WRITTEN BY LONDON SWAMINATHAN

Post No. 13,688

Date uploaded in London – 19 September 2024                 

Contact – swami_48@yahoo.com

Pictures are taken from various sources for spreading knowledge.

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tamilandvedas.com, swamiindology.blogspot.com

https://www.pustaka.co.in/home/author/london-swaminathan

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Ramakrishna Paramahamsa gives us a very good message though parrots. Hindus love parrots very much and all Brahmins in ancient India raised parrots as pets in their houses. Around 600 CE, the boy wonder of Tamil Nadu Tiru Gnana Sambandar sang about Brahmin houses where the parrots recited Vedas. The same message comes from Northern India. When Adi Shankara asked the women bathing in the Narmada river, the way to Mandana Mishra’s house in the city of Mahismati, they answered in Sanskrit verse thinking that the young man from Kerala would not understand anything. The ladies told him in verses go to the house where the parrots are reciting the Vedas; Shankara politely bowed and thanked them and went his way.

In Sangam Tamil Literature we see the great Brahmin poet Kabilan training the  parrots to bring grains from faraway places, because the three mighty kings Chera, Choza, Pandyas laid a siege around Chieftain Pari’s kingdom.

Generally, parrots are always projected in good light. Women are named after parrots and Anjukam is a very common name. Women are compared to girls in Sangam Tamil Literature. But Ramakrishna Paramahamsa gives a good message:

Even at the time of death the ‘bound souls. speak of worldly matters only. There is no use in visiting places of pilgrimage, or bathing in holy Ganges or counting beads; if there are worldly attachments  in the heart they are sure to manifest themselves at the dying moment. Hence ‘bound souls indulge in random talks even at that time.  A parrot may ordinarily sing the holy name of Radha Krishna, but when it is attacked by a cat, it cries out Kang Kang – its natural cry.

( The moral is ‘always recite God’s name’)

Learn Silence; Don’t be a Parrot!

Another Sanskrit poet asks us to think why parrots are caged and not the Cranes. Because parrots always speak, people cage them and enjoy their talks. Cranes are very quiet, and they never talk but concentrate in its task of catching fish. If You learn silence, you will never be caught. It is very true. If you got jails, you can see many prisoners who came in to it because of their bad talk.

Here is the couplet

Atmano mukha doshena badhyante suka saarikaa

Bakas tatra na badhyante maunam sarvaartha saadakam

The parrots got caged because of their talkative nature; whereas the cranes/herons not caged; so silence is always an advantage.

–subham—

Tags – parrot, cat, crane, heron, silence, talkative, Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, bound souls.