The Mists of Brahma

by CHRISTOPHER C. DOYLE

  ‘Hey, we need to use mantras too!’ Adira was indignant. ‘It isn’t that easy to be a Kshatriya. There are lots of sadhs who call themselves Kshatriyas. But can they fight off the creatures of the darkness like we do?’

  ‘True. I didn’t mean to belittle your efforts,’ Maya said contritely.

  There was a loud banging on the front door of the cottage and both girls jumped. Someone was in a major hurry.

  Adira rushed to the door and opened it.

  Arjun stood there, panting as if he had just run a mile. ‘Hey, is Maya here?’ he asked, still panting. Adira pointed wordlessly to her friend who was sitting inside.

  ‘There you are,’ Arjun wheezed. ‘You’re wanted. In the Assembly Hall. Right now. The Mahamati Council is there. And so is Maharishi Satyavachana.’

  Wondering what was happening, Maya hurried out of the cottage, down the Central Avenue and towards the Assembly Hall.

  She had returned from her practice with Satyavachana a short while back and almost immediately the Maharishi had been whisked away by Kanakpratap. She had guessed that the Council needed to discuss something with him.

  But what did they want with her?

  Chapter Nine

  Maya’s Mission

  The Assembly Hall

  Maya stood before the five Mahamatis of the Council. Satyavachana, Kanakpratap and Yajnaseni were also present. Everyone wore a grim expression.

  Something was wrong.

  Something had happened.

  Maya’s heart sank.

  What was it now?

  She waited.

  ‘We need your help, Maya,’ Mahesh began. ‘The Gurukul on the banks of the Ramganga river in Corbett National Park was attacked a while ago. We received a call for help.’ He paused, struggling to find the right words. ‘We’ve been trying to call them for the last one hour now and there’s been no response.’

  Maya knew that, while internet and mobile connections were non-existent in the Gurukuls, they were all connected by satellite phones.

  If the Gurukul in Corbett was not responding, that could mean only one thing.

  But what could she possibly do?

  ‘You did a great job with Garuda,’ Usha took over from Mahesh. ‘If our Gurukul is safe today, it’s because of you.’

  ‘We don’t have time for this,’ Jignesh cut in sharply. ‘Look, Maya, here’s the situation. The Gurukul in Corbett was attacked by the Nagas. There’s only one being that can save them. And there’s only one person who knows where he can be found. You. We need you to go back to Dwarka and solicit Garuda’s help once again.’

  ‘I’ll come with you.’ Satyavachana spoke up. ‘You’ll get there faster with my help and you know where to find Garuda. We’ll bring him back with us to Corbett.’

  Maya tried to digest all of this. She had often wondered why Satyavachana had not gone to solicit Garuda’s help himself, that night when the Nagas attacked the Gurukul. Surely it would have been easier and faster if he had used his powers to travel to Dwarka, locate the island and bring Garuda back? But the venerable Maharishi had insisted that Maya be the one to perform the task. And, though she had come perilously close to abandoning the mission, she had eventually succeeded.

  Maya understood the importance of her role tonight, and anyway, this was not the time to figure out what her guru’s motives may have been. The lives of hundreds of people were at stake.

  And only she could save them.

  ‘Let’s go,’ she told Satyavachana. ‘I’m ready.’

  Chapter Ten

  Dwarka Again

  The Assembly Hall

  The others had left, leaving Maya with Satyavachana in the hall

  ‘Now,’ the Maharishi said, ‘I am going to teach you the mantra that I used to transport us from the Gurukul to the forest today. It is one of the most important mantras—a mantra so secret that few people know it. It taps into one of the siddhis and will enable us to travel to Dwarka more swiftly than by any other means.’

  Maya wondered what the mantra was. Earlier in the week, the Maharishi had very clearly told her that he would not teach her any mantras until she had mastered herself; until she was ready to learn. She knew that Satyavachana was making an exception tonight, not because he believed Maya was ready, but because the situation demanded it.

