0997.Encounters With Shri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa Poem by christopher Lee

Flight of the soul

The Master sang:

If only I can pass away repeating Durga's name,
How canst Thou then, O Blessed One,
Withhold from me deliverance,
Wretched though I may be?
Or slain a woman or a cow,
But, though it all be true,
1 may have stolen a drink of wine, or killed a child unborn,
Or even caused a brahmin's death;
Nothing of this can make me feel the least uneasiness;
For through the power of Thy sweet name
My wretched soul may still aspire
Parable of the homa bird
Even to Brahmanhood.

We will discuss about

1) Power of God’s name
2) Homa bird

1) Power Of God’s name

In the Ramayana, when Rama, Lakshmana and others remain in a swoon being shot by the ‘Naagaasthiraa’ arrow, Garuda comes flying in the sky above. The moment Garuda’s breath falls on them they are relieved and come back to life. Then Garuda muses in pride, ‘what’s great about Rama and Lakshmana? See only I had to come and revive even them! ’ But the next minute he thinks, ‘O God! I am His vehicle… How could I become so egoistic? ’ and feels guilty. He immediately goes to Sage Narada and seeks explanation from him for the negative thought that had come to his mind. Narada says, ‘I will not give you the answer to your question. You go to Maharishi Kaagabujandar and seek an answer to your query.’

Garuda travels towards the ashram of Kaagabujandar. When he was nearly 4 miles from the ashram itself, his mind gets immense clarity. Not even the slightest confusion. Greatly puzzled, Garuda enters the ashram of Kaagabujandar and exclaims, ‘what a surprise! While approaching 4 miles towards your ashram itself all my doubts were clarified and my ego has vanished too! ’ Kaagabujandar replies, ‘For so many thousands of years we have been chanting ‘Rama Naamam’. The power of that has spread around 4 miles and the power of Rama Namam has dispelled your ignorance. The power of the Name of the same Rama about whom you got confused, was itself able to dispel your ignorance with its power in a 4 mile radius, remove unnecessary thoughts and clarify your mind.’


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2) Homa bird

The parable states that during the vedic period there was a bird by this name which used to fly very high in space; it used to lay eggs in space; the eggs hatched while falling down; the fledgling continued to fall; the young bird had to perceive that if it did not start flying it would crash land dashing on the earth and would meet the ultimate death; so it would start flying before touching the ground.


What I deduce here is that all creatures are the eggs; their ultimate laying down the body is the crash landing; the souls should realize that if they do not open their eyes of wisdom and propel themselves with the spiritual wings it means doom; wastage of a birth so precious

Incidentally when Ramakrishna talks about birds we have birds in Upanishads also

The Mundaka Upanishad has offered us two birds. One bird is seated on the top of the life-tree, the other on a branch below. The bird seated on the low branch eats both sweet and bitter fruits. Sweet fruits give the bud the feeling that life is pleasure; bitter fruits give the bird the feeling that life is misery. The other bird, seated on the top of the tree, eats neither the sweet fruit nor the bitter fruit. It just sits calm and serene. Its life is flooded with peace, light, and delight. The bird that eats the sweet and bitter fruit on the tree of life is disappointed and disgusted; disappointed because pleasure is impermanent, ephemeral and fleeting; disgusted because frustration ends in destruction. Unmistakably disappointed and utterly disgusted, this bird flies up and loses itself in the Freedom-Light and Perfection-Delight of the bird at the top of the life-tree. The bird on the top of the tree is the Cosmic and Transcendental Self, and the bird below is the individual self. These two beautiful birds are known as Suparna.

Brhadaranyaka Upanishad says:


Asato ma sad gamaya.
Tamaso ma jyotir gamaya.
Mrtyor ma amrtam gamaya.

The above means


Lead me from the unreal to the Real.
Lead me from darkness unto Light.
Lead me from death to Immortality.

Again talking in terms of birds, the soul’s flight is

From unreal to real
Darkness to light
Mortality to immortality
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See you in the next episode

Jai Kali


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