The Mists of Brahma

by CHRISTOPHER C. DOYLE

‘It’s up to you, my child,’ Satyavachana said gently. ‘I can take you there and I can advise you on how to navigate the Mists. But I cannot accompany you inside, nor can I compel you to enter. You have to be willing and must agree to enter them of your own free will. It will not work otherwise.’

  ‘Oh.’ Maya pondered this. While the Mists seemed wholly unfamiliar and somewhat terrifying, they also offered an opportunity. This could be her key to gaining admission to the Gana. If she could find the means to translate the verses in her father’s diary, surely it would count for something? And the fact that she could enter the Mists, which only the powerful Maharishis of yore were capable of doing—wouldn’t that be a qualifying factor? She was quite sure, after her latest test, that the Mists would not pose a significant barrier. Also, she did really want to know what the verses in her father’s diary were about.

  Were the Mists going to be all that dangerous? After all, she thought, Satyavachana would guide her about what she needed to do once inside the Mists.

  ‘I’ll do it,’ she said, making up her mind. ‘I’ll go into the Mists and find the key.’

  ‘Thank you, my child,’ Satyavachana said softly. ‘But do not take the decision in haste. You must know the perils of entering the Mists before you agree. It is a dangerous mission. The Mists also have a dark side!’

  Chapter Ninety-three

  The Dark Side

  The Forest

  ‘The Mists are alive,’ Satyavachana explained. ‘In order for them to work as they do, they delve deep into your inner consciousness. As long as you are able to control your thoughts, as you are trained to do, the Mists perform as they should. They will take you to the place and time of your choosing—as long as it is before the start of Kaliyuga—and return you to the present without a problem. But they present a danger for people who cannot control their thoughts. They can easily overwhelm them. They can draw out thoughts and qualities from your subconscious mind that you probably never knew existed. They reach down to the core of your individuality and create an experience in response to that which exists locked away in the recesses of your being. You may be surprised at how much there is within the human mind that we are not aware of; thoughts, plans, deeds in the making, and traits that shape our inner beings. It is these that lie revealed through the Mists of Brahma. Anyone who is unable to control their thoughts will come face to face with their true self and that will change them. Not all of us are ready to confront new truths about ourselves.’

  Maya remembered the sensation of endless waves crashing against her consciousness. As if the waves were alive and probing, trying to get into her mind and overwhelm her. She now realised why the trip through the portal had been necessary. She had to be strong enough to withstand the onslaught of the Mists.

  ‘You must also remember that what transpires within the Mists is very real. The touch of a blade there will make you bleed as much as it would in the world outside. They are not illusory, though they are not real either. So you must treat everything that you see, hear and feel as the truth and act accordingly.’

  Maya kept her eyes fixed on Satyavachana, trying to digest everything he had told her.

  ‘Another thing, Maya. You must remember that, in the last 3,500 years, only one person has entered the Mists. No one from the Sangha will ever do so. That is because, when the Devas decided that humans were no longer allowed in Deva-lok, they strengthened the power of the Mists to keep unwanted people out.’ Satyavachana paused.

  ‘Does that scare you, my dear?’ he asked, seeing Maya’s face.

  Maya shook her head numbly. She was unsure of how she felt. The disclosures Satyavachana had just made were overwhelming. Was she ready to enter the Mists that even members of the Sangha avoided?

  ‘You don’t have to do it if you don’t want to,’ Satyavachana repeated. ‘If you enter unwillingly, the Mists will play games with you.’ He smiled at her. ‘Don’t you want to know who the one person is who entered the Mists?’

  Maya looked at him enquiringly. ‘My father?’

  ‘No doubt Maharishi Dhruv could have entered the Mists had he wanted to. He was an immensely powerful Rishi. And young too. But, as far as I know, he never did. I was the one who entered the Mists two hundred years ago.’

  Maya didn’t know if that made her feel better or worse. On the one hand, the fact that only a powerful Maharishi like Satyavachana had dared to enter the Mists, and return unscathed, unnerved her. On the other hand, the fact that he had first-hand experience of being in the Mists gave her confidence. If anyone could guide her, it was Satyavachana.

  She gathered up her resolve. Her father had given her a responsibility. He had trusted her with the diary and had believed that she would do everything it took to decipher the verses in it. The realisation had struck her when she had hovered over Dwarka almost a year ago, in the grip of indecisiveness and a sense of hopelessness. It had been that realisation that had driven her to push ahead and seek out Garuda.

  She had come a long way since then. And she was not going to let her father down.

  Not now. Not ever.

  ‘I will do it, Mahamati,’ she said firmly, all doubts erased from her mind. ‘I will go into the Mists and I will find the key to deciphering the verses in my father’s diary. And I will not fail in this task.’

  ‘Very good.’ Satyavachana smiled at her. ‘I expected nothing less from you. But I had to give you a choice; I had to tell you what you would be up against.’

  ‘Where are the Mists located?’ Maya asked.

  ‘Beyond Gangotri is Gomukh, where the Ganga flows into Bhu-lok. It is the terminus of the Gangotri glacier. Further beyond Gomukh is a place called Tapovan—you have to trek through ice to get there. The Mists of Brahma lie beyond Tapovan, at the point where the Ganga descends to Bhu-lok. Sadhs do not know the location of the Mists. Only members of the Sangha do. I will take you there.’

  ‘When do we leave?’ Maya asked.

  ‘Immediately.’ Satyavachana smiled at her. ‘Are you ready?’

  Chapter Ninety-four

  The Mists of Brahma

  Beyond Tapovan

  Uttarakhand

  Satyavachana and Maya stood on the glacier beyond Tapovan. Ordinarily, this would have involved an arduous trek over sheer cliffs, a moraine strewn glacier and a rocky landscape, but the two of them had a better option.

  It was cold at this height, but Satyavachana had used his powers to create an insulating bubble around them, so that Maya was not troubled by the cold.

  ‘This is where I must leave you,’ the Maharishi told her. ‘From here, you must travel by yourself.’

  Maya looked around at the bleak landscape. There was ice all around. Satyavachana had briefed her before they left the forest, on how she could get to the Mists of Brahma and what she was to do once she entered them.

  Maya would have to follow the course of the Ganga, which was ice from this point till the location of the Mists. There was no other way to travel to her destination. Satyavachana had told her that he would use a mantra that would make her body dissolve into the ice so that she could enter the Ganga and follow it backwards to its celestial origins.

  ‘It will be a bit disconcerting,’ Satyavachana told her, ‘since you will be in your physical form but within the ice. Apart from that, it is exactly like atma travel. Control your thoughts and guide your movements so that you flow upstream along the Ganga and you will emerge in the Mists of Brahma.’

  ‘I’m ready,’ Maya said. She reached within to her calm centre and all traces of anxiety and apprehension disappeared. She was in control of herself now.

  Satyavachana nodded. ‘Bless you, my child. May you succeed in your mission.’

  Maya closed her eyes as Satyavachana chanted the mantra.

  ‘Sampraliyate hima!’ the Maharishi intoned.

  Maya felt herself slowly sink into the ice that she had been standing on just a few moments ago. Only, this was not like sinking into water. She was entering the ice, bei
ng absorbed by it. She was dissolving in it.

  She maintained her control over her thoughts and kept reciting the mantras that fortified her inner calmness. She had now melted completely into the glacier and looked around in wonder at the glassy interior of the frozen river of ice.

  The Maharishi had been right. This was exactly like atma travel, except for the fact that she was still within her physical body. Strangely, she didn’t feel cold at all despite being enveloped in the ice. Or maybe, she thought, it was because she was part of the ice now.

  There was no time to wonder. Maya pulled her thoughts together and focused on eliminating all distractions. She concentrated on the direction in which she had to move.

  Upstream. Towards the celestial origin of the Ganga.

  To her surprise, she began moving through the ice at top speed, gliding smoothly through the frozen river. It was a weird sensation.

  In a matter of moments, she came to a stop. Was this where she had to emerge from the ice?

  Satyavachana had taught her the mantra for reversing the effects of dissolution. She would have to articulate it in her mind, in the same manner that she had recited the Garuda mantra in her atma form while seeking Garuda.

  The mantra unfolded in her mind and she slowly emerged from the ice, only to be engulfed by a thick white shroud.

  She was in the Mists of Brahma.

  Taken by surprise, Maya fought to keep her thoughts in control, even as she felt the tendrils of the Mists reach into her mind, seeking out her innermost thoughts and feelings. She closed her eyes and reached for the pool of calm. Then she listened for the sound of the universe and allowed herself to synchronise with its frequency.

  Only when she knew she was one with the universe did she open her eyes.

  White.

  White and smoky. In every direction she looked, all she could see were the Mists.

  She held out her hand in front of her face. It disappeared beyond the elbow.

  Maya shook her head, recalling Satyavachana’s instructions.

  The wisps of fog floated around, encircling her. She recited the mantras to reinforce the barriers against them, keeping them at bay, not allowing them to sink into her subconscious mind.

  Deliberately, she focused her thoughts on the diary. On Brahmabhasha. That was what she was here for. To find a way to decipher the words in her father’s diary.

  Her father.

  The Mists suddenly surged around her as if agitated by something.

  Then, abruptly, they began to thin. She sensed a presence in front of her.

  The fog disappeared altogether, as if it had never existed.

  But the presence remained.

  With a shock, Maya realised that she could see who it was, not just sense the presence.

  She was standing face to face with her dead father.

  Chapter Ninety-five

  Unexpected Meeting

  The Mists of Brahma

  ‘Dad!’ Maya stepped forward to embrace him, but her father smiled and held up his hands.

  ‘No, Maya,’ he said, ‘you cannot touch me, though I would love to hold my daughter one more time. I am here in my spirit form. It is your mind that has made the Mists present me in the form that you knew and loved. But it is not substantial. It cannot be. I left that form back in Bhu-lok.’

  Tears welled up in Maya’s eyes. ‘Dad! I’ve missed you so much! I … I …’ Words failed her and sobs racked her body as she stood there, longing to hold her father but knowing that she could not do so.

  Her father waited.

  Finally, Maya pulled herself together and wiped her eyes dry. ‘How … how did this happen?’ she asked.

  ‘You mean our meeting here?’ her father asked.

  Maya nodded tearfully.

  ‘Well, I guess you were thinking about me when you entered the Mists,’ he said, ‘but that’s not all. My atma resides in Tapa-lok—it’s where Maharishis go after death—and I sensed that you were in the Mists. There is much that I wanted to say to you, so I too willed us to meet.’ He smiled again. ‘I am so proud of you, Maya. You understood what I wanted.’

  ‘The diary?’

  ‘Yes, Maya, the diary. I was hoping you’d understand that I wanted you to take care of it and get it deciphered. I was sure that you would eventually seek out Satyavachana and end up here in the Mists of Brahma. Of course, I took a chance that someone would tell you that the undecipherable verses are in Brahmabhasha. I relied on Kanakpratap bringing you and Arjun straight to the Sangha, where I knew they would definitely guess its origin.’

  Maya wondered how her father had known all this, how he had been so sure she would enter the Mists when even he knew that she was a sadh but before she could ask him, he was speaking again.

  ‘Time is short, Maya. The Mists do not permit long conversations. I have a lot to tell you but very little time. Let me say what I can before we are separated again. I had come up with a plan to stop Shukra. The diary was a part of it and you had a part to play in putting the plan into motion. Your being here is a part of that too. I cannot go into details now, there isn’t enough time. It’s up to you to ensure that my plan does not get derailed. If it does, terrible things will happen.’

  ‘What do I need to do, Dad?’ Maya asked, wide-eyed. All this was part of her father’s plan? But how? She was a sadh! How could she help him, a Maharishi, with his plan?

  ‘I will tell you,’ her father said. ‘Listen closely. ’

  Chapter Ninety-six

  Last Instructions

  The Mists of Brahma

  ‘So that is what I had in mind,’ Maharishi Dhruv concluded.

  Even as he spoke these words, Maya could see the Mists approaching them, advancing rapidly, a few wisps and tendrils scooting ahead of the pall of white that moved like a great white beast towards them.

  ‘I know I haven’t been able to give you details and explanations,’ Dhruv said hurriedly, ‘but we don’t have much more time together. Remember two things: first, don’t question anything. Just do what I’ve told you. Second—timing is crucial. Everything should happen as I have instructed and at the right time.’

  The advance wisps now curled around them, sweeping over their feet at first, then rising rapidly until there was a fine white veil between Maya and her father’s spirit.

  ‘And one more thing,’ her father said. ‘Do not share what I have told you with anyone in the Sangha. Tell no one, not even Satyavachana. Not even that you met me in the Mists today!’

  ‘Not even Maharishi Satyavachana? But why, Dad?

  ‘There is a traitor in the ranks of the Sangha,’ her father told her, his face beginning to dissolve and fade away. ‘Someone has been helping Shukra, telling him about our plans. He has known what we are planning to do all along. We cannot risk sharing the plan with anyone if it has to work.’

  ‘Dad, wait!’ Maya cried out in dismay as her father’s form began to lose itself in the Mists.

  ‘Go on,’ her father instructed. ‘Focus on the source of the verses. The Mists will guide you onward.’

  ‘That’s what Maharishi Satyavachana told me.’ Maya’s voice trembled as she realised that her father would be gone in a few moments.

  ‘You focused on me,’ Dhruv explained, ‘as the source of the verses. You were thinking of my diary, weren’t you?’

  Maya nodded. ‘Yes, Dad.’

  The veil between her father and her had begun to thicken as the mantle of the Mists began to descend upon them, obscuring their view of each other.

  ‘That isn’t the source.’ Maya could not see her father any more. Even his voice had begun to grow faint. ‘Remove all thoughts of me from your mind. Focus your mind on the real source!’

  ‘Dad!’ she cried, tears welling up again.

  ‘You have to find the source!’ Her father’s voice faded away, as the thick fog rolled around Maya. Once again, she could see nothing.

  ‘Dad!’ she wailed in despair. ‘Don’t leave me!’

 
But the dense fog around her was impenetrable.

  There was no reply.

  Her father had gone, leaving her alone once more.

  Maya wept.

  Chapter Ninety-seven

  Onward

  The Mists of Brahma

  Maya had never allowed herself to feel the grief of losing her father. But meeting him here brought it all back. She allowed herself to break down, feeling his loss all over again.

  On the day of his death, she had suppressed her emotions, concentrating on getting the diary to Arjun’s uncle. And then, she had immersed herself in her lessons at the Gurukul, focussing on her ambition to graduate to the Gana.

  There had been no time to grieve.

  After meeting him here, in the Mists of Brahma of all places, the hurt, the grief, the pain all came flooding back. They had never really gone away. She had numbed herself, but had never really got over his death.

  Today, seeing him again, unable to even touch him, the painful reality had finally sunk in. And even hearing his plan to counter Shukra had not assuaged the aching pain she felt; the pain of having lived without him for almost a year, of only being left with happy memories of moments shared together, of their special bond.

  Within moments, she felt the Mists begin to penetrate her consciousness. She could feel their energy as the wisps of fog touched her mind, probing, extracting. She knew she was distraught and vulnerable. Satyavachana had warned her.

  She could not allow the Mists to overwhelm her.

  Not now.

  There was too much at stake.

  Maya wiped her tears and struggled to focus again on her mission. The Mists continued to tap into her despair and grief while she desperately tried to reconnect with the sound of the universe.

  For a few long moments she grappled with her thoughts, reciting the mantras that would fortify her inner centre of peace, driving all thoughts of her father out of her mind, creating a vacuum that could be filled by the pulsating energy of her core.

  Slowly, but surely, Maya drove back the tendrils that were swarming into her mind, penetrating deep into her subconscious.