Once upon a time, a sparrow laid her eggs on the shore of the ocean, but the big ocean carried away the eggs on its waves. The sparrow became very upset and asked the ocean to return her eggs. The ocean simply ignored her and did not consider her appeal.
Finally the sparrow decided to dry up the ocean. She began to pick out the water in her small beak. Some little birds saw this and asked, ” What are you doing? ” The sparrow replied, ” I will dry up the ocean if he doesn’t return our eggs.
The little birds thought it was a noble task and they joined it. They also started taking out water from ocean drop by drop. The news of this effort reached to powerful Garuda, personal carrier of Lord Vishnu. So Garuda came to the spot and inquired about her effort.
Garuda became very compassionate toward the small sparrow. Garuda at once asked the ocean to return her eggs lest he himself take up the work of sparrow. The ocean was frightened at this and returned the eggs. Thus the sparrow became happy by grace of Garuda.
Moral of the story:
We must be determined on our spiritual path like small sparrow. In our devotional life, we may find very big hindrance or sometimes any impossible part to cross over but the Lord seeing our determination will definitely come to help.
Moral virtues: Determination, diligence
Reference: The Path of Perfection, Chapter 5.