POST #60 FROM THE BOOK "NEW-CLEAR BOMBS FROM NITHYA SATSANG"
Following is an extract from the book titled: 108 New-Clear Bombs from Nithya Satsang, from the teachings of His Divine Holiness (HDH) Nithyananda Paramashivam, the living incarnation of Paramashiva. Through simple truths, HDH causes powerful cognitive shifts in individuals in his/her path of enlightenment.
Section: STRAIGHT SOLUTIONS FOR LIFE
60. The bird that forgot to fly
This is an incident from my wandering days.
When I was wandering in the villages of northern India, I had often noticed the villagers using a novel trap to catch birds: They would suspend a stick horizontally from the branch of a tree. The stick will be hanging from the tree by a rope tied around its middle, that's all. This stick is the trap!
You must be wondering how a stick can trap a bird! Understand when this stick is hanging freely, it is in a horizontal position. When a bird comes and sits on one side of the stick, the stick goes down on that side because of the weight of the bird. Like a sec-saw, one side of the stick goes up, the other goes down, and the stick becomes almost vertical. The bird will end up hanging topsy-turvy, upside down! The poor bird is terrified of hanging upside down.
But it thinks that if it lets go of the stick, it will fall head-first onto the ground and diel I have seen birds clutching at the stick for hours together, afraid to let go. It will be fluttering its wings, shaking its whole body, trying its best to get back to the earlier position. But it won't dare let go of the stick!
Have you ever heard of a bird falling and breaking its head and dying? No! But the foolish bird does not know that if it just lets go, it can fly..! It can be liberated. After a few hours, the hunter comes along leisurely, simply catches hold of the bird and puts it in his cage.
Understand: this is the exact story of you and your mind! Just like the bird, you are hanging onto the very thing that is pulling you into suffering!
Because the bird feels that the stick is its security, it hangs onto the stick But when the hunter comes, not only does the bird lose the stick, but it is captured and caged too. In the same way, you hold onto your mind onto your life. You think these things are your security. But when Yama, Death, comes, not only does all your so-called security become worthless. You are also put to death.
Very rarely, a bird which was once stuck in the trap but had the courage to let go and fly, comes back to save the other birds. It nudges the bird which is hanging upside down, saying, 'Let go! Do not be afraid. Once, I was in the same state as you. But when I let go. I just started flying! became liberated. All it will take you to regain your balance is a few seconds. Have courage and do it.'
Since the bird is hanging topsy-turvy, when it lets go of the stick maybe for a couple of seconds it will start falling. Then it will just simply turn upwards and start flying! Courageously facing those few seconds, that chaos, is what I call tapas - spiritual practice.
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