Circle of life

Celestial music played as Gandharvas and Demigods descended into prithviloka (planet earth). Pushkarni was the keeper of holy waters in heavens. Because of his temperament he took birth as a brahmin, even as a human he did not loose his pious qualities. He prayed, helped others and gave away anything excess to the poor. Life remained blissful even in human form till his very old age.

Devi watching him from above was concerned that maya is not affecting Pushkarni, how will he complete his experience and learning cycle. Sri Narayana smiled and asked her to watch patiently.

A few days later drought hit the village, people went hungry for weeks, animals died, fields were parched. Brahmin lost his wife and children to the drought. For the first time he was out on the street begging, people whom he helped all his life ignored and humiliated him, some men angry and helpless attacked him and vented out their frustration on him. He could no longer walk straight after the merciless beating he had to move on the ground like an animal. He had lost everyone he loved, his gentleness did not help him to fend for himself. Mauled, hurt and angry now, he experienced rage. An emotion that he had never known before. He hid in the forest and joined a group of hyenas, he scavenged on the dead and sometimes joined them in the hunt. He was transformed into an animal.

In the next birth he became a wood cutter because of his previous life's influence he had a violent animal like streak in him. To satisfy that urge he killed and hacked several innocent people.Ultimately
villagers discovered his secret and hacked him to death.

In his next birth the streak of raw violence was satiated by the wrestling. He was born as a strong boy and was raised to become a wrestler. He took out his inner violence through the act of wrestling. Winning over opponents introduced a new emotion in him, It was ego. He experienced ego fulfillment in that life.

His violence took form of incessant anger, in his next birth as a temple priest he constantly yelled at his subordinates. Discriminated against the under privileged. His venomous words were legendary, people avoided him because they feared his verbal wrath.

When most of the anger he accumulated in his first birth was vented out he was born as a wise guy. He was calmer but his intelligence fuelled his ego. People went to him for advice but his ego difficult to manage.He was the most well read person in the city, respected by all, but his marriage failed, his wife left him because of his over inflated ego that made him treat her like a menial servant not worthy of his love.

And the cycle continued for several lifetimes, Pushkarni's soul grew weary of the repeated experiences of violence, anger, ego and control. It was then that he was born as a little girl to a cloth merchant. She was a vivacious little being, a source of joy to everyone around.

When she was 7 years old an enlightened bhikshu was passing by, she offered him water and fruits. When he blessed her he saw how a pious soul got caught in the web of maya and has been circling in it for centuries. He felt pity for the little girl and gave her the gift of love and compassion so the soul can reform itself and rise back to its place in heaven.The gift attracted people to her she offered healing and nurturing, but it also attracted beings whom the same souls had harassed, killed, mauled and hurt in previous lives.They all wanted resolution.

Poor girl was burdened by these beings wrath and resentment, but she chose compassion and love as her tool. Harder they pressed on her in both physical and non physical form more she persevered, with time most of the debts were payed off. The experience made her more aware and wiser. Her essence exuded pure love and ecstasy of the divine. The ordeal had polished off the grime and dirt that settled on her beings and she sparkled like a diamond again.

Devi now invited her to ascend back into the heaven as the experience and the lesson was complete.

A mountain of struggle.

In the earliest years of human civilization there was a  mountain region with lush green trees and sparkling streams. There was a young man, who had immense physical strength. His body was tough like a rock and his arms could pull out big trees from the ground.

He had no name because he had been by himself ever since he could remember. His only companion was a little blue bird. The bird was very attached to the young man . She sat on his shoulder all day as he wandered through the forest, she chirped in the morning to wake him up and crooned till he slept in the night.

One day the two of them encountered a big steep hill on their way, they had come so far up in the valley it was difficult to go back to the precipitous dark canopy. The young man as usual started using his brute strength to break the rocks that blocked his way but breaking that hill was a very difficult task.It was made of a single piece of hard granite. He injured his hands and elbows in the process, the blue bird was watching this, sitting on his shoulder; she felt his pain.

More he struggled more his arrogance in his physical strength took over. He fought even harder and when the bird tried to stop him he yelled at the bird in his rage. Saddened and hurt, the bird flew off his shoulder to reassess the situation, as soon as she flew higher she realized the task was not about breaking the hill but to take a precarious bend on one of the side ,then it opened into a valley which was hidden to him. She realized what they thought was a dead end was a very sharp hair-pin bend.

The bird flew back to the young man in a hurry to give him this good news. By then he was like a wounded animal, closed to all reasoning and in a state of extreme anger. When she went close to talk to him and tell him about the bend, he vented out his frustration on her, he pulled and nipped at her feathers in anger and dashed her fragile body against the rocks.In spite of being grievously hurt she tried telling him about the bend. He heard her yet he ignored her and fought incessantly with the mountain.

The bird was injured and heartbroken. She flew back to her father in the sky. The father took care of her feathers and healed her heart. He told her "My precious little blue bird, all beings are required to learn their own lessons, sometimes we tend to interfere too much to help them because we cant see them suffer, but this interference can cost us a lot, so watch like a witness, sooner or later he will learn his lesson or its his destiny to die fighting the unbeatable."

The bird understood, with a heavy heart she went and sat on her father's shoulder and watched the young man struggle below the clouds.

After struggling, cutting and bleeding for days, he felt extreme exhaustion. He now figured that climbing this hill may be easier than breaking it. So he pulled up his injured body slowly and painfully. Every step was a test of his strength. The bird watching it from above missed a breath every time he stumbled, yet she sat their and prayed for his success.

Two days later he was on top of the mountain, day was breaking and beautiful honey orange rays of the sun filtered through the valley. He realized how much he had suffered to accomplish something so trivial, all he had to do was to listen to his little bird. But his ego and arrogance in his physical strength made him suffer beyond limits.He was full of repentance at his stupidity. He felt bad about hurting the bird. He felt ashamed that he ruined so many days of his life, suffered immense physical pain and lost his little blue bird in his blindness to conquer this small hill.

Blue bird looked at her heavenly father, he smiled knowingly. It was time for her to go back to the man and be with him again.

'Letting go' is one of the toughest lessons to learn on the earth for some souls.When we cant let go we end up causing immense suffering to ourselves and to others. Little blue bird could not 'let go' because of her love and attachment so she suffered, the young man suffered because he could not 'let go' of his overwhelming ego and self assurance and in turn he made the little bird suffer.