Breaking Free

In the olden times, there lived a scholar who was famous for his knowledge of the scriptures. People from far & near would come to his house and listen to his discourse. In a corner of the hall was his pet parrot who would listen to his teachings from his cage. The scholar would proudly show off his pet to his audience and to everybody’s surprise, the bird would recite verses with the ease of a pundit.

Seated in the congregation was a young man who was not too happy with the plight of the winged occupant. After the discourse, he approached the parrot and said;

“Listen O bird. While I admire your knowledge, the fact remains that your life is limited by the cage. Have you seen the world outside”.

“No sir, I am a prisoner and the scholar never lets me out”.

“Tomorrow morning when your masters comes to feed you, you play dead. When he opens the cage door, you fly away and don’t ever come back here”, counseled the young man. The parrot did exactly as he was told and escaped.

There are not one but many lessons one can learn from the story.

While serving your master or boss is fine, obsessive loyalty will not let you develop yourself independently.

A caged mind will not allow you to grow and discover the full range of your abilities. Take the initiative and let your mind wander and tread the path no one has walked before. Break free from the grasp of the comfort zone.

In this story, the young man stood head and shoulders above the celebrated pundit as he offered the parrot a larger canvas; an opportunity to break free from the unidimensional existence and witness the boundless world in all its splendor.

"Simply by cleansing the cage of the bird, one does not satisfy the bird. One must actually know the needs of the bird himself. The need of the spirit soul is that he wants to get out of the limited sphere of material bondage and fulfill his desire for complete freedom" - Srimad Bhagavatham.

Pic credit - Dreamstime.com