CHAPTER 8
The right in the wrong
Each hill is different from one another in its unique features. As we climb up, in some hills the chillness increases. Depending on this the medicinal plants grow here …medicinal plants that can withstand the cold and those which cannot withstand cold and so on …. many scientists had already proved that plants can breathe and feel and the necessary free space for this is naturally available in the hills.
Siddhas are well versed in finding out how all these theories of nature will work. Here even the sun rays have a role to play with. Pon Uthiyur hill, do not have a high altitude to feel that much of chillness. At the same time, it is not of low altitude also so, mild chillness always prevails there. Hence the climatic condition here help the Siddhas to remain in various yogic states.
Next to this are the streams that flow there!
These stream waters have medicinal properties in it which can heal any type of diseases.
Raju started walking swiftly, the sun had already risen above the horizon.
Although his mind was very clear a shadow of fear always put a veil on it.Basically he was a person with good character, so he did not think that there would be any chance of committing any sin in this hill.
“I should be able to see that Siddha who gave me that elixir’ he desired. But, he could not find anyone till now.
Though he felt difficult walking alone, he felt comfortable walking in the cool breeze. When he took a turn, he noticed Bindu who was lying on a rock under an Amla tree.
A very young beautiful girl…
Green color silk saree…
Thick curly hair…
Fair physique…
He could not make out whether she is sleeping or lying fainted there. There was a wound in her left leg and he could see clotted blood in her saree.He assumed that she had ran away from somewhere and fell down there fainted. After seeing that girl in such a condition he could not ignore her and just walk away..
He went closer and looked at her face.
“What happened to you? How you have come here?” he asked. Only some vague sounds came out from her. She turned her face to one side and tried to open her eyes slowly. She looked at Raju with eyes filled with fear.
“Don’t be afraid… what happened to you, tell me?”
“….”
“I am asking you only… you look like an educated girl… why are you staring at me like this?”
She was not able to answer him and was trying to express something using her sign language. She feared that Pavithran might follow her and will try to abduct her. Thinking of her helplessness tears started rolling out of her eyes.
“Why are you crying…you are like my daughter only, come on, tell me, what happened? “Raju asked.
Bindu tried to express that she could not speak by using her sign language.
“Oh!God,You cannot speak…? Okay… no one came with you?” Raju asked her.
She showed him by sign language that she came with her dad, but she was not able to express about what has happened or to give any hint about Pavithran. Raju felt pity on her. Bindu tried to stand up but she could not as blood started oozing out of the wound in her leg. Raju understood that she could not walk with that wound. For a few moments silence prevailed there. Fortunately Bindu saw the pen in Raju’s shirt pocket and requested for it by action. She saw a piece of waste newspaper which was lying nearby left by someone after taking their food. She took it and started writing swiftly what all has happened in the white space in that paper. Raju read it at the same time while she was writing.
‘I came here with my dad. We met a person on the way. He looked like a forest guard. But in reality he was a rogue. He pushed my dad into a deep valley and tried to abduct me. I managed to escape from him and came running here and fainted. I am afraid that he would come again’ when he read this, a kind of uncontrollable anger raged within Raju.
“Who is that rascal…?” Raju shouted with rage. In her sign language, Bindu said that she don’t know and returned the pen back to Raju.
“Okay, don’t worry… let us do not stand here anymore…” when he said this, she said, “da…da… dada” as if she wanted to say something about her dad.
“Do you know from where he was pushed down?”
She nodded a ‘No’.
“Dear, where can I search for him without knowing that?”
With folded hands she pleaded for help in searching for her dad.
Raju said, “It’s okay…come… let me help as much as I can”, but she could not even put a step forward ,rough pieces of stones pricked in to her feet making it difficult for her to walk.
Suddenly an idea flashed in to Raju’s mind…
He removed his shirt and tore it into two halves and covered her feet with it to enable her to walk without pain. She walked with an expression of gratitude in her eyes. Raju was wearing only a trouser with rubber slippers on his feet. Seeing her pain Raju gave his rubber slippers to her with which she walked comfortably. But her eyes were continuously on the lookout for someone may be it is…. Pavithran.
