Vibhishan and Mahamoti (Great Pearl)

“Once the Asuras held a big party. Everyone was invited. Even the Devas. The Asuras were famous for their ardent fervor of Madhya (booze), Moh (desire) and Maas (meat/physical body).  Their energies represented their true selves but on the outside they appeared as extremely beautiful women and strong handsome men. 

                                 

They recruited men and women as their representatives just as the Devas alluded to men and women to their divinity.  In the times long ago when the spoken language was rare, the humans lived in perfect harmony. As the great grand cycle of precession, as inevitable as it can be, took its turn again, the humans fell asleep...yet again. And as ordained in the upturn grand cycle of precession of Earth, the humans started to remember again. During one of those descending cycles within great Yugas, my dear Champa, the Asuras decided to throw the infamous party knowing perfectly well that they are loosing and that they can entice humans by giving them taste of their maya which will help them prolong their maya. For you see, it is easier to dissuade humans from their long awaited Divinity by Madhya, Moh and Maas or any combination thereof. The dissuasion is most effective during the descending cycle and least effective during the ascending cycle. It only takes 13000 years or so before the humans wake up again...so the Asuras felt that the timing was just ripe in order to carry out their plan. 

   As Vibhishan fell asleep on a cool Autumn morning after attending his brother Ravan's birthday celebration, he fell into a deep trance.  He felt absolutely no connection to the grand display that Ravan threw every year. Needless to say, Vibhishan was no longer interested, even for the wonder of it all, in the grand extravagance of Madhya, Moh, and Maas. He had seen his brother die alone, with no one to visit his pyre or prey on his deathbed.  He had spoken many a times to the Great King about doing things the right way, to no avail.  Now that he had reached end of his dispassion towards the celebratory acts of vain ego that Ravan exuded, he withdrew within himself and went deeper in the early morning reverie.  He saw himself dancing as a Nritika (Dancer), first in Indra’s court and then in Cordoba, Ajmer, Gwalior, St. Petersburg and then Karnataka across many different lifetimes, past and future. It seemed like a perfect seamless transformation. He felt at home with the moves and dances that he clearly knew how to perform. Vibhishan started to remember. He started to remember that he was indeed an Apsara (the Divine Dancer), in Indra's court named as Urvashi. He remembered and saw himself as Urvashi dancing to the melodic tunes of the Gandharavas (the Divine Musicians), across the breath and depth of time and space. And he felt asleep.

    He woke up late at night, which was common in Lanka, as people often mixed their sleep cycles and indulged in misbalance. Vibhishan had a glass of wine which he often did after waking up. He had convinced his brother Ravana that it is ok to have wine right after waking up instead of the hard liquor. This way he made sure that Ravana saw him as one of them and not a pious and devout being. Soon the pretense turned into a habit that became a routine. Vibhishan saw the wine and the display of being Asuara as a necessity to fit in. On the other hand, he persisted and conveyed to Ravana that his incredible desire for kingdom,  money and women were going to drive him crazy and bereft of his kingdom. Both argued endlessly and Vibhishan finally gave up the fight. He stopped arguing against his brother's commands and never revolted against his brothers demands. In this way, he portrayed himself as an ideal brother. He fought battles on Ravan's behalf who commanded his five generals including Vibhishan to conquer three worlds, the Devlok (realm of Gods), Janlok (real of Humans) and Danavalok (realm of Demons). Surprisingly, Ravan had a good handle on the nature of maya and how it emanated from Shiv himself. He rigorously prayed to Shiv and held year long penances. Ravana’s penances brought him the boon of Shiv in form of his wrath, which he wielded seamlessly to take over the three worlds. Vibhishan was on the fore front of all the battles, and as advised by him, Ravana picked his opponents. In a flawless victorious moments one after another Ravan dwelt in his bloated ego and started devouring the energies on multiple layers. His ego became too big to bear by Vibhishan. All along, the good brother Vibhishan played his role as he deemed that there was no other way. And as a result, Vibhishan felt empty and sad. He felt he did not belong in Lanka.

