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.

Civilization of the wolves.

On a star system several million light years away from the earth, a planet was bubbling with a unique life form.That Planet was located at 112 degrees west of the star Celeron.

It was inhabited by a large population of wolf-humans. Their race was violent, carnivorous and opportunistic. Surprisingly  their leader was a human adolescent boy who had no arms or armour, all he had was his flute.He played it to keep the violent mobs pacified.

The race of wolfmen was tied to the lower principles. His flute could not keep them enchanted forever, once a violent wolf defied the boy's authority and attacked him. Boy stood up and pointed a finger towards the sky, a bolt of lighting came down and stuck the wolf dead.All the wolves accepted his authority out of fear after the incidence.

Life carried on with this enforced subservience and controlled violence but not for long. A group of powerful wolves could not contain their resentment. They called the other supporters and decided to kill the boy in his sleep.

They killed the boy in a surprise attack, the violence triggered an uncontrolled chain reaction and wolves started killing each other in a state of unabated violence. Soon the last of them was lying on the ground torn and hacked to death.

Nature always has a plan to keep the wheel of life moving. One young mother had more human character than wolf . She displayed compassion and attachment. When the violence erupted she went and hid herself and her newborn in the forest.

For once peace was restored on the planet but not for long. A loner and outcasted male wolf wandered off from the crowd long before the violence. Now the smell of death and blood pulled him back.He claimed power over the helpless mother as his mate. One afternoon he eyed the baby wolf and was about to attack him.

The mother saw the violent look in his eyes. To protect her young she evoked the wolf part of her being and destroyed him with the most savage violence one can imagine. When meek and gentle souls are cornered beyond limits they are capable of tapping into their latent violence and transform it into immense force.

Before the last of the male died he impregnated her. Life continued on the planet but in a gentler form since all descendants carried the seed of the mother.
She was the only one to realize that the adolescent human ruler was not sent to rule them but to trigger their own destruction and pave the path for a gentler and compassionate life on the planet.

Bhagvat Gita mentions this principle of the universe:

yada yada hi dharmasya
glanir bhavati bharata
abhyutthanam adharmasya
tadatmanam srjamy aham.

Where ever and whenever  in the universe the principles of harmony and justice are defied,

the supreme force itself  descends in various forms to restore the balance.

Goddess of Peace

It was a furious battle being fought between the Huns and Metzian soldier. Razell was commanding the Huns.His fierce warriors were throwing heavy blows on the enemies. But fighting and defending from the enemy coming from the top of the mountain was tough.

A heavy club injured his shoulder and knee from the back and he fell unconscious, the battle continued.When he regained his consciousness, he saw himself lying on the dirt path, and battle was still in full swing. Horses were galloping forward like lightning. He tried rolling off the path but his body was paralyzed because of the impact of heavy blows.He helplessly looked around, everyone around was busy hitting , slashing and killing each other.He lay there helplessly waiting to be crushed under running horses.

He saw a warrior on a horse racing towards him, he thought the enemy has recognized him. He shut his eyes waiting to be killed.Instead he heard the horse halting next to him, the rider got off and moved closer to him. He opened his eyes and saw the deepest grey-green eyes looking into his very soul.The rider's face was covered, but he knew its a woman, she wore the Metzian grey and black uniform. She looked at him again and dragged his body and left it hidden behind a tree trunk, safe. The Huns won the battle Razell was rescued and healed.

Something inside him changed after the incident, he no longer enjoyed the struggle and violence for power and control. The idea of killing another human for more land and wealth started to repulse him.
One day he gave up his generalship and left in search of the girl who saved him.
He traveled length and width of the Metzian territory, he inquired at all army posts but no one ever saw a girl in the army. Months had passed by, his search bore no results. He lived on the leftovers of the inns and slept under the  sky on cold rocks. His body had lost its strength  and vigour. He was living only to meet his savior one more time and thank her. He found her no where, one evening, tired he climbed the sacred plateau of the pilgrims in search of her elusive saviour. He sat on the edge admiring the sun setting across the mountainous expanse.

