Based on The Faith Book by Kadamba Kanana Swami
The Parrot in the Forest
In a lush forest filled with flowering trees and sacred groves, there once lived a parrot with vibrant green feathers and a curious heart. This bird was no ordinary parrot—it had grown up listening to the sannyāsīs chanting mantras beneath banyan trees and had picked up a few phrases like “Rāma! Rāma!” and “Kṛṣṇa! Kṛṣṇa!” from their lips.
But though the parrot repeated these holy names, it did so like a child mimicking a song—without meaning, without heart.
The Devoted Guru
Nearby, in a thatched āśrama, lived a gentle guru—a Vaiṣṇava whose life was rooted in humility, compassion, and deep love for the Lord. He had no grand temple, only a tulasī plant, his worn japa beads, and a heart that beat for the welfare of all souls.
One day, the guru noticed the parrot singing, “Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa!” with perfect pronunciation but mechanical tone. He thought, “This parrot repeats the name, but he does not know what he says. If he were to die now, what good would it do him?”
So the guru decided to help.
A Curious Disciple
The guru approached the parrot and began speaking to him every day.
“My dear friend,” he said gently, “when you say ‘Kṛṣṇa,’ do you know who He is? He is the beautiful, blue cowherd boy of Vṛndāvana. The Lord of all beings. The lover of Rādhā. The source of the holy name you repeat.”
As the guru continued to visit and speak, something happened. The parrot stopped squawking mechanically. His voice softened. He began to listen. He began to feel.
And then, one day, when the parrot said “Kṛṣṇa,” it trembled with emotion.
A Lesson in Heartfelt Chanting
The guru smiled and said, “Now you are chanting—not with your beak, but with your heart.”
Days passed, and the parrot grew more attached to the Lord than to seeds or flying. He would chant continuously, eyes closed, lost in remembrance of the beautiful blue form of Śrī Kṛṣṇa.
And then, in that very forest where sages chanted and trees echoed with birdsong, the parrot left his body—while chanting “Kṛṣṇa! Kṛṣṇa!” with love.
The Gift of Śuddha-Nāma
By the power of even one pure utterance of the holy name, the parrot attained liberation. Because it was not the sound that saves—it is the devotion behind the sound.
This story teaches us that repetition alone is not enough. Mechanical chanting, though a beginning, must evolve into nāma-bhajana—loving service through sound.
A Verse to Remember
nāma cintāmaṇiḥ kṛṣṇaś
caitanya-rasa-vigrahaḥ
pūrṇaḥ śuddho nitya-mukto
’bhinnatvān nāma-nāminoḥ“The holy name of Kṛṣṇa is a transcendental touchstone, full of consciousness and divine rasa. It is completely pure, eternally liberated, and non-different from the Lord Himself.”
— Padma Purāṇa
Let us not merely repeat the name—let us feel it, love it, and serve it. Then the name will carry us home.
