Sweet words of a wise Parrot

In the great Kāñcī Kṣhetram, there used to be one famous silk saree merchant (śāṭikā Vyāpāri). One day while coming back from his shop, he saw a parrot (śuka) in a cage (pañjaram) being sold. It was very beautiful and attractive. The Vyāpāri bought it and was very happy to bring it to his house. He hanged the parrot's cage before his house's simhadvāram. Everyone in the house, the kids, the wife were very happy to see the beautiful parrot . Obviously the parrot was not happy and was thinking "last time when a Vyāpāri caught me, I escaped with great difficulty. Now I must think of a clever idea to escape". Paramātma not only gave that beautiful parrot the gift of speaking sweet words, but also good intelligence.

The next day morning after doing his kāla kṛtyas, immediately the Vartaka came to see the parrot. The parrot said "O Vartakaśreṣṭha! I will tell you three Satya-vākyas if you free me from this cage". The Vartaka was surprised by the sweet words of the parrot. He thought why will I loose such rare parrot. The parrot then started praising the Vartaka "Dāsajana rañjaka! Mahānubhāva!" with these words it addressed the Vartaka. The Vartaka was overwhelmed by its words and the parrot continued "If you like my first Satya-vākyam take me to the terrace. In case you like my second one too then leave me on the big coconut tree and then set me free if you like my third Satya-vākyam too". Awestruck by the sweet and clever words of the parrot the Vartaka said, "then please tell me the first one". The parrot said "Whatever we loose, Bhaviṣhyat will not be destroyed (it will remain). Hence one must never feel sad on loosing even a very precious thing". The Vartaka was impressed by the first Satyam and took the parrot to the terrace. "We must not believe in anything until we see it. Dont you think so?" said the parrot with confidence. "Excactly true" the Vartaka said and left the parrot on the tree. The parrot climbed till the end and said "In my stomach there are two Vaiḍhūryas!"

Immediately Vartaka thought "Hatavidhī! why did I come into the words of this parrot. I must have not lost it". Seeing that the Vartaka is sad, the parrot replied "You heard two of my Satya-vākyas but never learnt anything from them. You did not put them into ācaraṇa (action). Firstly you became sad on knowing that you lost two Vaiḍhūryas, secondly you believed that in my stomach there are two Vaiḍhūryas. How will I have them in my stomach O mūrkha!"

"By the way, my last Satya-vākyam is: my elders told me, we must not do nīti bodha to people who even believing and listening to them do not put them into ācaraṇa". Saying this the parrot flew away.

Morals in the story:

1. We all listened to many beautiful Moral stories that are told by our elders, Purāṇas … If we do not practise them in our everyday life and do good to the society then what will be the use? Let us all try our level best to remove all durguṇas and imbibe all the great morals taught in our Bhāratīya sāmpradāyam.
2. As the parrot rightly said we must never be sad for what we have lost. What ever happens, it is for our own good.

Think before acting

A Viveka will never do any Kaaryam without Sameeksha (thinking, careful examination).

Long time ago, there used be a King in a city by name “purika”. He was a Para-himsa-rata. He used to do himsa of other creatures. Because of this in his next janma, he was born as a Gomaayu (jackal). However due to the Punyam and Gnyaanam the King acquired, the Gomaayu had puurva-janma-smruti.

Gomaayu used to have great pashchaattapam for his Ahimsa-svabhaavam. Hence it decided to leave Himsa in this janma atleast. It never used to do Himsa of others. Even as aahaaram it used to take only fruits which, by themselves, fell on the ground. Later it started taking only water. It used to always speak Satyam only. Like this, with Dhruda-vratam, it used to lead an Ahimsaayuta-jeevanam.

As for other jackals, the Gomaayu’s home was in Rudra-bhuumi (smashaanam). It never used to leave its janma-bhuumi and used to always stay there and show Krutagnyata to Bhuu-maata. However other Gomaayu in the neighbourhood never used to understand the actions of this one. They used to do many “hita-bodhas” to it; but the Gomaayu never used to leave Ahimsa, Satyam and always used to have Indriya-nigraham, Shuchitvam and Gnyaanam. Like this many days passed by.

Once, the King, a Shaarduulam (tiger), realizing the greatness of this Gomaayu, came near it and said “O Soumya! I came to know about your Vignyaanam. You deserve to be my Mantri and serve this Raajyam. You can also enjoy all the pleasures of a King”. With great Vinayam the Gomaayu replied “Mrugaraja! Only a Gnyaani, Sajjana deserves to be in the position of a Mantri. Else it will lead to the downfall of the Kingdom. I dont have any interest in the Bhoga-bhaagyas of a King; however I will accept to be your Mantri and do Desha-seva. But your previous servants will have Iirsha on me. They might create differences between you and me. Hence I will be your mantri only if you trust me 100%”.

The Shaarduulam accepted and they together did Dharma-paalana of the Vana-raajyam. As Gomaayu expected, the other servants of the King developed Iirsha, Matsaram on the Gomaayu. Once out of Matsaram, they hide the Shaarduulam’s lunch in Gomaayu’s house. When the Shaarduulam ordered them to find who stole his food, they bring it out from the Gomaayu’s house proving that the Gomaayu only stole the food! Believing in the Kapata-naatakam of the animals, Shaarduulam immediately orders that the Gomaayu must be killed.

Knowing that his child is acting without thinking, the mother of the Shaarduulam said “O son! This is looking like a Kapata-naatakam. You must always think before acting and never take decisions in haste. Paapaatmas always hate the people who have shuchitvam, Muurkhas hate Panditas, Adhaarmikas hate the Dhaarmikas. Some Panditas, who are equal to Bruhaspati, also give false-evidence. We must be careful about these people. Even if we see something, without examining we must never accept it without thinking. A person who acts without thinking will always have pashchaattaapam. Remember that you only carefully examined the sadgunams of the Gomaayu. Also dont forget all the help it did for your Raajyam. I think giving such shiksha to this Gomaayu is not good”.

Listening to this Hita-bodha of his mother, Shaarduulam then thought carefully and left Gomaayu without punishing. Gomaayu then thought it is dangerous to be in the company of a King who is an Asameekshaa-kaari and left the place. Later the Shaarduulam’s Raajyam also perished because of a dushta-mantri.

Morals in the story:

1. We must never act without Sameeksha. The Shaarduulam, even being a King, ordered to kill the Gomaayu without thinking.
2. The importance of Ahimsa, Shuchitvam, Satyam are well shown by Gomaayu. Though it took birth as a Gomaayu, it never left these sadgunas.
3. A person’s nature, behaviour depend a lot on the teachings of his mother, parents. The mother of the Shaarduulam saved him from unnecessarily punishing the Gomaayu.