Difference Between Monkey And The Man/ Manushya

What is the difference between Man/human and Monkey ( नर & वानर)?

Most of the people will laugh at this question because it is so simple and easy to answer it. And those answers will be—

Monkey is the animal. Human doen’t have a tail but monkey has a tail.
Human cannot jump like monkey. Monkey doesn’t build house like human, etc, etc. 
This question looks foolish, but it is very much subtle and it’s answer will make us wise for sure.

There is a sanskrit subhashit, which explains  the difference between human/नर and monkey/ वानर in a subtle way; very beautifully.

मतयो यत्र गच्छन्ति तत्र गच्छन्ति वानरा:।
शास्त्राणि यत्र गच्छन्ति तत्र गच्छन्ति वै नरा:।

Those who follow their minds only, they are the monkeys. In other words, monkeys follow their minds only. Whatever their minds say, they act accordingly. मन जहा भी भटकता है; वही पर जानेवाले वानर होते है। अर्थात; सिर्फ मन की सुनने वाले वानर होते है।
And;
Those who follow shastras teaching, they are humans/नर. That means, human follows the shastras. Whatever the shastras say; they act accordingly. शास्त्रोंका अनुसरण करनेवाले नर/ मनुष्य होते है। They follow do’s and don’ts given in the shastras.
( Shastras means all the scriptures- vedas, upanishads, Bhagvad gita, etc)

This shloka tells us the important tip to follow;  so as to be the true human. Human birth is the rarest of the rare birth cum blessing. This is the only birth in which we have the opportunity to earn the merits and go to the higher births. This is the priviledge we got; if properly used; we can even trascend these birth death cycle; to get Liberated ultimately.
Animal birth is the bhogyoni. They don’t have the power of discrimination / viveka to differenciate between Satya and Asatya, right and wrong, Eternal/ Nitya and Ephemeral/Anitya. They just follow their instincts.

If a monkey sees fruits in your hands, he will immediately snatch them. He will not see to whom they belong. If a hungry person is eating the food, and monkey comes there, monkey will snatch his food. Monkey will not bother about other’s needs. He does what his mind says. He will jump from one branch to another without any purpose.  He will throw the things here and there without thinking that those would be beneficial for others.

Subtle message in this shloka is- Those people; who act like monkeys; without applying viveka, without thinking whether their actions are right or not, are nothing but the animals/ monkeys in human forms. मानव शरीरधारी पशु/ वानर।

Those who cultivate the viveka; by learning the scriptures;  have the ability to differenciate between right and wrong, satya and asatya, eternal and ephemeral ; never do the actions which may bring the demerits.
They follow all the injunctions/ the do’s and don’ts given in the scriptures.

By reading the scriptures, we can know about our nitya karma/ daily duties, nimitta karma/ duties of special occasions, and nishiddha karma/ actions to be avoided totally. We can know the true purpose of human birth and the goals to be achieved from the scriptures.

Animals cannot read and follow all these instructions. They do what their insticts tell.  Shastras are the only and ultimate pramana/ guide to believe in; as the reliable source of knowledge . So called intelligent and smart people can be wrong…. many times; even our elders have confusion regarding right or wrong things but scriptures are the ultimate Truth and tells only the Truth…because it’s source is the Truth/ Brahman.

So;  among so many actions we carry out throughout the day, some may fall in monkey category and some may fall in human category. That means; some actions may be just as per the whims and fancy of our mind and some may be aligned with dharma/ shastra.
Our aim is; to be eligible to be called as manushya/ human/ man/नर.
If we become a complete man/human/नर, then only we will get a chance to be a Godman. नर से नारायण।
Our monkiness should get reduced day by day…till we become 100% manushya.
This verse is very helpful in revival of our sanatana dharma.
In Bhagvadgita also, there is the verse ( BG 16/7)  which has parallel meaning, where Bhagvan calls such ones who don’t follow shastras as Asura/ असुर.
‘प्रवृत्तिं च निवृत्तिं च जना न विदुरासुरा: ।’ 

There are so many people who don’t believe in shastras. They even laugh at and bully them. Many people misinterprete the meaning of scriptures and try to devalue it.
In this modern cultured yuga, we observe ‘n’ number of happenings in our surronding; like murder, rape, robbery, corruption, riots, agitations, etc. These are happening because most of the people are not following the shastras teaching/ dharma. They are just satisfying their egos by following their minds and insticts like animals. Bad habits, addictions, nakedness, vulgarness, etc ; all are because of monkeyness/ animalism.

So; whenever a dilemma or confusion occures about wheter to do or not to do a particular action,  refer the scriptures, or just ask someone who knows the scriptures ( authentic way) and then act. It will never be a monkey act.
  Hari Om !

Image credit-Freepic.com