Maya: The Story of A Parrot

Maya: The Story of A Parrot

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For today’s topic, I’ve chosen nothing less exotic than maya itself! But don’t start frowning as yet. I’ll tell you a story. And in this story you’ll realize what maya does to us. 

This is the story of a parrot. Parrot? Yes. We have a male parrot in our house. I call him Tiya (Tiya is Bengali for Parrot). It’s been over two years now he’s with us. But he was not bought or gifted by someone else. 

At one time, this green fellow used to visit our house regularly. Seeing him coming everyday, my Dida (grandmother) started to feed him. And everyday he turned up at the mango tree which overarchs a part of our terrace. My Mama told Dida to catch him, because he used to come very near, literally at hand’s distance. Slowly his fear went away. Already prompted by Mama and instigated by her own desires, Dida caught him one day!

Mama brought a cage that very morning. Mami appreciated the cage! From that day on, the cage became his little world. I didn’t approve of this action, as any compassionate and sane person would do, but what are my words against their desires! But, you know what, we should never encage any bird or fish. They are not domestic creatures like cows, goats, dogs and cats. By putting a bird into a cage and fishes into aquariums, we are destroying their growth. They, by their very nature, are wild creatures. Yes, birds and some fishes like dolphins can be domesticated, but their natural habitat is forest and water. They are not born to be caged or put into glass boxes.

But, we, humans! So, that’s how he ended up in the cage. Over the years, he grew very fond of Mami and Dida. Especially of Mami. Whenever Mami calls out him, he gets excited and looks for Mami. When Mami goes near him he comes forward to be touched. Mami caresses him often. And he utters starnge sounds. 

Many time I’ve thought I’ll fee him. One day I will open the door, and nobody would know. But, I never did it. Perhaps, I didn’t want to interfere with his destiny. 

And it turned out, even if I freed him, it would make no difference! Why? 

Actually one day, by the stroke of luck, he got the golden opportunity to escape. The door of the cage was left unlocked one day. And intuitively he might have understood, he could fly off! And he did! 

He actually escaped. In the morning when everyone realized he’s gone, they were regretting—why did they not lock the door! Dida was particularly hyper. Mami’s reaction was mixed—sorrowful, but at the same time, happy for his freedom. They called out to him for a while. And after a few hours of lamenting—lo!—he showed up again! Back on the mango tree! 

Initially he flew off. But, it seems, he didn’t go far. Everyone was calling him, except me of course. He flew a little bit here and there. But, eventually, he came back again on the tree. Dida used her tactics again. She tried to entice him with food. And all the while he was looking down intently at us from one of the branches. 

He got down closer and closer. And one time he landed on Mami’s shoulder! Yes. Several times. He even kissed (so it seemed) Mami on the cheek. With his red bent beak he was caressing Mami. Everyone was thrilled to see such a play, such a bonding. But, Mami didn’t catch him. She could if she wished. 

I was eating, sitting on the floor. He came near me, pecked and tasted my bowl of daal! I realized he doesn’t fear me. He got on Dida’s bed and dining table. He walked a little bit and like any other member of the family moved about the verandah for a while. But, Dida’s feline instincts were not gone. She caught him once again. She was on the lookout. 

And again, he landed up in the cage. 

I thought, what the hell! He got the golden chance to be free, and yet he came back! But I realized what once I read. Somewhere I read, birds of cage eventually forget to fly. Familiarity makes them trapped. 

But, this time he was caged by human affection actually. He escaped from the material cage, but he got trapped in his mental cage. Sad, if you ask me. It’s not that he willingly got into the cage, but he got dependent. And that was his folly. The sad thing is, even if we release him now, his chances of his survival is low. Because for a long time he didn’t get the opportunity to live in the nature. He is not well trained to protect himself. Maybe a hawk or kite would kill him as his prey. Though he is quite grown up. And precisely that’s why, birds should never be caged, because later they would fail to survive in the nature. 

The parrot seemed to me to be the perfect representative of the human soul. Encaged in this sansar. Why? Because of attachment to this sansar, we’ve been bound to this world of causality, going through enormous pain and suffering. But, familiarity! That’s what gives us a sense of security, a sense of belonging. We are no different than the parrot. We may have bigger brains and a lot of intelligence, but our instincts are the same. Like the parrot we’ve also compromised our freedom for the sake of security in this transient world. I don’t know what to call this—ignorance, foolishness or prarabdha. Anyway.

Every living being is under the spell of Maya. Only humans have the necessary intelligence to come out of it. The only question is—would we exercise that intelligence or not? 

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P.S: This is the third post of The Write Choice challenge. Here are the first and second post:

1. Sadhana of the Speech.

2. Time to Shift Gears…

Thank you.

Image Credit: photo taken by me.