To break the silence that surrounded him, Raju started talking with Bindu.
“When I started this journey, I never imagined and expected that things like this will happen in my life. If you are facing one kind of a problem, I am facing another kind …” when he said this, she looked at him with concern and sympathy.
At a short distance, a small stream interrupted them.
Like a beautiful relaxing song it flowed in between the small rocks…..
The water in the stream was so crystal clear that one could see even small fishes moving swiftly in it.
In the shore a shocking surprise was waiting for Raju,Yes,the Siddha he was searching for all these days was there in the stream taking bath.
“Ji…” he screamed with joy forgetting where he was …. The Siddha turned and looked back at him. Raju ran towards him.
“Ji…Pranam…”
“Who is that…is it Raju?”
“Yes, it’s me Ji… What happened to you, Ji? Do you know where all I searched for you?”
“Searched for me…?” – his eyes became broad in surprise. He also noticed Bindu who was sitting on a rock unable to walk out of pain.
Raju said, “Ji, I met this girl on the way her story is very pathetic. She came to this hill to worship…and now she is suffering a lot. I came here only in search of you. I want to know a truth.”
“What truth?”
“Ji, you came to my home and gave me an elixir two days back… Do you remember that?”
“Why not… It is the Nava Pashana Prasadam!”
“Nava Pashana Prasadam?”
“Yes… It is the Nava Linga Pashana Prasadam I brought it after doing Abhishekam to the nine Pashana Lingas. Why… what happened?”
“Ji,my daughter’s health has improved a lot after taking that elixir… She was very weak earlier and was not even able to get up from the bed after taking the elixir she became very active!”
“Ha,Ha,It is Abhisheka Prasadam, you know… that is why it might have worked for her…”
“Ji, for you it is Abhisheka Prasadam. But the doctor says that it is a very unique medicine…”
“May be, because Nava Pashanam is having many rare medicinal properties?”
“Ji…please…take me there I want that elixir to save my daughter’s life. My daughter will survive only if she takes it. Where is it available in this forest…please tell me?”
“It is very far from here…it is in a stream…”
“Stream…?”
“Yes…all of a sudden water raises and subsides there and it is very dangerous, we can do the Abhishekam only when the water subsides.”
“I want to go there, Ji …”
“It is far away from here, it is very difficult to walk through those tough and rough ups and downs.”
“Ji, when you can go there at this age why can’t I?”
Raju pleaded with the Siddha. Bindu was silently listening to him.
Okay, come… only if we start now, we can reach there before evening.”
When he started to proceed happily, Bindu stopped him with a pathetic look. Actually he has forgotten all about her and now seeing her he did not know what to do with her.
“I am sorry, I cannot help you now, what to do?” he said. The next moment she started crying very loudly.
“Dear… what shall I do if you cry for everything…? I have already done what I can. If you expect more, what shall I do?”
She also did not give up.
“da…da…dada!” she cried like a small child.
“I don’t know whether he is alive or not after falling into that deep valley… it is a police case! I will be in trouble if I help you. My daughter’s life is more important for me now!.”
But Bindu continued to plead with him with tears in her eyes. She showed her hurt legs and expressed her inability to walk.
The Siddha asked, “Raju… who is this girl? What happened to her?”
“Ji, that’s another story…I am feeling pity for her on one side but my position is such that I am not in a position to help her…….”
“Okay, tell me her story briefly and fast without wasting my time as I have got many other works…”
“Ji, you are a Siddha, what other works do you have in this hill…”
“I have so many works… I have to serve other senior Siddhas and there are many Siddhas here.
I have to do massage, get tobacco, make tea for them and so on.”
“Why are you doing all these Ji, and that also at this age…”
“The dimension at which you see things and I am seeing it is different. But I am not doing it without any reason.”
“What is that reason, Ji?”
“Why should I disclose it to you… forget it. You take a decision now fast…”
The Siddhas words didn’t not give a clear picture of anything and just looked like a puzzle for Raju and he felt quite uncomfortable.
