I and Surya were returning from doctor's visit a few days back. As we approached our home we crossed a thela with cages of hens stacked one over another. All were sitting contentedly in these cages.
These birds did not know that they were caged. They have always been. These have been brought up in an industrial poultry farm where all that they have to do daily is eat to survive and grow. They don't learn what flying is. They don't see the greens as their home. Their home is a cage and they are happy with it.
It is the same for us. We don't sense the beauty surrounding us since we are busy in our little lives - fighting for survival... We are afraid to venture out because we don't know if we will get worms to eat... And we are contented in the limited existence in our body cages - not realizing the treasures that await us if we try to fly... And when death nears, we feel sorrow for losing the precious caged existence...
There has to be so much more to the world that what we are able to see and experience in our present existence. We have to be ready to explore... To fly... To search for worms and relish on them... We have to be permeated with the confidence that this wonderful universe will never let us go hungry... We just need to search for nectar and we will be blessed....
We may decide to fly out of our cages and relish the wonders of Divinity or we may wish to continue to survive on the corn dished out to us in our cages and remain contended. The choice always remains...
These birds did not know that they were caged. They have always been. These have been brought up in an industrial poultry farm where all that they have to do daily is eat to survive and grow. They don't learn what flying is. They don't see the greens as their home. Their home is a cage and they are happy with it.
It is the same for us. We don't sense the beauty surrounding us since we are busy in our little lives - fighting for survival... We are afraid to venture out because we don't know if we will get worms to eat... And we are contented in the limited existence in our body cages - not realizing the treasures that await us if we try to fly... And when death nears, we feel sorrow for losing the precious caged existence...
There has to be so much more to the world that what we are able to see and experience in our present existence. We have to be ready to explore... To fly... To search for worms and relish on them... We have to be permeated with the confidence that this wonderful universe will never let us go hungry... We just need to search for nectar and we will be blessed....
We may decide to fly out of our cages and relish the wonders of Divinity or we may wish to continue to survive on the corn dished out to us in our cages and remain contended. The choice always remains...
2 comments:
I beg to differ about your perception of hens' "contentment" in leading the atrocious life that we have sentenced them to. We are conditioned to believe that animals live in contement even when ruthlessly enslaved, because otherwise our conscience won't allow us to do to them what we routinely and unquestioningly do. We invent oxymorons like 'humane slaughter' just to appease our guilty conscience. We rape cows (without which no milk business can survive), seperate them from their beloved young, inject them with growth hormones; and yet talk of ethics/god/compassion till cows come home. With no disrespect to you and without singling you out, I must say that I am shocked and pained to see that many of us now have zero tolerance towards racism and sexism, but most of us turn a complete blind eye to speciesm - unjust exploitaion of one species by another!
Pulkit,
I completely agree with your comments and in fact have tried being Vegan in Delhi for a short duration of time...
The "contentment" of the hens is clearly superficial. The same applies to humans also - even the seemingly contended amongst us are significantly disturbed somewhere deep within...
warm regards,
Anuj
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