The Last Rudra

Who are you? 

The question bugged Pinku like an annoying louse. He flapped his wings to dust off the weird notion that he was not the parrot of the oak tree. 

Then who am I? A pooto 1with a lost mind.  wondered his million minds.

He had avenged his Kaneri and his old friend Panto. The skeleton of the bald human was laying in the wrecked orchard, his empty eye-sockets gaping. However, the death of the murderer hadn't assuaged his seething anger. It left him aimless, disoriented and empty. He flew in the sky higher and higher, in the hope to reach the heavenly nest. But his millions of lungs gave way, and he saw himself falling with a new hope of death. It didn't come. He screeched in agony and in despair. The starry abode had been shut for him. Mankind had taken away his everything. 

The next thing he knew was that he was in war against humanity.  Then came this notion of him being a treacherous human, who had disguised himself to kill the innocent birds. His ever submissive inner voice rebelled against him oddly telling him to look down. 

Down laid the land littered with his dead kins, his army of birds bathed in blood and ashes. Their empty eyes, gazing at the sky, asking, what sin they had committed to meet such an end. 

The air around him sighed at his folly. What had he thought when he summoned these docile birds to vanquish humanity? The rustle of breeze whispered to him a word that once was spoken to Guha1, the mighty king of blessed ones. 

"Sinner"

The soft word buzzed into his million minds, and his vision blurred, his exhausted wings gave in to the devil's voice.

Once again he was in the strange cage, the cage he had escaped this morning before becoming the second sinner. The only difference was this time he felt vibrations all over the place as if a violent storm was shaking it, and growing more violent with each passing moment. And then appeared an endless tunnel simmering with vivid colours. The tunnel sucked his awareness, and he found himself falling in search of the bottom in the bottomless hole. 

***********

Guha heard someone calling him softly. It wasn't his mother's voice. He slowly opened his eyes, his head splitting with pain. 

What a strange dream it was!  He wondered as his eyes registered three worried faces looming over him: his mother and two unexpected faces.

"Oh! SON. Please never leave me again." His mother hugged him, knocking the air out of his lungs. 

"Welcome back, brother." said the face he had long to see for three straight years. Guha blinked his eyes, not daring to believe them. Was he still in a dream? 

"You both know how to make us mothers worried to death." The second face beamed at him, stroking his hair. "Boys, you two would better quit this bad habit of yours. Not a single morsel has gone down in her mouth for two days." Lady Padama said in a rebuking tone.

"Mother, I'm sorry to make you so worried." Guha felt guilty seeing her eyes swollen and red. Avantika, her mother, was the strongest lady he had ever met. Tough like Seric Steel of Chera. She once challenged Lord Oman to check whether he was worthy of her friend. Of course, Lord Oman had defeated her, but it was a hard win. He had told the tale over their family dinner. Guha had never seen him crying so much, not even when his dad had gone missing. He hugged her back. Ishit gave him a faint smile. 

When Avantika, his mother, finally let him go, his tunic was wet with tears.

"Foolish mother has wet your tunic. You may as well go and take a bath," said she, wiping her tears. "Mother will tell Kuchi to prepare us a good lunch." 

Guha liked the idea; his body was drenched with sweat. Moreover, a cool bath would be good for his headache. So he hurriedly left, telling Ishit to wait for him in the dining room. He had bellyful things to share with him. 

"See, I told you there is someone who loves you more than I." Padma said in a teasing tone, "I really wonder whether you two were love birds in your previous lives."

"If it is true, I wouldn't be surprised. Not after today." Avantika cut in, "You have no idea how hard I tried to wake him up.But Ishit needed only a call." She gave Onish an adoring look. 

"By the way, How did you decide to visit this poor friend of yours today." Avantika asked as they headed out of the room to the dining chamber. 

"I'm really ashamed of my childish behavior." Padma said, "I hope you forgive me." 

"Never mind, now I don't need you when my nephew Ishit has returned." Avantika said, ruffled Ishit's hair. 

"Could you excuse me for a while. I too need a good bath. Wait for me in the dining room. I will be back soon." Avantika left, giving Ishit's gentle peck on his left cheek. Ishit wiped the spot with his sleeve, blushed. What the hell! His mother was already enough for this. 

"Ha, Ha. Son, you'd better loosen your belt. Avantika wouldn't let you leave the table so easily." Padma said as they entered a large chamber. 

Maids were waiting for them with saffron milk sweetened with ember bees' honey. 

Ishit didn't wait for an invitation. He picked up one of the silver glasses brimming with fragrant milk and emptied it in one draught.

Waking up Guha was a perilous treat. When he merged his consciousness with him, Onish's mind flooded with strange memories. He realized the boy had breached the fifth dimension of the world, a dimension where consciousness resided. 

According to Vedas and his prior experience, he had come to know the world had 64 dimensions. A common man could only sense three or maybe four but beyond that required an awakened mind and fully awakened body. 

He didn't know how the boy pulled off the impossible feat. But again, there were many things in this world he didn't know. The thing he was sure of was that if he didn't pull back the boy's marred consciousness, it would soon destroy the world.

  It might seem far-fetched to those who never experienced the yogic powers. Still, it was the sole reason ancient rishis (sages) and dwizas(brahmins) of Bharata never passed down the yogic methods to common folks. They guarded the divine knowledge, only imparting to the virtuous ones. History has proved them right. 

Whenever unworthy ones got hold of the secret knowledge, they had only brought calamity and havoc to the universe with their twisted minds. 

