MangamuShTi

मङ्गमुष्टि
(Fist of a monkey)

A baby holds its fists tight. Put a finger each in the fists and lift the baby. It hangs on. This is a hangover of monkey habits!

A monkey is greedy by nature and this weakness does it in. A monkey trainer keeps a tender coconut with its top cut open near a place where monkeys come. An inqusitive monkey comes and pushes its hand in and scrapes the pulp. Its fist with pulp inside becomes big and it cannot withdraw it from the coconut. If it opens the fist and take a little pulp at a time, it can feast on it. But, greedy that it is, it tries hard to pull out its fist.The trainer comes and the monkey tries to run away. The coconut stuck to its hand is a burden and it cannot run fast enough. The trainer gets it.

A parrot is another idiot (RaamakruShna says you may teach a parrot to repeat Raamanaama but when a cat pounces on it, it starts shrieking, forgetting God's Name). The bird catcher stretches a wire betwen two twigs of a fruit tree with a hollow tube on it. A parrot comes for the fruit and sits on the tube. The tube starts rotating and parrots shrieks and shrieks going round and round, somersaulting. If it releases the tube from its claws, it is free to fly away. However, it will not and, thus, is captured.

Man is no better than a monkey or a parrot. He clasps so hard on to the world, he becomes bound. Slacken the grip and be free. Tena Tyaktena Bhunjeetaa.

You hold the handlebars of a bicycle tight when you learn to ride. When you gain balance, you slacken the grip. God regulates your life. Release your grip and enjoy the ride.