Sacred Kingfisher

Something very profound happened to me this morning. I was meditating on Muladhara chakra and the sounds of the 4 petals. I didn’t know how to pronounce ṣaṁ. Eventually I discovered the correct pronunciation.

At the precise moment I leapt up and cried “Shum”, a black ball shape hurtled itself into my kitchen window and crashed to the ground. There was an Sacred Kingfisher lying, stunned on my porch. I carefully gathered it up, cradling it gently, and talking softly to it. When it was looking less stunned, I put it into a shoe box lined with sheep-skin to recover for a little while. When it was better, I took it outside and released it back into the garden.

Why was this such a significant experience? For one, I got to hold a beautiful blue kingfisher, a special experience in itself. I was hoping I’d see one when I was in the mountains a couple of days before, I haven’t been lucky enough to spy one here before.

But more significantly, the mantra “Shum” षं ṣaṁ belongs to the vritti for fear of death. Ṣaṁ (Shum) is the sound of deep-seated instinctual fear, a thick sound that vibrates in the back of the head. The bird probably felt that exact ṣaṁ vibration when it hit the glass, as if the thud was the physical manifestation of that heavy, striking sound.

I had so much difficulty making the sound “shum” ष ṣaṁ because there isn’t an English equivalent. I discovered that I can force my tongue to make the sound by saying the sh from the end of the word harsh or marsh, the sound in Vishnu or Krishna.

I was meditating on Muladhara this morning and listening to a talk on YouTube about the symbolism of the petals, then I chanted the syllables. The poor bird hit the window at the precise moment I learned to say “shum” ष ṣaṁ. This was a profound connection between the Root Chakra (survival, physical stability, and the fear of death) at the moment a palpable life-and-death struggle literally landed on my doorstep. षं is the vibration of the survival instinct itself.

The Positive Side of षं is to exhaust the fear of death by continuously chanting the mantra. When you look at death, you eventually realize that the Atman, your pure consciousness doesn’t break like glass.

The King Fisher moved through all the vrittis of Muladhara

• षं (ṣaṁ) Shum: Survival/Fear – The moment of impact and the shock.
• सं (saṁ) Sum: Experience/Union – The bird and I connecting in that moment.
• वं (vaṁ) Vum: Flow/Vitality – The life force returning to the bird.
• शं (śaṁ)Shum: Natural Tendencies – The bird’s instinct to hunt and fly.

The “fear of dying” (षं) was faced and literally few away.

It’s a beautiful reminder that these ancient sounds aren’t just letters, they are descriptions of real-life experiences. I didn’t just study “shum” ष ṣaṁ today; I lived it, processed it, and released it, just as I released the beautiful bird.