The Train was at peak of its speed and Rajat was enjoying the chit chat of the people in the sleeper class. Now-a-days he travels in flights or in AC class so these discussions have become rare for him. A small family with mother and two kids ; one boy and a girl , both of nearly same age , a family of old husband and her only companion , his old wife and two middle aged guys who were doing nothing more than sleeping . The way they were sleeping, it looks like they had swallowed some strips of sleeping pills before boarding the train, When Rajat boarded the train from Bangalore, the train was duly cleaned by railway officials but as soon as people started eating groundnuts, the train became a public garbage box . On one end rajat was sad looking at the wrappers of the groundnuts everywhere in the compartment but at the same time he was happy looking the two kids fighting, playing, singing and teasing. It brought a glimpse of his own childhood in front of him.
Suddenly a person from washroom came running, shooting "We all are dead man, the bridge is broken ahead and few boogies are down and now it’s our turn.”. Before we could understand his words, the scene of "Inception" movie was in front of rajat's eyes. People floating in air and freely free fall. What an experience it was ..!!! . Last words of Rajat's were :
Rangrez tune afeem kya hai khaa li
Jo mujhse tu yeh pooche ke kaun sa rang
Rangon ka kaarobaar hai tera
Yeh tu hi toh jaane kaun sa rang
As soon as rajat finished the last verse, the plot changed. It was a real Inception going on. Rajat was standing on a cloud like structure and an old man with thousands of distortions was sitting on a grass mat with a cute puppy in his lap . Rajat rubbed his eyes several times and pinched him to come out of this dream, but hard luck.
The man: You are dead.
Rajat : Ok, that's awesome but who are you ? Don't tell me you are God or Yama or Architect of Universe. And Where am I ? .
The man : Since you are dead and you are standing in front of me , then of course whoever I am , i am powerful than you . Now you can name me whatever you want. And regarding the place you are now, all I can say is 'it’s a garage for temporary parking’.
Rajat : So sir that means you are God . I was waiting from long for this day. Can I get notebook which was with my luggage, I had a list of questions for you. "
HE : You are dead, your notebook didn't have any life so it’s not here . Anyways, you haven't noticed but your clothes also didn’t have life.
Rajat's eyeballs first rotated whole 360 degrees looking for anyone other than this old man around. But when he looked down and said "Aah, so this Loin cloth has life, but anyways thanks for that.”
HE: So you want to proceed with the question or I proceed with the prosecution and decision .
Rajat : Hold on your horses. You made me wait for this moment long and now you are closing the file so soon. That’s not fair. Let me recall the questions from the memory.
Rajat : The world is full of sufferings . The birth is suffering , the adulthood is suffering , the separation from beloved ones is suffering , the attachment with loved ones is suffering , the poverty is suffering , the wealth is suffering , the relationship is suffering , the bondage is suffering , the life is suffering ;in fact the death is also a suffering . Is the world you created or you have left the world on its own, or have outsourced it for maintenance to some third party?
HE : Life is Buddha.
Before HE uttered any further words, rajat interrupted him.
Rajat : Ooh , so religion-ism begets from here only. Don’t give me a lecture on Buddhism now..!!
HE : Buddha doesn’t mean a person or a religion or an entity . Buddha is the state of mind . Buddha is silence, Buddha is in the equanimity of mind, it’s in the stillness of the deep waters, it’s in the love of the mother while her kid is suckling the milk from her breast , it’s in the patience of the parents when they give their share to their kids and sleep hungry by stomach but not by mind , it’s in the hope of the lover who has lost his beloved ones. Buddha is in every aspect of life.
Rajat : So why I didn’t see Buddha down or up (As I am still confused with worldly view of Aaskash or Patal )
HE : When the moon sets, people say the moon has disappeared ; when the moon rises, they say that the moon has appeared . In fact, the moon neither goes nor comes, but shines continually in the sky. Buddha is exactly like the moon. IT neither appears nor disappears; IT only seems to do so out of love for people that IT may teach them.
People call one phase of the moon a full moon, they all call another phase a crescent moon; in reality the moon is always perfectly round , neither waxing nor waning . Buddha is precisely like moon. In the human eyes, Buddha may seems to change its appearances, based on religion as Rama , Prophet , Christ or Siddhartha but Buddha remains the same .
