The two birds

This is a story from the Upanishads.

There was a bird in a tree. It hopped around eating fruits. It would sometimes get a sweet fruit & sometimes a bitter fruit. Occasionally, after eating an extremely bitter fruit, it looked around. It saw another bird. That bird was calm & utterly unaffected by any of the fruits. The agitated bird with the bitter experience wondered about the calm bird. Over time, the bird learnt to accept all types of fruits without getting too affected. And it finally realized that it was itself the calm bird all along.

The calm bird is the Atma (or Ishwara). The agitated bird is the Jeeva (Jeeva Shakti or Jeevatma). When the Kundalini Shakti establishes life in the material world and is a dormant coiled serpent, the Jeeva goes around following its desires with good & bad experiences. The Jeeva is the constantly moving feminine Shakti. The Atma is the calm masculine Shiva. The Paramatma has itself become the Atma & Jeeva. Finally, when the Kundalini is awakened through Yoga, the Jeeva merges with the Atma which is none other than Paramatma.

Now, let us corrupt this story and take it literally.

Let Atma become Adam. J was the last letter added to the English alphabet in 1524 by Trissino. Let Jeeva become Eva/Eve. The undesirable fruits, instead of being indifferent through realization, are now prohibited. The dormant serpent entices Eve & Adam to eat the fruits. Instead of our own desire keeping us from divinity, a God now banishes and curses Adam & Eve. Add to this story the concept of original sin. Brahmacharya (celibacy) which comes with realization, is now an imposition, fighting against life's most powerful instinct. Such a simple perversion with far reaching consequences.