Picture of Buddha

The Buddha tells the following parable/story in a sutra:

THE STORY:
A man traveling across a field encountered a tiger. He fled for his life with the tiger running after him. Coming to the edge of a cliff, he caught hold of the root of a wild vine and swung himself down over the edge. The tiger sniffed at him from above. Trembling, the man looked down to where, far below, another tiger was waiting for him to fall so he could eat him. Only the vine sustained him.

Two mice, one white and one black, little by little started to gnaw away the vine. The man saw a luscious strawberry near him. Grasping the vine with one hand, he plucked the strawberry with the other and ate the strawberry saying mmmm how sweet it tasted!

So…what’s the story about?
It’s an everyday dilemma, is it about the guy enjoying the moment by eating the strawberry

or

Is it about the the distraction of a strawberry, something nice, that captures his attention even though his life is threatened?

THE TRUTH is ( as we see it in Sahaja Yoga)
For people who practice Sahaja Yoga Meditation we would say this is pleasure seeking for the body, wantings, cravings, desires for the things the body likes, material things, objects that give us comfort etc but the guy in the story is neglecting his fate, for the sake of pleasure he is ignoring the meaning of his life, in this case to survive, so he’s lost in all the destractions life as to offer, seeking only the things that give his body pleasure and ignoring his well being, look at all the distractions in our lives, partnerships, relationships, the houses, food, cars, other material needs which give us physical comfort and it’s not that we don’t need them to fulfil a need or a use in society, but what we don’t want to do is to get lost into those things and neglect our spiritual needs, there physical comfort and then the comfort of our spirit.

It’s a bit like the Western example of the ostrich with his head buried in the sand, he’s ignorant of the lion chasing him, but being ignorant is not going to save him.
Being ignorant of our spiritual needs is not going to save us, it will only add to our suffering.