How a Talented But Caged Parrot Snatched His Freedom From His Master
Do this if you want freedom from yourself
I was reading a book called The Book of Rumi and came across a beautiful fable that I thought I should share in my own words.
It is about a Persian merchant who kept a beautiful parrot with a lovely voice in a cage in his shop. The parrot would delight his customers by singing melodious tunes. The parrot was, in a way, a harbinger of financial success for the merchant.
Once it so happened that the merchant had to go to India to get some goods. So before leaving for India, he asked the parrot if he could bring him something from the great country. And the parrot replied that he did not want any materialistic gifts.
Instead, he urged his master to talk to his parrot friends in India and tell them of his living condition in Persia — how he is trapped in a cage but entertaining people, how he is giving others happiness but he himself is not happy.
He told his master to ask them how he should reckon his situation.
The Persian did not give much thought to this request at that time and proceeded to India. After purchasing the goods, the merchant came across a flock of parrots perched on a branch of a tree. He told them the story of his caged prized possession.
As soon as he finished it, one of the parrots started shivering and in a fit of rage fell to the ground unconscious. The merchant was taken aback and felt remorse at what had just happened.
After coming back to his shop, the merchant narrated the whole incident to his own parrot. After listening to the incident, the parrot went unconscious as well and fell to the floor of the cage.
The merchant was dumb-struck.
He could not make out what was happening. He was utterly despondent that he had lost his prized possession.
In order to bury the parrot into the ground, he opened the cage and pulled the parrot out, and laid it on the ground to dig the earth. And lo behold! The parrot was off in a flash and perched himself high on a branch of the nearest tree.
The merchant was amazed and relieved that his prized possession is still alive. He asked the parrot what had happened to him. The parrot explained that his fellow parrot in India, by falling unconscious on the ground, has given him a sign of how to escape the bondage.
He said, “my imprisonment was due to my beautiful song, my talent for entertaining you and your guests. My precious voice was in fact the cause of my servitude! By dying, in the sense of giving up my attachment to my talent, which I prized so highly, I gained my freedom.”
