Breaking financial hardship
Like you and I know, monkeys have mountains of strength and valleys of weaknesses. They display great agility on the trees. You would see them jump from twig to twig with astonishing skills. They are also capable of mimicking human beings by standing on their two legs as they peel and gulp bananas. These are a few of their strong points.
Greed ranks highest on the list of the monkey's weaknesses. The hunter employs this weakness to capture them. Guns are not necessary. It is a great fun to have them alive.
The hunter makes a large hole at one end of a coconut shell that can just permit the outstretched hand of the monkey. A coconut shell is like a small ball. He knots a rope at the other end of the shell and then ties the rope to a big stone or the stem of a tree. Some peanuts or tasty stuff are attached to the loose end of the rope inside the shell.
When the monkey comes, and smells the bait, it gets easily carried away by the urge to have all the peanuts to itself. It reaches for them, maneuvering its stretched hand into the interior of the shell, and then grasps the entire peanuts into a big, possessive fist. It then attempts to bring the first and contents out at a go. The big fist with the nuts cannot get out of the hole. It pulls and pulls until the hunter returns.
One would think that as it sees the approaching hunter, it would rapidly unclench its fist, surrender the bait and then regain its freedom. No. In desperation, it would hold the fist tighter and pull harder until the hunter throws a net on it and captures it.
This is the attitude that earned the monkey the reputation of being the most foolish animal in the forest. It is easily domesticated on account of its greed and possessiveness.
You would probably have realized that this is precisely the same situation we find ourselves as human beings. We need to establish that only by surrendering what we possess can we regain our freedom. We then get liberated. We derive freedom into abundance, good health, harmony and peace. Vivekananda explained that "all expansion is life, all contraction is death. All love is expansion. All selfishness is contraction. " To learn the art of giving is certainly to know the joy of living.
What are you unable to surrender? Make a list. Money, clothing and other materials. Realize that complete possession is proved only by giving. All you are unable to give possess you. The great Mahatma Gandhi said that: "there is sufficiency in the world for man's need but not for man's greed." Great statues are never erected in honour of getters, but of givers. The truly generous alone is the truly wise