  But that only increased her self-doubt instead of bolstering her confidence. If it was such a powerful and secret mantra, how would she be able to use it? Her experience in the forest that evening had already demonstrated that she was far from capable.

  Satyavachana guessed her apprehensions. ‘Clear your mind of all doubts, my child. I know you can master this mantra. It is the same mantra that Rishi Vyasa had imparted to Yudhisthira and which Dharmaraja, in turn, imparted to Arjuna when he sent him to Deva-lok to obtain the celestial weapons that Arjuna would use in the war of Kurukshetra. Remember, neither Arjun nor Yudhisthira were Rishis. If they could master the mantra, so can you. Never forget that you mastered a mantra that few could—the one that gained you access to the Gandharva valley.’

  The Maharishi lost no time in teaching Maya the mantra and getting her enunciation right.

  ‘Now,’ Satyavachana said, when he was satisfied with the way Maya was reciting the mantra. ‘This is not a mantra to be uttered.’

  Maya looked at him in surprise. If she could not say the words out loud, how would she be able to use its power?

  ‘Use it as you did when you searched for Garuda earlier,’ Satyavachana told her. ‘Remember, you were travelling in your atmic form and could not recite the Garuda mantra aloud. What did you do then?’

  ‘I … I don’t know,’ Maya stammered. She recalled wondering how she would use the mantra without the sound necessary to activate its power. But she had managed.

  Memories of that night flooded back to her mind. She remembered her dilemma as she hovered over Dwarka, struggling with her lack of confidence. Her father. His diary. And her resolve.

  That night, Maya had resolved that she was going to be a Rishi, no matter what it took. There was no way she would spend the rest of her life as a sadh. That resolve returned now, and was strengthened by the challenge at hand.

  Maya thought hard. She remembered concentrating, focusing on what she had gone to Dwarka to achieve.

  She closed her eyes and focused her entire being on the purpose of her mission—to find Garuda and save the Gurukul in Corbett. Nothing else mattered. As she meditated on her purpose, the other distractions slowly faded away, until a tight knot of resolve was all that remained in her mind; her sole goal.

  In her mind, she recited the mantra that Satyavachana had taught her. To her surprise, the words flashed through her brain as if they were a part of her.

  She focused hard on her destination—the hidden island in the midst of the ocean—and on the two of them, as instructed by Satyavachana, since they had to travel together.

  After a few moments, she smelt the salty fragrance of a sea breeze and opened her eyes to find that they were both hovering over the ocean in the darkness of the night.

  They had reached their destination.

  In the Sky over Western India

  Maya hovered in mid-air and stared at the vast black expanse that stretched below her.

  Just like the last time she’d been here.

  But tonight was different, quite apart from the fact that there was no moon and the stars were obscured by a cloud cover.

  For one thing, she was not alone. Satyavachana was with her.

  For another, she was not travelling in her atmic form. Both the Maharishi and she were physically hovering over the sea.

  It was not something she would have believed was possible if it wasn’t actually happening.

  As she gazed at the ocean below her, she recalled her dive into its depths on the last occasion and her exploration of the ruins on the seabed, allowing herself a split second of distraction before she turned her attention to the task she had come here to accomplish.
/>   Slowly, she recited the mantra that Satyavachana had taught her the last time she had made this trip—the mantra that would locate Garuda.

  ‘Om namo bhagawate garudaya trayambakaya sadhsttvastu svaha.’

  Chapter Eleven

  Ramganga

  The Gurukul at Ramganga

  Corbett National Park

  Darkness flooded the landscape below them, while dark clouds stretched across the sky. Silence reigned unbroken. With the Pratismriti mantra in effect, Garuda didn’t need to use his wings and there seemed to be nothing else around to disturb the stillness of the night.

  A cold foreboding gripped Maya’s heart.

  Nothing moved beneath them.

  ‘Ujjvalam vidyutate.’ Satyavachana broke the silence with his mantra and a bright glow spread out over the forest below them, lighting up the treetops.

  And a scene of devastation.