Just as the moon appear everywhere over a crowded city, a sleepy village, a mountain, a river , an orphanage or a brothel . Only the way people look at it changes but not the way moon look at them.
Rajat : That’s an eye-opener . In fact I way you made of the compare, if you have sometime teach me this art of storytelling and drawing comparisons. Now let me focus of My issues rather than these wandering global problems.
This time HE interrupted “Let me ask you what personal issues are & what global issues are ?“.
Rajat : I know you will entangle me in the web of the confusions and when I will not able to answer them, you will drag me to hell and throw me in the bowls of fire.
HE looked at me surprisingly and laughed loudly as if he has said something God has never heard off or no one dared to speak such words in front of God.
HE : That’s a horrible act . Good thing is you are fearless to speak. So I might not kick you into bowls of fire. Anyways, a small description of the algorithm of my work:
Only one space. No heaven or hell. Human’s are like variables/functions. Those who do good karma i.e. finishes at least the allocated work without disturbing others or violating someone else resources or getting corrupted or corrupting others; will be freed in the end of life.
Once freed , they again go back to the same process of rebirth .No downgrading of the status(i.e inter species) is applicable i.e. Human will remain human in all cases and dog doesn’t get degraded to some other species . But upgrading is possible in case of others species than Human. Human has something called “free-will” other than just mind which makes HUMAN as MY supreme creations. But remember "Neither is everything did not predestine, nor do we have free will in everything”. Free-will makes human to distinguish between right and wrong, good or bad, evil or virtue, pure and impure. But since other species doesn’t have this feature enabled for them, so upgradation from other species to Human is possible .That’s the reason of population of Human’s increasing in earth and other animals decreasing at the same rate . Didn’t you know the campaign of ‘Save tigers, only 1411 left?’
Rajat nodded the head. And put forth his next doubt.
Rajat : That nice , but explains the part for those who does good or at least do their duties . What about those who don’t do their duties or use their free-will in negative aspects?
HE chuckled: It’s the same as you do in computer program. They become dangling pointers; they die but not get freed. In fact their bodies get freed but not their souls .They become wandering souls.
Rajat enthusiastically: So what happens to these wandering souls?
He : These wandering souls remain on the earth in something like LIMBO land , where after leaving its bodies, they still see its family crying , people mocking on its death , people bad mouthing about its bad deeds and scolding its family . It has to see the resultants of all the evils it has done during its stay in the body. Its repentance or penance is in this way only. Only when the penance is complete, the soul becomes the spirit and joins ME itself.
Rajat : That’s really fundoo God ji . I am happy that you never asked programmer like me to code this algorithm, else it would have brought havoc and you had to spend your lifetime in fixing the bugs in the code. So God ji , the body , soul and spirit are different entities in your program.
He : No, Body is not yours . And it never was. Soul is just a wrapper around the spirit unless it attains the self-realization. So Only Self is there. No trinity or duality concept hidden here. It’s purely Advaita Vedānta.
Rajat : Now the you have a lot about Body , soul and gyan , can I ask something specific about me .
HE : I know your doubts but still will love to hear from you only .
Rajat : Before coming here , I mean before I was a part of your program , I had perfect life , perfect parents, perfect sisters , perfect job, prefect friends , perfect beloved one (;p) . But still something was missing and that something faded away the colors of the life. I didn’t find any purpose for my life on earth and was fascinated with death. Death had become my obsessions not because I wanted to attain it but because I had no attachment with life and with others.
HE : Look upon friend, family , lands, wealth, houses, presents, pasts and such other good or bad fortune as a dream or a juggler’s show, lasting for transient period . Know the world to be indeed whenever there is desire. Be yourself to firm non-attachment, being freed from desire, be happy.
Rajat : God, I am baffled with your words . Explain me in simple way, I am not a learned person. Four years my teachers taught me engineering and I got nothing out of it, four years I coded in C language and I don’t know the ‘a b c of C Language’ and now you are speaking such language .
There was a long pause.
HE didn’t answer but just said: Silence is the source of thought, thought is the source of speech. If you thing you can understand from my speech, imagine how powerful my silence will be.
Rajat understood the point and asked: I agree it was desire which keep on burning me. I was not happy with my limits. I wanted to fly like johnatan seagull in the sky. I wanted to do more for the people. I didn’t have desires for me but for doing well for others.
