Freedom...!

A traveler towards the end of a day in his journey through the jungle, reached a tranquil cottage and found a monk, seemingly detached from the outer world, meditating inside. The voyager waited for the monk to finish his service so that he can ask monk's permission to rest for the night at his place before continuing his journey the following morning. As the monk completed his services and found a stranger to accompany him in his remote cottage, he knew what brought the visitor there. Without any questions, the monk greeted his guest and asked him to be at home as long as he wished to.

Around the dawn, the monk went out for his morning rituals and the guest woke up in the morning with an unsettling sound that was crying ‘Freedom...’ incessantly. It turned out to be a Parrot in a cage that was screeching ‘Freedom…!’ Taken aback by what he saw, the visitor was perplexed to find out that a detached monk, who supposedly has renounced the worldly life, kept a poor bird locked in the cage and make it cry for ‘Freedom’. With great generosity and sympathy the guest unlocked the door of the cage to make the bird free but alas, the bird wouldn’t move an inch but will continue its song of freedom sitting on the cage bar.

Already confused with the human behavior, the savior of the Parrot was now even more beset with the behavior of the bird! However he resolved that it must be the conditioning of the Parrot to be locked in the cage forever that failed it to realize the opportunity it was longing for all this time. With greater compassion the guest put his hand in the cage to take the parrot out and set it free when the bird attacked his hand ferociously and wounded it with its sharp beak. Determined to bestow the salvation unto the poor creature, the guest took the bird out with great effort and courage and set it free in the sky outside the cottage eventually.

As the traveler left for the river to get ready for his journey ahead and returned to the cottage to pay his respects to his host for the night, there was still no sign of the monk around but the visitor’s ears could register a familiar sound coming from the open cage, crying out loud… ‘Freedom…!’

When there is no thought, let alone conviction or action, behind a slogan that is shouted, it remains a far cry that will never become a realization… ever!

…That’s it!