  Slowly, the trio descended to the forest floor, taking in the horrific sight that greeted their eyes in the artificial light.

  It was hard to believe that a Gurukul had once stood there. There was no structure standing, only rubble and debris littering the forest floor for miles around.

  The Gurukul had been entirely obliterated.

  As they descended, Maya could see dark shapes scattered on the ground in all directions. As they touched down, she realised with a shock that these were bodies.

  Humans. Animals. Birds.

  Nothing had been spared.

  It wasn’t just the Gurukul that had borne the brunt of the Nagas’ wrath.

  Tears filled Maya’s eyes as she gazed upon the corpses around them. Blood soaked the ground on which the Maharishi and she walked. Garuda had already taken to the skies to see if he could spot any signs of life from the air.

  But there seemed no chance of finding anyone alive. The inhabitants of the Gurukul, and the forest around it, had been savagely attacked; bodies had been ripped apart and the pieces flung in all directions. Some of the corpses had limbs or heads missing; all had been mutilated in some way.

  These people hadn’t stood a chance against the brute savagery of the Nagas, Maya realised. Without the protection of Garuda, even the powers of the Sangha had been inadequate to protect them. If she had not fetched Garuda in time, the Gurukul at Panna too would have suffered much the same fate nine days ago.

  Satyavachana turned to face Maya. ‘There isn’t much we can do here,’ he said sombrely. ‘We came too late. I was hoping that somehow they would have been able to hold off the Nagas until we got here. But the Sangha was not created to face adversaries from Pataala-lok. When even the Devas found it difficult to battle them, how can mere humans hope to defeat them?’

  The flapping of Garuda’s great wings came nearer and the celestial bird descended to the ground close to them.

  Satyavachana bowed to Garuda, speaking to him in Sanskrit. ‘O Garuda, we are thankful for your help. We cannot do more for the ones who lived here. We are returning to our Gurukul now and will arrange for the last rites of the dead.’

  Maya understood every word, having learned Sanskrit from her father in her childhood.

  Garuda responded, also in Sanskrit, ‘O Maharishi, it grieves me that I could do nothing to save these people from my half-brothers and enemies, the Nagas.’ Maya thought she could discern tears in the great Garuda’s eyes. ‘I will return now to my island and resume my devotion to the Lord.’

  Maya bowed to Garuda, following Satyavachana’s example, and Garuda bowed in return.

  Then, with a rush of mighty wings, he was gone.

  ‘Come,’ Satyavachana told Maya. ‘We must be on our way as well.’ He looked at her. ‘You go on to the Gurukul. Inform the Council about what we have seen and tell them what must be done.’

  ‘You are not coming back to the Gurukul with me?’

  ‘No. You know the Pratismriti mantra now. You have no need of my help.’

  ‘But don’t you need to meet the Council as well?’

  Satyavachana shook his head. ‘It won’t take the two of us to convey the message. I have work to do. I have been extremely remiss. We left Shukra unobserved after the attack of the Nagas. I fear that I too became complacent and believed that Shukra would measure his steps after that defeat. None of us anticipated this.’ He gestured at the devastation around them.

  ‘What will you do?’ Maya pressed him. ‘Can I help?’

  ‘No, my child. You have a long way to go before you can do what I plan to do.’

  Maya understood what Satyavachana had in mind. The memory of another night came back to her from a couple of weeks ago; the night just before the attack on their Gurukul by the Nagas. She remembered how Satyavachana had bound her atma to his and they had both observed Shukra opening the gates to Mahatala and the Nagas emerging from it.

  She also realised something that she had missed earlier. Clearly, Shukra had been under surveillance before the attack on the Gurukul. From the Maharishi’s confession of complacence, it was obvious that it was he who had been keeping a watch on Shukra’s movements. How else could he have known that Shukra was releasing the Nagas that night? It hadn’t struck Maya then, but it was too much of a coincidence that the Maharishi had taken her to watch the entry of the Nagas into Bhu-lok on exactly the same night that they did emerge from Mahatala.

