An amazing story

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A story narrated by Vidura to Dhritharastra

 

Here is full the story told by Vidura to highlight the plight of man caught in

the

 

web of worldly affairs forgetting god..

 

" Dhritarashtra said, ‘Tell me in detail everything about the ways of that

 

intelligence by which this wilderness of duties may be safely covered.

" Vidura said,˜Having bowed down to the Self-create, I will obey thy behest by

 

telling thee how the great sages speak of the wilderness of life. A certain

 

brahmana, living in the great world, found himself on one occasion in a large

 

inaccessible forest teeming with beasts of prey. It abounded on every side with

 

lions and other animals looking like elephants, all of which were engaged in

 

roaring aloud. Such was the aspect of that forest that Yama himself would take

 

fright at it. Beholding the forest, the heart of the brahmana became exceedingly

 

agitated. His hair stood on end, and other signs of fear manifested themselves,

O

 

scorcher of foes! Entering it, he began to run hither and thither, casting his

eyes

 

on every point of the compass for finding out somebody whose shelter he might

seek.

 

Wishing to avoid those terrible creatures, he ran in fright. He could not

succeed,

 

however, in distancing them or freeing himself from their presence. He then saw

 

that that terrible forest was surrounded with a net, and that a frightful woman

 

stood there, stretching her arms. That large forest was also encompassed by many

 

five-headed snakes of dreadful forms, tall as cliffs and touching the very

heavens.

 

Within it was a pit whose mouth was covered with many hard and unyielding

creepers

 

and herbs. The brahmana, in course of his wanderings, fell into that invisible

pit.

 

He became entangled in those clusters of creepers that were interwoven with one

 

another, like the large fruit of a jack tree hanging by its stalk. He continued

to

 

hang there, feet upwards and head downwards. While he was in that posture,

diverse

 

other calamities overtook him. He beheld a large and mighty snake within the

pit.

 

He also saw a gigantic elephant near its mouth. That elephant, dark in

complexion,

 

had six faces and twelve feet. And the animal gradually approached that pit

covered

 

with creepers and trees. About the twigs of the tree (that stood at the mouth of

 

the pit), roved many bees of frightful forms, employed from before in drinking

the

 

honey gathered in their comb about which they swarmed in large numbers.

Repeatedly

 

they desired, O bull of Bharata’s race, to taste that honey which though sweet

to

 

all creatures could, however, attract children only. The honey (collected in the

 

comb) fell in many jets below. The person who was hanging in the pit continually

 

drank those jets. Employed, in such a distressful situation, in drinking that

 

honey, his thirst, however, could not be appeased. Unsatiated with repeated

 

draughts, the person desired for more. Even then, O king, he did not become

 

indifferent to life. Even there, the man continued to hope for existence. A

number

 

of black and white rats were eating away the roots of that tree. There was fear

 

from the beasts of prey, from that fierce woman on the outskirts of that forest,

 

from that snake at the bottom of the well, from that elephant near its top, from

 

the fall of the tree through the action of the rats, and lastly from those bees

 

flying about for tasting the honey. In that plight he continued to dwell,

deprived

 

of his senses, in that wilderness, never losing at any time the hope of

prolonging

 

his life. "

" Dhritarashtra said, ˜Alas, great was the distress of that person and very

painful

 

his mode of life! Tell me, O first of speakers, whence was his attachment to

life

 

and whence his happiness? Where is that region, so unfavourable to the practice

of

 

virtue, in which that person resides? Oh, tell me how will that man be freed

from

 

all those great terrors? Tell me all this! We shall then exert ourselves

properly

 

for him. My compassion has been greatly moved by the difficulties that lie in

the

 

way of his rescue!

 

" Vidura said, ˜They that are conversant, O monarch, with the religion of moksha

 

cite this as a simile. Understanding this properly, a person may attain to bliss

in

 

the regions hereafter. That which is described as the wilderness is the great

 

world. The inaccessible forest within it is the limited sphere of one as own

life.

 

Those that have been mentioned as beasts of prey are the diseases (to which we

are

 

subject). That woman of gigantic proportions residing in the forest is

identified

 

by the wise with Decrepitude which destroys complexion and beauty. That which

has

 

been spoken of as the pit is the body or physical frame of embodied creatures.

The

 

huge snake dwelling in the bottom of that pit is time, the destroyer of all

 

embodied creatures. It is, indeed, the universal destroyer. The cluster of

creepers

 

growing in that pit and attached to whose spreading stems the man hangeth down

is

 

the desire for life which is cherished by every creature. The six-faced

elephant, O

 

king, which proceeds towards the tree standing at the mouth of the pit is spoken

of

 

as the year. Its six faces are the seasons and its twelve feet are the twelve

 

months. The rats and the snakes that are cutting off the tree are said to be

days

 

and nights that are continually lessening the periods of life of all creatures.

 

Those that have been described as bees are our desires. The numerous jets that

are

 

dropping honey are the pleasures derived from the gratification of our desires

and

 

to which men are seen to be strongly addicted. The wise know life âs course to

be

 

even such. Through that knowledge they succeed in tearing off its bonds.