“The 99 Club? And what exactly is that?” the King inquired.

To which the Assistant replied, “Your Majesty, to truly know what The 99 Club is, you will have to do the following... place 99 Gold coins in a bag and leave it at this servant’s doorstep, you will then understand what The 99 Club is.”

That very same evening, the King arranged for 99 Gold coins to be placed in a bag at the servant’s doorstep. Although he was slightly hesitant and he thought he should have put 100 Gold coins into the bag, but since his assistant had advised him to put 99 that is what he did.

The servant was just stepping out of his house when he saw a bag at his doorstep. Wondering about its contents, he took it into his house and opened the bag. When he opened the bag, he let out a great big shout of joy...Gold Coins... so many of them. He could hardly believe it. He called his wife to show her the coins.

He then took the bag to a table and emptied it out and began to count the coins. Doing so, he realized that there were 99 coins and he thought it was an odd number so he counted again, and again and again only to come to the same conclusion... 99 Gold Coins.

He began to wonder, what could have happened to that last one coin? For no one would leave 99 coins. He began to search his entire house, looked around his backyard for hours, not wanting to lose out on that one coin.

He got up the next morning, in an extremely horrible mood, shouting at the children and his wife for his delay. He went to work as usual - but not in his usual best mood, singing happily - but he grumpily did his daily errands.

Seeing the man’s attitude change so drastically, the King was puzzled. He could not believe that the servant who until yesterday had been singing away and was happy and content with his life had taken a sudden change of attitude, even though he should have been happier after receiving the gold coins.

He promptly summoned his assistant to his chambers and related his thoughts to him.

To this the assistant replied, “Ah! But your Majesty, the servant has now officially joined The 99 Club.”

He explained: “The 99 Club is just a name given to those people who have everything but yet are never contented, therefore they are always working hard and striving for that extra one to round it out to 100!
We have so much to be thankful for and we can live with very little in our lives, but the minute we are given something bigger and better, we want even more!
We are not the same happy contented person we used to be, we want more and more and by wanting more and more we don’t realize the price we pay for it.
We lose our sleep, our happiness; we hurt the people around us just as a price to pay for our growing needs and desires.
That is what joining The 99 Club is all about.”

Contentment is………when we start appreciating all the little things that we have in our life.

There is no end, only the beginning

Found at http://inspirationalstories.eu/

The creator created people, gave them words for communication and thinking, settled them in the fertile valley at the foot of the mountains, gave them longevity and started to observe, how they will aspire to develop. 

Time passed, but people did not develop.

Their feet did not go beyond their village and did not climb up the mountains. Their eyes did not look at the sky and did not look in the Heart.

And they became old.

The Creator decided to find out, what was the matter.

He became a man and came to them as a traveler. Before sunset people gathered at the square to talk with the traveler.

He described them a life beyond the horizon and suggested:

“Do you want me to lead you there, and you will see how people live in these places?”

“Oh,” they answered sadly, “it is late, we became old.”

“Then come with me to the mountains to look at the world from the top!” said the creator

“Oh,” they said, “it is too late, we have no energy.”

“Look at the sky,” the creator told them, “and I will tell you about the life in the Kingdom of Heaven!”

They answered again, “It is late; our mind will not understand your story.”

The creator became sad. He decided to cheer people.

“Let‘s sing a song!” he said and was going to sing first, but people noticed that the san went down.

“It is late,” they said, “it is time to sleep…” and so they went to their huts.

The creator shouted to them, “People, when life is continuous and infinite, it is not late for any achievements!”

But they did not turn back.

Then the Creator told himself, “I will take away all words of limitation from people—‘late, not, impossible, far, high, hard, will not understand,’ and will place in their hearts the joy of infinity. Maybe they will perceive my Law: ‘nothing is late, because there is no end, there is only the beginning!’”

He did so and waited for the morning. 

Will people change and will they go with him to the mountains?

“Stop waiting for what you want and start working with what you’ve got. Your greatest limitation is God’s greatest opportunity.”

Negative desires

A disciple said to his teacher: 'I have spent a large part of my day thinking things I should not think, desiring things I should not desire, and making plans I should not make.'

The teacher invited his disciple to go for a walk with him in a forest near his house.

On the way, he pointed to a plant and asked if the disciple knew what it was.

'It's deadly nightshade,' said the disciple. 'The leaves can kill you if you eat them.'

'But they cannot kill you if you merely look at them. In exactly the same way, negative desires are entirely harmless unless you give in to them.'

The root of all troubles

Tales and Parables of Sri Ramakrishna

In a certain place the fishermen were catching fish.

A kite swooped down and snatched a fish. At the sight of the fish, about a thousand crows chased the kite and made a great noise with their cawing.

Whichever way the kite flew with the fish, the crows followed it. The kite flew to the south and the crows followed it there. The kite flew to the north and still the crows followed after it. The kite went east and west, but with the same result.

As the kite began to fly about in confusion, lo, the fish dropped from its mouth. The crows at once let the kite alone and flew after the fish.

Thus relieved of its worries, the kite sat on the branch of a tree and thought: 'That wretched fish was at the root of all my troubles. I have now got rid of it and therefore I am at peace.'

