This is a beautiful story from the Mahabharat. A story of faith and surrender, of destiny. This incident happened when legions of troops from all over were being mobilized to fight one of the bloodiest battles in the history of India.
#Mahabharat
#TheSparrow
#Faith

The battlefield of Kurukshetra was being prepared to facilitate movement of mammoth armies with large cavalries. Areas were marked for rival camps. Huge bundles of wood were organized to cook food for a sea of army.

Trees were being felled by elephants to clear the ground. On one such tree lived a sparrow, a mother of four young ones. As the tree was knocked down, her nest landed on the ground along with her offspring, too young to fly, miraculously unharmed.

The frightened sparrow looked around for help. She saw Shri Krishna scanning the field with Arjun. They were there to physically examine the battleground & devise a winning strategy before the onset of war. She flapped her tiny wings with all her might to reach Krishna’s chariot.

“Please save my children, O Krishna,” the sparrow pleaded. “They will be crushed tomorrow when this battle starts.”

“I hear you,” said He, the omniscient one, “but, I can’t interfere with the laws of Nature.”

“All I know is that you are my savior, O Lord.

I rest my children’s fate in your hands. You can kill them or you can save them, it’s up to you now.”

“The wheel of Time moves indiscriminately,” Krishna spoke like an ordinary man implying that there wasn’t anything he could do about it.

“I don’t know any philosophy,” the sparrow said with faith and reverence. “You are the wheel of Time. That’s all I know. I surrender to thee.”

“Stock food for three weeks in your nest then.”

Unaware of the conversation, Arjun was trying to shoo away the sparrow when Krishna smiled at the bird. She fluttered her wings a few times in obeisance and flew back to her nest. Two days later, just before the conchs were blared, he asked Arjun for his bow and an arrow.

Arjun was startled because Krishna had vowed to not lift any weapon in the war. Besides, Arjun believed that he was the best archer out there.
“Order me, Lord,” he said with conviction, “nothing is impenetrable for my arrows.”

Quietly taking the bow from Arjun, he took aim at an elephant. But, instead of bringing the animal down, the arrow hit the bell around its neck and sparks flew off.
Arjun couldn’t contain his chuckle seeing that Krishna missed an easy mark.
“Should I?” he offered.

Ignoring his question, Krishna gave him back the bow and said that no further action was necessary.

“But, why did you shoot the elephant, Keshav?” Arjun asked.

“Because this was the elephant that had knocked down the tree sheltering that sparrow’s nest.”

“Which sparrow?” Arjun exclaimed. “Plus, the elephant is unhurt and alive! Only the bell is gone!”
Dismissing his questions, Krishna instructed him to blow his conch. The war began and numerous lives were lost over the next eighteen days.

Pandavas won in the end. Once again, Krishna took Arjun with him to navigate through the ruddy field. Many corpses still lay there awaiting their funeral. The battleground was littered with severed limbs and heads, lifeless steeds and elephants.

Krishna stopped at a certain spot and looked down thoughtfully at an elephant-bell.

“Arjun,” he said, “will you lift this bell for me and put it aside?”

The instruction, though simple, made little sense to Arjun.

Why would Krishna ask him to move an insignificant piece of metal out of the way? He looked at him questioningly.

“Yes, this bell,” Krishna reiterated. “It’s the same bell that had come off the elephant’s neck I had shot at.”

Arjun bent down to move the heavy bell without another question. As soon as he lifted it though, his world changed forever. One, two, three, four and five. Four young birds flew out one after another followed by a sparrow.

The mother bird swirled in circles around Krishna, circumambulating him in great joy. The bell had protected the entire family.

“Forgive me, O Krishna,” said Arjun.
“Seeing you in human body and behaving like ordinary mortals, I forgot who you really are.”

Krishna had left the sparrow in the battlefield for it was destined to be there. The bird might have wished to be at a safer place with her children. It might have argued Krishna to take it with him. She might have begged that three weeks of food be provided to her.

It didn’t do any of those. She simply followed the instruction and left it in the hands of the one she believed in. She didn’t forego the effort expected from her. Krishna rewarded the sparrow’s faith by keeping her family safe under the big brass bell.

People see faith as a way to have their dreams come true. Faith is not a tug-of-war between your desires and His grace, hoping that you’ll lure Him into playing unfair. Faith is its own reward. It can make things happen. Give it a place in your heart.
Jai Shri Krishna.