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GARDEN OF STARS
A short story by
- Pamarty Venkataramana
I know I am the lone witness to all the events on earth, down below. My lord, the majestic Sun, would shine all day long and I step in to rise high above the sea levels and watch the happenings of those that assume the Lord of the Universe is away and so they could indulge in whatever past time, beyond the sun set hours...
For some, it is happy hours. The tired workers rush home to relax with their beloved ones of the family. Most others, nowadays, believe in chasing away blues or cheering themselves in company of intoxicating substances - often drinks and merriment.
Many more dedicate on a fallen apple piece or throwaways of food left over by pot-bellied merchants and then huddle beneath railings of over-bridges, fly-overs and make-shift shelters. Some hid their forms under parked trucks, much like canines do for want of a shelter called homes!
These humans had a very strange evolution from the pre-historic days of being a barbarian to becoming the ingenious clan of life-forms that created a make-believe globe with artificial borders and fences guarded to prevent free movement and yet issued visas to welcome those who spend man-made money or money's worth and returned to their respective homelands.
They failed to recognise that man was made to be different from the beasts and animals; the birds and the amphibians; the plants and the womenfolk on earth! They knew in course of evolution of civilisations that the blood and bodily-parts as well as functions of these were identical amongst them all. They knew that they all were born and that eventually all died. They however spread out across topographical zones and developed distinct senses of culture, tradition, flags, songs, dances, dietary and culinary habits and even a babel of tongues!
In the recent century, mankind had established a United Nations organisation and even began to be knit into one web-world entwined by Internet technology, as they termed it but still thrived on comparative analyses, differential pricing regimes and unequal currency measurements as a yardstick of their progress and dominance over one another! Societal mores changed rapidly and unthinkable judicial acceptance of such hitherto frowned upon practices added pace to the unnatural transformation of that bluish mass of floating body called Earth around which I am assigned to rotate on my axis!
Well, the nocturnal creatures such as the owl and prowling wild animals in search of prey for food and survival kept me company. As I noticed to my astonishment, mankind too had its set of burglars and leech-like criminals that step out under the cover of darkness to steal, usurp and injure others with selfish motive... And then, there was the ever increasing trend of smoky jet machines which criss-crossed the cloudy skies closely followed only by man-made satellites that beamed data for not always holy purposes to their master computers and programmes way down in sealed corridors of power and pelf covered by an umbrella and seal of governance of fellow-beings!
All the other stars, even the constellation figures, were disgusted and dismayed by the poor visibility of things on the watery planet Earth and thus, it was left only upon myself as the Lord's Consort to attend to all those that looked up at the sky with a prayer on their lips or seeking succour from Heaven above their little selves!
I had to give you the introduction above only to highlight the great spectacles I do get to watch from my exalted position in the night skies! For one, none of those floodlights, neon lamps or solar powered mass lighting can ever match up to the cool beauty of my beams. The cruelest of men as well as the loveliest of women are but influenced by the degree and extent of my beams touching them as they grew within the confines of the mother's womb - a cosmic secret little known to the best of super-computers!
Thus, it was only my radiance and charm which could rectify characters or nurture goodwill among these creatures whom the Almighty created supposedly in His Form: little wonder also then that so called rational thinking people pooh-poohed the existence of a God or that gods & goddesses did indeed resemble their beings and forms.
From time to time and across the eons, I do rise to the call of Destiny and direct the celestial power of my moonbeams towards a chosen couple to get them to fall madly, passionately in love and depict a tale or saga of loyalty and worship of love while being born as humans and leading a life on earth! This is essential to restore the semblance of sanity and humanity among mankind: when Divinity is at play, to what end and purpose are the deceit and evil perpetrated by mankind's own ilk?
Here is one such instance of my intervention to transform cold blooded, warring earthlings into humane, loving persona of the Unseen Force - Almighty God!
It was early dawn and about four a.m. Earth time!
A 'guru'[one who guides another from darkness of ignorance towards the light of wisdom by gifting the lamp of knowledge] was discoursing to his group of disciples in that blessed portion of Earth popular down the ages as 'Bharata' and crowned by ageless Himalaya mountains. He suddenly asked if anyone present there was capable of raising a garden of flowers in that region, braving the cold climate, the ubiquitous mosquitoes, the insects, rodents and reptiles in order to present the flowers to the Deity of the Almighty who presided atop the seven hills. The Lord loved to be adorned in flowers, he pointed out.
One among the batch of disciples raised his hand, stood up, bowed in reverence and submitted his desire to take up the task. Prostrating in traditional way, he sought the blessings of his Revered Guru and after sunset, set out along with his wife to find a large tract of land in Tirumala hills. Soon, he prepared a flower garden and began to send the flowers for garlands to be prepared and hung around the neck of the presiding deity. However, he thirsted for more to be done in the service of the Lord.
