Question: Why do I like crows so much?

Sri Chinmoy: In Russia they like crows; they feel that crows bring good luck. According to Indian tradition, the crow is very stupid. If a crow wants to hide a jewel, he keeps his eyes closed, thinking that if he does not see the jewel, then other birds will not be able to see it either. So much wisdom the crow has!

In Indian villages, it is said that when a crow flies overhead, it means that some calamity is about to take place in your life. Either somebody in your family is going die or some other unfortunate thing will occur.

When I was a young boy, there were many trees in front of our house. Two or three days before my father died, a crow would come to a very tall tree that stood by our house and cry pitifully, sometimes for ten or fifteen minutes at a time. In our case, it was quite obvious what calamity was about to take place. My father was so sick, and we all knew it was only a matter of days. So the crow was acting in accordance with Indian village tradition.

You can view this in two ways. One way is to take the crow as a bad omen and say to the crow, “Do you have to tell me that my father is dying?” Then you get mad and throw stones to make it fly away, but the crow only comes back. Another way is to feel that the crow is doing you a favour by warning you that something bad is about to take place. Then you can be more careful and alert. Now I feel it is a blessing if somebody tells me some calamity may take place, for I can pray and meditate and use my will-power to prevent it from happening. But in those days I did not have that attitude; I only surrendered to the unfortunate experience.