There was a washerman, who every day, would load clothes on his donkey and go to the river through the flight of steps (ghat) to the river.
He would tie the donkey and wash the clothes. But one day he forgot to take the rope to tie the donkey and he was very upset for the oversight.
There he saw a Priest (Sadhu – religious ascetic).
The man went to the Priest and said,
“Maharaj Ji, please look after my donkey while I wash the clothes.”
The saint said,
“Take your donkey to the place where you used to tie it every day and pretend to tie it with a rope in the same way as you used to do.”
The washerman did as he was advised. After washing the clothes, he spiked the donkey to move, but it did not move. He beat the donkey considerably but it did not move. The washerman thought that the sage (priest) had invoked magic spells on the donkey and went to the sage and told him everything.
The Sadhu said,
“Hey, you never untied the donkey.”
The washerman said, where did I tie it? I didn’t!
The Sage said, but the donkey thought that you had tied it.
The washerman went back and pretended to untie the donkey as he used to do everyday. Immediately, the donkey started walking.
“As simple as this; we get entangled with bondage, and as simple as this; we liberate ourselves”.
The reason we attach so much to things is only our ‘imagination’.
That is why the Upanishads say that the “mind is the cause of bondage and liberation”.
If we act wisely, not like the donkey, then, we can free ourselves from bondage/problems.