Does Knowing Your Purpose Really Matter?

A Sanskrit Quote and Its Meaning

काकः कृष्णः पिकः कृष्णः को भेद पिककाकयोः
वसन्तसमये प्राप्ते काकः काकः पिकः पिकः

Kakah krishna, pikah krishna, ko bheda pikakakayoho?
Vasanta samaye prapte, kakah kakah, pikah pikah.

The crow is black, the Koyal (Asian cuckoo) is black too.
What, then, is the difference between the two?
When Spring arrives, it becomes clear
the crow is a crow, and the Koyal is a Koyal.

How? Simple, when the spring arrives you will hear the melodious voice of Koyal & the crow will remain cawing in the same old tone. The difference is so obvious that you don’t need to take pain to distinguish it in anyway.

This Sanskrit verse is being used to compare two lookalike personalities. Which reminds us not to judge by appearances alone.

The Crow and the Koyal: Two Contrasts

From childhood, we’ve heard stories of the crow’s cleverness. Bold and fearless, crows make their nests in visible places and even tap at our windows when hungry.

The Koyal, by contrast, is shy. It hides among leaves and reveals itself mainly through its enchanting call; especially between April and August, during its breeding season.

And here is a truth that surprises many...

Right from beginning I am pressing hard on the word ‘Koyal’. So far, I have not used the word ‘Koyaliya’ (female) as the melodious voice “kuhu-kuhu” that we are fond of doesn’t belongs to the female version of Asian Koyal. It’s a male who is attracting a female Koyal for the mating purpose & for that he is blessed with the miraculous voice during that period.

Many will be shocked to hear this & it will be difficult to digest as for decades we are being informed that the melodious voice belongs to the female Koyal & we believed that without a question.

There are many old songs from Hindi movies like ‘kuhu kuhu bole Koyaliya’ from Movie, Suvarn Sundari (Golden beauty), Koyaliya means female version only. Like that there are many songs created considering it’s a female voice & not the male. Perhaps the association was with femininity, or perhaps it was simply a misunderstanding passed down for decades.

We call the great Indian singer Lata Mangeshkar as GanKokila, meaning her voice is as melodious as Koyal. I don’t know if it’s due to wrong perceptions of female voice or actually knowing the voice belongs to male & Lata Didi’s voice is as miraculous as that. It indeed is. She has such a pleasant voice that you will forget everything if you listen to her.

The point I want to make here is I have never heard any man has been called as ‘GanKokila”.

Lockdown Observations – Nature Up Close

Long time ago I did hear that the melodious voice actually belongs to a male Koyal but never experienced it personally.

In March 2020, as the lockdown began, I stayed home surrounded by greenery. With life slowed down, I had the chance to watch nature more closely than ever. Anyways I like to be with nature or sit quietly at sea face then how I am supposed to leave this opportunity to stay attuned to the nature. Surrounded by greenery all over so waking up every morning with bird songs & their whistles is a normal phenomenon.

Right from the March beginning I started hearing Koyal’s melodious voice & the frequency was very high. After observing I realised it’s not one but there are four Koyal’s sitting on a branch of a tree next to my house & hiding themselves behind the leaves. I thought it must be two couples & was very happy that people can’t even see one Koyal & here I am watching 4 Koyal’s together.

While observing birds daily I realised there are two more birds having same size & which lookalike Koyal but instead of black colour it’s having a light greyish shade with white dots on it. Out of curiosity I search on Google & to my surprise I discovered the black colour bird is male Koyal & that light greyish bird is a female Koyal. I have not only seen them closely but have witnessed male Koyal producing those melodious voices & female Koyal voice sounds like "chi chi chi" in one go with low density.

Nothing is greater than witnessing & experiencing the nature’s beauty that you have only heard about. It’s really difficult to express your experience in words but one thing for sure that knowing something & experiencing something are two extremely different things.

I am sure a person who might have written this phrase in Sanskrit was well aware of the fact that the melodious sound belongs to the male Koyal because male names end with vowel A in Sanskrit & females names with I or EE. Such as Ram, Madhav, Shailesh or Kak, Pik & female names Madhavi, Minakshi, Sita or Radha etc.

So, the point is that, the melodious sound is being created by male Koyal to attract female Koyal for mating purpose but listening to that even human beings are charmed & get engrossed so much into it that they tend to forget everything for the moment.

You can barely listen to Koyal’s melodious voice after August; possibly they only possessed this quality during their mating period. After August they must be migrating to dense forest or may be just hiding on big trees so no one can see them.

Don’t you think that many a times we move forward in life holding wrong notions?  We tend to shout from our belly that whatever we know or think is the ultimate reality & there is nothing beyond that or no one can dare to challenge it, isn’t?

Isn’t the notion most of us are carrying for the decades that the melodious voice belongs to a female Koyal?

The Crow’s Silent Role in Nature

While the Koyal captivates us with its voice, the crow plays an equally vital though less celebrated role in sustaining life.

Trees are the natural providers of the oxygen but a Peepal tree keep emitting oxygen all the times & nearly double the quantity compared to any trees in the world.

Human can sow seeds to plant a tree & with a proper cultivation it develops into mighty tree. Many a times the seeds thrown elsewhere develop into a mighty tree by itself but surprisingly that’s not the case with Peepal tree.

You can get seeds for all the trees or the process to cultivate them into a tree but there are no seeds available for these two trees.

