Chapter 4. Three temples One river

So many thoughts flowing inside our minds, so many small waves within, so many emotions of happiness and anger and love and greed but just one single destination, one single breath. Human flows in all directions yet forgets the very beauty of his existence, forgets the very way he breaths.Amrit can listen the voices of river Ganga around him as he stares intently at Devi Ganga sitting in front of him in the boat. The Devi's eyes speak rather her lips because as she looks into the sky a flock of sparrows appear from nowhere and fly from one side to the other, as she looks at the sun, it begins to set, as she looks at the river water small Diyas(oil lamps) placed on leaves appear and flow towards infinity, as she looks at the ghats, the pujaris(priests) of Varanasi begin the Aarti. The sight is astonishingly beautiful, several Pujaris with the Deepam held in their hands are moving their hands up and down in the rhythmic tunes of the Bhajan(devotional songs), temple bells enthralling the hearts of all the devotees and Ma Ganga herself watching the Aarti sitting in the boat with our very own Amrit! Amrit's eyes contain the deepam held in the hands of the priests, his heart singing the bhajans and his soul united with the river.

"What is the key Amrit?", Ma Ganga asks in the middle of the Aarti. Amrit absolutely clueless about what Ma Ganga was talking about and still in the mood of enchanted spirits from the Aarti replies,"Which key? What are you talking about?"

"The key to the temples of Kaal Bhairav, Sankat Mochan and Kashi Vishwanath.."

"I dont know about any such key O devi...I'm a Doctor and I have no idea of what you are saying and asking for, I even dont know how I landed here in Varanasi, I was in my Nursing home back in Mumbai!"

"You know everything Amrit, do you realise it? This is your journey and you must find out the key. It's evening now and tomorrow the temples have to start letting in devotees again but for that you must first open the gates with the key.. Find the key Amrit!"

Amrit took a deep breath, "Will you not come with me?"

Ma Ganga did not say a word, she just smiles and begin to enjoy the Aarti again. Amrit did not understand what her smile meant, he did not understand what the key was, all he understood was that he had evrything but he had to realise the depths, it was his journey and he had to find the answers somehow. The boat approached the Dashashawmedh Ghat gradually. Amrit bend down to touch Ma Ganga's feet, as he rose up he felt divine drops of River Ganga on his forehead. A clue maybe, it was not the river water, it was the very emotion of the motherhood of Ganga which manifested in the form of the drops on his forehead. He gets off the boat and begins to walk on the Ghat, walk on the paths of his journey of self exploration.

He walks past Saints and devotees and priests in the evening looking for answers. He observes something from the corner of his eyes, a small narrow passage arising near one of the pillars of the Ghat. He walks towards it and is amazed to find not one single human being near it in comparison to the dense poplulation on the other parts of the Ghat. The passage is made up of small bricks of a peculiar greyish colour. The alley slopes down, that is what he sees from the top at its beginning. He begins to walk down. The depth he had estimated from the top was much more than expected, upon reaching the base he could barely see the top and the area of the Ghat around. He takes every step with caution as it is dark down here. He isn't afraid of the dark but surely his heart is beating fast. He closes his eyes and says to himself,O Ma Ganga guide me, it is through your light that I can find the key. The moment he says this something magical happens, the bricks within his feet, the same grey bricks begin to shine as soon as he steps on any one of them, as he moves forward each brick on which he steps one by one emanates white light. He is more confident now, not because he discovered some kind of Magic but because he had discovered the name of Ma Ganga in his subconscious mind.

The path on which he walked diverged into three individual roads. The first question he asked himself was,where was he walking? Beneath the city of Varanasi?Yes, he was right because above him he did sense vibrations of vehicles and people and the vibe of the city. Only with some close observation one would understand that the single road and the three divergent roads formed the shape of a Trishul(trident-Shiva's weapon). He begins to walk on the first one. Steps of his journey beneath the city of Varanasi, steps of his journey towards finding himself, steps of his journey towards the knowledge of the key. One point came when there was nothing beyond, a huge wall in front made up of the same bricks as the ones on which he stood. He looked up, there was silence, no people, no vehicles, no city hustle. Then came the voice from above,the voice was heavy shrill yet deep, "I am The Kotwal(protector, policeman) of Varanasi Kaal Bhairav , may I ask you what are you doing here?"

"Err...well I'm here with the key..",though he was still unaware of what the key was, in his fear he uttered those words.

"Oh! Do you have the keys? That is nice to hear. I too want the keys you see, I want to give Darshan(to meet and bless the pilgrims) to my devoteeas.. So where are the keys?"

