DREAMS WITH AUTUMN

                                                THE SEASON OF AUTUMN

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                 MARRIAGES, SO IT IS SAID, ARE MADE IN HEAVEN. THE INEVITABLE HAPPENED. ON AN AUSPICIOUS DAY SATYAKAM AND BHAIRAVI WERE MARRIED THROUGH. TANTRIC RITES UNDER KAPALA'S PERSONAL SUPERVISION. HUNDREDS OF PEOPLE ATTENDED THE CEREMONY. ALL DAY LONG, STREAMS OF DEVOTEES FLOWED IN AND OUT OF THE TEMPLE GROUNDS. CLOUNDS OF DUST ROSE IN THE AIR, AND MUSIC SUNG TO LORD SHIVA AND MOTHER KALI RANG SONOROUSLY. THOSE WHO ENTERED THE PRECINCTS WERE GREETED BY THE CONSTANTLY CHIMING TEMPL BELLS. SATYAKAM AND BHAIRAVI BEAMED WITH AN INEXPLICABLE JOY AND A GLOW SURROUNDED THEIR BODIES. WITH SILENT GESTURES THEY WELCOMED THE PEOPLE WHO HAD COME FROM VARIOUS SURROUNDING VILLAGES. MANY SAID THE COUPLE WAS AN INCARNATION OF SHIVA AND DURGA. 

             SOON THE CEREMONY ENDED, FOLLOWED BY A CONSTANT RUSH TO TOUCH THEIR FEET. THE CLAMOR WAS SO GREAT THAT PEOPLE COULD HARDLY HEAR ONE ANOTHER ABOVE IT ALL. THE COUPLE PATIENTLY ACCEPTED THE OBEISANCE. AFTERWARDS SATYAKAM AND BHAIRAVI ROSE, TURNED TOWARD THE SHRINE, AND BOWED TOGETHER BEFORE THE IMAGE OF KALI. AS THEY STOOD UP, KAPALAK CAME NEAR. BOTH TOUCHED HIS FEET. THIS WAS KAPALAK'S FIRS APPEARANCE BEFORE HIS FEET. THIS WAS KAPALAK'S FIRST APPEARANCE BEFORE SUCH A LARGE CROWD.

           HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT ALL THIS TUMULT? ASKED KAPALAK HUMOROUSLY.

         SATYAKAM REPLIED WITH A SOBER SMILE, IT IS THE SPIRIT THAT I LOVE. KAPALAK COMMENTED, YOU SHALL TEACH THE TRUTH AS TAUGHT BY THE ANCIENT SEERS AND LEAVE IT IN THE HEARTS OF THE PEOPLE.

           VOLUNTEERS DISTRIBUTED CONSECRATED FOOD AMONG THE VISITORS AND GRADUALLY PEOPLE BEGAN LEAVING FOR THEIR HOMES.

            DUSK CAME AND, EXCEPT FOR A FEW NEAREST DEVOTEES, ALL WERE GONE. ONCE AGAIN, SILENCE PERVADED THE TEMPLE COURTYARD.

           THE STORY OF SATYAKAM AND BHAIRAVI WOULD HAVE BEEN LIKE ANY OTHER HOUSEHOLDER COUPLE HAD IT BEEN FOR THEIR EXTRAORDINARY SPIRITUAL ACHIEVEMENT. THIS MARKED DIFFERENCE WAS SHARPENED BY SATYAKAM'S PROFICIENCY HE SHARED WITH HIS ADVANCED BHAIRAVI.

            THE SPECIFIC PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS OF AN IDEAL COUPLE, ACCORDING TO TANTRA, WERE NOT LACKING IN THEM. BOTH WERE HEALTHY FIGURES. HE WAS MANLY AS MUCH AS SHE WAS LOVELY, WITH HER SLENDER WAIST, FULL BREASTS, SOFT SKIN AND LOTUS EYES.

             IN THE TEMPLE'S SOLITARY COMPOUND, FREE FROM NOISE AND POLLUTION, THEY OCCUPIED THE PRIEST QUARTERS. BECAUSE THEIR FEELINGS AND ACTIONS WERE HARMONIOUS, THEY WERE WELL SUITED FOR PERFECT EXPRESSION. THE DEVOUT BHAIRAVI PLAYED THE ROLE OF THE DIVINE ENERGY AND BECAME A PERENNIAL SOURCE OF JOY TO HER LORD.

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            PEOPLE ADDRESSED THEM AS "MAHARAJ", AND "DEVIJI" RESPECTIVELY. DEVIJI DILIGENTLY LOOKED AFTER ARRAGEMENTS FOR WORSHIP IN THE TEMPLE WITH METICULOUS CARE AND MAHARAJ  GAVE SATSANG DAILY IN THE AFTERNOON. HE OFTEN TALKED ON DEVOTION TO MOTHER DIVINE. SINGING GROUPS VISITED FROM TIME TO TIME AND THE ATTENDANCE AT THE TEMPLE FUNCTIONS GREW LARGER AND LARGER. THIS WAS THE FIRST TIME IN THE HISTORY OF THE TMEPLE  SATSANGS WERE BEING HELD IN IT.

         AFTER TWO YEARS HAD PASSED, A SON WAS BORN. MANY DEVOTEES BROUGHT PRESENTS FOR THE SPECIAL FEAST. ROHIT WAS OF BROWN COLOR, HEALTHY, AND GREW HAPPILY IN THIS ATMOSPHERE OF LOVE, POWER AND HARMONY. WHEN HE WAS ABOUT TWO YEARS OLD, A SECOND SON WAS BORN. AGAIN, THERE WAS A BIG FESTIVAL AND THE CHILD WAS NAMED PURAN.

