PART IV
Right now there was nothing that could be done, except walk. If he reached his destination maybe a day or two in advance he could convince the Gods, to let him go off and spend the rest of his life with the creature with whom he had fallen in love with. He decided not to think of what would happen if the issue invoked the wrath of the Gods. The thought itself was so cold that it made him shudder in the hot midday sun. He decided to walk fast so as to cover the distance in shortest possible time and then maybe, maybe he had a hope….Maybe….
As luck would have it he reached a week ahead of his scheduled arrival. That gave him sufficient time to get to know the chain of authority and approach the right person. He knew in a hierarchical society like this one miss and the news spread round like a wildfire and all in the wrong ears. It could kill him even before he could realize what was happening.
By the second day of his stay he was pretty well settled and had a couple of friends around. Ra, who was his escort 24*7, Un his nearest neighbor and Kum, the pretty damsel with whom he was supposed to “copulate”. In the evening he was supposed to meet Yagya the supreme being of the place, the mighty lord of the worlds. Astitva had decided he would broach the topic as soon as possible, that very evening. But nothing had prepared him for what the day had in store for him.
Evening came. Astitva drove to Yagya’s palace. To say that the palace was a masterpiece was an understatement. The doors were made of fire and the floor of crystal clear blue waters, the walls of ice and curtains of wind…it almost seemed illusionary….one moment it was there and the next moment all you saw was vast expanse of clouds. For a mortal like Astitva it was divinity at its best or how else could he pass through fire and walk on water? But then his eyes registered nothing. For all he saw was Maya and all he thought was of ways he could get back to her.
What surprised Astitva was the fact that Yagya looked pretty simple enough. He had imagined (an imagination fired by the pictures he had seen of the Gods on earth) him to be an imposing persona with maybe 12 hands 100 heads and sitting on some gold throne. Mighty, unreachable kinds. Contrary to all this, Yagya looked like a normal being who invited Astitva to sit beside him on the grass in the Garden of the thousand nightingales. Pretty normal. So much so that Astitva started thinking if he was addressing his problem to the right person.
Yagya: I see son, that you are unhappy. Haven’t you being cared for adequately? What gives that troubled look to your eyes?
Astitva (smiling apologetically): Nothing my lord. Just that I’m humbled by the ways of the supreme being. He finds time for a servant like me and even makes me sit beside him.
Yagya: Oh! The disappointment is then for not seeing the lord as you had wanted…right? Well to tell you the truth I haven’t adorned that form for the last thousand years. Who wants to live in that pomp and show? Tell me if I offered you my seat would you want to sit all day long on the throne with all those hands and heads? I mean, it’s pretty cumbersome…when your own body starts coming in the way of your day to day activities. Besides I have no intention of intimidating my subjects by looking ferocious. (laughs)
Astitva: Hmmm…that’s really kind of you my lord to think so deeply about your subjects.
Yagya: So tell me son how was your trip? I hear from the winds that you had a night’s stay at a Maya’s place. And I assume that you left your heart there only for I have seen Gods go breathless at the mere sight of her
Astitva (taken by surprise): What??? You know Maya? I mean you know that we stayed together. Forgive me father for I know it’s a sin but then the situation was such, it was raining so heavily…
Yagya: Now now, come-on son, for a strapping youth like you rain isn’t a valid excuse (smiles) Tell me now what do you intend to do now? I mean shouldn’t we put you upside down in the Fires of Hell for your deeds?
Astitva (Looking straight into the eyes of Yagya): Sir, I’m sorry for being rude and imprudent in the presence of mighty lord. But then at the start of the journey I never knew the fate that awaited me. I’m deeply in love and cannot think of anything beside her. I’m sure if you consider me your child Supreme father you would let me be with her. If you still feel otherwise I would be more than happy to die, for a life without Maya would render me useless.
Yagya: Your courage gives me faith son. And I am no one to come in the way of Cupid. You shall have your darling but then I have my conditions. Are you sure she loves you back in equal measure?
Astitva: Sir, I am willing to give my life if she says otherwise. I’m sure my love is reciprocated in an equal measure.
Yagya: Hmmm…that puts me in a difficult place for I see trouble brewing up at Kum’s end. She wouldn’t let a handsome young man go just like that. And then you might not welcome the news but Maya is also supposed to be married off soon to one of the Gods.
Astitva (winces): I’m sure the mighty lord can meander the flow of thoughts of any being….
Yagya: (laughs aloud): Son, if that were the case I would have made you forget that woman in the first place. I’m just the care taker and cannot disrupt the balance of the worlds by putting in my little tactics.
Astitva: But then there must be a way out……..
Yagya: Hmm…Ok lets put it this way. If I were to ask you what is one thing that you would want of Maya, one thing that would make you complete.
Astitva: (without a moment of hesitation) Her sea green eyes that paved the way to her beautiful soul.
Yagya: Hmmm…You shall have her eyes and soul then, son. Say no more for that is the best I can offer you. You may leave now. Say not a word of what transpired between us to a soul. For if you do you know the end better than me.
Astitva: (bows, with a troubled look) As you say sir. I would be grateful to you for what you are going to do for me.
PART V
The same night, Yagya appears in Maya’s dream disguised as a holy saint.
Yagya: Behold the kindness of the lord! Daughter, oh queen of the end of the world I see you pining away for someone. Forget him for your destiny is shaping up elsewhere.
Maya: Baba, I know that in everyone’s life there are points when desire and destiny stand at crossroads and from there on wards they take different paths. I pray to the lord that my desire and destiny may meet somewhere on the cross roads again….what if in the next birth (a tear slides down her cheek)
Yagya: You speak intensely. Your love will find ways to quench you thirst. So, tell me snake- princess what is one thing about him that would want, just one thing, if you could have no more.
Maya (dreamily): His strong arms that took me to his godlike form…
Yagya: Very well princess, you shall have what you want.
(Saying this he disappears)
Maya wakes up only to realize that it was a dream. She smiles, for weren’t dreams the foretellers of future?
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