   After sipping the wine, Vibhishan set on the porch overlooking the river, Manda and listened to the Gandharvas who were held captive by Ravana's soldiers. Gandharva's played melodious music but it was nowhere near the kind that he had experienced during his lifetime recall as Urvashi and in his meditation. The soldiers were mostly zombies and were half dead; they forced the captive Gandharvas to sing them another song. Vibhishan often thought how can this possibly be the aim of one’s existence. Vibhishan looked at his wine glass.  He threw it down on the smooth white marble floor.  The glass shattered in thousand pieces and the wine spilled like the blood that he had shed many a times. He decided to give up drinking and killing for Ravan even if it meant that he wouldn't be considered Asura and it brought Ravan's wrath. 

   Vibhishan got up and looked in the red liquid and saw a little boy with strange tattoo on his forehead. He rubbed his eyes and looked again. The boy jumped out of the red wine on the floor and floated in front of him. By now Vibhishan was no stranger to such happenings and starred back. He looked at the boy trying to assess what was going on. The boy had three lobe tattoo in the center of his forehead, (instead of two yin yangs, there were three lobes) and had his eyes closed. The tattoo was glowing with white light and the boy spoke to Vibhishan without opening his eyes, ‘Padma, don’t you remember me?’ To this Vibhishan replied, to much of his surprise, ‘Triloki! But you had the moti..’, Before he could finish his sentence, the boy pulled out a very beautiful looking blue moti (pearl) and shot the moti into Vibhishan's third eye,  ‘here it is…follow me. I am here because of Kali’s command… come with me’. Vibhishan felt the urge to leave everything behind and follow the boy. He put his first step towards the boy and stepped into the red pool in front of him and he disappeared into the thin etheric realms…the realms that envelop the physical reality on Earth.

 In front of him was the boy gliding away, as Vibhishan took big steps behind him and then finally started running after him because it was difficult to catch up to him. All of a sudden the boy stopped gliding, turned around and called out loud, ‘See you in Kishkindha, dear friend!'  Next, a Monkey with pure white fur and an incredible smile appeared; the Monkey picked up Vibhishan without any effort and flung him on his shoulder. Off they went. Vibhishan saw realms that he never thought were possible. These realms all flew by at incredible speed as if he was traversing across the universe. Before he could register any of it, the Monkey stopped and pointed out a seashell, a clam resting in front of them. To be comfortable with the scenario, Vibhishan created a familiar beach of Lanka and a sea and housed himself on it. Next he put the clam on the shore, flipping and flooping in front of him.  It all happened with such an ease that Vibhishan did not have to make any effort other than a thought to make something happen. The old Monkey flashed his incredible smile (Vibhishan realized Ravan never smiled and that he himself had stopped smiling and that this was the most wonderful smile that he had ever seen) and pointed at the clam again. Vibhishan immediately knowing what to do, cut up his middle finger, and drew blood, and poured it on the clam. The clam opened, another moti (pearl) appeared and it floated towards him. Before he knew, Vibhishan was mesmerizingly starring at this moti (it was a beautiful red pearl). The red moti entered his hand and passed through his body. Vibhisahan felt sensations that he once knew, felt ecstatic and felt lighter as the moti traveled through his entire body, making him lighter still, and eventually settled in his manipura (third chakra-solar plexus). Vibhishan felt so light, lighter than feather.  The vibrations of the moti made him ooze out pleasure and he lolled in ecstasy. After some time which seemed like ages to Vibhishan, he felt the bliss that once was native to him. He remembered floating on air in his mother’s garden in Lanka, and remembered how blissful he felt while bending air and gloating while his mother laughed and sang. Both used to dance together in the air. This memory lead Vibhishan to create a beautiful white dove while being in the vast etheric realm which he compelled to follow immediately (rather someone or something was creating these symbols and all he did was to experience his interaction with them). The dove went straight up and so did Vibhishan. He felt lighter and lighter till he felt like wind. As he sat close to the dove,  he felt a velvety and smooth touch of the dove.

