The Bent Feather
The peacock was never decoration.
It learned to eat venom
and answer with colour.
Skanda sat on it.
Not for glory
for containment.
Before grace,
there is discipline.
Before music,
there is tuning.
Fire rises first as threat.
If you cannot sit on it,
it will ride you.
Skanda did not ask the serpent to behave.
He trained it
until rage learned posture,
until desire learned direction.
Only then
does the feather move upward.
Krishna does not ride the peacock.
He places it on his head.
Notice the bend.
Power has arrived
and no longer needs to climb.
When he danced on Kaliya,
he did not kill poison.
He corrected its address.
The river healed
because the serpent learned
where to rest.
This is the mistake of the impatient
they want the feather
without surviving the mount.
They quote play
before earning stillness.
But the order does not forgive confusion.
First,
you become capable of sitting on fire.
Then,
fire agrees to sit quietly
inside awareness.
Skanda is not separate from Krishna.
He is the phase
where effort still burns.
Krishna is what remains
when burning is no longer necessary.
A sadhaka who skips the peacock
does not reach sweetness.
He spills venom everywhere
and calls it devotion.
Eat the poison fully.
Digest it without spectacle.
Then
wear the colour
without needing to be seen
- By Manansh Ahuja Shisya of Gurudev Shri Praveen Radhakrishnan