Chapter 7: The Plan
Nil was fully recovered now, but he still felt too weak to climb steep hills. So Samten advised them to wait a few days more. In the mean time they could chalk out the plan to reach the cursed plateau from this side without alerting the tantric’s men. It was not a simple task. There were no clear tracks to reach the plateau from this side. It was situated above a high hill about thousand feet from here and this side of the hill was covered with dense forest. The summit of the hill was almost flat and extended up to the bottom of the cursed plateau. The place was covered with tall trees and invisible from the top of the plateau. So their task would be to first cut out a path to reach the top of this hill. This should be done at night to avoid curiosity of the villagers. Then they should make a temporary shelter at the flat crest of the hill. The plateau was barely two hundred feet from there and the slope was gentle. But the last part of the task, to curve out a path to the plateau would not be simple. Men of the tantric were sure to guard the place and any noise might attract their attention. And if they were detected the mission would be spoilt.
After one week Nil was perfectly fit for the adventure, and he and Doma planned to begin the first part of their scheme at night. The steep rise of thousand feet leading to the level spot at the approach to the plateau was covered with tall trees and bushes. The bushes between adjacent tall trees could be cleared to cut out a path to reach the saddle point where the gentle rise to the plateau began. The climb would not be very difficult if the path cut was a zigzag with moderate slope and the adjacent trees would also help as support at the time of climbing. The path cut in this way would be about thousand and five hundred feet and if they could cut out hundred and fifty feet a day, it would be complete by ten to twelve days. The snakes, leeches and noxious insects were likely to be hiding inside the bushes. So they should be well guarded against these hazards. They would have to complete every day’s work at night but it would not be safe to carry lights which could be seen from a distance and might raise curiosity in the minds of the villagers. However, the forest was not dense enough to block entry of moonlight. So they won’t have to work in complete darkness if they started their work a few days before the full moon. Then on the next new moon night they would explore the cursed plateau under cover of darkness.
Nil and Doma presented the plan to Samten and discussed the prose and cons of their project with him. Samten was highly satisfied with the plan and approved it immediately. He prayed to Lord Buddha for success of their mission. They at last decided to start the work on the eleventh day after the new moon.
On the crucial day they meditated for some time in the afternoon and started cutting off the bushes at 7 p.m. They planned to cut out the path in the rightward direction so that the intensity of the steep slope was lessened. However this would increase the distance of the target as compared to the straight climb but climbing would be easier now. To enable free movement both of them wore pants and shirts and their gumboot reached almost their knees. The long boots had spikes at the bottom. These boots would be helpful to protect them from leeches, noxious insects and even snakes. They took long clubs to beat down the bushes and frighten away the inmates. The inward side of the sticks were affixed with cotton soaked in salt water. This would be necessary to clear off the leeches in case they happened to get into their bodies in spite of the protections. They smeared their faces and hands with mosquito oil to escape the onslaught of the gnats and mosquitoes. As the gaps between the trees were not uniform the path they cut off zigzagged like the letter ‘s’. Moonlight now reached them through the gaps at tops of the trees and swaying of the braches above started casting flickering shadows and they were engulfed in an uncanny ambience. The bushes ahead looked like dark monsters. At places the gaps were uniform permitting them to cut off a straight path up to some distance and it looked like a narrow tunnel with walls of bushes on either side. At first Doma started cutting off the bushes with the sharp chopper and behind her Nil throwing away the debris on either side of the path. After a while the tasks were interchanged and in this way they cleared off about seventy feet to reach a level spot where the trees were sparse.
They cleared off a circular patch and sat down to rest for a while. The moon was now distinctly visible through the opening above and everything appeared mystic and dreamy to Nil. They were now drenched in sweat and both of them put off their shirts to dry them. Nil looked away from Doma who was now with only the lacy bra unraveling her large and well formed boobs. Doma started giggling loudly raising echoes all around at the embarrassment of Nil who turned sideways to avoid her passionate countenance burning with deep desire. Nil prayed to god to give him power to overcome the outburst of passion simmering within. Doma might not be very serious about the maintenance of sanctity for success of the mission or god might be testing through her Nil’s mental power to overcome temptation.
Nil collected himself and looked straight into her eyes. She moved forward toward him and caught hold of his shoulders hard and bent forward now fully unraveling the throbbing boobs and her eyes were burning with uncontrollable desire. Nil said in an icy voice, 'let’s put on our garments and resume work.' Doma stepped back glumly and turned her head to hide the tears dripping down her ruddy cheeks.
Nil felt sorry for her and said in a placatory voice, ‘we are but ordinary humans and the divinity assigned on us by people has not yet shown any manifestation. So we ought to be careful about outbursts of passion. Sex for ordinary men is simply a vice unless specifically targeted at procreation. So during sacred missions even married couples are to abstain from physical union. In a higher level of yogic achievement, however, as in the case of a true tantric, sex is the counter part of the cosmic union between the 'purusha', the supreme stable force and 'prakriti', or 'shakti' the feminine counterpart, the supreme mother god creating this palpable universe. But unless a couple transcends through to the level at which they visualize their identity with the cosmic power, they should always treat sex as a transitory means to gratify lust unless specifically intended to have children and therefore it should be avoided in all auspicious pursuits. Now we are in a sacred mission and we are still ordinary humans and therefore we should be cautious not to indulge in passions.’
Doma raised her eyes and looked admiringly at Nil. It seemed she was highly impressed by his wisdom. She said in a tone like an obedient school student,
'I'm very much impressed by your discourse but as it was very brief I could not comprehend the essence of your mystic suggestions. Will you please explain in detail the essence of tantric cult? This would also be helpful for me to understand fully the designs of this mysterious tantric here.'
Nil replied, 'my knowledge in this arena is but superficial. I'll tell you whatever I know about this esoteric cult, but that too would take time. So let’s first finish today's target and thereafter we would have time enough to discuss the matter.'
She soon got down to business. They completed the targeted work by two more hours. Getting back to the caves they took some rest and thereafter got out and seated at the edge of the hillock and Nil unraveled to Doma the mystery of the tantric cult, its superiority over other forms of mystic cult and also the grave danger associated with it.
Doma listened to him patiently and assured him that she would now forget everything and concentrate only on the mission. Then she suddenly turned morose and said with a forced smile, 'I know you'd leave me after completion of the mission and get back to your place.' She could not hold her tears. Nil consoled her in an emotional voice, ‘trust me, I promise never to leave you.’
Doma glanced at Nil with ecstatic eyes and then blushed and moved away to hide her embarrassment.
The Curse Of The Goddess Page 7