 'Who is there who is making this happen?' he thought. Before long, Vibhishan heard the beautiful song that he had heard his mother sing to him in that enchanted garden only to find himself now seated among stars, galaxies and gorgeous nebulas of bliss mixed mist. Vibhishan now traveled with the enchanted voice, and saw a beautiful woman coming towards him from within the bliss oozing clouds of galaxies. A mermaid appeared from the fathom-less ocean of bliss and light and danced in front of him (he knew this dance, the dance that he witnessed himself doing as Urvashi). The mermaid, wagged her tail, brought it close to her nose and sniffed it (Vibhishan thought that it was impossible to do). Then she flipped her body around like a dog shedding water from its skin, and winked at him. As Vibhishan looked in the eye of the mermaid, an incredibly beautiful white pearl appeared which the mermaid put in the center of his heart. At the very moment, all three pearls, the blue pearl that he had gotten from the boy, the red pearl that the Monkey gave him, and the white pearl that the mermaid materialized, merged and became one. An incredible glow appeared within his heart and his heart opened up as to house the Divine. As Vibhishan looked within, he heard all the galaxies of the known and unknown universe to him call out in an enchanted resonant voice, ‘The avatar is coming to destroy Lanka… Go join him’. Next a series of scenarios took place, Vibhishan saw his entire life playing out in a series of flawless slices of light, the past and the future. 

   Next morning Vibhishan woke up. He yawned and realized he has slept through the entire day and night."

  "Then what happened?’, asked Champa to her grandpa, Sundar-Mani. Mani got up from his charpai (a simple bed made up of natural fiber and wood), took a swig of cold water and continued. “Many years passed. Vibhishan never forgot that dream wondering what it meant and what he saw.”

  "Grandpa! I know what happened after that! Sri Ram came to Lanka and destroyed Lanka’. Champa got excited.

 ‘Champa, you are small and innocent and listen to those boys next door too much. How many times have I said this story? How many times do I have to correct you? No, Sri Ram came to Lanka looking for Sita. Lanka imploded on itself after the great battle and consumed itself.  Now listen carefully (Mani sighed). 

"After many many many years, one Autumn morning Vibhishan was sitting on the same porch. He was dressed in white clothes, did his morning puja and gave food to the Monkey who was jumping around incessantly on the tree next to the marble statue of the mermaid that Vibhishan had carved from a white marble monolith.  

After getting up from his meditation, he looked out in his garden over the river and saw the same monkey calmly smiling at him. Vibhishan remembered this smile, burried deep in his memory, he thought to himself, ‘Can it be? No. I am just getting old and senile.’ The monkey jumped on the porch, threw something in his lap, and jumped back on the branch. The monkey now started to fly away from the branch. All of this happened in a blink of an eye and Vibhishan thought he saw the monkey turn into a white furry monkey that he knew from his vision year ago. The monkey looked back and flashed his butt at him and exuded that familiar and incredible smile. Vibhishan rubbed his eyes and examined what the monkey threw in his lap.

    There it was…as Vibhishan held the Mahamoti (Great Pearl) in his fingers, it flashed three times,  a brilliant hue of blue, red and white ensued. And the moti disappeared. Vibhishan took a big sigh of relief, knowing intimately what it meant. His vision had come true. 

    A Royal guard appeared next to him. ‘Brother Saint (as Ravan told everyone to address Vibhishan), his majesty, the Great King of all realms Ravan asks for your attendance in the court this morning. There has been a rumor that an army of big monkeys is building a bridge between the physical realm of India and the semi-physical realm of Lanka. Our scouts in the physical realm have seen them with their own eyes. The king requires your counsel on the matter as he sees you as an expert of such matters’. Vibhishan shed a tear of delight and started walking toward the grand court."