IT WILL NOT LET ME GO
There was a sanyasin who dwelt in a cottage near a river. He was an able swimmer.
One day, as he stood on the banks of the river, he saw, from a distance, a plush rug floating on the waters.
It was the season of winter. The nights were bitterly cold. And the sanyasin said himself, “Night after night, I shiver in the cold. Here is a beautiful plush rug which will give me the warmth I need.”
So saying, he plunged into the cold water and, crossing the swift current, caught hold of the plush rug.
No sooner had he done so, then he let forth a cry of agony, “Save me! Save me!”
His fellow-sanyasin, who stood on the river bank, thinking that the plush rug was too heavy for him to drag over the waters, called out to him, “Why don’t you let the rug go?”
Quick came the reply, “I have let it go, but it will not let me go!”
What he had thought to be a plush rug, was, in reality, a water-bear which had caught hold of him, and would not let go!
So it happened with many of us. We run after the things of earth, after wealth, possessions, pleasures, power, thinking that they will give us comfort. Once we catch hold f them we find that we are trapped by them. All howsoever much we struggle to be set free; we find no way of escape.
