This is generally the way how hunters catch monkeys. They put some eatables inside a vessel with narrow opening in which a monkey’s hand can go, but when monkey gets hold of that eatable and tries to pull it out, he can not take his hand out and is ultimately trapped! 😀

So question which comes here is,

Who caught the monkey?

1. Hunter?
2. Trap itself?
3. Lack of understanding of monkey?

This situation can be related with us too. We are also trapped in such kind of traps and we keep blaming the hunter for installing that trap. There are many situations which can be related to it,

1. I wear different masks in front of different people and then blame others that others make me to wear these masks and also criticize those who wear masks in front of me.

2. I want to live with Trust, but my Trust on other person is generally dependent on other person’s conduct. When conduct of other person changes, I get hurt and I blame other person that he/she breached my trust.

3. I want to live with Happiness, that is my need and due to lack of understanding of what it is, I keep blaming others that they are not letting me to live with happiness.

4. Due to lack of understanding of Happiness, I search it in those places where it is not and I am trapped. I do not get Happiness and make others also unhappy.

5. Due to my own lack of understanding I am Trapped (Partantra) and I keep blaming others that others are not letting me to be Free (Swatantra).

This is where we all are Trapped. This monkey trap is something which is visible, but the trap in which we are stuck is not visible through eyes. It can only be felt, understood. Once I realize that I am trapped then I start working to get rid of that trap and become “Swatantra”.

So here I see that I am trapped due to my own lack of understanding. If I have understanding then I can become Free/Happy (Swatantra).

It is Understanding/Knowledge which can make me Happy.

Knowledge includes, understanding related to,

1. Self
2. Family
3. Society
4. Nature