When a crow (None other than Crow) eats the soft fruits grown on those trees the seeds start processing in their stomach & wherever they drop their shit a tree starts growing over there.

You will surely understand how Peepal or Banyan tree grows on the rock or on a cemented building.

Same like Koyal even Crows have their breeding period from April till August & by the time kids grow up its almost September. Crow lays 6/7 eggs in span of 15/16 days & then incubate it for 18 days. In this period male Crow & their offspring from the earlier year make sure to get the food for the mother Crow.

After chicks are out of the eggs, it remains in the nest for the next 60 days till they grow. Only after their wings become strong enough to fly high, they are out of the nest & that’s the reason why we don’t see Crow chicks.

Koyaliya lays eggs in Crow’s nest & then she disappears so Crows does incubate her eggs as well. The nutrition’s which are needed for baby Koyal is very much available with Crow so they grow faster & flies away much before Crow can. So even if we have to compare both, even in that case Crow & Koyal’s chicks are being nurtured by Crows only. Then even that melodious voice credit goes to the one who nourishes Koyal.

In that period when chicks are growing it’s very much required to get the nutritious food otherwise it will be affecting the growth & without Crows Peepal & Banyan tree will be vanished from the nature for sure.

Our ancient sages were learned & compassionate beings. They knew these two trees has many benefits & are essential for the survival of many living beings. Possibly for the very reason they started offering foods to the Crows & the same good deeds became a yearly ritual performed in Hindu Dharma for the salvation of the ancestors who have passed away. According to Hindu calendar it takes place in Pitrupaksha in the month of Bhadrapada. In English calendar it appears in August to September.

If we are so grateful to the nature & taking care of its cycle then our ancestors are bound to get fulfilled & salvation for sure.

I have not linked the connection of Crow & Peepal tree just like that. I do have a proof & it’s well-known fact, even to modern science. In Hindu literature there are many Mantras’. One of the Mantra in Venkatesh Stotra, in 34^th row of the Marathi version you will read a text…

काक विष्ठेचे झाले पिंपळ,
तयासी निंद्य कोण म्हणे?

Kak vishtheche zale Pimpal,
tayasi nindya kon mhane?

Which means...
From crow droppings came the Peepal tree.
Who would dare call it unworthy?

Lessons Beyond Birds

Before completing writing, this blog I have invested approximately 50 days in observation, gathering information & cross checking its validity. I haven’t written this blog to tell you a childhood stories of Crow & Sparrows or Koyal.

Then what is the purpose of writing such a lengthy blog at all?

The ‘kuhu kuhu’ melodious voice that Koyal is making is to impress & attract Koyaliya for mating purpose. The magical voice rejuvenates the moods of the people listening to it but the poor Koyal is not aware of this otherwise he would have taken entertainment charges from the listeners or should have created his own orchestra to give public performance in all the areas one after another.

After processing Peepal trees the second-best thing that the Crow does is to clean up the garbage by eating them, which is created mainly by human beings. At the same time, he eats eggs of many birds which help in controlling their growth. In spite of eating dirt what he produces from his shit is Peepal tree. Without these trees entire nature cycle will go on a toss. Crow knowing this fact is highly impossible otherwise he would have calculated the number of trees planted in one area so that he can focus on another area. Or he would have demanded the ownership of those plantations & would have charged humans for that.

Why he should be giving so much of free oxygen to the people who don’t value it in anyway?

But that’s not the case. Koyal is neither aware of its magical voice nor is Crow aware of magic of his shit.

Conclusion – Trusting the Universe

Throughout lifetime we humans struggle a lot to create our identity which will appear special & also to know the purpose of our existence but most of the time it’s still unattainable even if they take birth thousands of times.

Rather than struggling so hard isn’t it possible to trust universe & fulfilling responsibilities wholeheartedly?

If someone tells Koyal about uniqueness of their magical voice, maybe they will get it but…
Again all the Koyal’s are gifted with the melodious voice so are they going to compete with each other to find who the best is?

And how you will define the best Crow? I am sure the one who eats lot of dirt & shits a lot should be the best.
Eating & shitting is a natural process, what’s so special in that?

Universe has made all of us so special & we are born with a particular purpose & once that purpose is accomplished, we are bound to die.

Instead of living life fully we struggle to know the purpose & if nothing works then we start comparing ourselves with others by completely ignoring the god gifted uniqueness.

The crow doesn’t know the power of its droppings.
The Koyal doesn’t realize the magic of its song.
And yet, both are indispensable to nature.

Crow & Koyal don’t have to struggle hard to live their life or to sustain what they have accomplished so far; they just live natural life.

Every creature including human beings on this planet earth does possess that instinct to live life fully but as a human being we are distinct from others as we possess ability to think & evaluate. We are so called ‘intellectual beings’, who should know everything, isn’t?

Maybe you will never understand the purpose of your life but that does not mean it doesn’t exist.

Rather than struggling to find the purpose of life, isn’t it better to trust universe to guide you in living the life the way it shows up & by continue honouring your responsibilities?

Perhaps that’s our lesson too. We don’t always need to struggle to define our purpose or compare ourselves with others. Instead, we can trust the universe, honour our responsibilities, and live fully.

Because in the end, every life, whether crow, Koyal, or human does have a meaning, whether we realize it or not.

Same Blog in Marathi - आयुष्याचा उद्देश माहित असायलाच हवा का?>>>

Blog by 'Life Coach & Business Mentor' Shailesh Tandel