Yoga Vasihtyam of Ramayana is a paraphrasing by Maharshi Valmiki of Sage Vasishtya's wisdom. It weaves deep philosophies of the yore with stories and biographies of the Sage's acquaintances. While the stories are mostly about people like Janaka (not Sita's father), Prahlada et al., interestingly there is an exception when the Sage narrates his meeting with Bhushundi who is neither a human nor an animal we know. So the biography of Bhushundi stands out as a metaphor to us just as Vishnu Sarma's Panchatantra allegories.
Bhushundi is born of a crow called Chanda who is a vahana (vehicle) for a goddess in the servitude of Lord Siva called Alambusha. There is no need to confuse with the phrase Chanda-Sasana which means a draconian law or rule passed by Chanda. Nor kusala-chanda and damma-chanda in Budhism which apply to the desire to act. Bushundi's mother is a swan which is a vahana of Goddess Saraswati. Needless to say Bhushund's birth was meant to make history as there was none like him in the netherworld. In the American context, one can loosely translate to offspring from an inter-racial marriage.
Most of all Bhushundi could talk like a human and handle enormous information stored in his memory. Sage Vasishtya meets him atop Vindya mountain in a secluded area under a tree with golden leaves. Bhushundi tells the Sage how he managed to survive devolutions of the worlds at the end of dozens of Kalpas withstanding the powerful elements like fire, wind, etc. He says not just Lord Brahma, even Lords Vishnu and Siva also created the universe in various kalpas. The significance of this needs to be elaborated in the modern context.
When we boot our computers or smartphones there is what is called an operating system (OS) between us and the hardware. It is called by various names like Windows, Android, IOS, etc. It is both real and unreal because it has no physical existence except when its makers want to tweak it and give a newer version supposedly for better man-machine interface. These are what are called software updates that get installed on our machines and phones using internet or wireless connections in the background unbeknownst. The creator, similarly, creates a new Kalpa by tweaking the earlier one presumptuously to make the jivas' lives more happier than sorrowful. If we are lucky enough, our prior karma gets wiped out just as those of Lords Vishnu, Siva and Brahma.
Coming to Bhushundi, he was a master yogi who could do Pranayama (breathing exercises by modulating Pana or inhalation and Apana or exhalation with Rechaka, Kumbhaka, etc.). So the Sage diligently passes on the information to us for longevity and healthfulness. Bushunda, essentially lonely and hopeless without a mate or offspring, thinks the creator gave him a unique birth to serve a higher purpose and wants to fulfill it.
A surprising twist to the story is Bhushundi claims that he met the Sage several times before in each prior Kalpas sharing his story to be told in the Valmiki's Ramayana. He also enlightens the Sage that Lord Rama descended on earth several times in his long life. In other words, like the saying history repeats, some aspects of creation just repeat for no apparent reason presumably for the sake of beings like Bhushundi who were sidelined and serve as mascots of the creator's greatness in tweaking only the minor aspects of the creation keeping the prejudices or biases the same. Call it an old wine in a new bottle or an OS with the same bells and whistles with nuanced colors.
A deeper message is that a highly revered swan or called "hamsa" in Sanskrit, a la the modern day Sage Ramakrishna Parama Hamsa, and an ordinary crow feeding on refuge can generate offspring who are not just participants in making new history but witnesses of the world and most dear to the creator. For how else can the creator meld and weld the genetic codes that seem to come from a random mixing of species in a rave party (that's where Bushunda's parents got intoxicated as narrated by the Sage) and Darwin's theories of survival of the fittest just scratch the surface? As Frost said "Miles to Go" before the societies like America, divided along racial and color lines, have the forbearance to read and analyze the story of Bhushundi.
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