The famous king Ravana was such an example. Being the son of a great sage Vishrava, he had access to all secrets. The great scholar mastered them all in no time, and then he set out to conquer the universe. He held devas at ransom, commanded the nakshatras at his whim, treating the whole creation as his plaything. And at last, Shri Hari himself had to come to put an end to his tyranny. 

Thus, realizing the gravity of the situation, Onish didn't slack a bit. Recalling the ancient lore of King Shikhidhwaza, he stirred the lost boy's consciousness and planted his thoughts in it. The process was not simple to achieve the goal; he had to become one with the boy's instinct. For a moment, Onish felt he would lose the battle; the identity of the parrot had overcome Guha completely. Fortunately, the gruesome scene of butchered birds unsettled Guha so much that his resistance caved in, giving Onish a chance to pull back the boy's awareness to his body.

However, Guha was still in danger. Onish didn't know how he would react when he found out that his dream had caused millions of deaths. 

***

Guha joined them, chirping with delight. Badgering Onish with questions. 

  What was it like sleeping so long? Did you meet the fabled dream fairy, or had you been lured away by a demoness of nightmares? 

How did you wake up now? Did you remember me in your dream world? 

Onish recalled their time in the woods. How Guha had numbed his mind chatting without a pause. 

And then came the overflowing love of his aunt Avantika in the form of endless dishes. Onish soon realized why his mother had told him to loosen his belt. Avantika kept serving him this and that as if she wanted to feed him everything on the table. 

When they finished their lunch, Onish felt his stomach would burst. As a yogi, he never ate more than needed to keep himself alive. But just spending two days with the family, he couldn't follow his yogic ways anymore. 

The two mothers ignored the boys after feeding them.  Guha nudged him to follow him. Onish was waiting for such a chance. His friend was a good source of knowledge that he lacked the most. So he trailed behind him, listening to his endless chattering. 

Following the grand corridor with walls painted with murals of myriads of birds and climbing the spiral carpeted staircase, they were soon before a closed chamber.

"It is where we used to spend our time," Guha said as he pushed open the door. Lady Padma had disclosed his amnesia over lunch and requested Guha to help him out. 

The door was very spacious and had a large window overlooking the back garden.

A large polished wooden table was set in the middle of the room with a lot of strange instruments and books, piled on it. The walls, like the rest of the castle, were covered with maps and portraits. 

"Have you really forgotten everything?" Guha asked, looking straight into his eyes. 

"I mean you are not playing a trick." 

Onish was amused by Guha's question. Who the hell would play such a trick? Then he recalled the memories he had seen. Ishit and Guha were two little devils. Nothing was too much for them. 

"No, I really can't recall a damn thing." Onish said, trying to look frustrated. 

"Ah, why do I have such bad luck?" Guha sighed dejectedly, walking over the window. Onish didn't follow him and kept sitting in his cushioned chair. His legs and feet haven't recovered from his hour-long walk from the spirit shrine. 

"I can recall every wretched thing that happened to me, even the nightmares." Guha said, looking out of the large window. "You know the funny thing; I feel guilty of something I did in my dream." 

Onish ears perked up, but he didn't interrupt him. 

"You know I'm in a great need of a coma like yours." After peeking out of the garden as if looking for something, he joined Onish. 

"So, Listen to this veteran friend of yours. Don't ruin your hard earned innocence. Ignorance is bliss." Guha said with a serious face.

Onish suddenly felt his life here wouldn't be so dull with a friend like this. He recalled his childhood on the earth in his guru's ashram. He was a daredevil full of mischiefs. It took a long time for his guru to discipline him. 

"Ok, this newbie will listen to you. But I too have some adventure in my long dream." Onish had contemplated over this what he should do now when his path as yogi had come to a sudden halt. His favorite sloka was the answer 

गते शोको न कर्तव्यो भविष्यं नैव चिन्तयेत् । वर्तमानेन कालेन वर्तयन्ति विचक्षणाः॥

"One should not mourn over the past and should not remain worried about the future. The clear-headed, wise, focus on the present."

So he had decided to live this life as a young lord while seeking the cure for his soul. There was no point in clinging to his previous -self. The past had to die sooner or later. 

"Ah, Quickly tell me about them."Guha's face lit up " My life here was dull even more so without you."

"Some other day," Onish waved his hand, "But I will share my hard-earned wisdom with you lad. Never be a prisoner of your past, it was a lesson. Not a life sentence,"    he said mimicking a wise sage.

"Tell me. Did you join an Occum shrine in your dream?" Guha asked, chuckling. 

" and hark my words . We are reborn as new with each breath." Onish added, ignoring the boy.

They continued chatting, laughing at each other's jokes. Guha narrated his lonely life without him and his father. He told him how his parrot Niro got possessed by Pooto and fled when the assassin attacked him, making Onish smile ruefully.

  Then their conversation turned to the spirit wielders. 

Guha explained to him the working of spirit a little bit. He said he didn't need to worry about his unique ability as it would be decided by the elementary spirit academy. So he had to visit it and had to study their dumb scrolls. 

Onish was glad he could somehow read and understand the complicated language written in strange symbols called Patri script. He borrowed two tomes from Guha's collections -one titled "The spirit and its origin." and the other "Book of Mazia." Though they were not beginners' books, Onish was sure he could understand them. 

It was almost evening when Meriva, the house anima, came to call him. His mother and Bhadra were leaving for the castle.