The Mists of Brahma

by CHRISTOPHER C. DOYLE

  Silence greeted him. He had apparently touched a raw nerve.

  ‘Oh yes,’ Satyavachana continued, without waiting for them to respond. ‘I too have heard the legends. About the third part of the prophecy—the one hidden in Deva-lok. I may have left the Sangha to live by myself in my ashram two centuries ago, but I know how the Sangha thinks. I don’t need to be actively involved to know your plan. You have tried to plan events in such a way that they match the legends. Is that not correct?’

  Maya was taken aback. Satyavachana had left the Sangha two hundred years ago? She hadn’t thought he was a day over sixty. How old was he then? Her mind boggled.

  ‘That is so, Maharishi,’ Sriram replied after a moment’s hesitation, having overcome his initial surprise at Satyavachana’s accurate divination of the Sangha’s plan to counter Shukra. ‘I agree that we did not anticipate that Vishwaraj would desert the Sangha. But all is not lost. We still have Agastya. He may not be as powerful as Vishwaraj, but there is no other young Rishi in the Gana who can match up to him. We will yet forge a partnership between Arjun and Agastya that will fulfil the third part of the prophecy.’

  Chapter Sixteen

  Farewell, Now

  The Entrance to Mahatala

  The last of the Nagas had disappeared into the gaping portal that served as the gateway to Mahatala-lok. Only Kuhaka, Kâlya and Takshaka remained outside the portal with Shukra.

  The three Nagas bowed to the Guru of the Asuras.

  Takshaka gave him a quizzical look. ‘We obey your command, Wise One,’ he said. ‘I am no one to question your intentions and plans. But I still do not understand. Why ask us to return to our world? We had forgotten what it was like to walk free in Bhu-lok. Wouldn’t it be easier to decimate the humans who inhabit this world and rule it ourselves? These are not the humans that we mingled with in Dwapara-yuga. Those were noble beings, powerful and upright. These humans do not deserve the freedom and luxuries they enjoy in Bhu-lok.’

  Shukra shook his head. ‘No, Prince of the Nagas,’ he replied. ‘Not yet. The time will come when you will have the run of Bhu-lok.’ He looked around. ‘Soon … soon. The power of Kali grows stronger. I can feel it.’

  He looked at the three Nagas. ‘This is not the time,’ he repeated.

  ‘Then why open the gate to Mahatala at all, Wise One?’ Kâlya asked. ‘What purpose did that serve? Why bring us back into Bhu-lok only to send us back?’

  ‘I told you earlier,’ Shukra replied patiently. ‘I needed to know if the Sangha was ready and prepared. They are not. And I wanted to send them a message, which I have. Now, I need to get back to the work that is necessary to carry out my plan.’ He folded his hands in a polite dismissal. ‘So you must bide your time. Be patient. The time will come. That is my promise to you.’

  Takshaka nodded. ‘We will wait, Son of Bhrigu. We know that you will fulfil your promise to us. You will not let us down. Farewell, now.’

  The three Nagas bowed again and strode through the portal without a backward glance, disappearing as they passed through it. When they had all vanished, Shukra looked thoughtfully at the portal for a moment, then waved his hand in a swift motion across the open gate and the darkness beyond it, the mantra for sealing it unfolding in his mind.

  The portal snapped shut and was gone.

  The Son of Bhrigu lingered for a few moments, his forehead creased in thought. He was not happy. Things were not going according to plan.

  He had to work out a new strategy now.

  Then he too disappeared.

  Chapter Seventeen

  A Plan

  The Assembly Hall

  The Gurukul

  Panna National Park

  Maya was surprised to hear that Vishwaraj had been groomed to partner with Arjun. She knew that when projects were assigned by the Gurukul, the prospective Gana members always worked in pairs—one Rishi and one Kshatriya—their skills, powers and mantras complementing each other. But she had never realised how important Vishwaraj had been to the Sangha and how devastating his apostasy had been. She was equally surprised to hear that Agastya was the Sangha’s choice to replace Vishwaraj. While she knew that Agastya had highly developed yogic powers and was one of the brightest stars in the Gana firmament, she didn’t quite like him. She had found him to be brusque, rude, condescending, and, worst of all from her perspective, always kowtowing to the Sangha.

