Becoming God

by Trilok Nath Pandey

  A debate was also held on the grace of celestial gods versus need for emergence of human gods. The disputation, which grew quite heated in its progression, concluded at the note that the time had come that persons like Shiv be treated on a par with celestial gods. There were some enthusiasts who advocated that Shiv be worshipped as the greatest god as he was a great friend and leader of the people, and horrible gods like Rudra be relegated. In the concluding speech, Shiv lauded rishis for their great spiritual and scriptural works, and impressed upon them the need for compassion for all creatures, be it whatever religious path they preferred.

  While Shiv remained busy with rishis, witnessing their yagyas, participating in their debates and making valuable suggestions on myriads of subjects, Parvati was engaged in discussing issues raised by rishi womenfolk. She noticed that they were treated well, with respect and equality, by their men. They participated in the Vedic yagyas on a par with men. Some of them were so brilliant that they had envisioned and composed some verses of the Vedas. Some spinsters, who had vowed to celibacy, had devoted to pursuance of knowledge of the Cosmic Person, and prided themselves on being called Brahmavadini, the knowers of Bramah, the Cosmic Person. Some Brahmavadinis, who had opted for this path lured by high reverence attached to it, staggered on the path and swayed sometimes by their unsuppressed carnal desires.

  Bhero had developed a liking for Goswamis, though they had clarified that they were not rishis, but inferior to them. They were not allowed to participate in debates or yagyas and were restricted to the tending of cows only. Bhero later learnt that their title Goswami literally meant master of cows. Gannu and others enjoyed hospitalities at rishis’ homes; Nandi was happy cohabiting with cows.

  8.7

  One night, when after a long meditation outside his hut, Shiv opened his eyes slightly in sheer bliss of the meditation; he saw a spooky shadow moving gingerly towards him. Before Shiv could raise an alarm, the shadow was swiftly right in front of him. Now, Shiv could see that the visitor was a gangly man, with a thick growth of beard on the face against a barren pate on the head. With an admirable alacrity the man bowed reverentially to Shiv and whispered softly, “I’m a devdoot, the messenger from Guru Brihaspati Dev.”

  Baffled, Shiv enquired, “Who is this Guru Brihaspati Dev, and what does you or that person want from me?” The man replied, “He is the Kulpati of devkul. I, Rati Dev, have brought an invitation from him to you to visit devkul, which is located in the nearby forest of Prabhasharanya, the forest of brilliant light. You decide on the time of the visit and I’ll be here to escort you there.” As if under spell, Shiv mumbled “Day after tomorrow around noon.” Bowing respectfully, the visitor disappeared into thin air.

  The next day, morning, Shiv enquired from Shaunak about Guru Brihaspati Dev and devkul. Cringing in fear, Shaunak asked anxiously whether Brihaspati’s spy had approached him. When affirmed by Shiv, Shaunak stated, “Devs are crazy people who do not believe in celestial gods of Vedas and instead call themselves dev, claiming godhood to themselves and meaning insults to celestial gods. They also call themselves Charvak, the people of reasoned wisdom, and claim that one day their line of thoughts and temperament would become Lokayat, prevailing widely in the world. Their chief, Brihaspati is the craziest who teaches them all rubbish against the Vedas. They denounce our spiritual austerities and aspirations as irrational and ill-conceived, rejecting all dharma and karma as creations of buffoons for the sake of their livelihood. They have been challenging us for debates, which we have always been avoiding fearing their impudent demeanour. They visit our land, mostly covertly, at their will, while we are unable to penetrate their area as they have raised mysteriously impenetrable defences around their land. They are said to be quite advanced in mundane matters and have acquired many means to live a pleasurable life. They are not just rivals but enemies to us, always using barbs against our ways of thought and conduct. We are scared of them, and we’ve been contemplating to bring this matter to you for reconciliation.”

  Shaunak broke for a while to calm down his breaths racing under feelings of wariness. The next moment, he spoke feebly, raising concern for Shiv, “But, why have they invited you to their land? Do they mean some offence to you?” Though immediately dispelling his apprehension realising that Shiv was an incarnation of God, Shaunak advised him that he should take Bhero and Gannu along with him for the sake of his personal security. Shiv agreed to take his two friends with him, but not for his personal security, but for them to learn something new from the devs.

