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The Blind Well
Once a prince went to forest for hunting. Suddenly a tiger attacked him. Prince fell down from his horse. As his bow was not in his hand, he quickly ran to save his life. While running, his feet got stuck in a creeper and he fell into a dry blind well. As he was felling down, he managed to hold two tree branches, which were hanging into the well. He looked up and found that the tiger is waiting for him on the top of the well. As his eyes got accustomed to see in dark, he found two rats, one black and one white, which were slowly nibbling the branch, he was hanging on. He understood that very soon branch would fell on the ground.

As the prince looked down, he discovered that there are many snakes hissing at the bottom of the well. Suddenly a drop of honey fell on his face. He pulled his tongue out and licked it. There was a honeycomb between the two branches he was holding. Due to disturbance caused by his holding and shaking the branch, bees were out to bite him. But at the same time honey was also oozing from the comb.

Forgetting the tiger on the top of well, snakes at the bottom, rats nibbling his branch, bees biting him, he just adjusted his tongue to get drops of honey straight on his tongue. Now, he was happy indeed. He didn't want to think about the precarious situation he is in. He was lost in sweetness of honey. So what would happen to him? Very much anticipated. When branch will collapse he will act as food for snakes. This analogy perfectly fits a common man. The prince represents the common man or ourselves. We are stuck in the blind, stingy well of this material world (samsara). Death (Tiger) is chasing us continuously; it will not leave us without devouring. The black and white rats represent night and day respectively. They are slowly reducing our age. The hissing snakes represent the major problems in life, which would break our back, like major loss in business, big accident, and loss of blood relatives. The honey bees represent the day to day problems we face in our life. And what is that sweet honey which is dissuading us from coming out of this well? It's the sweet voice of our spouse or kids, little intimate pleasures with the partner, nice palatable food, promotion at workplace, love of friends and near dear ones and other luxuries of the life. Due to these small honey drops of pleasure, we forget our real situation and don't put enough effort to get out of this material well!

This story from Mahabharata gives a vivid picture of our actual situation in this world. What’s the most urgent thing at the time of danger? To save ourselves. Yes, as humans, we need to save ourselves from this blind well of repeated birth and death. Neglecting this is like neglecting the danger and getting killed (Puman bhavabdhim na taret sa Aatmaha). Even a little effort done in this situation (svalapa api sambhandha) by performing devotional service would deliver us from this blind well (Mamupetya tu kaunteya Punarjanam na vidhatae). Don’t let these honey drops divert our attention from saving ourselves. We will be getting an ocean of such happiness (bottles of honey!), once we are out!

Let's keep reminding ourselves of the dangerous situation we are in. Let's stop drooling over those few drops of honey (happiness) and resolutely act for our ultimate welfare