  ‘Rubbish,’ she heard Satyavachana say, intruding on her thoughts. ‘You do not have the time for that. You have spent the better part of the last decade grooming Arjun and Vishwaraj, have you not? That was when Shukra was not around. Now, Shukra has reappeared. This is no time to be training anyone to face him. Whoever battles him now must be fully prepared, fully trained and ready. Arjun may be a scion of Yayati, but he is far from ready to take on the role of leading us against Shukra.’ He looked at Kanakpratap. ‘Isn’t that so, Kanak?’

  ‘He will be ready soon,’ Kanakpratap admitted grudgingly.

  ‘Soon. But will it be soon enough?’

  No one spoke.

  Satyavachana was not finished yet. ‘As for your plan to pair Arjun and Agastya, you are going out on a limb on the strength of speculation. What if the legend about the third part of the prophecy is wrong? What then? It is just a legend, after all. We have no time to make any more mistakes.’

  Jignesh fixed him with a steady gaze. ‘I agree with you, Maharishi. I have always felt that the Sangha has been shooting in the dark for the last fourteen years. Yes, we had a plan, but clearly, it hasn’t worked. Today, let’s face it, we are woefully unprepared to face Shukra. The One is not ready and we have not yet found the weapons from the prophecy.’

  Satyavachana bowed. ‘Thank you, Mahamati. Your candour is refreshing. I cannot say the same about the other Mahamatras I have encountered in the last three hundred years.’

  There was a moment of silence.

  Maya’s mind boggled even more. So Satyavachana, her teacher, was more than three hundred years old? What was his true age?

  ‘We need to find out what Shukra is planning,’ Jignesh repeated. ‘Unless we know that, we are only guessing. Like we have been for the last fourteen years.’

  Satyavachana shook his head. ‘No, no, no.’ He looked at Jignesh. ‘Just when I thought there was something we agreed on!’

  Maya was amused. She had always liked the Maharishi, having got over her initial fear of his power and temperament; and over the last few days she had grown fonder of him. He was the exact opposite of what she had expected in someone who was supposed to be the most powerful Maharishi alive. He was patient, understanding and fun, yet firm, and she loved his quirky sense of humour. Unlike Jignesh, who was stern, forbidding and unbending.

  ‘What do you have in mind, Maharishi?’ Jignesh asked him.

  Satyavachana stared back at him, unblinking. ‘You already know,’ he said, lowering his voice. ‘You were there when I told the Sangha Council fourteen years ago.’

  ‘There was never any evidence for the existence of the Ranakarman Parva,’ Diksha intervened. ‘And there is none even today.’

  ‘The practical problem with your plan has not gone away either,’ Sriram joined in. ‘We cannot travel to Deva-lok to retrieve the part of the prophecy that is hidden there, forget about searching for it. And the Gandharvas would never permit us to mount a search in Gandharva-lok for their part of the prophecy. Finding the remaining two parts remains impossible.’

  Satyavachana was silent for a few moments.

  ‘Nothing is impossible,’ he said finally. ‘We are limited only by our thinking, by the boundaries that we set for ourselves. Is that not what you teach the novices who come to the Gurukuls? Then why are we limiting our own capabilities?’

  Maya wondered what the Ranakarman Parva was and why Satyavachana had not addressed Diksha’s argument. But Satyavachana was speaking again.

  ‘There is a way to carry out my plan. And, contrary to what you think, there is evidence today that I was r
ight all those years ago. But I will tell you only if you are ready to believe what I say. I will not be humiliated the way I was fourteen years ago.’

  Chapter Eighteen

  Discovered

  The Assembly Hall

  Jignesh leaned forward in his chair, his eyes boring into Satyavachana. ‘What is that evidence, Maharishi? You have my word that we will hear you out.’

  Before Satyavachana could reply, however, Jignesh abruptly looked up again, directly at her. ‘Wait,’ he said, holding up a hand. ‘I’ve been sensing a presence here in this hall for a while now.’ He looked sharply at Satyavachana. ‘Do you not feel it?’

  Satyavachana nodded but said nothing.

  ‘Is this another ploy of Shukra’s?’ Jignesh’s tone was hard now. He rose.

