The Bird that Sings Within

We all come into this world the same way and more or less in the same condition. We are immediately plunged into the dark forest of the senses, where we may well live in constant fear, driven by our desires and our perceived needs. This environment works according to a set of rules never revealed to us, so we remain ignorant of the consequences of our actions.

Life after life we have continued like this, pursuing our desires and running from our fears, the darkest being imminent death. People are dying all around us. We’ve all known friends and family who have passed on, and yet we behave as though this fate will not be ours. If we remained mindful of our inevitable death, would we not behave more responsibly? In our ignorance we have sown seeds that must in time sprout and yield the bitter fruit that is the outcome of our actions, and which have collectively created the momentum that drives us, like so many cattle, to the ruthless fulfilment of our destinies.

The Master teaches that our future is determined by the sum total of our past actions. Inevitably after so many lifetimes, we have continued to sow the seeds of our own undoing and perpetuated the cycle of misery and suffering, life after life. At the same time we have left no stone unturned in our quest for happiness. Sadly, we have never achieved it. If asked what it was that we were seeking, it is doubtful we could have provided an adequate answer. There was just this deep-seated longing.

At some point we had to admit to ourselves that our search for answers was not successful, and we simply had to give up. This was the signal that the divine power was awaiting. We had to come to the point of surrender. Our ego had to be sufficiently suppressed for us to actually listen to the voice within. Thus, we came into the orbit of the true Master of our time; the living, breathing being who, while being at our level, is also at the level of the Lord himself.

This encounter was what our soul had been waiting for. Many of us, when recalling the moment at which something inside us had just said YES to the Master’s teachings, could not begin to explain what had happened. It is as though someone had flipped a switch and a light suddenly came on inside.

The great mystic Kabir describes the situation in very clear terms in the poem “The Bird that Sings Within” in the book Kabir the Weaver of God’s Name:

No one tells me about the bird
That sings within the body.
Its colour is a colourless hue,
Its form a formless form,
it lives under the shade of Nam.
No one tells me about the bird
That sings within the body.

One of the first things that the Master attempts to teach us is the true nature of reality. The Master makes it plain that this world of the senses is not real and is constantly changing. Reality, he says, is unchanging and eternal. He tells us that there is a place called the true region where we will find the unchanging reality, the Creator himself. He says we are something beyond both mind and body, something immortal. This true self is what we commonly refer to as soul – all the rest is merely a covering that obscures the soul’s true nature.

This is the “bird that sings within the body,” of which we have been totally ignorant. It has no physical form or attributes. This bird is trapped by all the attachments and karmas we have created.

In the vast tree dwells a bird,
It hops, it pecks, it eats,
And from branch to branch it flies.
No one knows where it comes from,
No one knows what makes it sing.
No one tells me about the bird
That sings within the body.

Kabir says this bird, this soul, lives in “the vast tree” of the creation. Under the influence of the mind it is trapped by its fascination with the world’s glam and glitter. It goes from one thing to another pursuing happiness, never settling on any one thing. It wanders through the creation, convinced that this is its home, further reinforcing the shackles and chains that bind it here.

Numerous vines entwine the tree,
Throwing shadows dark and dense;
Numerous birds huddle together
In the tree’s sunless gloom.
But they fly away in the evening.
Morning they return for the day;
No one understands their strange ways.
No one tells me about the bird
That sings within the body.

The dense material creation, symbolized by the tree and vines, provides an environment designed to lead souls astray. Many souls gather together here as though they belong together, trapped by the bonds of friendship and family. When nightfall comes the birds fly away to roost, to return again the next day. Just so, we see others leaving the stage of life, and then we too must leave. Our mistake is to think that these roles we play are real and forever. We behave as if we’re going to live forever.

Only to taste two fruits comes the bird,
Not for ten, not for twenty,
Not for countless, nor for many.
But vast and inaccessible
Boundless and eternal
Is the bird’s true home;
If the bird will only return
To its original home,
It will not be forced
To come and go again.
But no one tells me about this bird
That sings within the body.

The mystics tell us that two things, karmas and attachments, bring us back to incarnate here. If we rise above these we have the potential to escape this bondage. Kabir tells us our true being is beyond the physical and the mind. How do we grasp a reality that lies beyond mind? The mystics explain how we can rise above the limitations of both mind and body – this being our only true purpose in life. We did not come here to be intoxicated by the allurements of the world.

The Masters advise that our purpose is threefold: to meet a Master, to get initiation from him, and by the practice enjoined by him, rise up and grab hold of Nam and journey back to our true home in Sach Khand. No other action is required of us. Only a true Master can show us the way. He has sent the Master for us and given us a sense of discrimination.

Says Kabir: Yes, my friends,
The story I tell you
Is hard to comprehend;
But where, O Pundits,
Where, O learned ones,
Is the Home of that bird
That no one is able to see,
That sings within each body?

Kabir states that the true home of the soul cannot be seen nor found in the dimensions of mind or body. It lies in the land of pure spirit. The task before us is clear. The Master has taught us to adopt a lifestyle that enables us to engage in spiritual practice in order to return to our true Father. The way ahead is to engage in meditation.

Our main aim is to get to the eye centre, through the practice of simran, the repetition of the five names imparted at initiation. Simran gradually weakens our attachments to the world by redirecting the attention to the eye centre. As concentration improves, attachments decrease and consciousness rises. Our perspective and sense of values expand and we start to take on the characteristics of a devotee – one who practises love and devotion.

This process continues until we reach the eye centre and the Radiant Form of the Master. This is the true start of the path. Here the power of the Shabd raises the soul up through the levels of mind to escape the cycle of coming and going forever.

Only when Shabd eliminates our residual karma are we able to leave the domain of illusion. Once done, the soul rises to the realm of pure spirit, all remaining impressions created by the soul’s long stay in the creation are washed away.

The soul then emerges, purified of all worldly stains and radiating the light of many suns, as the Masters describe it. The journey terminates in the soul’s reunion with the Lord, its true father. It has accomplished its mission and has returned to the home it left so long ago, there to dwell eternally in peace and bliss at the feet of the Lord.