It was a warm sunny morning on the 9th September 1986. We all sat huddled at the Ram temple in Siddhabari, where Pujya Gurudev Swami Chinmayanandaji had just presided over a religious ceremony with much chanting of mantras amidst the hustle bustle of the crowds trying to gain a better view of the ceremony. So after it was over, Gurudev began to tell us this story:
A hunter carrying a bagful of birds was enlightened by a saint on the multiple suffering he had caused to the families of so many helpless birds. The reformed hunter stopped hunting and started farming to feed his family, but he saw other hunters perpetrating the same suffering on other birds. So he caught a hundred parrots and taught them to repeat a mantra: “Don’t get into this net, you will only die.” So, the parrots kept repeating this mantra which warned the birds not to step into the net.
They in turn taught other birds to repeat the same mahamantra. As no birds would go into the net, the hunters soon despaired of the area and stopped coming there. After a lapse of some months, a hunter came there, laid his net and went off to sleep nearby. Later he awoke to a loud cacophony as hundreds of birds were caught in his net and were struggling for release.
The surprising thing was that all of them were loudly chanting the mahamantra, “Don’t get into this net, you will only die”, without understanding the meaning. Thus to chant hymns or the Gita day and night will take you nowhere. You have to imbibe the meaning and live its values. He added that japa has the power to sharpen the mind and make it alert and vigilant. Such a mind is the right instrument for Viveka (a discriminating intellect.)
Prarthna Saran, President Chinmaya Mission Delhi.