FATHER & SON
This is the story of a
father and son. The father, Saralomavu was a seer. He stayed in a valley with
his only son Dasooran. Together they contemplated about life and its ultimate
purpose. They also did small-time farming to keep afloat. You can call it
multi-tasking of yore! People who were engaged in the highest intellectual
activity propped themselves all the way! They were not dependent on others to
carry on with their research and always had a couple of income-generation activities
in hand. The father - son duo did small-time farming and cow-rearing.
As time went by,
Saralomavu became too old and decided to leave. He was set free from the cage
as he wished and flew away happily. Poor Dasooran, in spite of his grounding
in Vedanta, cried like a heron. He was reduced ‘like a lotus flower during
winter time’.At this time, a jungle-fairy
who was invisible, approached him and said,
O dear! Stop crying
like a child. Be brave. You are a learned man and you know the ways of the
world. That which takes birth has to perish. Everything is transitory. Now
cheer up and get going.
Dasooran brooded no
more. He became emboldened ‘like a peacock at the break of thunder’. He did all
the funeral rites of his father and decided to continue with his tapas more
vigorously.
Even the start should
be splendid, he mused. It should be unique. The place should be perfect for
one-pointedness. The settings too…
He spent a lot of time
weighing various options and finally decided that the most ideal place for tapas
was tree-branch. But there was a hitch. How could a human torso be settled in a
tree-branch without falling down? One needed special siddhi for the purpose.
So, Dasooran started a
yajna for attaining this power. He lit the fire for homa and offered his own
bit of flesh cut from the shoulders.
This (ferocious) act amply proved his sincerity and Agnideva, the God of
Fire appeared before the young man.
Dasooran bowed to him
and said,
Bhagwan, the Earth is
so full of various creatures and I can’t start my tapas sitting on the ground.
Kindly give me the siddhi that I can have a grip like a bird and remain
undisturbed on a tree-top.
Tadaastu, the God
okayed.
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| radha gomati -oil on canvas |
Accordingly, Dasooran settled
down in a kadambu tree (Euginia Racemosa) and embarked on his tapas. The
negative thoughts waned away and he was progressively getting purified. It
showed on his face. Ten years to wipe
off all impurities and the vessel was clean enough to receive jnana (Knowledge).
And it happened “like switching-on the electric bulb”!
Dasooran continued to
live a selfless life and one day he found an extremely beautiful jungle-fairy
waiting for him by the branch. The young tapaswi was astonished.
She introduced herself
as one staying at
a nearby tree. She didn’t drop in for a courtesy visit. She had a personal
problem.
On the full moon day
in the month of Chaitra, she had attended a bash only to get dejected. You know
why?
All other fairies
attended the event with their sons and she was the only one left out.
I want to mother a baby-boy. Provide me with a
son, O young saint…
Or else, I shall offer
myself to Fire.
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| radha gomati -oil on canvas -2010 |
Muni Dasooran just smiled.
He had a flower in his hand which he gave away to the fairy with deep affection.
Dear girl, please go
back now. You’ll be blessed with a son very soon. He’ll strive hard to acquire
Knowledge and he’ll accomplish it also. However, he‘ll desert you in the end!
For the simple reason that you have approached me with a death-wish.
The lady had to take
it in her stride. It was impossible to undo the death-wish.
She went back
reluctantly.
As expected a baby-boy
was born and she reared him up. When he attained 12 years of age, the mother brought him to Dasooran.
The moon-faced paid
respects to the Muni and sat in front of him.
Bhagwan, Please accept our son. I
have taught him the basics, the arts and whatever I could. Only the lessons in
Tatwa remain. Kindly take care of him and impart the highest of teachings. He
is impatient…
The Muni agreed to
take him to his fold.
Dasooran started his
lessons through a series of stories. Then he asked his son to
contemplate on each of them and to come out with an inference.
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| radha gomati - oil on canvas -2010 |
The First Story –
The Restless King
King Swodhan was known
in three worlds. His main occupation was to annex other’s kingdom and
territories to his own. He was quite successful in that! Invariably, he
generated a kind of fear among people. All his orders were followed verbatim,
lying down. Still, he was not vulnerable to sycophancy. Nobody could influence
him by word or action. He would start off a thousand projects
simultaneously. Not all of them would be
successful. Some ideas ended up as damp-squibs. Yet, he never got bogged down.
His strength was not derived either from fire-power or from scheming. He had
this ability to enter anywhere without a protocol. It was impossible for even Indra,
Vishnu or Shiva to replicate his designs! In fact he was born in the sky and
reigned it like a bird. What’s more , he built a city there with no entrance or
exit. The sky-city was divided into three parts. Fourteen high-ways marked for
traffic, seven ponds for aquatics, two lighting devices for conditioning air
and water.
With all these gadgets
working non-stop, Swodhan hurried through the streets to see if everything was
in tune. He had also built seven doored transit- courts equidistantly in
between, illuminated by five lamps. This
was the place where he relaxed. The decor was done in black.
King Swodhan visited
the place at random, spent some time with the care-takers and buzzed off.
Sometimes he got so crazy that he would decide to demolish everything and start
construction afresh ! Dejected, he would try to destroy himself. Suddenly he’d be
struck by its futility and would start repenting.
In another moment he got high for no reason.
In the next, he turned
pleasant and congenial.
Dasooran was winding
up.
He paused and asked his son,
Do you have any idea
who’s the King? What’s the idea behind his strange kind of behavior?
The son didn't answer.
Want any clues?
The son didn't want
any.
He had guessed it
right.
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