Parable of The Jalataranga Player and His Cup

A poor Jalataranga player was enjoying music in his dilapidated house, when it began to rain. Through the leaky roof, water began to drop right on his head. But he was not at all perturbed. Immediately, he took one of the cups which he was so long using to play on, and put it on his head. The cup received the water; and he went on playing as before, till the rain stopped, when he removed the cup from his head, and played on.

The poverty-stricken Jalataranga player can be compared to a young man who is not richly endowed with spiritual Samskaras. The building in which he lives, viz., the body, is not strong enough to resist the forces of nature; energy leaks through its avenues. As a Brahmachari, he studies Vedas and the scriptures in the Gurukula. He is enjoying the intellectual understanding of the great spiritual Truths. But when he becomes a full-fledged youth, there is a heavy downpour of opportunities favourable for the senses to be preyed upon by the forces of nature. He is not led away from the right path. He discovers that among the Sastras that he has been studying there are some which prescribe the Grihasthashram for a young man of his temperament. Thus he gets married. Though it is like carrying the burden of a family, it saves him from greater danger. He continues the music of Sadhana in Grihasthashrama. When the rain of temptations for sensual enjoyment stops, he renounces the world, and then continues the music of Sadhana, without having to carry the burden of the family on his head. He is indeed a wise man.

Source: pg. 42, Parables of Sivananda