           PURAN WAS MORE FAIR AND DELICATE THAN ROHIT, WITH AN AURA OF SHINING LIGHT AROUND HIM. HE SEEMED MORE SWEET, QUIET AND INTELLIGENT THAN HIS BROTHER, NUT NONETHELESS, THEY GREW SIDE BY SIDE WITH JUDICIOUS TREATMENT AND CARE. ROHIT, IN  FEATURES, RESEMBLED HIS MOTHER AND WAS MOST FOND OF HER WHEREAS PURAN TOOK AFTER HIS FATHER. THE DIVINE FAMILY LIVED IN JOY, PEACE AND ABUNDANCE WHILE PURAN GREW TO BE ONE YEAR OLD.

          BUT NATURE IS CHANGEFUL AND NO STATE OF AFFAIRS REMAINS CONSTANT. ONE AUTUMN AFTERNOON WHEN DEVIJI GOT UP FROM A SHORT NAP, SHE DISCOVERED ROHIT MISSING. CASUALLY, SHE LOOKED HERE AND THERE AND THEN GREW SECRETLY APPREHENSIVE. AS SHE SEARCHED FURTHER, THEIR HOUSEMAID CAME RUNNING AND WEEPING, "DEVIJI, ROHIT DROWED IN THE POND"!, STUNNED DEVIJI RAN TOWARDS THE TEMPLE'S POND. THE HOUSEMAID RAN AFTER HER SCREAMING, I WENT TO THE POND TO BATHE AND AS I ENTERED THE WATER, SOMETHING STRUCK MY FEET. I LOWERED MY HANDS WITH FEAR AND CAUGHT HOLD OF THE BODY AND BROUGHT IT OUT, SHE WAS GASPING FOR BREATH.

             UPON REACHING THE POND, THEY FOUND ROHIT'S BODY LYING AT THE WATER'S EDGE. QUIET TEARS FILLED DEVIJI'S EYES AS SHE COPPAPSED TO THE GROUND LIKE A LUMP OF FLESH. TAKING ROHIT'S HEAD, WHE GENTLY PEOPLE ACCOMPANYING MAHARAJ CAME HURRIEDLY AS THE NEWS SPREAD. AS IF A DAM HAD BURST, DEVIJI EXPLODED IN A POIGNANT WAIL, FALLING ON MAHARAI'S FEET. WITH TEARS FLOWING PROFUSELY, SHE PLEADED TO HIM, PLEASE REVIVE HIM. I KNOW YOU CAN RECALL THE SPRIT TO A DEAD BODY. NO ONE HAD SEED DEVIJI IN SUCH A CONDITION OF HELPLESSNESS. THERE WERE TEARS IN EVERYONE'S EYES AND SOME PEOPLE WERE EVEN SOBBING. ALL FACES WERE TURNED TOWARD MAHARAJ WITH EXCECTANT EYES.

          MAHARAJ SERENELY SAT DOWN NEAR DEVIJI, TOUCHED THE FOREHEAD OF ROHIT AND UTTERED SOFTLY, WHAT HAD TO HAPPEN HAS HAPPENED. THERE IS NO USE GOING THE WILL OF DIVINE MOTHER WHO KNOWS BEST, "DEVIJI WAS SUDDENLY QUIET FOR A MOMENT, BUT WITH A HEAVY SADNESS SHE PLEADED DEEPLY, WON'T YOU SAVE HIM, LORD?

         

             I WOULD HAVE IF MOTHER HAD WANTED THAT, SATYAKAM BOWED HIS HEAD AND REMAINED SILENT. LIFTING HIS HAND FROM ROHIT'S FORHEAD, HE PLACED IT ON DEVIJI'S SOULDER AND RESUMED, THIS IS A TEST FOR US AND AN OPPORTUNITY AS WELL TO KNOW HUMAN FEELINGS AND ATTACHMENTS. ONE OF THE LESSONS FOR WHICH MATAJI SENT YOU HERE IS TO OUTGROW ATTACHMENTS AND CLINGING BY EXPERIENCING AND NOT MERELY BY CONCEPTUALIZING.

           DEVIJI LOOKED AT ROHIT. A THRUST OF SHOBBING ROSE AGAIN IN HER FULL BREAST AND THEN SHE LOOKED AT MAHARAJ. LIKE A DYING DEER SHE SPOKE, "YOU DON'T FEEL ANY SADNESS AND LOSS"?, A TINGE OF SAD ENVY MARKED HER WORDS.

        DEATH, REPLIED MAHARAJ, IS THE SAME AS BIRTH. BOTH ARE SIMPLY TWO SIDES TWO SIDES OF THE SAME PHENOMENON. WITHOUT BIRTH THERE IS NO DEATH AND VICE VERSA. THE SPAN OF LIFE IN BETWEEN IS BUT A FRAGMENT OF THE TOTAL  LIFE, WHICH IS NEVER LOST OR DEAD.

          ROHIT WAS SOMEWHERE ELSE BEFORE HE CAME TO US AND THEY MUST HAVE LOST HIM BEFORE HE CAME HERE. SO WE TOO MUST LOSE HIM BEFORE OTHERS GET HIM ON HIS ONWARD JOURNEY TO PERFECTION. WHO ARE WE TO  DETERMINE A SOUL'S LIFE SPAN?

           AFTER PROPER RITUALS AND CEREMONIES WERE DONE AT HOME, ROHIT'S BODY WAS TAKEN FOR BURIAL ON THE BANK OF ADI GANGA. THE PRIEST WAS SUMMONED TO PERFORM THE FINAL RITUALS. THE BODY WAS THEN LOWERED INTO THE PIT WHICH WAS FILLED IN WITH EARTH. OTHERS BROUGHT WATER FROM THE RIVER  AND SPRINKLED IT OVER THE GRAVE. ALL WERE QUIET.

           

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