  All of a sudden, Maya sensed a thought reaching out to her.

  ‘Go, Maya, flee now! Stay no longer! You are in grave danger!’

  Maya realised that it was Satyavachana warning her. Jignesh was going to do something that would put her in peril. Thankful for the Maharishi’s warning, she turned her thoughts to her dorm and was back in her own body in an instant.

  She jerked awake roughly as her atma re-entered her body. Driven by Satyavachana’s alarm, she had failed to practice the ‘soft landing’ as Satyavachana called it—the gentle and calm re-entry of the atma into the body. It was not easy to master but Maya had at least learned to stop waking up with a jerk after she returned to her body; the technique also helped her to swiftly overcome the lassitude that normally overcame her after a bout of spirit travel.

  Maya lay in bed for a few moments, listless and drained, then fought to stand up and stagger to the door. She opened it and Adira and Amyra sprang up. They quickly supported her and began guiding her back to her bed.

  ‘No, no,’ Maya insisted weakly. ‘I’ll be better soon. Let’s catch up with the boys. We need to talk.’

  Chapter Nineteen

  Satyavachana Explains

  The Assembly Hall

  ‘It’s gone.’ Jignesh sounded baffled. ‘I sensed it all this while and then suddenly it was gone.’ He returned to his seat and turned his attention to Satyavachana. ‘You were going to present us with some evidence.’

  ‘Indeed.’ Satyavachana sat down. He had been standing all this while.

  The others waited.

  ‘Let me jog your memory a bit first,’ Satyavachana began. ‘When I first told the Sangha Council, fourteen years ago, about the Ranakarman Parva, I also told you what it contained. Of course, it is a different matter that none of you believed me at the time, except for Dhruv. I will reiterate now that the book contains mantras that the Devas used during their decisive victory against the Asuras and the Nagas. Now, the big problem that we have always faced is that we have no way of knowing where the gates of Pataala-lok are located. Only Shukra knows that. And even if we did know their location, what could we have done? There is no mantra powerful enough to seal the gates against Shukra’s power to open them. My plan was, and still is, to find the parva and use the mantras contained in it to defend ourselves against the Asuras and the Nagas, whenever they are released by Shukra.’ He paused and looked at the others to emphasise the point he was about to make. ‘If we had found the book—and we had fourteen years to do it—we would not have lost a Gurukul and all the people in it.’

  There was a hushed silence as the import of his words sank in.

  ‘And the evidence?’ Jignesh pressed him.

  ‘As I said, Maharishi Dhruv was the only one who believed me. He told me, in private, that whatever the Sangha said—and we all know that the Sangha had a lot to say to me at that time—he would search for the book. And he did. I believe he found the book. But he told no one about it. Why, I do not know.’

  ‘The diary!’ A sudden realisation dawned on Kanakpratap. ‘The verses in Brahmabhasha! Of course! That makes sense. The Ranakarman Parva, if used by the Devas, would have had mantras in Brahmabhasha.’

  Satyavachana smiled. ‘My thoughts exactly. That is why the diary was so special. Maya told me that Dhruv asked her to pick up only one thing from the house before she fled. The diary. Why? Because he wanted to keep it away from Shukra. He knew it was the only thing that stood between us and the doom of humanity.’

  ‘You may be right, Maharishi,’ Sriram said. ‘And if that is the case, this will indeed be a powerful weapon in our defence. But how are we to know that you are right? We have no way of reading the verses.’

  ‘As I said before, there is a way to carry out my plan. The means exist today to decipher the verses in the diary and find the remaining parts of the prophecy. We also need to know what we have to do in order to find the weapons to counter Shukra. Just having a defence against him is not sufficient.’

  Satyavachana leaned forward and lowered his voice.

  ‘I have a plan,’ he said.

  Chapter Twenty

  Shukra Reflects

  Shukra’s Cavern

  As Shukra returned to the darkness of the cavern, he realised that someone else was already there. His mind evoked the need for light and the cave was immediately illuminated by an unseen source, revealing a young man of around nineteen or twenty years, seated on a rock.

  He rose as Shukra appeared and bowed with his hands folded in a silent namaskar. ‘Pranaam, Poorvapitamah,’ he greeted Shukra.

