Atma Alankaraniya, Na Shariram

There was once a king who loved parrots. One day, someone brought him a beautiful parrot as a gift. He immediately called his minister and said: "Make a cage worthy of this parrot — the finest one possible."

The minister had an iron cage made. But when the king saw it, he said: "This is fine, but I want something even better. Make another one."

The next day the minister brought a silver cage. The king looked at it and said: "This too is nice, but I still want something more beautiful. Keep trying."

This time the minister crafted a cage decorated with precious gems. It took five days to make. But even after seeing it, the king said: "Stop worrying about the cost — just make me something truly stunning."

So the minister made a magnificent golden cage, studded with jewels. This one took ten days to complete.

When the king finally saw it, he was very pleased. He and the minister took the cage home, where the parrot was placed inside. But when they arrived — the parrot was already dead in its old iron cage.

The parrot had died waiting — perhaps from grief, perhaps from the long neglect while everyone fussed over the cage.

For fifteen days, no one had paid attention to the parrot's food or water. In all the excitement of building the perfect cage, they had forgotten the living creature inside.

This is human nature too.

We spend so much time and money beautifying the outer body — but we rarely stop to look within, at the soul that actually lives inside us. Because of this, true humanity fades, inner awareness is lost, and suffering only grows.

The soul cannot be caged. Only the body can. Don't forget which one is truly alive.

The Lesson

Balamodini June 2024