Ishwar Puri: “Once upon a time, there was a merchant who did import and export business. He used to carry things from India into Africa and bring some cashews and other fruits from Africa. Took Indian silks and sold there. Some kind of import-export business. And after his tour, once he went through a parrot jungle and saw many beautiful parrots there. So he said, “It is nice to take one parrot with me back home.” So he brought one parrot from Africa into India and fed the parrot his favorite food, you know, Choori and Mirch—(that means chilies and.. Choori?.. No translation). That’s a good food for the parrots. So the parrot was very happy singing, dancing in the cage and eating all the good food.
Next year when the merchant was going back to Africa he told his parrot, he said, “I am going to your homeland. Do you have any message to send to your people back there?” The parrot said, “Yes, tell them I am having a good time in this cage. I laugh, dance, I eat good Choori and I eat good chilies and I am very happy.” So the merchant went, and after finishing his work, he went to that forest and called all the parrots. He said, “I have a message for you. You remember I took one parrot to India, and he is sending a message to you. He says he is enjoying himself in the cage. He eats Choori and dances, sings and enjoys his chilies.” On hearing this one older parrot sitting near a branch had tears in his eyes and he fell down dead.
This merchant was very sad. “This parrot must be very close to the parrot I took with me and therefore he felt sad.” But he came back. Then he told the parrot in the cage, “I carried your message. I told those parrots that you are enjoying your life in the cage and you are singing, dancing, eating Choori and chilies, but hearing this one older parrot had tears in his eyes and he fell down dead. Must be very close to you.” Hearing this the parrot in the cage had tears in his eyes, and he fell dead. He said, “Oh, foolish merchant. If you knew they were so close to each other, why did you convey this message?”
Anyway, the parrot was dead, so he opened the cage and threw the bird out. As soon as he threw the bird out, the parrot opened wings and flew up. He said, “So you aren’t dead after all?” He said, “No, nor is the other one dead. He just sent me a message. The message was: ‘If you want to get out of the cage, you must die while living.’”
So these are stories, you know, to emphasize the same point. If you want to get anything real, then you have to die while living. That means to experience the withdrawal of your life current, from the extremities back to the eye center, the third eye center and then the tenth door will open.”