As long as a man has the fish, that is, worldly desires, he must perform actions and consequently suffer from worry, anxiety, and restlessness. No sooner does he renounce these desires than his activities fall away and he enjoys peace of soul. 

Be happy with the way you are

A Parrot came home upset and confused.

“What’s wrong?” his mother asked.

“I hate my stupid beak!” Parrot blurted.

“Why do you hate your beak? I think it’s beautiful,” his mother said reassuringly.

“All of the other birds have much cooler beaks. Spoonbill, Pelican, Hawk, Finch, all of them!”

Parrot’s mother sat silently for a moment. “He may be right,” she thought to herself, "they do have very cool beaks."

“You should go and see Major Macaw, he’ll know what to do. He’s the wisest of the parrots and lives in the tallest tree in the forest. Yes, he’ll know what to do,” responded Parrot’s mother.

So Parrot flew to the tallest tree in the forest and found Major Macaw.

“Excuse me Major, I have a problem,” said Parrot.

“Oh dear, what can it be?” asked the venerable Macaw.

“I have a stupid beak. Why can’t I have a cool beak like Spoonbill, Pelican, Hawk or Finch?”

“You’re right.” said the Macaw, “They do have cool beaks. Tell me Parrot, do you like eating worms and crustaceans?”

“Yuck! That would be disgusting!” responded Parrot.

“Well, that’s what the spoonbill’s beak is designed for. So it wouldn’t work. What about fish?”

“I couldn’t think of anything worse,” said Parrot.

“So, the Pelican’s beak would not work either. What about rabbits and mice?”

“Eeeks. No”

“OK, so maybe you shouldn’t aspire to have a Hawk’s beak. Small seeds?”

“They’re not so bad, but my favourite is Brazil nuts.” exclaimed Parrot, salivating at the thought.

“That’s lucky, I think I have a few here. Would you like one?” asked Major.

Parrot’s eyes lit up. ”Yes, please.”

“Tell me Parrot, if you had the beak of a spoonbill, pelican, hawk or finch, do you think that you could eat that Brazil nut?”

“I guess not,” said Parrot with his mouth full.

“You see, young parrot, you have been designed a certain way, with certain skills, attributes and tastes. Don’t waste your life being envious of the capacities of others, just make sure that you know what you’re good at and why you’re here.”

What causes stress in work and life

A group of alumni, highly established in their careers, got together to visit their old university lecturer. Conversation soon turned into complaints about stress in work and life.

Offering his guests coffee, the lecturer went to the kitchen and returned with a large pot of coffee and an assortment of cups: porcelain, plastic, glass, some plain-looking and some expensive and exquisite, telling them to help themselves to hot coffee.

When all the students had a cup of coffee in hand, the lecturer said: "If you noticed, all the nice-looking, expensive cups were taken up, leaving behind the plain and cheap ones. While it is but normal for you to want only the best for yourselves, that is the source of your problems and stress. What all of you really wanted was coffee, not the cup, but you consciously went for the better cups and are eyeing each other's cups."

"Now, if Life is coffee, then the jobs, money and position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold and contain Life, but the quality of Life doesn't change. Sometimes, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the coffee in it."

Don't let the cups drive you...enjoy the coffee instead.

How to see God

A Short story of a Sufi Master who was asked can you help me to see God?

On the top of the mountain, lived a Sufi Master. Once every month he used to visit the village at the foot of the mountain. On one such visit, A man approached him and asked, How come I cannot have sight of the God? Can you help me to see God?

"Sure", was the reply of the Sufi Master, but for that you will have to help me.

"What help do you need Master?"

"You will have to pick up five stones of equal size and weight. Carry them to the top of the mountain, so that I can use them to build a platform outside my hut."

The seeker agreed. Both started there journey way up on the mountain. Soon the man got tired and walking became a very difficult task for him.

"Discard one of the stones", the Sufi Master told, "then it will be easier for you."

The man discarded one of the stone and walking became easier.

Once again the man got tired. Walking towards the mountain top was becoming very tough. The master again asked him to discard one of the stone. 

Likewise all five stones were discarded on the way to the top of the mountain.

The Sufi Master then said to the man, "Now I have shown you the way to God."

The man was perplexed. He said, "I cannot see God."

The Master explained, "The five stones symbolize the our major weaknesses to see God. They are Lust, Anger, Greed, Desires and Ego. Learn to discard these. Let me be the first one to warn you, it will not be easy. Strive hard, I shall help you. When you succeed in throwing away all these stones which are but curtains between you and God, then effortlessly you will have sight of your beloved God."

Thus the man began his journey on the Sufi Path under a Sufi Master.

Gold-embroidered robe

As told by Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa Himself:

"Once I had the desire to put on a gold-embroidered robe, wear a ring on my finger, and smoke a hubble-bubble with a long pipe. Mathur Babu procured all these things for me.

I wore the gold-embroidered robe and said to myself after a while, 'Mind! This is what is called a gold-embroidered robe.'

Then I took it off and threw it away. I couldn't stand the robe any more.

Again I said to myself, 'Mind! This is called a shawl, and this a ring, and this, smoking a hubble-bubble with a long pipe.'

I threw those things away once for all, and the desire to enjoy them never arose in my mind again."