Once a king went to a forest for hunting. There he was separated from his entourage and lost the way. While walking in darkness, he slipped and fell into an old well. Fortunately, he firmly caught hold of some roots of the branches of a nearby banyan tree as they were hanging in the well. Thereby, he saved himself from falling into the well.
After some time, a person doing Nama Sankirtan happened to pass that way. Hearing the sound of groaning coming from a nearby place indicating that someone was in distress, he came near the well and peeped into it. Seeing someone hanging in the well, he managed to procure a rope from somewhere to pull him out. Throwing the rope in the well, he addressed the person in trouble, "Catch hold of this rope firmly. I will try to pull you out slowly." The king had a doubt: what should I catch at - the roots of the branches of the banyan tree or the rope?
In the same way, man becomes the victim of doubts in certain situations and loses his discrimination. First, the roots of the branches of the banyan tree were the means by which the king saved himself. but to come out of the well, he should have left those roots and caught hold of the rope. Here, the roots symbolise the world which man keeps holding. but some day or the other, he has to know the path which can lead him to his redemption. Leaving the roots and catching the rope are the means which lead him to the path of his liberation.
(Quoted from the Divine Discourses of Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba)
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