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Dharma of the Master

A spiritual parable about a master facing a moral dilemma between two birds seeking refuge.

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

A master in meditation is approached by two birds: a small bird fleeing a predator and the larger bird starving from hunger. Both plead for their lives, placing the master in a profound ethical conflict. To resolve it, the master offers his own flesh to feed the predator, embodying a radical act of self-sacrifice. The narrative is followed by remarks analyzing logical inconsistencies within the parable's details.

Recording location: Hungary, Vep, Yogateacher Seminar

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. Recording location: Hungary, Vep, Yogateacher Seminar

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.

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