Chapter 10. CONTEMPLATING COSMOS

 

Amrit. The essence of eternity held the breath still. Behind a whole universe of fears and attachments and greed, in front a journey unknown, an unpredictable future and within a lamp that was always there, shines purity of Ma presently and shall continue to do so even in future come what may. Was he alone? Yes, he was always alone, all the hustle around was just an illusion. He was alone but he was "Whole", firstly because he didn't need anyone and secondly because the devotion for Ma was radiating from every particle of his soul. 

Where was he? He was in the middle of a journey, a journey which started a million years back. The sky was filled with stars and the trees around were glowing magically, radiating a golden brilliance around them. There were almost a hundred such trees around him extending till the farthest point he could see. The leaf cover was dense and hence in the dark only the sweet chirps of the nightingales were heard, the birds themselves were not visible. Similarly Amrit could not see himself, all he could see was his soul blending with the night, in the magic of the forest. He walks slowly towards one of the trees, taking every step with care. The glowing tree seems to be smiling with warmth as if it was some human. Amrit senses the connect, the connect with nature and gradually touches the the tree bark. The moment he does so his hands better  visible as the glow which surrounded the tree extends itself to outline the margins of his hands now. What am I made of and what are you made of? Are we made of the same substance? If yes then why didn’t we have the same light before? Or is it that we were not close enough? Amrit looks at his hand intently and a nightingale from the tree top elegantly flies down and gently lands on his hand. It has that golden light too now. In that ecstatic moment Amrit begins humming a tone, much to his awe the nightingale starts singing and the enthralling song resonates with the tune he is humming. What is the difference between your voice and my voice? Or are they just one single voice? The bird continues to sing and takes a flight. It flies in the endless sky and crosses the area of the trees to reach the village. It is difficult for Amrit to keep track of it and its voice but he manages to follow it. Walking briskly in the forest he has now lost the sight of the bird but he also finds that the density of the trees has decreased and he is about to exit the area of the Magical trees. Finally the last set of trees come and as he takes a few more steps he is startled to see an ancient village in front of him. He realises that he is on a plateau and the village is around a mile from the ground. Small houses made up of mud, a huge temple in the centre made up of white Marble with the shikhara(top) made up of gold and a well at the outskirts. He is surprised to not see a single human there. “Maybe they must be all asleep”, he wonders and begins his way down. As he walks closer to the village he notices that on the top of the temple there is a bell with a string attached to it. He now sees the nightingale flying around it. The wind blows and the bell moves and a bong is heard. The doors of the houses open and from each house people start coming out, all dressed in white robes. They all seem to be racing towards the temple now. Amrit is bemused. He has already entered the inside the village. He asks one of the person where they were going and why but he seems to ignore him and doesn’t even look his face. He asks others but is ignored in the same way. He finds the people a bit weird as they are not talking among themselves too. Very soon he is surrounded by almost a thousand people dressed in white walking towards the temple. Do we know where we have to go? Before that let’s ask why we want to go to someplace? Amrit looks at the bird now, it looks miniature from the distance but he can still clearly make out that it is the same bird. He feels connected to the bird and thus he too decides to go to the temple. He looks different amidst the crowd as he has that golden glow around his hands that he had acquired. He begins chanting Ma Durga’s name now. The crowd around looks at him now. The strange people with the expressionless faces smile in devotion now as if having found some purpose of a journey. They smile hearing the goddess mother’s name. They too begin chanting Ma Durga’s name now. When they do so the mist in the atmosphere gets a golden luminescence, just like the one around the trees, Amrit’s hands and the bird. The scene is beautiful. A thousand people chanting Ma Durga’s Name and walking towards the temple. Wait. Where is Amrit? Look there he is now leading the way, everyone is following him now, there he is about to reach the temple door. He pushes the door softly. The people behind him vanish, but their chants don’t. The chants of those thousand villagers form a sphere all around the temple premises where Amrit stands with moist eyes.

The temple is massive and magical. The walls inside have small waterfalls and the water coming down flows into canals forwards deeper inside the temple area. Adjacent to them are beautiful orchids silently watching the stories of the universe. Amrit is not able to find the idol inside as he walks past the waterfalls and the flowers. He closes his eyes now and begins chanting the name of Ma Durga once again. The nightingale over the temple shikhara now flies inside the temple through the door and comes and sits on Amrit’s shoulder, His eyes still closed he contemplates on the trees, the village, the bird, the people, he contemplates onto his soul, he contemplates on Ma Durga. The roots of the trees on the plateau outside the village begin to grow and penetrate deeper into the ground. They gradually enter the undersurface of the village soil and mind you they do it very slowly, one mm at a time. Morning arrives, the day passes, days pass, months pass, years pass. Amrit is still meditating. The roots of those magical trees finally reach the temple area. They penetrate the floor and arise into the temple, the water from the waterfalls bounces over them and the flowers decorate them, the roots rise further , two of the roots extend from the centre like hands and another one curls at the top, in totality assuming the human form, maybe much more than a human, maybe a Goddess. His eyes still close, he raises his golden hand and with the ring finger touches the forehead of the goddess,a pinch of sandalwood paste flows from the tip and a teeka is made on Ma’s forehead. Amrit opens his eyes, in front of him is the Durga Idol in the temple inside the Pooja room of his house. Behind him stands his wife Meera, his parents and his youngest son Moksh, all bowing in devotion. Is the contemplation over? No, it is not, it has just started.

(To be continued......)