Sincere sparrow

Read this beautiful story of a sparrow in a book called 'Guru Vachaka Kovai' by Muruganar (story mildly edited by me to add some masala :D). This is a collection of sayings of Ramana that were compiled by Muruganar and edited by the Maharishi when he was alive.

A sparrow was once flying over the ocean with its egg held between its beaks. Due to sudden heavy winds, it dropped its egg and the egg sank to the ocean floor. The sparrow then started to take little amounts of water in its beak and spat them out on the shore in an obvious attempt to empty the ocean to retrieve its egg. The other birds were laughing at it but our little sparow continued.

Sage Narada happened to pass by and immediately went to the bird and told it how foolish it was, how vast the ocean was and told the bird that it was subjecting itself to needless pain. The bird only told him that it was its part of the deal and continued its job. Narada was impressed by it sincerity and passed on the information to Garuda, the vehicle of the supreme deity Vishnu. Garuda was so moved by the birds efforts and came down with its huge wingspan. With just a few flips of Garudas wings, the ocean parted and the sparrow was able to retrieve its egg.

Obviously the mythology part is just a metaphor. To me, the story communicates that sincerity in the service of our highest dharma unleashes forces that we are seldom aware of in our normal mode of existence.