The Story of Bhushunda the Crow
Vasishtha narrates to Rama his meeting with Bhushunda, an immensely long-lived crow who lives in a nest in the wish-fulfilling tree on Mount Meru.
Vasishtha tells Rama that once, while in the assembly of the gods, he heard of a crow named Bhushunda who has lived longer than anyone in heaven. Curious, Vasishtha travels to Mount Meru and finds Bhushunda in his nest in a wish-fulfilling tree on the mountain's peak. The crow welcomes him warmly and, questioned by Vasishtha, tells his own history: he was one of twenty-one brothers hatched from eggs laid by their mother Chanda after a divine festival, and he chose solitary meditation on Meru's peak over worldly life.
Bhushunda explains how he has survived through many cosmic ages and repeated dissolutions of the world, describing what he remembers of the rise and fall of kingdoms, mountains, and gods across the ages, and how, through steady control of the breath (prana and apana) joined with self-knowledge, his mind stays undisturbed by pleasure, pain, danger, or the destruction of the universe itself. He recounts how his brothers, though also long-lived, eventually died, while he alone remains, sustained by equanimity rather than by any special power. Vasishtha, having heard the whole account, then tells Rama that anyone who takes up the same breath-discipline and even-minded vision can reach the state Bhushunda has reached, and reports that this crow still lived, even now, in Rama's own era.
तस्मिन्निवसति श्रीमान्भुशुण्डो नाम वायसः । वीतरागो बृहत्कोशे ब्रह्मेव निजपङ्कजे ॥ ८ ॥
In that nest lives a glorious crow named Bhushunda, free from craving, resting in that great hollow like Brahma seated in his own lotus.
उस घोंसले में भुशुण्ड नाम का एक तेजस्वी कौआ रहता है, वह किसी लालसा से मुक्त है, उस बड़ी खोह में वैसे ही टिका है जैसे ब्रह्मा अपने ही कमल में बैठे हों।
एतावताथ कालेन सर्व एव ममानुजाः । तनूस्तृणमिव त्यक्त्वा शिवे परिणताः पदे ॥ ९ ॥
In all this time, every one of my younger brothers has dropped his body like a blade of grass, and has passed into the blessed state.
इतने समय में, मेरे सारे छोटे भाइयों ने अपने शरीर को घास के तिनके की तरह छोड़ दिया है, और वे शुभ अवस्था को पा गए हैं।
भुशुण्ड उवाच । यदा पपात कल्पान्ते व्यवहारो जगत्स्थितौ । कृतघ्न इव सन्मित्रं तदा नीडं त्यजाम्यहम् ॥ १५ ॥
Bhushunda said: When, at the end of the age, the working order of the world collapses, then, like an ungrateful man deserting a true friend, I leave my nest.
भुशुण्ड ने कहा: जब युग के अंत में संसार की व्यवस्था बिखर जाती है, तब मैं भी, किसी कृतघ्न व्यक्ति के अपने सच्चे मित्र को छोड़ने जैसा, अपना घोंसला छोड़ देता हूँ।
इति संकथितं चित्रं भुशुण्डोदन्तमुत्तमम् । श्रुत्वा विचार्य चैवान्तर्यद्युक्तं तत्समाचर ॥ २० ॥
This is the wonderful and excellent story of Bhushunda that I have told you. Now that you have heard it, think it over in your own mind, and do whatever is right.
यह भुशुण्ड की वह अद्भुत और उत्तम कहानी है जो मैंने आपको सुनाई। अब जब आपने इसे सुन लिया है, तो इसे अपने मन में सोचिए, और जो उचित हो वही कीजिए।
Read it in full
The story runs through chapters 14–28 of Book 6. Each chapter has the Sanskrit in Devanagari and IAST beside a plain English and Hindi translation of every verse. The number under each chapter is its verse count.