The Sparrow And The Eagle

The Sparrow and the Eagle

There is a saying in Tamil that however high a sparrow tries to fly, it cannot become an eagle. I know, I know. You are going to tell me ‘Elementary, my dear Watson!’. No one would contest it even if he is not an ornithologist. People who are in Chennai now would not understand what I am talking about because it is hard to see either of the birds these days. But people of my age group would know. The little sparrows would invade our houses in hundreds since they are vegetarians. The eagles would be circling in large groups at over 1000 feet and they had such keen vision that they would rush to the ground in seconds if they sighted a non vegetarian delicacy even from that great height. It was customary then to name anyone with keen vision particularly for food items as ‘eagle eyed’! There was even a pair of legendary eagles who were supposed to be reincarnation of two holy men which would come to a place not very far from Chennai for their food at noon from the temple priest there. They were believed to fly from Varanasi every day after they had their holy dip in the Ganga. I have also seen this feeding ceremony a couple of times. They have stopped coming now for whatever reason.


I have heard people calling this daily visit of two eagles from Varanasi to close to Chennai as utter non-sense! They have not probably heard of a bird called godwit which has been seen to fly 11000 kms nonstop from one end of the world to the other. This is a scientifically verified fact. Mind you, these birds are not huge beasts of power like the modern transpacific jets but live birds that measure some fifteen inches and weigh much less than half a kilogram! Don’t say you won’t believe it because ornithologists have labelled them and proved their flying capability. Their flying time for 11000 kms is roughly 8 days nonstop! Nonstop, mind you!


For all I know this godwit bird can as well play the hero in Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach. Richard probably selected a seagull as the hero of his epic probably because it is one of the slowest birds flying between 20 and 40 kilometers per hour. His idea was to establish the power of mind over matter and this power ultimately enables the seagull to fly faster than its thoughts! You know what I mean. You think of the place anywhere in the world and you are there already! The lesson that Jonathan learns from his guru is ‘You will begin to touch heaven, Jonathan, in the moment that you touch perfect speed. And that isn’t flying a thousand miles an hour, or a million, or flying at the speed of light. Because any number is a limit and perfection doesn’t have limits. Perfect speed, my son, is being there.’ An amazing book that helped me to see how I have so far cowered my life at snail’s speed!


I have heard that some yogis in Thiruvannamali, a high place of mysticism, can be seen at a dozen places simultaneously. When I heard it first, I laughed heartily but not anymore. Richard Bach’s seagull has opened my eyes. We look at speeds at the rate at which a train moves or a plan flies. We keep looking at speed as a physical entity outwardly. But the speed that the human mind can conceive is faster than light. But we are not interested in such speeds! We keep looking at our watch to see when we’ll reach home that being our ultimate goal! We read the seagull story once again and jot down a few quotes for our next blog. Who understands Richard Bach better than me, we pride ourselves!

 

@satchitananda

My dear satchi
Thanks a lot for your quick response. When I posted this, I thought it would never see the light of day. It was like a comedian playing a serious role! They say that whatever travels faster than light shortens time. It is like saying that I started yesterday and arrived at my destination day before yesterday. I guess the idea of Time Machine is based on the concept of travelling faster than light. Yudhishtra had all the answers for all the questions. When he was in his school (gurukulam), his teacher must have been feeling mighty bored with him. I had a classmate who would raise his hands for all the questions put to the class. We used to avoid him like poison!
Sri

 

@Srama
My dear Srama
I really wanted to dedicate this blog to you knowing your devotion for Richard Bach. I am no less of a fan of his than you which would mean including myself too in the dedication. Knowing it would be silly to dedicate what I write to myself I gave up the idea.
Why Bach chose a seagull as his bird of choice? It may be because he had been seeing them lazing on their wings day in and day out. He would thought that any lesson in achieving great speeds would be most apt in the case of a slow bird like seagull. If you look closely and intently at a seagull, you can almost see their speculative nature. And the contrast between the beginning and end of his flying lesson is mind boggling.
I was saddened by the experts predicting extinction of sparrows. I am further saddened to hear that roaches would survive even nuclear holocaust! It will be futile to start a nuclear war just to get rid of roaches but if there is a way to save the sparrows, we must go all out for it.
Sri

 

There is another one for you on a different level!

A scientist living at Staines
Is searching with infinite pains
For a new type of sound
Which he hopes, when it's found,
Will travel much faster than planes.

 

Dear sokanasanah
I am grateful to you for the three references given. I am not an ornithologist but I love hearing and reading about birds. Birds are the greatest examples of how men can conquer the space! And also of endurance!
Sri