Nachiketa 12

Nachiketa pondered over this oracular command. He had sought his roots. He did not find them in the soil where he was born. He had accomplished a long flight and reached here. He had been nurtured and brought up by this man whom he had believed to be Yama. He had learnt life under the shadow of ‘Death’.  Where were his roots now?

He spoke, without looking at the old man, “You are asking a bird to leave the sky and go back to the cage.”

The old man said, “No, not to the cage. You will go back to complete what you were sent here to do”

Nachiketa said, “I have a choice, old man. You cannot take away my freedom now. “

The old man said, “Yes, you are still free and forever free. Your freedom is with you wherever you may be. This is precisely the time when you have to be reminded of it. You had used it once in the past to find yourself. That was your liberation. You had broken your shackles to find liberation in what you thought was your Death. You did not realize then that it was not an easy way out. But Yama, the Highest Guru knows. He knows what you have learnt and what you have yet to learn and also knows how much you can learn in one life-time. He only leaves you free to find your path.”

Nachiketa said, “Then do not ask me to go back. I have found my path. It does not lead me back. I have been uprooted from that soil.”

The old man said, “No, you are a different kind of a tree now. Your roots are in the open, infinite sky now and you will carry them wherever you will go. Your roots are in your soul, in your mind and your mind and soul are being nourished by that infinite consciousness which is your sky now. Don’t you realize?  You had touched the realm of Death and turned away from there by me, not without reason. “

Nachiketa looked at the old man. He was serene. For a while Nachiketa remained in that serenity in silence. The bond of love was overwhelming.  He said, “You are Life in Death for me. Will you not come with me if I have to go from here?”

The old man said, “Now I am always with you, because your roots are with me, in the sky. “

There was a smile on the old man’s face as he said this and there was a new-born beauty in it.

He said, “You did not care about your branches. Now with your roots in the sky and your branches spreading in this sphere, you are a new man, strong, nourished with the new knowledge of freedom. Your branches will not die hereafter.”