Hello readers, welcome back to Indiasm. The topic we have today is a very familiar topic for those who have been in Vedanta for a long time. It is the metaphor of the 2 birds and how this whole idea of a tree and birds sitting in it encapsulates our life and existence as we experience it. The possibility of spiritual freedom and the way we can get it. This topic is so close to me that, even the logo of Indiasm depicts that tree with the birds sitting on it.
So let's get straight to the point.
The reference is to the Mundaka Upanishad, one of the oldest of the Upanishads. In the third chapter 3.1.1 and 3.1.2, we find this.
द्वा सुपर्णा सयुजा सखाया समानं वृक्षं परिषस्वजाते।
तयोरन्यः पिप्पलं स्वाद्वत्त्यनश्नन्नन्यो अà¤िचाकशीति॥
Two birds, inseparable companions, perched on the same tree,
One eats the fruit, the other watches.
The first bird is one who feeds oneself from the pleasures and pains of this world;
The other is the universal being, silently witnessing everything.
It has been represented in a very poetic way, but what does it mean?
There are two birds in this tree of life. This tree of life can be this body of the individual or it can be all of creation itself. This analogy vividly captures the value of the wonderful built-in ability that places an individual in dual roles as participant and witness.
The lower bird jumps from branch to branch and looks at different fruits. She chooses one and finds her sweet, she eats it, she looks for another, she chooses it that, is a bit bitter and is a little surprised, she tries to eat something else by eating bitter and sweet fruits like this. Until it comes to particularly bitter fruits. Take the shock of her life, stop eating for a while, take a step back, and look up to see the upper bird. The upper bird sitting somewhere up, brilliantly without jumping from branch to branch, and without chasing the fruits, it just shines there, peaceful, calm, unchanging. The lower bird looking up is attracted to it and hops towards it.
But then, he sees another particularly attractive fruit and then he is attracted to it again, he eats it and finds it sweet, it is pleasant and he forgets about the top bird. Then again he starts going from fruit to fruit until he takes another shock and looks at the upper bird, progresses a little further towards him, and again gets lost in another attractive fruit and so on! That is the story of our spiritual life.
Who wouldn't want to be a saint? Everyone does it, but without the problems that come with it. Everybody wants the result of good karma, but they don't wanna do good karma. Everyone wants to enjoy sin but, they don't want bad karma to come.
This is how the little bird jumps from fruit to fruit and forgets the superior bird. But in the end, one day he receives such a terrible shock. In human life, perhaps the death of a loved one or the imminent death of one, any fatal disease has arisen and such a great impact, a particularly bitter fruit, and then withdraw from that life of pecking and searching and tasting this or that. Ultimately deliberately moves toward the top bird on purpose.
Finally, when he approaches the top bird, something strange happens. The lower bird begins to transform. It seems that it looks more and more like the upper bird, which is described as golden and shiny gold, the lower bird also begins to look like that radiant in the light of the upper bird, and in the end, the lower bird sees itself as the higher. Because there is no lower bird at all. There was never a lower bird. This was just Maya's game !!
She was the top bird all the time dreaming the life of the bottom bird, so only the top bird remains true.
As far as the metaphor goes. It is a beautiful poetic way of explaining life, spirituality, and the spiritual pursuit of the path of spiritual progress, all of which are so beautifully explained in this example. Are we aware that we have a universal background, a soul in us? No, never. We always think we are Mr. and Mrs. So-and-so – this body, that body, this individual, that individual, performing this work and that work. Does anyone has time to believe that there is a universal ocean at the back of our consciousness? Has anybody had time to think like this?
No. Because we are eating the sweet fruit of life, we are very busy indeed. Let the Universal be there; what does it matter to us? So this bird that is eating the sweet fruit does not even know that another bird is sitting here, as it is so much engrossed in the indulgence of the bliss, joy, pleasure of eating the sweet fruit. These are the two birds – dvā suparṇā.
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