Now Amrit was very scared, he was wondering what the key to the Kal Bhairav temple was. He begins to assess his thought flow and aligns them, synchronises them with the very question of the Kotwal, the great protector Kal Bhairav. He smiles, the answer is in the words of Kal Bhairav himself, he wants to give Darshan to the devotees.

He closes his eyes and answers," The key is my Devotion Oh Kal Bhairav, that devotion is so powerful and pure that not only it brings me to you but also it makes you eager to meet me"

No voice answers back from above but the brick in the wall in front of him glows in the same way with the white light as he had seen while walking on the bricks of the road, but this time the light is so bright that he his barely able to see anything. Ah! Look ...The wall is there no more, there is only light, no wall, the Key was right, Kal Bhairav temple is open for devotees, so is Varanasi.

Walking back there is a smile of contentment on Amrit's face. He still has to find the keys of the Kashi Vishwanath temple and the Sankat mochan temple but he is more confident now that he can achieve things by slidig into the depths of his own soul's connection with the god. There he was now on the other endpoint of the second path, facing a similar wall. This time the voice that came was more jolly and high spirited,"Hahaha... Balak(son), what are you doing here?"

Amrit doesn't feel the level of fear and anxiety that he experienced while encountering Kal Bhairav.

He replies, " I am here to touch your feet O lord and get your blessings"

"..But for that you need to have the key Balak, and the key is the answer to my upcoming question"

"I'm ready to answer the question my lord"

"So Balak..Tell me who Am I?"

The confidence which Amrit had gained and the optimism with which he had stood there was shattered. It appeared to be a very complex question. Amrit kept his hand on his chest and went into self introspection.The question which the lord had just asked, was it a question or was it a statement?Who am I? Who am I. The dots connected and Amrit couldn't hold back his tears. He answered, " I asked the same question to myself to answer it My lord...Which means that you and I are the same, the ultimate, the pure, the bliss, we are one, the one, the epitome of power and devotion, Sankatmochan Hanuman", what followed next was the same which had happened with the first wall, light light and light.

He stood in front of the third and the last wall now. He had walked so much that his legs ached badly, but the ache in his soul which had build over the years was gone. There came the voice which was like the depths of the Himalayan mountains, cold and calm, blissful yet sharp, "Baba Kashi Vishwanath, Shiva Shankar welcomes you Amrit. I know you, you know me but do you know the place from where the holy Ganga arises?"

Amrit knew the answer, he had read it in his geography tectbook in his school days but he was a bit shocked that how come the question was so simple.

He answered, " from the Gangotri gaciers"

He waited and nothing happened. He wondered what went wrong. So dejected was he that he made up his mind to walk back to Dashashwamedh Ghat and find Ma Ganga and tell her that he couldn't find the last key. Then he realised something. He was to walk back from beneath the Kashi Vishwanath Mandir back to Ma Ganga, from the origin to the flow, he got the answer.

" Baba Shankar. Ma Ganga is the very superconscious of your light. She is the reflection of your depths who took form through the beauty of your sense of the Atman(soul). She is the river which arises from the bun of your hair, and O Baba Shankar your knowledge overflows from your own head , Ma Ganga arises from you!", the last wall shone with light but something more interesting followed, he sensed water below his feet. The wall vanished and from the space came water flowing with great speed, surprisingly there was a small boat in it too, into which Amrit climbed, his feet strerched now find relief. Amrit could not see, but from the other walls too there came humongous amounts of water. The trident of Paths was filled with River Ganga, river Ganga flowing benath Varanasi, beneath the depths of Amrit. His boat moves ahead, reaches the point of divergence, crosses it, flows through the common path and then halts at the bottom point of the street that had led him down from the Dashashawmedh Ghat.Amrit closes his eyes and once again remebers Ma Ganga, so innocent that he ignores that he was in Ganga itself.

He opens his eyes, it is early morning. He is in the boat sitting in front of Ma Ganga who is smiling.The Ghat is comparitively empty as compared to the evening time,just few saints here and there meditating. The sky is about to experience sunrise and some red rays reaching parts of the sky too. "Did you find the keys Amrit?" Amrit is now staring into the eyes of Ma Ganga. His journey was so beautiful, was his journey beautiful or was It the beauty of Ma Ganga. Amrit bend down to once again let his forehead touch Ma Ganga's feet.Amrit makes his head rise from his desk and stares at the ceiling of his cabin which is not leaking anymore. The chair in front of him is empty. He sees his phone, It is 6 am, 17 missed calls from Meera, he had spend the whole night in his nursing home. There is also a message from Meera, " Where are you? We are all worried. I guess it must be some emergenices there. Mummyji and Papaji were insisting for a trip to Mathura, do come home and we will discuss about it, long time we all went together somewhere.."

(to be continued.......)