  Exactly at the desired time and place Rati Dev showed up to take Shiv, along with Bhero and Gannu, to devkul. Shaunak could not or dared not to prevent, or could not intercept, Rati Dev taking Shiv and his friends along.

  The whole afternoon Rati Dev made Shiv and friends travel through dense forests, and around sunset they reached a huge rock. Rati Dev climbed it swiftly and started emitting an ululating sound, howling like a wolf, followed by a sweet reedy music as if produced from a female throat. Soon, torches appeared, approaching from distant directions. When they arrived at the rock, Shiv saw a clean-shaven man dressed in impeccable white clothes, leading a group of sophisticated and well-mannered gentry. The man in white clothes moved quickly to Shiv and taking Shiv in embrace introduced himself as Brihaspati, the chief of devkul.

  Welcoming Shiv warmly they took him and his two friends to their homes in Prabhasharanya. Shiv was pleasantly surprised that their behaviour was quite normal and becoming of a good-natured human beings. For the first time he was accosted with natural affection devoid of any sanctimonious trappings arising from the dream claimed to have been caused by some Mother Goddess divinizing him in advance before his arrival at a place.

  Presuming that Brihaspati might have forgotten to mention about the dream, Shiv mocked, “Have you not had the dream of Mother Goddess foretelling about my arrival on the earth?” “What dream, man? Who is this Mother Goddess doing nothing but causing dreams to induce illusions about you!!?” Brihaspati jeered at Shiv. The moment they realized beauty of their wisecracks, they burst into peals of laughter. Their laughter lasted for quite long, filling others, particularly Bhero and Gannu, with awe and surprise. Bhero and Gannu had seen Shiv for the first time laughing so loudly and openly, as if laughter was emanating from his heart.

  It was quite late in the night by the time they reached Devkul town. Shiv and his friends were hastily escorted to a two-storey guest house, where they were served dinners, in bronze plates and bowls, consisting of warm tasty wheat breads, butter, roasted meat, and tepid warm milk to drink to conclude the repast. Shiv was shown to his bed on the ground floor, while his friends to theirs on the upstairs.

  Brihaspati briefed Shiv about the location of bathroom, etc, and advised him to ring the bell hung there, in case of any inconvenience. He along with his men took leave hastily, excusing them that they were early sleepers.

  The next day morning, Brihaspati along with two men called on Shiv, and appealed to have a look around the town. Shiv accompanied Brihaspati, while Bhero and Gannu were put in charge of one man each to brief them on the matters of their interests.

  Shiv was surprised to see that the town was a good example of meticulous planning and architectural excellence. The layout of roads and connecting streets was in perfect grid pattern. Roads ran mostly in north-south direction, with intersections at right angle. Streets were in built-up areas of district zones of various groups of people, including scientists and intellectuals, teachers, technicians, artisans and artists. The grid of narrow streets of each zone opened in a main street, which from each zone, joined the north-south roads.

  Underground sewerage and drainage channels, emanating from each house, ran beneath the streets and roads. The roads were paved with flagstones, while streets were lined with bricks. There were shady trees along the roads, and arrangement for drinking water was in place near the crossings of the roads. Along the streets garbage bins were kept at specified places.

  The h
ouses, which were built with sun-baked bricks – with flat roofs, well-spaced courtyards with windows opening into them, were so identical that they looked remarkably egalitarian. The houses of farmers, which were located in a distinct district in downtown near their farms, were quite large and a bit clumsily built. In the midtown, there was a large open town-hall, beside a theatre, a hospital, a guesthouse and a large school building. Closer by was a humble building, identical to those of other residents, to house the family of Kulpati, Guru Brihaspati Dev. Surprisingly, there was no worship place – neither a temple nor a yagyashala. On query, Brihaspati clarified that the people in Devkul were devs (gods) themselves and hardly needed any imaginary gods to fall back on or to worship for grace.

  Brihaspati asserted, “Charvaks rely solely on their karma. Their intellect is their guide and their karma is their strength. I myself always spurn any attempt by my people to venerate me, and have been emphasizing that if I am treated a bit superior to them it is only because that I have been firm in reliance on reason.”

  Brihaspati took Shiv to the far south-west corner of the town, where a huge distillery plant was located. He introduced Shiv to the workers and engineers working near huge mechanized rollers to extract sap from the Som plants, which was being further processed in a brewery to yield the final product.

  Brihaspati introduced Shiv to Vishwakarma, the chief engineer and architect. Shiv was very happy to meet Vishwakarma, and interacted with him very keenly, recounting how he had applied his knowledge of science acquired at Vishwayatan in establishing and successfully running single-handedly one such small plant at Mount Kailash. Lauding Shiv for his experiment with application of science, Brihaspati condemned rishis of Naimisharanya for their alleged apathy to scientific approach. Ridiculing them, he mocked that they still used two pieces of stone to extract Somras, to foolishly make their celestial god Indra too sozzled to launch attacks on townsmen of Prabhasharanya. He deplored that those buffoons wasted ghritam, the purified butter, and other precious things, by throwing them into fire, foolishly believing that the consignments of those things would be delivered to their illusory gods in the sky; and the gods, thus appeased, would send them riches and protection.

  Brihaspati disclosed to Shiv that whatever eminence he saw in planning of Devkul town was outcome of Vishwakarma's excellence in architecture and town-planning. When Shiv desired that his friend Gannu be briefed in that science, Vishwakarma very happily accepted the responsibility.

  Meanwhile, Bhero learnt from Shakti Dev, the Chief of Defence, the science of Shavar Yuddh, the guerrilla warfare. From Shanti Dev, the Chief of Administration, he learnt the craft of running administration as per the rule of law, and ways for containing crimes and punishing the criminals. He was also supposed to learn about the justice-delivery system, but in his enthusiasm for the techniques of fighting and administering punishment to the guilty, he evinced no interest in subtle science of jurisprudence.

  Gannu, who was rather more interested in fine learning, did well in studying the statecraft and administration of justice. He specifically learnt the art of spying, specializing in changing forms, and use of human beings as assets to collect intelligence. Gannu was so impressed by the excellent town planning that he embarked on learning vastu shastra, the nascent science of architecture.

  Shiv, who was deeply impressed by Brihaspati’s accomplishments, desired that Brihaspati should share his vision with other people, beyond Prabhasharanya, and particularly with his neighbours, the rishis of Naimisharanya. When Brihaspati expressed doubt whether rishis could be brought around to such rationality, Shiv assured him that the rishis were the good-natured and intelligent people and once they realized the significance of scientific knowledge and temperament, they would be all-willing.

  8.8

  Back at Naimisharanya, a conclave was organized in which Shaunak Rishi along with his rishi elites and Brihaspati Dev along with dev intellectuals held umpteen rounds of talks, mostly under superintendence and mediation by Shiv. Though the sworn rivals could come a bit closer, evolving an iota of appreciation for each other, they were still poles apart.

  On the concluding day, Shiv preferred to moderate the dialogues, highlighting that both the sides had considerable merits in their respective ways, and had every right to remain stuck to their own viewpoints. He, however, emphasized the need for amity, appealing to the devs to be gentler and more accommodating, and to the rishis to be more open to rational thoughts.

  Shiv advised Brihaspati, in privacy, to keep compassion at the core of his philosophy and remain kind to the dissenting people. Cautioning him against unnecessarily indulging in heresies, he suggested that Brihaspati should adopt Charvak, an agreeable articulation, to propagate his philosophy, and assured him of sure success, as it thoroughly appealed to the rational thinking of human mind. Shiv prophesied that this philosophy would once become Lokayat, prevalent widely among the people across the world.

  8.9

  Meanwhile, Parvati remained restive over Shiv’s detours and diversions. She viewed his activities as a fad for reforms and reconciliations among people who hardly solicited for them. She sulked that Shiv had drifted afar from search for the city to settle, for which he had left his Kailash behind. She had yet not forgotten the horrible encounter with Mahasur.