  ‘You’re going to spy on Shukra and the Nagas, aren’t you?’ she blurted out.

  Satyavachana smiled. ‘You really are persevering, child. And perspicacious too. Something strange has happened here today, which I cannot understand. Unlike the attack on your Gurukul, where the Nagas waited until it was dark to make their final assault, here they attacked in broad daylight, even before twilight fell. That is unusual. Shukra is clearly planning something big. And I want to find out what that is. So, yes, I am going to spy on him and the Nagas. And that is why you cannot come with me. You are still terribly clumsy while travelling as an atma. You will not be able to hide yourself or your thoughts from Shukra. Remember, he is also a Maharishi, and a powerful yogi, much more powerful than I am. He would spot your atma in an instant.’

  ‘But I have seen Shukra earlier, with the entire bhutagana, the very first time my atma travelled, though I thought it was a dream at the time,’ Maya protested. ‘And Shukra didn’t notice me then!’

  ‘Hmmm.’ Satyavachana looked thoughtful. ‘That’s strange. But you say that the entire bhutagana was present there. There must have been thousands of spirits like yours floating around and Shukra may not have noticed one new spirit among them. Whatever the explanation, we cannot count on there being enough spirits to camouflage your presence this time around. I, on the other hand, have the knowledge and ability to cloak my atma even from the eyes of a powerful yogi like Shukra. So I will be quite safe.’

  Maya was silent. She knew that Satyavachana had a point. There was nothing to be gained by taking a chance. But she so badly wanted to help. Especially after tonight, after the failure to help the Gurukul at Ramganga.

  ‘Go along now, my child,’ Satyavachana patted her shoulder. ‘No lessons in atma travel tonight. I’ll see you in the morning, in the forest. And this time, I will not come to fetch you. You can find your way there by yourself.’

  Maya nodded and bowed. She closed her eyes and opened them again, meaning to ask the Maharishi how she would find her way to the forest when she didn’t know its name or location. But he was gone.

  Maya was alone in the darkness.

  She wondered if the spirits of the people who had died here tonight had already found a new life. Or had they also been imprisoned by Shukra?

  Shrugging off these awful thoughts, she closed her eyes once more and the mantra unfolded in her mind.

  Then she was gone and a deathly silence returned to shroud the forest.

  Chapter Twelve

  Visitors

  The Gurukul

  Panna National Park

  Maya stood on the balcony of her dorm and breathed in the cool, sweet night air. Four day
s had passed since that fateful night when she had travelled to Corbett National Park in the company of Garuda and Satyavachana. Four nights since she had witnessed the horrific scene of death and destruction by the Ramganga river.

  Ever since she had returned to Panna, she had kept to herself. She still had her morning lessons with Satyavachana, though her lessons on atma travel had not yet resumed; the Maharishi was apparently continuing to spy on Shukra during the night.

  Maya had still not got over the shock of the carnage she had seen.

  No one had.

  But she had taken it especially badly. She couldn’t help but think that if she had been in Panna, instead of in a remote forest practising her lessons, she may just have been able to help save the Gurukul. News of the Naga attack had reached Panna long before Satyavachana and she had returned. They had lost precious hours because no one knew where the two of them were or how to reach them.

  Precious time that could have helped them avoid the carnage at Ramganga.

  And all this had happened because of the strange tug, the mysterious attraction of something unknown that reached out to her, calling out to her, drawing her to itself.

  As she stood on the balcony, savouring the peace and the scents of the night, she realised that the eerie sensation, the inexplicable magnetic attraction that she could not identify or understand, had ceased to matter while she was away from the Gurukul, in the forest where she received her instruction from Satyavachana. For the last few days, it had not troubled her at all.

  But now, it was back to haunt her.

  Maya shook her head, as if the action would help her get rid of the uneasiness that accompanied the feeling.

  There was a sudden commotion as Adira and Amyra burst into the dorm.

  Maya turned, surprised, the uneasiness dissipating as if it had never been there. She laughed as the two girls rushed out onto the balcony, their eyes shining with excitement.