dvā suparṇā sayujā sakhāyā samānaṃ vṛkṣaṃ pariṣasvajāte | tayor anyaḥ pippalaṃ svādv atty anaśnann anyo abhicākaśīti ||
"Two birds, inseparable companions, cling to the very same tree. One of them eats the sweet pippala fruit; the other does not eat at all, but simply looks on."
What This Means:
Imagine two birds perched together on one branch. One is busy eating the sweet fruit, caught up in the taste and the activity of it. The other bird just sits quietly and watches, untouched by any of it. This is one of the most loved pictures in all of Hindu scripture for what it feels like to be a human being.
Going Deeper:
The tree is the body (or the whole of nature), and the two birds are the individual self that "eats", enjoying and suffering the fruits of experience and action, and the supreme Self (Brahman/Ishvara) that abides as the silent, ever-free witness; in Vedanta they are "inseparable companions" because the witnessing Self is your own deepest reality, never actually bound by what the experiencing self goes through.
How To Apply This:
In any strong pleasure or pain, gently step back into the role of the watching bird, notice the experience arising and passing instead of being swallowed by it.
Key Sanskrit Terms: