Gerua nodded, still trying to absorb what she had learned. “Please be resolute and remember what I have told you about the gate, Gerua. If you are going to find the gate, it will happen soon—within a few days. I do not believe that anything is capable of affecting Danta spiritually during this time. We have done our very best to train his spirit and mind. However, we are depending upon you to protect his physical, emotional, and mental being, and that is what you need to primarily concern yourself with.”
“I think I understand. I will do everything a mother should,” Gerua spoke stoically. “Master Shalya, you know I would gladly give my life for Danta.”
“I do believe the need for that will not arise. We want you back. There is much to do while Danta will be away. We have provided you with the necessary spiritual, mental, and physical training, and we will provide you with the technological tools to protect yourself and Danta. I want you to remember what I have taught you during these years,” said the master intently.
“One more thing,” Master Shalya added, “others will know that he is in the mountain, even though they do not know of the prophecy. They are expecting a paragon that was supposed to be born under the alignment and will, sooner or later, realize his gifts. The edict may try to possess and corrupt him. He must be kept safe till he goes through the gate. That is the mandate you must help accomplish, and to succeed, you must find the gate. Master Iku will see you now and prepare you again.”
“I think I understand.” Gerua nodded.
Gerua left to meet Master Iku. “Master Iku, you asked for me?”
Master Iku was once again holding an ornate, beautifully designed belt with a stunning green stone in the center of the buckle. Master Iku handed the belt to Gerua. “I gave you a similar belt before when you went to purge the village. This is the belt worn by one of the mightiest kings the world has ever known and is the smartest shield in the universe. It recognizes any attacking weapons potency and adjusts protection accordingly. Shiv had given it to him. It formed his armor and it also works at a cellular level, strengthening each cell of the wearer’s body to multiple times the strength or potency of the weapon attacking the wearer. It gave the king so much protection that it almost became impossible to hurt him. The vital part of the belt is the green stone in the center. If the stone is damaged, the belt’s properties will be weakened, and the user will be rendered vulnerable. Use it well to protect yourself and Danta.
“You will also carry this wristband.” Master Iku held out a wristband made out of a bluish metal. “The band is voice-activated. I will soon teach you the mantras that will activate the band. You will be able to release atom-compressing bursts from the band. The area of compression becomes larger with distance. You can carve out a hole in a mountain or materialize a portal with this. But for now, you must use it for only compressing weapons that may harm you.
“The wristband must not be used to hurt any mortal until Danta goes through the gate. You will also carry the single blade urumi you have mastered. You should use the urumi mostly in its charged form so that it does not cut through any creature or armor while Danta is with you. You must not take any human life as long as Danta is with you. Danta is not to carry any weapons, and it is your duty to prevent him from using any siddhi that may manifest outward.
“You will also change your attire and wear this necklace. Paranormal cannot withstand the power of the necklace, but you already know that.” He handed a necklace made of rudraksh, wrinkled brown beads. “Please have faith in yourself. You have all the tools and skills necessary to reach your objective. You have come this far, and we have faith in you.”
Gerua thanked the master. The time to leave the protection of the ashram and fulfill Danta’s destiny was drawing close. It would be tough to let Danta go. She prayed for the strength she needed to fulfill her mandate, both as a mother and as a yogini. She had known that this day would come even before Danta was born. Master Shalya had told her. She needed to focus on finding the gate. That was the most important thing.
In the following days, Gerua again mastered the use of the belt, the bracelet, and the necklace under the tutorship of Master Iku. Master Iku and Master Shalya helped her refine her ability to see and recognize inorganic beings like ghosts, demons, and deities. Master Tara taught Gerua how to use the soil and the plants of the mountain to heal.
A few weeks later, Danta and Gerua were ready to begin their quest and leave the protection of the ashram. All those at the ashram had gathered to see them off. Despite being grand masters, they seemed in awe of Danta. Gerua was Danta’s mother, but she still could not fully understand what the masters knew about Danta. Whenever she tried to ask any one of them, they merely talked about his destiny.
The last six years had been the most crucial part of her life. The years at the ashram had been filled with such intensity that they seemed to have passed in a flash.
After a while, time seemed to have lost meaning here. As her yogic skills had improved, Gerua had gained insight about things she hadn’t known existed. She had become reconciled to living by the teachings of the masters in the ashram. Danta and the masters had become her whole world. Now she had to take Danta to the gate. If she managed to find the gate, she would have to leave Danta and return to the ashram. She had no idea why she could not be with him after they found the gate, but she accepted her fate.
CHAPTER 21
EYE
Master Shalya approached Gerua and Danta at dawn as they waited to leave the ashram for the quest for the gate. “Danta, you look like you are ready to travel.” He smiled gently.
“I know where we’re going. We’re going to find the gate,” Danta replied with excitement. “Are we going to go through the eye?” he quizzed Master Shalya.
“The eye?” Gerua asked, looking at Master Shalya. “What does Danta mean by going through the eye?”
“Clever boy,” said Master Shalya. “Let us get you off the snow and ice.”
“Master Shalya, what is the eye? Can you tell me something else that will help us find the gate?” Gerua asked anxiously.
“We will find the gate, Mom.” Danta tugged at Gerua’s hand confidently.
“Master Shalya, what will I do if I cannot find the gate?” asked Gerua again, ignoring Danta.
“Keep looking! Young Danta has more confidence than you, Gerua.” Master Shalya assured her.
“Let us formally introduce you to the eye. You went through it before when you went for the purge. You were blindfolded then, but now you will see it. It may instill confidence,” said Master Iku. All the other masters at the ashram had assembled to see Danta and Gerua off.
Went through the eye…when? Of course! When I went for the purge!? Gerua realized.
They all moved toward the innermost part of the ashram. The stand alone eyes had always been there, staring at them all the time, but Gerua had never been able to figure out their purpose or what they represented. The eyes had always seemed to be beyond the ashram wall, inaccessible to anyone. They passed through the apparent inner ashram wall that led them to an area beyond the inner ashram. Gerua saw that there was a fourth eye on the floor below.
Danta and Gerua were directed by Master Shalya to stand on the pupil of the fourth eye on the floor. Danta was grinning from ear to ear, visibly excited. He held Gerua’s hand tightly as everyone began to chant. Master Shalya moved toward the small eye on the right, and Master Iku moved toward the left eye, as all the other masters raised their right hands as if they were taking an oath.
Master Shalya and Master Iku each held the upper eyelid of the two small eyes and lowered the eyelids shut. The pupil of the central eye dilated fully, and the iris almost totally disappeared. When the central eye had dilated completely, the ball-like lens enlarged toward Danta and Gerua. The eye became three- dimensional, and the lens of the central eye fully engulfed Danta and Gerua. Master Shalya and Master Iku then opened the smaller eyes. The lens was pulled back into the central eye, along with Gerua and Danta.
The eye became two-dimensional once again, and Danta and Gerua could be seen momentarily as a still picture within the lens of the central eye.
The central eye and the one on which Gerua and Danta had been standing began to close simultaneously as the eyelids appeared on the top and the bottom of the central eye and the one on the floor. The eyelids closed on the eye on the floor, and the fourth eye disappeared. The floor looked as if it never had a fourth eye. When the central eye opened again, both Danta and Gerua were gone. The three eyes on the wall resumed their original shape and became still sculptures. There was no trace of Gerua or Danta in the ashram.
For Danta and Gerua, time stood still. They felt no movement. When they had entered the lens of the eye, their senses had stopped working. They could not see, hear, smell, or feel anything. Having practiced advanced meditation, they felt the same bliss they would have during deep meditation; the eye caused them to focus within.
They floated into a blissful nothingness as everything vanished. There was no sensation at all.
In the ashram, Master Shalya and Master Iku looked at each other, and they both clasped their hands in front of their hearts. Master Shalya said, “May the gate find them.” With Danta gone, the ashram seemed empty.
CHAPTER 22
CITADEL
When their senses stirred again, Gerua and Danta found themselves standing in an underground chamber of a temple within the lens. Soon, the lens vanished into the eye in the wall, leaving them in a basement facing a stairway going upward. The basement’s roof was blue, giving the impression of a natural sky. The walls of the basement were intricately carved and narrated the legendary story of the churning of the sea by the Deva and Asura.
During the Great War, there had been many periods when the Deva and the Asura had worked together. One such alliance had been to churn the cosmic ocean for the nectar of complete immortality. Before the nectar came out, a deadly poison called Halahala that could destroy the universe was churned out of the sea. The Deva and the Asura rushed to Shiv to save the universe. Shiv agreed to take the poison, and he kept it in his throat with the help of his celestial wife who stopped Halahala from going down. His throat turned blue, and he kept it there for all eternity. Gerua narrated the story to Danta as they walked through the impressive basement walls. Gerua could see Danta transfixed by the sculpture depicting the churning.
“Did they find the nectar, Mom?” he asked, taking his eyes off the churning.
“I believe they found a secret to immortality in a form only Shiv could help unravel. I believe this sanctuary citadel must be under his protection. There must be a representation of Shiv here. Let us go up and see.”
“But Shiv does not give anyone the knowledge of how to use Halahala to destroy the universe, does he? He uses Halahala when he wants to rejuvenate it?” asked Danta, with a curious expression.
Gerua nodded. “That is why he is also known as the destroyer and rejuvenator.”
They climbed the staircase leading to the hall above and just as Gerua had predicted, they stood facing the representation. The lanky robed guardian of the representation, whose silhouette looked like a curved scimitar sword, greeted them. Accompanying the guardian was an elder who had met Gerua the last time she had been in the citadel. The guardian and the elder put their hand on Danta’s head and blessed him one by one. Gerua also bowed low to be blessed, and they blessed her too.
Gerua had to make the best of the remaining day. “We must travel south. I would be very thankful if you could direct us to a path. We must leave as soon as possible.” The strange-looking lanky guardian nodded, focusing intently on Danta. Gerua wondered if he heard him.
“Mom, look! It is a naga!” Danta exclaimed excitedly, ignoring the guardian’s stare. Gerua turned her gaze to the direction Danta was pointing at. She saw a huge snake appear around the representation of Shiv. The snake had climbed over the representation, and its huge hood covered it. The snake was looking directly at Gerua and Danta, moving its swaying head forward, as if to get a better look. Gerua’s hand went to the buckle of the belt she was wearing just as Danta raised his hand toward the snake. The snake withdrew its hood, slithered down, and disappeared.
The guardian spoke without looking at Gerua still intent on Danta. “The serpent comes here on the night devoted to Shiv. You need not worry. Normally, it stays until I finish my devotion and the serpent participates in the closing ceremony. During this time, no one can enter this hall other than the serpent and me. The room conjures the sound of Shiv swallowing the Halahala and throngs with the agony Shiv would have felt. The sound would drive anyone insane. Today I believe it merely came to see Danta,” he said in a matter of fact manner, still ignoring Gerua. Gerua didn’t know what to think of his incredulous story. She just nodded politely. “You don’t need any directions from us. You already have a guide.” He finally sighed affectionately.
Gerua looked at Danta and wondered how her five-year-old boy inspired so much confidence. She was his mother, and she loved him more than anyone, and yet she still didn’t understand him fully. Everyone else in the ashram and even this guardian seemed to know something over and above what she knew. She cast her thoughts aside and nodded at the guardian who was now looking at her.
“You are aware of the creatures of the forests. You have to be careful.” Danta listened carefully as the guardian and Gerua discussed how to differentiate between the friendly and the dangerous.
“We have a few things for you to aid you on your journey,” said the elder who had been standing quietly, producing a scroll. He handed it to Gerua. “You will come across many creatures on the mountain. Some will be disguised. This scroll will help you distinguish between the disguised and the real. It has no other purpose.”
The elder also gave Gerua a backpack with snapping straps, enabling her to release to any one side in one swift motion. The backpack contained a flask of water and fruits. They also gave both Danta and Gerua capes to protect themselves from the cold in the night. She put them in the backpack. They changed their clothing to more comfortable but somewhat bright attire.
“The mountain folks have been expecting a paragon born under the alignment to arrive on the mountain range. Some will sense he is here. As will the sinister edict. The edict will attempt to harm you and touch the boy,” the elder cautioned Gerua.
“I am well trained. I can take care of the edict. I have done it before,” said Gerua, trying to sound as humble as possible.
“It is different now. You have to protect young Danta, and you will not know the shape and form the edict will take,” said the elder. “Get help when you can, and stay focused on your objective.”
“I will. Thank you.” Gerua and Danta said namaste to the strange guardian and followed the elder outside. They were treated to a breathtaking sight.
The citadel, which was perched on a cliff, was built in perfect geometrical shape. The village consisted of five rectangles, one inside the other fitting perfectly, all in the perfect golden ratio.
The outermost of the rectangles consisted of the housing of the inhabitants lined along the length of the village, facing one another. All the houses were made the same way. They had two stories and were carved into the mountain. Each house had a courtyard. All houses were conjoined, and there were no boundaries. There was a single alley in front of the houses connecting all the houses to the entrance of the village. There was a huge wooden gate on the east side of the width of the rectangle. This rectangle represented Earth.
The second rectangle was inside the first, and it was a water body connected along its length and breadth of the rectangle and housing the third rectangle inside. Its outer edge touched the alley and its inner edge the third rectangle. It represented water.
The third rectangle was hollow, and its outer edge blew air past the edge of the water of the second rectangle and parted the water on one side from the fire element of the fourth element without any physical parting. It represented and seemed to be made of soli
d air.
The fourth rectangle inside the third was a glowing rectangle seemingly on fire. It represented fire, but a person could walk on it without feeling any heat.
The fifth rectangle seemed to be a red-and-blue swirling mass representing space or ether. All the five rectangles of the elements were perfectly leveled and could be walked on. They were coexisting without merging, in perfect unison.
The guardian said namaste to them, and the elder took them to the citadel doors. They walked through the city over all the five elements. The citadel’s residents had lined up at the doors of their houses. Some clasped the palms of their hands in the customary greeting, namaste; the children waved; and the elderly showered blessings, smiling. The massive doors opened silently, rolling on a single central colossal metal pin running left to right in the center of the door halfway up, swinging the door half upward and outward and the other half inward and downward. The door formed a huge roof hinged by the single pin, under which Danta and Gerua walked to the forest outside. The elder suggested that they go around the hill, where they would find a path, which would lead them to the forests below. The elder left, and the gate door closed behind them and the citadel vanished in broad daylight and a forest appeared in its place.
CHAPTER 23
VISION
Reaching the end of the hill, Gerua and Danta found themselves in an unfamiliar environment. Gerua cleared her mind and focused on her goal, recalling her discussion with Master Shalya a day after he had shown her the prophecy. “The location and the description of the gate will only be known to one of the eight immortals at any given time. Only this immortal can identify the gate and give you a clue as to the gate’s whereabouts. No other being knows about the gate or can see it unless this immortal permits. It is said that only those with a pure spirit could ever witness its existence.”
Dwandv:: The Battle for the Gate Page 13
