This is the story of a bird, who was living in very bad conditions in the desert. It had no wings left, there was no drinking water around it, it was in such a condition that it could die any time. One day it saw Garuda ji flying in the sky, so it called out to Garuda ji.
Lord Vishnu's vehicle Garuda ji came and asked that bird how did you get into this condition, how did you come here?
Then that bird said that one day I lost my way while flying, and got stuck here, there is neither a drop of water here, nor my wings are left, now I don't know whether I will be able to return from here to my home or not.
The bird asked Garuda ji that where are you going now, Garuda ji said that I am going to heaven. Then that bird said to Garuda ji that will you ask about me there, what will happen to me? You don't ask them when will I be able to come to heaven, you just ask how long will I have to live in this condition?
Now as soon as Garuda ji reached heaven, he met the angel, so he asked the angel that you tell me one thing that just now when I was flying from the earth to heaven, I found a bird in a very miserable condition in the desert, which has been suffering in the desert for many days after losing its way.
Now neither does it have a single feather left, nor is there anything to eat around it and neither is there a single drop of water visible far and wide. They asked why he is in such a state? He doesn't have even a single wing left to fly somewhere else, he is in a state of dying in the desert.
The angels said that he is suffering the consequences of his deeds, he has been sentenced to seven years, and will have to live in this state for seven years. For seven years he will neither die nor will be able to do anything, he will have to live in this state.
Garuda ji said that this is a very bad thing, if he comes to know about this, he will die thinking that he has to live like this for seven years. They said that you tell me if there is any solution to this, then the angels said that there is only one solution, you tell him that no matter in what condition he is, he should keep saying thank you God. Keep repeating this again and again.
Now when Garuda came back to earth, he went to that bird and told it that he had asked about it in heaven. It was said that no matter what condition you are in, you have to keep saying this again and again that thank you God. The bird said that it is okay.
Garuda was flying from there again after seven-eight days and he saw that some small plants had grown in the desert area. There was a small pond nearby which was filled with water and the bird had also grown small wings. He could not understand how all this happened.
He went to heaven and asked the angels that what happened? You were saying that the bird will have to live in this condition for seven years but it has been only seven-eight days and its wings have grown and there is greenery all around and the dry pond is filled with water.
Then the angels said that this happened because even if that bird fell on hot sand, it would still say thank you God, even if it was hungry, it would still say thank you God, even if it was thirsty, it would still say thank you God. In this way, it was thanking God in every situation. God is very kind, and no matter how much pain that bird was in, it thanked God in every situation, and seeing this, God felt very kind towards it, and he reduced its punishment of seven years to just seven days.
From this story, we learn that whatever we have, however much we have, we should keep thanking God for it every moment, because the comforts and luxuries that God has provided to us, maybe no one else has as much comforts as we have.
