Bondage and Freedom

Author(s): Chitrabhanu
Publisher: Divine Knowledge Society

Page 86

love the child, but, there should be no possessiveness about this love. It is this possessiveness that is called attachment, and one should try not to be bound by it.
How strange is the mind of man! It does not appreciate what it has and hankers after what it has not. Neglecting the light of the soul that burns within it, how long will it grope in the darkness of the world without chasing shadows that ever elude him?
Let me cite here how a Muni was given a practical lesson in this matter of what pangs possession leads to, by a number of stray dogs. The Muni, engrossed in his philosophical thoughts of acquisition and renunciation, was passing through a street. He was suddenly disturbed by the savage barking of dogs.
He saw that a dozen dogs were chasing one dog who was running away with a bone in his mouth. Soon they caught up with him and mauled him. Bleeding from the wounds, the dog dropped the bone and was left in peace. No sooner had he dropped the bone than another picked it up, and he, too, met with the same fate; and so the chase for the bone and the consequent punishment went on.
Contemplating on this ugly incident, the Muni realised the truth. So long as the dog clung to the bone, he had to bleed for it; the moment he gave up he was left in peace.
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