  Shukra raised a hand in benediction. ‘Bhagavadanugrahapraaptirastu, my child.’

  ‘You summoned me, Poorvapitamah?’

  ‘Indeed, I did.’ The light in the cavern grew brighter, illuminating their features. ‘You have done well. Your leadership of the Nagas was commendable and your powers grow by the day. I am proud of you. But now, I have more work for you.’

  The boy smiled at the praise and bowed his head slightly in acknowledgement. ‘It is your blood that runs through my veins, after all, Poorvapitamah.’

  Shukra gazed upon his descendant, noting the change that had taken place in the young man in just two weeks. He remembered how he had had to convince him to lead the Nagas to attack the Gurukul in Panna just two weeks ago.

  Vishwaraj had looked up at Shukra, his face troubled, when Shukra had given him his instructions. ‘But is it necessary to allow the Nagas to kill all those people? They were my brothers and sisters when I was with the Gana.’ He shook his head. ‘It will be difficult for me to watch the Nagas slaughter them mercilessly, as I know they will. The Gurukul stands no chance. They …’

  Words had failed him.

  Shukra had advanced and held the boy by his shoulders. There was affection in the gesture, and warmth.

  ‘I know how you feel, Vishwaraj.’ Shukra’s voice had been gentle. ‘But it is inevitable.’ He looked Vishwaraj in the eye. ‘This is war, my son. And the Sangha is the enemy. It is your dharma, and mine, to fight them, even if they were related to us by blood; just as Arjuna fought his own cousins, the Kauravas, and his Guru Drona on the fields of Kurukshetra. That was his dharma. And if they have to die, well, that is ineluctable, isn’t it? You have chosen your side. You must stand by what you believe is your dharma, come what may.’

  ‘I understand, Poorvapitamah,’ Vishwaraj had replied. ‘But it is difficult. Just like the death of Diya. I didn’t mean for her to die!’

  Shukra had nodded. ‘I know, my child, I know. That was an unfortunate outcome. Whether you were too powerful for her or she was too weak to withstand the strain of being possessed by your atma, she died the moment you used your siddhis to take over her body. But you did what you had to. And you succeeded. That is important. Nothing else matters.’

  Vishwaraj had stood silent for a few moments and Shukra had allowed him to ruminate. The boy was young, though powerful in the siddhis, and he would learn that life was rough, especially in Kaliyuga. But he would pull through. Everyone did.

  Finally, Vishwaraj had looked up from his silent musing. ‘I will do your bidding, Poorvapitamah. And I will come back victorious!’

  ‘I know yo
u will, my son,’ Shukra had told him. And, true to his word, Vishwaraj had delivered. If it had not been for Garuda’s wholly unexpected appearance, the Gurukul in Panna would have been annihilated. Just like the one in Corbett.

  And now, Shukra reflected, just two weeks later, the young man had not only accepted his dharma but was yearning to prove himself a worthy descendant of the Son of Bhrigu.

  ‘What is your command, Poorvapitamah? Tell me and I will do as you instruct.’ Vishwaraj bowed to Shukra and waited.

  ‘I have lost more than three weeks,’ Shukra told him, his brow furrowing with concern. ‘I found the boy, and now know that there is no threat from him, but that distraction has cost me time. Time that is extremely valuable.’

  ‘But what is three weeks, Poorvapitamah? You have waited 5,000 years. In comparison, three weeks is just a blink of an eye.’

  Shukra shook his head. ‘You do not understand, child. The power of Kali grows rapidly. I must be ready when his power is at its peak. Otherwise everything—my tapasya, my careful planning, the long wait—will all have been in vain.’

  ‘Then why send the Nagas back?’ Vishwaraj wanted to know. ‘There is so much more that we could have done, so much that they could have helped us with. The Sangha would have been powerless if we had allowed the Nagas to spread out across the country. Especially with the powers that you have helped me acquire.’

  ‘You know why I released the Nagas,’ Shukra replied, frustration lining his voice. ‘I needed to search their world and needed them gone for a while. While they were busy with the Gurukuls, I travelled the length and breadth of Mahatala, searching high and low for the missing mantras, but in vain. I have to continue the search now, and the Nagas would only have been in the way. I had to send them back.’