On the outskirts of the village of Samastipur there was deep dark forest full of dangerous animals. The villagers would even hear tigers distant roars and hyenas laughing in the dark hours of the night. People were afraid to leave their homes after dusk, except one man. His names was Pala, after his mother passed away from prolonged illness his only living relative was his little brother who was brutally tortured to death by a local landowner. His brother worked as an unpaid slave. He died of hunger and overexertion because the landowner refused to give him food.
Pala worked as a woodcutter in the forest. Overtime he became familiar with different pathways leading to rich corners of the kingdom. Sometime he would see opulent wedding procession passing by. Glittering with gold and diamonds, loaded with all kinds of rich fruits and sweets. It made him feel anguish when he would remember his little brother's shriveled face when he found him, after slogging for months in the forest collecting and selling wood to gather enough money to buy freedom for his brother.
He left the village experiencing apathy and disapproval from the known faces of his childhood and found his home in the jungle. His anger and frustration with the world grew manifold. Hatred brewed in his veins for years. His inner being hardened to the beauty of life. He felt almost no connection to life there was not a drop of joy left in his soul. He transformed from a vulnerable and trusting young man to a vengeance seeking sociopath.
He started to terrorize the passers-by with his angry shouting and attempts to attack them with an axe. He developed a reputation of the most dreaded being in the forest. Now he would loot and rob the rich merchants, their wedding processions and hack the bodies of his victims in the most cruel way. Each blow accounting for the cruelty the world bestowed on him. He would crush their heads under boulders and chop of their fingers. He wore the fingers of his victims as garlands around his neck. Soon he came to be known as the dreaded decoit Angulimala ( one who wears garland of fingers). He did not care about the money and jewellery that he robbed from people. All he wanted was to hack and kill, more violence he unleashed on others more hateful he became. Hatred and vengeance became his reason to live. He lived to hate and spew his poison on anyone who crossed his path. His area became marked as the most dangerous zone in the region and was duly avoided by one and all.
An old monk was about to take that route one morning. The guards warned him and tried to dissuade him from risking his life. The monk gave a radiant smile and said "To me life and death are the same I am beyond both now, they are both beautiful and full of bliss. It is immaterial to me if my fate goes either ways." The guards shrugged their shoulders in disbelieve and let the monk follow his path.
As he came closer to Angulimaal's territory smell of death and rotten flesh hit his senses. He almost felt the forest being angry at the perpetrator for this savagery. Fighting this wave of repulsion he moved further. Now he could sense the deep anger and hatred that reeked through the decoit's body.
He heard his footsteps following him, first out of an impulse to hunt all humans that ever crossed his path, then out of curiosity towards the one who had the courage to face him, the one who is known as death himself!
He mocked the monk "You cant find peace so you came in search of violence".
The monk said "I did, that is why I am here to give it to you.You almost seem belittled Angulimaal! that I am not scared of you."
Offended but intrigued Angulimaal retorted " I think you don't have any peace in you that why you have come to be killed and leave this world because it is irrelevant for you to live neither do you have the pleasures of the world nor do you have inner peace".
The monk calmly replied I can prove it to you that I do have inner peace, if I fail you can butcher me right here at this very spot into a 100 pieces and wear which ever part of the carcass around your neck."
Angulimaal fell for the bait, he agreed, but on the condition that the Monk cannot touch him or try to give him a sermon about peace. Apparently he gave a death sentence to many a fake sadhus who tried to preach him about the law of dharma and karma.
Monk sat right under the very tree banyan tree which was the site of the massacre of numerous innocent beings. He closed his eyes and forgot all about his external existence and went into a deep and blissful union with God. His body exuded the fragrance of a million magnolias that wiped away all the stench that was emanating from the rotten corpses for miles. All the dead bodies decomposed instantly and assimilated with the earth. The monk said a prayer to give peace to all the disambodied souls that were clamoring persistently around Angulimaal asking for the reason why he killed them.
Then the monk moved his focus on Angulimaal and said "why are you so sad Angulimaal?."
Angulimaal broke down sobbing incessantly at his feet. He cried because for the first after his brothers death anyone ever said a kind word to him. He cried for the anguish he felt, the pain and emptiness that turned him into an angry beast. He cried for what he had done, his each act of hatred, each murder flashed before him as he wept. He cried in agony as the enormity of his deeds loomed like a dark shadow over him.
In between sobs he chided the Monk " why did you not come earlier? Why did you not come to me earlier?"
Monk looked at the vicious criminal that he came searching for, instead he found a rejected, sad and helpless boy hiding in the deep dark cave of his grieve. He said "Because it was not time for me. From the darkest of your acts, the fragrant flower will blossom. I could not have interfered with this divine process, so I had to wait before you could create enough karmas to earn your penance and salvation".
Angulimaal leapt towards his axe in an attempt to kill himself. Monk stopped him and said killing yourself would be a bigger crime than all the death that he has caused in his entire life.
Angulimaal dropped his axe and begged the monk to kill him.
The Monk felt deep compassion for the lost and aggrieved soul. He said "Angulimaal whats done cannot be undone but do good deeds for the rest of your lives and pray for forgiveness to God.Thats your only path to salvation".
Angulimaal touched his feet and took the monk's words to his heart. He lived like a monk, he cleaned the forest of his acts and sat and prayed for peace of each and every person that he had killed.
He looked after each and every tree and sapling in the forest with great reverence and care. He took care of injured and sick animals. He persevered and revered all forms of life. He mediated on the name of God asking for forgiveness. His penance was so sincere and his regret so deep that his heart healed and his being blossomed in that purity. Like a clump of earth mined from the ground holds both gold and dirt, it only reveals the purest metal when it is put through the molten fire. He did severe penance and found the deep blissful presence of God in his being. He later wrote an epic on the supreme creator in his majestic form on earth.
When he left his body all the birds, animals and trees of the forest sang for the glorious fallen star that rose like a phoenix and claimed his space in the divine realm.
