a short story
** read: 4½ minutes ••
Naughty Krishna holding a piece of candy
R
ama Das strolled along a path in the park, chanting Haré Krishna. Suddenly he stopped. From the grass came a sound like someone whistling a long note, but high pitched and shrill.
Rama took a few more steps. A baby robin was lying at the base of a tree. It had fallen out of the nest and was crying out for its parents.
Rama smiled. “Haré Krishna, little buddy. Did you fall?”
He bent down to pick it up when a woman shouted, “Stop! Don’t touch it! Don’t touch it!”
He looked up. A woman with a cane was hurrying toward him. In a few seconds she was next to him puffing and trying to catch her breath. She ran a hand through her fluffy white hair then adjusted her pink-rimmed glasses. She smelled faintly of perfume.
“Don’t touch it,” she said, still out of breath. “The mother will smell the human scent and reject the baby.”
Rama smiled. “Unlikely, Ma’am. Birds don’t have a keen sense of smell. And there’s a strong bond between a mother bird and her babies.”
Rama bent down again to pick up the bird, but it ran away. Rama caught up with it and picked it up in his half-open hands.. The bird flapped its wings and chirped a short note.
Rama smiled. “Easy, easy there, little soul,” he half-whispered. “I’m not going to hurt you.”
The bird turned around and settled down. Rama felt the soft young feathers and the tiny warm body moving in his hands. The bird called for its mother again.
The woman reached up and patted her hair. “You have a way with creatures. You calmed him right down.”
The bird fluttered its wings and called out again.
“But still, it’s not a real bond,” the woman continued. “Birds don’t have the same feelings we do. It’s instinct.”
“Our scripture, the Bhagavad-Gita, says they do have the same feelings. You can see the equality of all beings by comparing their pleasures and pains to your own. ”
“I see you’re a Haré Krishna. And this is your Indian religion. But I’m a Christian.”
Rama nodded. “Just give me a second while I put the bird back in the nest.”
“No! The mother will just push it out.” The woman raised her cane and shook it.
Rama took a step back. “Please don’t threaten me with your cane, Mrs…uh…Mrs…”
“Johnson. Estelle Johnson.”
“You want me to leave this poor creature out here to be lunch for some cat? Have a little compassion. And think of the mother too. You can see they are souls like us because they have the same feelings we do.”
Estelle waved her hand disparagingly. “That’s your Krishna religion.”
“No. Just listen to me for a second. It has nothing to do with religion. Every living being dies. Right? Human or bird. This religion or that religion. The life force separates from the body. That life force is the soul. It’s in every living being. Can you deny that?”
“Well, I guess not.”
“You saw the baby panic then calm down. That’s feeling, the same as us. And if you think the mother will reject the baby, then you admit the mother has feelings. If she can reject the baby, then she can love the baby too. like us.”
“It’s just instinct.”
“How can you tell if another person has feelings?”
“Another person is the same as me, but the bird is not. The bird has no intelligence.”
“A newborn baby has less intelligence than the bird. Does that mean he has no feelings? No soul? Now just let me put this little fellow back in the nest. He’s crying for his mom, like we once did.”
“Don’t you dare!” Estelle raised her cane again.
“Please put your cane down, Mrs. Johnson. I’ve got the baby bird in my hands.”
He reached up to put it in the nest, but the nest was just a bit too high. He had to stand on his toes and stretch his arms to the limit. Even so, it took a few attempts before he could finally get the bird in the nest with its siblings.
“There you go, sweetie. Back home. How does it feel?”
He turned to Estelle. “Some kind person has put a barrier around the nest to keep the cats and squirrels away.”
“Might be my daughter. She does things like that. But the barrier won’t stop the mother from pushing out the baby. Just wait. You’ll see.”
Then the other parent bird came flying in holding a worm in its mouth. All the baby birds in the nest opened their mouths wide.The parent fed the worm to the baby that Rama had just put back.
Rama turned to Estelle. “Did you see that? They do have the same feelings. They do have a soul like us.”
Estelle’s face turned red. She thumped the tip of her cane on the ground. “Don’t think you’re so smart, young man. It’s just luck, that’s all.” She turned and stormed away, muttering to herself.
Rama looked up at the nest and waved at the birds. “Haré Krishna, little souls. Hope you’re feeling good.”
Then he turned and went on his way, singing softly, “Haré Krishna, Haré Krishna…”
⁓Umapati Swami July 8, 2026
Eternally touching my head to the floor at the lotus feet of my spiritual master, Srila Prabhupada.
Notes:
The Hare Krishna Mantra: Haré Krishna, Haré Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Haré Haré / Haré Rama, Haré Rama, Rama Rama, Haré Haré.
All characters in this story are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead is purely coincidental.
The opinions expressed in this article are my own and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of any organization or any other person.
Scriptural passages © Bhaktivedanta Book Trust
Photo top: Naughty Krishna holding a piece of candy (Jishnu Das)
Links:
L
ove it? Hate it? Got a question? Write to me: hoswami@yahoo.com
© Umapati Swami 2026
Srila Prabhupada
His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada is the teacher who brought Krishna Consciousness from India to the West and then to the rest of the world. He is the founder of the worldwide Hare Krishna Movement as well as the author and compiler of many works of Vedic knowledge. He left this world in 1977.
Umapati Swami
One of the first American devotees of the Hare Krishna Movement, he became Srila Prabhupada’s disciple in 1966. Since then, he has preached Krishna Consciousness in many countries and is the author of “My Days with Prabhupada,” available from Amazon. Now 89 years old, he maintains this blog to share what he has learned.