HE : So you are also one of those world preachers. Listen, it’s not necessary to make others happy. Ma phaleshu kadachana; ma karma phala he tur bhuh, ma te sangvasta karmani; karmanye vadhika raste: You have a duty, you have an obligation to do, but you have no right to expect a particular consequence or result or fruit to follow from what you do.
Happiness is an eternal bliss & that’s the true nature of human being. When a child is born, he smiles looking at everything and soon he gets attached to mother , then family , then toys and soon he forgets his True nature. It’s not necessary to make other’s happy, first find happiness within yourself and then do so. If your inner self is happy and contented (which is only when you are devoid of desire and attachment), the whole universe looks happy. Infact it is verily through your ignorance that the universe exists. In reality you are alone; there is no Jiva or Ishwara other than you.
One who knows for certain that this universe is but an illusion and a nothing, becomes desire less and pure intelligence, and finds peace as if nothing exits. In the oceans of world only one was, is and will be. You are neither bondage not liberation. Live contented and happy. O Pure intelligence, don’t disturb your mind with decisions and indecision, perturbations of things to be done or not done. Be calm and abide happily in your own self which is bliss itself.
Rajat interrupted again: Please god ji , don’t give me such heavy words which I am not able to digest .
HE : Ok, in simple words , Its only those who are not contented within themselves or their lives , think for world peace. It’s the same sect of unhappy people who cause evil for other because if you are happy within the self, you don’t wish to harm other or teach others **Unless you attain the Pure realization **. Take an example people climbing the Hill. Happiness is like the hill. Those who reach the top (realizes the self), know that there is no specific way or path to follow to reach its peak other than Following your dream and immaculate perseverance. Those who can’t climb, teach people down the hill several ways (these are the people who preach for world peace) and same sect of people form a group of violent processions who think that the hill is cause of their sufferings and try to break it down (there are people who do evil, kill others, form terrorist organizations and join politics). But those who once started this journey (like you and several others) will keep on burning with the crushing all the obstacles to test you until you reach the top. And there is no end to your journey now till then. You can’t take a back step and if you die in between, now you know the Limbo land. This fire of self realization keeps on burning until you attain the self.
Rajat was flabbergasted with the last words of God.
Rajat : Ooh shit , so that means I am not dead yet . Please please don’t do that. Let me float in limbo land, or stop this fire of desire in me or do something if you have made your mind in sending me back.
HE : You alone have to find the cause of the fire of desire . I have imparted you this much knowledge and that’s all . I can’t do it anymore. So now go back and find the self else now you are not ignorant about the self and life cycle.
Rajat in despair: Any easy way out here?
HE laughed : Humans remain the human.
Suddenly Rajat’s eyes were illuminated with the light of millions Suns and a force of thousands horse power pushed him. Just like a vacuum cleaner is trying to suck the dust particle. He resisted but then vomited with a jerk. Opened his eyes and finds whole family and doctors surrounding him in hospital and saying “He is back” and hugging each other.
Glossary :
- Inception : A movie about dreams within dreams released in 2010. One can think it as a Einstein–Podolsky–Rosen paradox depiction.
- Akash(Heaven: Swarg), Prithvi (earth)and Patal (Hell: Narak) : In Hinduism, an evil man will go to Patal (Hell) and will be tortured. A virtuous man will go to Swarg (Heaven) and experience eternal bliss.
- Advaita Vedānta : Adi Shankara consolidated the Advaita Vedanta. According to Adi Shankara, God, the Supreme Cosmic Spirit or Brahman is the One, the whole and the only reality. Other than Brahman, everything else, including the universe, material objects and individuals, are false. Brahman is at best described as that infinite, omnipresent, omnipotent, incorporeal, impersonal, transcendent reality that is the divine ground of all Being. For more : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advaita_Vedānta
- Johnathan Seagull : It’s a story of a seagull , written by Richard bach.
- Jiva (Sanskrit: "the embodied atman") Individual Self.
- Ishwara : God , the Supreme power
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Past few days i was reading Asthavakra Gita and other religious books . The above story is my understanding of whatever i read in past few days .
Silence Prevails ,
Aditya Deadpan
P.S : The concepts of Soul ,body & spirit and the single space of heaven & hell are not written to defame any religious concepts , they are mere the assumption of the author.
Guided by ultrasound, the abortionist grabs the baby's legs with forceps.
The abortionist jams scissors into the baby's skull. The scissors are then opened to enlarge the skull.
