Nachiketa spent the formative years of his life with this man
who seemed to exist in a land beyond life and death. By now Nachiketa knew
every brook, waterfall, and tree in that hilly region. After the last batch of monsoon
clouds had departed, the winter would set in. Then the old man would wake
Nachiketa before sunrise and the two would explore the hills for herbs. Their
search would sometimes take them to the crest of the hill. Sometimes they would
rest under a tree and watch the crowns of the neighbouring hills until the first
rays of the morning brought to light their rough surfaces and threw into relief the multiple shades of colours that had so far been merged in one
purple sheet of darkness. Below, one would never be able to fathom the depth of
the valley.
Once Nachiketa got up from deep sleep, thinking it was dawn.
He found the old man sitting cross-legged, silently facing the east. A delicate
tinge of pink in the purple sky had deluded Nachiketa. He sat near the old man
and stared into the dark. The old man gently stroked his head and said, “This
is a false dawn. But do not fall asleep again. Stay awake and you will see how
it will change into a real dawn. It is a beautiful experience." So Nachiketa
sat there, watching the sky. Sleep overwhelmed him. It was a painfully long
interval before the first rays of the sun started to ascend the sky. In the
interval he felt drowsy and longed to go back to sleep, thinking that the
darkness would never end. But then came the moment when the hint of the
lustrous orb of the sun appeared behind the hill and soon the entire sphere
began to throb and expand with growing light.
The old man smiled at him and said, “My friend, you will
always remember what you have learnt in this moment here and now, and it will
fill your life with light as it did today”.
I have experienced that transition of moment between the false dawn and real dawn what Nachiketa experienced and it is amazing. So wonderful to read this chapter.
ReplyDeleteThanks for appreciating the spirit of my writing. May the words of Nachiketa's Guru protect and guide.
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