He wanted to send flowers that were even more beautiful and more fragrant. He wanted to raise a garden around the temple for the purpose. To begin with, he wanted to dig a tank for supply of water to the garden itself. Hence, he took the assistance of his spouse and began to dig the water-tank. Since he was the main priest offering worship during the daytime in the temple, he and his wife would begin to dig the trench and gradually the tank itself, after sunset hours and I, the moon, was their companion shining within them as their 'Faith'...
As a few days passed by like this, The Lord was touched by the dedication, devotion and sincerity of the couple. He walked up to the man in the form of a young lad and offered to help. But, was denied permission by the man saying that it was a sin to extract laborious tasks from minors and little children, and especially since he had no money to pay as wages for such a labour either. This sense of justice and compassion only impressed The Lord further and he firmly resolved to Grace his devotee. God always is more determined to bestow his Grace upon His Devotees than the faithfulness exhibited by them.
The husband would dig the ground with a crowbar whilst his wife would carry the soil in a basket to a far corner of the land and dump it there, albeit being at an advanced stage of pregnancy!
Now, The Lord assumed the form of a young child and approached the woman and pleaded to assist her in the task: the lady could not refuse the wish of a child who seemed to enjoy it! Thus it came to pass that no sooner would the man dig out a heap of soil and put it in the basket would the woman go and return seemingly in no time and without any signs of exertion even in her physical state of carrying a to-be-born baby in her womb!
Unable to hide his curiosity, he asked her the secret of her energy! The lady declared that she was being helped by a sweet looking child. This infuriated her husband because he disliked taking help from others! He ambled quickly across the tract of land and chased the boy who only ran around playfully in circles and giggling. It seemed a hide-and-seek game almost akin to the game which clouds play with me, the moon, or the sea waves! But, the short tempered devotee was livid with rage and looking up towards me shining bright up above as a full moon at midnight-hour he hurled the crowbar at the little boy: the flying missile glinted in moonbeams that tried to shroud The Lord in an hour of crisis but hit the chin. Being in a human form, the wound of the young boy began to bleed profusely... And, he disappeared among the flowers of the garden and retired to his sanctum Santorum of the Temple... After a few minutes of searching for the naughty lad, the man resumed digging the land in a bid to build the water-tank!
At break of dawn, he bathed, and applying sandalwood paste to his forehead, he stepped into the temple only to find a huge commotion in there! The Lord had a bleeding wound on his chin and the efforts of fellow priests to press camphor and turmeric against it appeared futile: the blood kept dripping from the Deity sculpted of dark granite stone!
As a moonbeam touched his forehead through the temple tower's intricate arch designs, the truth dawned on him and the ardent devotee began to sob and he prostrated before the Almighty Lord with folded hands and a repentant heart, sobbing uncontrollably. He begged to be forgiven. He was blinded by a magnificent obsession to dig the water tank and grow a beautiful garden of flowers to be offered to The Lord he worshipped but failed to recognise the fact that His Lord was gracing him with personal assistance and had in the result, acted in a hasty, foolish manner inflicting an injury on the very God he worshipped for protection and good health!
Almighty Lord, then stepping out of the sculpted form, embraced the man and delayed that the camphor on the chin will forever be a reminder to the world at large of the greatest devotion exhibited by this devotee who grew the rarest of rare flowers to be adorned in the course of worship of the Divine!
The incident I witnessed was in circa 1113 CA of the modern day earth - calendar!
Now, as I shine on that region atop the seven hills which have grown enormously in pilgrimage popularity and tourist traffic, I still find that the garden is filled with trees of several hues and fragrances: I alone know that to this date, The Lord and His Consort walk into this garden and finding the flowers magnificent, pluck and smell them, and as they throw them into the air, these turn into stars in the heavens above earth and throw their radiance upon every being born on the hour of their own transformation as stars from flowers! The crowbar with which 'the star gardener' inflicted the injury on The Lord is displayed to this day in circa 2023 CA of the earthen calendar and whoever visits the magnificent Tirumala Temple of Lord Venkataramana would see this testimony of devotion, love and grace hanging prominently both on entry as well as exiting from the main entrance!
Spiritual religions believe in the power of flowers and if adorned as a garland to a deity of worship, absolute protection from all evil and negative forces of Nature is assured by cosmic power and Grace of the Almighty!
I, the fair and lovely moon you all so adore, would leave you to muse and contemplate on the fact that the author I am using to pen this account of the 'garden of stars' also has a childhood cut below the chin and can see souls, not forms in human beings and other creatures of life! And, I am his muse, of course!!
Food for thought?
Source -> http://storystar.com/php/read_story.php?story_id=6337
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