On the tree outside Sonu’s house, there was a nest. A sparrow had recently laid her eggs in it. One day a terrible storm came as a result of which the nest fell down. One egg survived the storm. Sonu took pity on it. He picked up the egg along with the nest and brought it home. He thought that it would be safer here from wind and water. Next day, Sonu saw that the egg had cracked a bit and the little creature inside was struggling to come out. No wings were visible as yet and its body had barely taken shape. The skin too was loose. Sonu started looking very closely- The tiny bird tries to come out of the egg again and again but fails every time; it gets tired and becomes still and lies inside the egg for some time. It struggles once again only to become still again and lie inside the cracked egg. Little Sonu started thinking,”Can I help this tiny bird? If the poor little creature could come out of the egg, it would save him from a lot of trouble. How very weak it is.”Using a straw, Sonu widened the crack. The tiny bird shrank down a little bit. Sonu thought, “It is still unable to come out. I shall fully break open the egg.”
With the breaking of the egg, the question of coming out of the egg also came to an end. In the absence of the egg, there was nothing to come out from. It was the end of the struggle to come out. It meant the tiny bird was now unable to make any movements as its struggle had ended. It was lying motionless on the ground like a piece of flesh. It could not move. All his development had come to a halt. Now it was only a matter of waiting as death would wipe away tha last throbbing of life from it.

Sonu became very sad.”My help became the cause of his death”. If it had come out of the egg on its own, only then the power of life would have throbbed in it.
Sonu got a big lesson. ‘Any living being, no matter where he is-bound by the bonds of time and space, no matter in whatever adverse situation he finds himself, it is he who would have to make a sincere attempt to accumulate energy within himself and undergo the experience of attaining mental and physical development. All efforts to forge ahead with the help of wrong means (celeverness or recommendations) would only give rise to ‘samskaras’ of fear and weakness.
Greater the hurdle, bigger is the opportunity to accumulate energy. Harder the cage, safer is the opportunity to attempt and lesser is the fear of failure. It is easier to fight the enemy from a fort; fighting in an open field requires greater strength.
First of all, let us accumulate energy and strength while we are in bonds (our daily duties). The cleverness of running away from them, the attempts to forge ahead on the whims of one’s mind would only cripple a living being. If we willingly follow our bonds (duties) with intelligence then these very bonds would become the principles that would act as a strong shield against the five dangerous enemies of kama (desire), kroddha (anger), lobha (greed), moha (attachment), ahamkara (ego).