His heart was sad and heavy, his journey felt incomplete. His life lost its meaning. A drop of tear fell from his tired eyes.He wiped his tears with his sleeve.He looked to his right and saw a stone statue of the goddess of the peace. He stood up stunned, It was the same  pair of eyes he was looking for, all this time.It was the statue of the goddess of peace. For several minutes he stared at it in disbelieve, he ran to the monastry uphill to confirm.He found several paintings of her, same eyes, same look, same remembrance.He cried like a child.

He was overwhelmed at the thought that a goddess came to save the life of a brutal killer like himself. He vowed to spread the message of peace  and undo hatred and violence from his being all together. He prayed to her for several years. The goddess guided him and revealed the universal knowledge to him. In a decade he was known all over the region and people came to him to absolve themselves of violence and rage from their being.
At last he understood why the goddess chose to save him. Only the one who had gone deep into violence would know how to be peaceful again. One has to be rich to be generous, hungry enough to eat, sad enough to cry, ruthless enough to learn the beauty of compassion. The question is only of recognizing that in oneself.

A long wait.

Lydia put on one of her favorite pink dresses, dabbed some her husband Sam's favorite lavender perfume on her wrist, wore her string of pearls and diamond studded brooch,placed her soft lacy handkerchief in her purse, took a handful of her son Stu's favorite chocolates,wore her heels, picked her parasol and walked towards the railway station. She was expecting them to reach the station by the 3.40 p.m. express.

People at the station took a look at her and then averted their eyes, this was no longer an unusual sight for them. Lydia has been coming to the station every afternoon for last 5 years expecting her husband and son to arrive by late afternoon express from Stuttgart. She waited till the last of the passengers got off the train, her eyes searched every coupe for her loved ones, but they never showed up.With a heavy heart she got up and went back home.
The next day she got dressed, left her house and waited for them again.People felt sad for her so they did not bother her.
Exactly 5 years ago her husband and son, were going to arrive by the 3.40 express, but there was a big train crash. Both of them died in the crash.The shock was too much for her to handle, she did not even grieve for them, she was not ready to believe what had happened. Instead she created a reverse time loop for her that would make her relive the events only till the time she waited for them at the station and the rest of the painful memory got lost somewhere in her subconscious mind.
Years passed by, she developed tuberculosis because she rarely ate, her mother had to forcefully feed her at times, to keep her alive.

On August 28th 1958, she waited as usual, the express arrived on time. Her husband and son got off the train. They rushed towards each other, hugged and wept. The reunion was long since due. After shedding joyous tears for each other, the two of them gestured her to get into the train with them, she joined them and then the family took off.
For Lydia it was a release from a prison to leave her body that held painful memories of the past. Now she knew we as beings are never separated from our loved ones, we meet them again in different realities or in different bodies, the love we feel for each other never dies, it remains with us and we experience it over and over again in different forms.

Then she saw brightest lights around her and  she went into a very deep sleep. when she opened her eyes, she saw herself in the tiny body of a little girl, she was lying in a wooden basket, her mother was digging potatoes from the ground, and talking to her in baby language.Her mother's eyes reminded her of her husband. An older man came close to them with a rake in his hand, he was her father, she chuckled with glee and threw her legs in the air in excitement, seeing her son again. They were now in Poland working as farm labourers.

This time they chose to know the fulfillment of being close to the earth and living with less resources but more contentment and love.

Fistful of gratitude

Okuno was an old fisherman who lived in a tiny village by the river in North Japan. His wife Aoi was a thin frail 60 year old woman. Okuno left in the morning, went by the river, caught little fish, sold it to the village vendor and bought liquor and rice.

Aoi knew of him well, she tried hard to save some money for a rainy day but his habits did not allow her that margin. It was a poverty ridden life with half filled stomachs and frosty cold weather.
She cooked rice frugally and survived mostly on left over catch that Okuno brought home, by the end the week the rationed rice ran out. The last fistful of rice she carried to the river and threw it in the water and the next day Okuno caught plenty of fish and made enough money to buy more rice for coming week.

The ritual continued till Aoi got really sick one day. She had no strength left in her body to take care of the house and Okuno. He was working hard now, he left early in the morning to catch fish, returned home by the afternoon to cook a meal for his wife and himself. When he started running out of rice, he mentioned his helplessness to Aoi. She asked him take take the last fistful of rice by the river and offer it to the fish.
He did not understand her reasoning, he told her " you are sick and I don't have enough money to buy more rice, why do you want me to throw the last bit into the river?"

