द्वा सुपर्णा सयुजा सखाया समानं वृक्षं परिषस्वजाते ।
तयोरन्यः पिप्पलं स्वाद्वत्त्यनश्नन्नन्यो अभिचाकशीति ॥
समाने वृक्षे पुरुषो निमग्नोऽनिशया शोचति मुह्यमानः ।
जुष्टं यदा पश्यत्यन्यमीशमस्य महिमानमिति वीतशोकः ॥
dvā suparṇā sayujā sakhāyā samānaṁ vṛkṣaṁ pariṣasvajāte |
tayor anyaḥ pippalaṁ svādv atty anaśnann anyo abhicākaśīti ||
samāne vṛkṣe puruṣo nimagno’niśayā śocati muhyamānaḥ |
juṣṭaṁ yadā paśyaty anyam īśam asya mahimānam iti vīta-śokaḥ ||
(Muṇḍaka Upaniṣad: 3.1.1–2)
“Two birds of beautiful plumage,
Ever-united in friendship,
Perch on the same tree.
Among them,
One eats the tasty berry [of the tree],
And the other, not eating, watches over [the first].
On the same tree,
The puruṣa [i.e., the embodied living entity], absorbed,
Laments because of [his] powerlessness, being deluded.
When he sees the other, the Lord, satisfied, and his [i.e., the Lord’s] greatness,
He becomes free from lamentation.”
Commentary
The first bird represents the jīvātmā bewildered by māyā and entangled in saṁsāra. The second bird represents the Paramātmā, who is beyond the deluding influence of māyā. The tree represents the subtle body (liṅga-śarīra) in which the jīvātmā is enveloped and which is the locus of vāsanās produced by karma as a result of desires (kāma) based on ignorance (avidyā). The fruits of the tree are the experiences of happiness and suffering a jīvātmā has as a result of vāsanās, karma, desires, and ignorance. The second bird, Paramātmā, does not eat these fruits because his nature is forever free from and untainted by māyā. He thus simply observes the jīvātmā eating them, and his glance enables the jīvātmā to both eat these fruits and transcend them when the jīvātmā seeks to do so.
The jīvātmā’s absorption refers to identification with the subtle and gross bodies and with notions of being happy and miserable as a result of undergoing karmic reactions based on desires (kāma) rooted in ignorance (avidyā). When the jīvātmā sees it is unable to prevent or remove causes of suffering, such as the loss of a loved one, it feels powerless and poor, and thus laments in delusion. When the jīvātmā sees the other bird, the Lord, Paramātmā, who is satisfied by virtue of being free from all such absorption, lamentation, and delusion that the jīvātmā is suffering through, and so also possessed of the greatness of being constituted inherently of eternal consciousness and bliss, and the greatness of being the all-pervading cause and sustainer of all jīvātmās, then the jīvātmā becomes free from sorrow by virtue of giving up its delusion and experiencing the Paramātmā.
This explanation is loosely based on the commentary of Śaṅkarācārya on Muṇḍaka Upaniṣad.