Baby monkey or baby cat – which is easier?

You probably have noticed a baby monkey clinging on to its mother while the mother jumps from tree to tree. The mother is not at all concerned with the infant. It is the responsibility of the infant to take care of itself.

Compare this to what a kitten does. It just cries aloud for its mother and the mother comes running to protect it from any danger. The kitten does nothing to protect itself other than calling its mother.

This has given rise to the well known Sanskrit adage – markata kishora nyaaya and maarjala kishora nyaaya – the simile of infant monkey and the infant cat..

Why am I talking about this?

In the previous posts we saw different ways one can make spiritual progress.

“Some take the intellectual path or Jnyaana Maarga as it is called. They go on analyzing things and arrive at the ultimate truth.

Some take the Karma Maarga or the path of action where they perform their essential duties without getting attached to the results. Eventually, even they attain the ultimate reality, while simultaneously helping the world.

There are others who take the path of Yoga or meditation. They get immersed in meditation, stop their unstoppable mind and finally get a glimpse of the ultimate reality.

Many of us don’t know much about these but we take instructions from the people who know and follow their advise and finally move on to the spiritual path.”

In all these cases one makes progress by putting effort and taking on the onus to move on the spiritual path. They are like baby monkeys.

What if someone is not intellectually endowed to move on Jnyaana Maarga, or does not have the determination to go on the Karma Maarga, or cannot restrain the ever wavering mind and move on the path of Yoga? They are like the kitten. They can’t do anything on their own.

What is the way out?. Like the kitten all they have to do is to cry aloud. The mother will come running and do whatever is needed. That is called Bhakti Maarga or the path of devotion.

We will discuss more on that in the subsequent post.

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Based on verses 13.24 13.25 of Bhagavad Geetha, one of the most quoted and widely translated of the ancient Indian scriptures, believed to have been composed by Vyasa as part of the great Indian Epic Mahabharata, 5000 years ago. The interpretation of the verses and audio recital are by Dr.King (Copyright © 2018 Dr. King)