Aoi said "My grandmother told my mother once 'When we give back what we receive from nature with gratitude in our heart, the universe showers us with more".
"I have been doing this for last forty years of our lives, when the last bit of rice is left in our reserves. I go by the river and offer it to the fish and river, thanking them for providing food on our plates, Next morning by some unspoken rule, you caught more fish and brought rice home for the next week, this has been going on for last 40 years".

Okuno kissed her ailing wife's forehead, knowing the last bits of loving wisdom from her would keep him warm in harsh winter to come.

Cause and Effect

Diego was a handsome young man with perfect muscular body, bronzed skin and chiseled features everything was perfect except for one thing. He had thorns on his head instead of hair.It made him look something of a monster. Since his childhood people made fun of him because of thorns on his head.They harassed him and made him cry. This made him bitter and angry from inside.He was angry with the world.
It made him very unhappy, doctors or healers had no answers or solutions for him.
He was growing more and more unhappy by the day. Finally he decided to pay a visit to the wise old man who lived by the countryside. Everybody said he would know the solution to his weird problem.
The old man after hearing his problem said "There is only one solution to your problem, every time you feel angry about thorns on your head,think about flowers", saying this he left the building.Diego stared at the door and pondered over the unimaginable solution offered to him. He thought the old man is making fun of him like others.

Desperate times ask for desperate measures, so he decided to pay heed to the old man's advice.Soon it became his habit every time he had angry thoughts about the thorns on his head he replaced them with replaced them with thoughts of  roses, lavender, daisies, any kind of flower he could think of. One morning he looked into the mirror and found a few rose buds appearing on his head, puzzled, he cut them off. Morning after, his head was covered with roses instead of thorns.
He wore a hat to cover the bouquet of flowers that grew on his head and ran to the old man. Diego yelled " I followed your advice thinking it will make my thorns disappear, but look what do I have growing on my head  now ", saying this he took off his hat.
The old man replied " So it worked ! look all the thorns have disappeared from your head."
Then he added, " I know you are feeling frustrated and helpless, but I must tell you everything has a cause and effect, your mother was very angry when you were in her womb, because your father had abandoned her, she passed on those angry thoughts to your brain, which appeared as thorns on your head when you were born.When other children teased you it made you angry, and those thorns kept on growing. By the time you were a grown man you had big thorns growing on your head.Now you are recirculating that anger every time you look at your hair or feel frustrated about it. Your unhappy and angry thoughts propel them to grow.It is a chain of negative emotions, a cycle of cause and effect, more angry you got more they grew. More they grew, angrier you became. So now seeing these flowers I know you have broken the cycle of cause and effect and a new chain a new possibility a new vortex has opened. Which has a positive affirmation to it, give it sometime and see the change."
Diego did not understand much but he left feeling lighter and less discontent. On his way he noticed women were looking at him  differently.The flowers on his head were accentuating his features giving him the appearance of an angel.With thorns the same face that reflected monstrosity now flowers are giving the vibe of an angelic being to him.

A few weeks later he found a nice friendly girl, she accepted him completely and a rapid transition came over him.He was no longer unhappy or an angry person. He felt joyous when he woke up in the morning and went to bed with gratitude in his heart.
On his wedding day his bride noticed what a  handsome man Diego is, with his lustrous dark hair and chiseled features he truly looked like a Greek god.

Tree of life.

In a small coastal village of Mediterranean Spain, there was a tree that grew on an isolated hillock.
This tree was very unique. It had no leaves, flowers or shoots, all it had was big and heavy branches and lot of wax constantly oozing out of those branches, dripping down.

Nobody knew how old it was, whether it ever had any leaves or who planted it it. All they knew was that it was always there, visible in the skyline. Little children were the first ones to accept its produce, they started shaping little wax balls from the oozing wax and played with it.

Slowly all the villagers started using that wax to light their homes in the night.The wax produced a bright golden flame.  Some started carving beautiful candles out of it. Some became traders of the wax , and it became a source of living for them.

