The Cat Trap

Once upon a time, a Guru lived in an Ashram in the outskirts of the city. One day, when he sat down for meditation, he noticed a cat moving hither and thither across the room. He tried to ignore the cat and continue his meditation. As the cat was distracting him too much, he asked his foremost disciple to throw a basket made of straw over the cat to arrest its movement. The disciple did as bid, and soon, the Guru, by dint of his meditation, attained liberation.
Months passed by and the foremost disciple became the successor of the earlier Guru. One day the new Guru decided that he should spend some time meditating. At once, he remembered his Guru, who had the cat trapped in the basket when he went into meditation. Following the same sentiment, he caught hold of the same cat, trapped it in a basket and placed it in the corner of the room, and then sat down to meditate. He too, attained perfection in his Sadhana.
This Guru passed away soon, and his foremost disciple became the Guru. This person thought for a while. He recollected that his Guru’s Guru placed the cat in the basket before he attained perfection. His immediate Guru also could not attain perfection without having the cat trapped in the basket. So he concluded that merely arresting the cat under the basket is sufficient for liberation.
He caught hold of a cat, arrested it beneath the basket and without making even the least attempt to meditate, anxiously waited for the day of liberation!
Moral: We should never compromise on the essentials as shown by the Guru. If the essence is let go and only peripherals are held on, then the efforts become meaningless.