  The journey, which had detoured for a considerable time, resumed its usual course - ahead, along the river Ganga. Shiv kept interacting, though briefly, with the people living in small settlements along the downstream, but he had to move forward, being coaxed by Parvati.

  After about a month-long travel, the group reached the confluence of Ganga with Yamuna and a shy and slender Saraswati. There were two small settlements of rishis. One was of Bhardwaj located on the northern bank of the Yamuna and the other was of Kushumbha on its southern bank. The former was called Prayag due to incessant holding of yagyas, the latter was known as Kaushambi being the dwelling of Kushumbha. Both the rishis would run their gurukuls from their respective places.

  Shiv visited Prayag only as his team reached there incidentally. At Prayag, Shiv called on Bhardwaj, where the ubiquitous Narad was already present. After a brief discussion on prevailing situation in the area, Shiv revealed the purpose of his journey to Vairat. Bhardwaj, despite being aware about Shiv’s veiled divinity, was sceptic that Vairat’s arrogant king Divodas, the stubborn son of Sudas, the erstwhile sage king of Saptasindhu Pradesh, would let Shiv settle in his city. He deputed Narad as an emissary of Shiv to deal with Divodas. Narad escorted the team from Prayag.

  When Shiv’s team reached Vairat it was already late in the evening. So, moving around the southern moat they went towards west, and finding the entry into the city closed due to late hours and insistence by Shiv on obtaining the king’s permission prior to entering the city, the team went to a nearby hamlet of gardeners and settled there at the house of a woman named Rajo. Rajo’s job was to collect flowers for the king. That hamlet later earned an eponym of Shivpur to mark Shiv’s stay there.

  The next day, in the forenoon, Narad, Gannu and Bhero sought entry into the city. On the auspices of Narad, who was a known figure all around, the delegation was allowed for the audience with the king. Despite permission having been accorded so earnestly, the delegation was made to wait for almost the whole day, in blatant violation of the diplomatic protocol. The dour-faced king condescended in the evening to see the delegation, but peremptorily dismissed them, to come next day, on the plea that he was too tired to listen to their petition.

  The delegation was deeply shocked over the unbecoming behaviour of the king. The most embarrassed was Narad as he was venerated by all – whether the gentry or the masses – across Aryavarta. He was aggrieved that the king slighted him, despite knowing him well. Gannu smelt a rat in the conceited conduct of that stocky man who was the king. Bhero was not much voluble, but took exception to the king’s pompous strutting and deceitful prevarication, though they had not yet made the petition. The trio recounted their bitter expe
riences to Shiv, who sat stolidly, discerning that the king had been successful in his purpose of frightening the trio so that they might be dissuaded from approaching him again.

  The next day when the trio reached the palace they were surprisingly immediately ushered into the king’s audience. Emboldened, Narad embarked straight on the purpose they were visiting the king for. Briefly introducing Shiv as a versatile genius from Deul, Narad presented Shiv’s gift of a set of ornaments made of rudraksh beads to the king. He hurriedly conveyed Shiv’s request for permission to settle in Vairat. Scoffing at the gift, the king retorted gruffly, “Hark, Narad, don’t brag about Shiv. I know him. I’ve seen that anarchist at his marriage with Sati and again when he reached Daksha’s yagna uninvited and indulged in vandalism. I’ll never allow such an anarchist in my city.” By the time he completed his barb on Shiv, the king grew so angry that he chucked away the gift, shouting: “Take away this despicable bauble and get lost.”

  8.10

  Shiv, who used to keep his cool in most of the provocative situations, was peeved over king’s disdainful demeanour. Raging with revenge, the trio - Narad, Gannu and Bhero - huddled together to press Shiv for launching an offensive against Divodas. They proposed several schemes of aggression. Shiv, however, could accede to only their insistence that Divodas needed to be chastened and made to fall in line. “But, how?” The discussion ended with this question and everybody was asked to come up with an answer in the next session.

  The next session commenced soon with Bhero pressing for an open attack, which was rejected summarily by Shiv who contended that it involved a lot of violence and by others on the ground that the suggestion was not pragmatic in view of unavailability of men and resources. Bhero then came with a proposal that he be allowed to challenge the king for a fistfight. This was immediately approved by all.