With time the entire village depended on the tree's wax for their livelihood.
The tree kept on growing bigger and taller, it reached so high that one day it reached the heaven.

The moment it touched the heavenly light it was transformed, new leaves and shoots started appearing on it enormous branches.
The next morning villagers were woke up to blissful fragrance of roses, a fragrance so beautiful
and enchanting that they could not get enough of it.Finally the source was discovered, the village wax tree had transformed, into an enormous rose bearing tree.Its branches were loaded with beautiful bunches of fragrant pink roses. However, the villagers were not so impressed by this sudden transformation.

Infact they were angry that their source of livelihood is gone. When one's privileges are suddenly taken away, anger is a common response.
They were furious and wanted to cut the tree from its roots. The old wax tree was listening to it, heartbroken, he pleaded with the gods in heaven to help him. They told the tree that it has been transformed from inside now, after being touched by the heavenly light and no one can ever destroy it now.
The angry and selfish people who tried cutting off  the branches were surprised. More they cut more it grew. Soon the tree grew twice its earlier size, and the not so selfish beings who were coaxed to cut it were transformed the moment they got close to the tree. Something inside them filled up with so much love and contentment that they dropped their saws and axes and wept unceasingly.

The village was no longer the same, it was drenched in the fragrance of the heaven, it had the love of the universe floating in the air. No human, animal, plant was left unchanged. The village underwent a catharsis. A day later  rains dissolved the tree into nothing, just the way it had appeared out of nowhere.

The Deserving Seeker.

Amete was a bright young boy trying to learn how to embalm bodies so they can be preserved perfectly.

Somehow whenever his trainer let him take charge of the bodies they decomposed rapidly and he would feel embarrassed in front of other trainees. He had a strong desire to get better at his job and so he tried observing and scrutinizing every little detail of the procedure but the end result remained the same.The bodies would decompose and crumble within weeks.

So he decided to take an extreme step. He asked his trainer to embalm and lay a corpse inside a crystal casket so he can observe each and every change that took place in the body after the burial.Everyone warned him not to exercise such extreme measures but he was adamant. He went into the pyramid with the embalmed body lying inside the transparent crystal casket.And he observed day and night, sitting still.

First the bandaged body swelled a little, then a strange pale dusty greenish white fungus appeared all over the body that was wrapped and bandaged tightly. The fungus slowly turned rusted brown in color then dark liquid oozed out which was consumed by the beetles that were carefully left  behind in the casket; they died soon after consuming the liquid.

As the body  dried and tightened the oil and frankincense used to stuff the body  squeezed out slowly through the drying and tightening layers, creating a beautiful glaze all over the body. The body then looked like a perfect sculpture of the deceased.He was mesmerized by the beauty of the process.He dug himself out of the pyramids and promised to create the most beautiful embalmed mummy.
His process was near perfect now, yet some part of the mummies would still dry and disintegrate.He was truely frustrated with the lack of results.

He concluded he had mastered the technical process yet something was amiss, that segregated regular embalmed bodies from those perfect mummies resting in the pyramids.He went and sat on the pyramid and asked for guidance. For weeks no response,no vision no breakthrough happened. Yet he persevered.

One day there was a dusty evening storm; people rushed into the security of their homes. Amete sat there undeterred. After the violent swirling winds moved off the top of the pyramid, absolute silence descended then he heard a distant echo of masters talking and he saw clearly what was amiss.

He saw how the masters of embalming bodies could see the threads of light connecting the bodies to universal force that gets pulled off after death, leaving the body like a dark empty sac. The masters intervene during the last stage of this slow withdrawal of the life forces.When the last strand started pulling off, they would cut the cord of light with energy cuts. This process left a portion of last bit of life force in the corpse.These bodies remained clean, fresh and well-preserved because of the life force left in it. On such bodies embalming worked perfectly.

After the storm ceased and calm air descended, Amete came down and without any loud proclamations and started practicing what he had learned. He left a minor part of the last strand of life force in the dead bodies and preserved them with perfection. He could now recognize the bodies that had lost all life strands and he would politely refuse to embalm them. His knowledge was now complete.

The deserving and true seeker was rewarded with true knowledge in the end.