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Dharma of the Master

A moral dilemma arises when one must choose between two sacred vows of protection.

A bird sought refuge from a predator. The master promised safety, stating even death held no power. A second bird then arrived, claiming refuge from starvation, having pursued the first for days. Both beings placed their survival in the master's hands, creating an impossible conflict. To save one meant condemning the other. The master, bound by love and duty to both, faced a profound spiritual crisis. His initial absolute assurance was tested by this concrete predicament. The solution required a sacrifice transcending the immediate terms of the dilemma.

"Master, I come to you. Please, with great hope, save my life."

"I am afraid from no one, but only from one thing, and that is my hunger."

Filming location: Vép, Hungary

When the master was meditating, a large bird came and sat upon his knee. Birds are not foolish; even by mistake, they will not sit upon a human body. They will sit comfortably even upon the head of a lion or a tiger. They sit upon elephants and even upon snakes. They dare to enter a crocodile's mouth to take something from its teeth. Yet, even your own house bird does not dare to sit upon your shoulder. This is because the radiance of a human is not trustworthy. One cannot believe the vision of a human being; there are very few people like Śrī Devpurījī or Francis of Assisi. So the bird sat upon his knee. The master opened his eyes, feeling surprise and happiness. The bird looked at him with great fear and said, "I seek help from you. Please save my life." The master said, "Yes, nobody will kill you, do not worry. You are now with me; who dares? Even death has no power to kill you." The bird replied, "Yes, but do you see the large bird sitting thirty meters away? He wants to kill me, and there is no tree where I can hide. There is no tree I can hide from. After eight hours of flying, I finally found only one last hope: that I fly to you." The master said, "Alright, now no one will kill you." Then the other large bird also spoke to the master. He said, "Master, I come to you. Please, with great hope, save my life." The master asked, "Yes, from what are you afraid?" The bird answered, "From no one. Then what is the problem? I am afraid from no one, but only from one thing, and that is my hunger. I am not a vegetarian. After three days—three days of great searching—I found my food, and that is with you. For eight hours I flew to try to catch it, and I have no more strength to fly and find other prey. That is why I came; I took refuge with you. Save my life; otherwise, I will die in front of you." Now, this is called a dharamsaṅkaṭ—a moral dilemma. What to do? Both came to him, and he loves both. If he lets the small bird stay with him, the other one will die. If he lets it fly, this one has to die. So now, whom to make happy? The master took the small bird in his hand and measured its weight. Then he took flesh from his own muscles, from his shoulder, and he fed it to the other bird.

This text is transcribed and grammar corrected by AI. If in doubt what was actually said in the recording, use the transcript to double click the desired cue. This will position the recording in most cases just before the sentence is uttered.

The text contains hyperlinks in bold to three authoritative books on yoga, written by humans, to clarify the context of the lecture:

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