The Tale of Two Birds (Inspired by the Mundaka Upanishad)

 




The Tale of Two Birds (Inspired by the Mundaka Upanishad)

From the Mundaka, where wisdom sings,
“Mund”—to shave, to sever the strings.
Not mere words, but a blade so fine,
It cuts through the veils of the mundane mind.
A sacred text, resplendent and wise,
It beckons the soul to its boundless skies.

Two birds dwell on the selfsame tree,
One bound in hunger, one soaring free.
The first consumes, with restless desire,
The sweet and the bitter, both fuel its fire.
The fruits of karma, it eagerly tastes,
Bound by the cycles, time lays to waste.

But the second, the silent, the ever-bright,
Watches untouched, in eternal light.
It sees, it knows, yet it does not partake,
For it dwells where the timeless wake.
The witness, the pure, the unchanging flame,
Beyond all sorrow, beyond all name.

This tree, this life, with branches that spread,
Roots dug deep in the worlds we tread.
The fruits it bears, of joy and strife,
Are but illusions of transient life.
And the feasting bird, though lost in the play,
Is destined to see, to find its way.

The Mundaka teaches with piercing might,
Shaving the bonds, unveiling the light.
For the one who eats, when wisdom is found,
Becomes the watcher, no longer bound.
The self dissolves, the two are one,
The tree, the birds, the sky, the sun.

Brahman alone, eternal and vast,
The future, the present, the ancient past.
The seer, the seen, the knower, the known,
All merge into that singular throne.

Oh seeker, rise, let the Mundaka guide,
Let it sever the darkness, the ego’s pride.
For here is the truth, resplendent, profound:
In stillness, in silence, the Infinite is found.

No greater journey, no quest so pure,
Than to strip the fleeting, to find what’s sure.
The tale of two birds—our eternal song,
A call to remember where we belong.

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