“Ji,… shall we take this girl with us?”
“By all means… but can she walk with her wound?”
“Let me ask her”. Raju said.
“ Look here… If you wish, you can also come with us. That is all I can say. If you meet someone on the way who can help you, catch hold of them and please leave me… is that okay? “Raju asked Bindu.
She nodded her head agreeing to that. They started their journey from there. The Siddha walked very fast and both of them found it difficult to walk along with him.
“Ji… it looks like this whole hill is very familiar to you…”
“Yes… do you know how many times I would have come here?”
“Maybe twenty or thirty times?”
The Siddha said “What are you saying Raju… Is it a big achievement if I come here for twenty or thirty times?Ha,Ha,another twenty times ,then I will cross more than a hundred!.”
“Oh my God!”
“Yes… there are many Siddhas here…and also some thieves who escaped from the prison who are roaming around here posing as Siddhas.”
Hearing this Raju got totally shocked.
“Okay, Ji… on the way, if there are any places to stay and relax, we can try to accommodate this girl there…”
“There is nothing like that here in this hill. If you wish you can stay and relax in some caves on the way.
“Okay…Ji… let’s see on the way. Are there any forest guards in this hill?”
“Why not…they are there but normally they do not move out of their office and they will never interfere with the affairs of the Siddhas..”
The Siddha was walking very fast. Bindu struggled a lot to walk with them. Raju kept on looking back while walking to make sure that Bindu is following them. The heat of the sun increased by the passage of time. The path the Siddha has chosen was entirely different from the normal path through which the other pilgrims used to travel. The path was full of rocks and bushes with thorns.
Thick bushes… bunches of trees with the tree head as umbrellas… patches of shadow here and there. As they were walking in the shadow, suddenly a Siddha stood up from the muddy path fully naked.
Both Bindu and Raju got shocked.
But there was the least surprise or shock in the face of the Siddha. He fell at the feet of the naked Siddha and prostrated, he took some tobacco rolls from his shoulder bag and said, “Ji, please have this”. The naked Siddha smiled at him, bent down and took a fist of mud under his feet and gave it to the Siddha saying, “Take this you fool you have been asking this to me for a long time.” Saying this the naked Siddha just disappeared from there. Raju was still in the shock.
“Ji… what is this? Why do you need that mud under his feet?”
“Do you know how much it costs today? Anyone who knows about this will give more than a lakh for this fist full of mud.”
“Ji, what is so special in this?”
“Ask me what is not there in this… If you have this, all kinds of evil will run away from you and you will prosper like anything…”
“I cannot simply believe in it, is this true?”
“Don’t ask foolish questions like that to me. You do not know its value. The naked Siddha gave me mud. Sometimes, some other Siddhas may give me gold.”
“Gold!?”
“Come with me, Raju, I will show you … see it for yourself…”
“Let it be… if you know Siddhas who can give gold to you, why you are suffering this much?”
“I never told you that I am suffering!”
“Not like that… I mean to say that you can lead a decent life.
“I am perfectly fine. It is not the gold but the alchemy of making it that is what I want to know! Once I learn that secret I will leave this damn place and will never come back here again.”
When the Siddha said this, Raju was surprised. Till now he was of the opinion that this Siddha was a person of quite different nature from the normal beings without any desires. But when he heard him speak now, he clearly understood that he is also quite normal like any other human being. Suddenly the Siddha paused and said, “We have some difficulties in taking this girl with us… what you can do is… to some whom you meet, tell them that she is your wife…!”
“Oh my god… what is this? To whom should I tell like that…?”
“To some Siddhas you meet on the way.”
“But why is it so?”
“Not all the Siddhas here are Brahmacharis… Some of them are married and their wives are no more. They find it difficult to control their lust. If you say that she is a girl whom you found on the way, under the influence of drugs they may abuse her brutally…”
“What… abuse her? “Raju was startled…
“Yes, Raju, believe me or not all types of Siddhas are here. They just want to be happy and do not worry about anything. To them worrying is a punishment which they give to themselves…”
Raju was shivering with fear on hearing what the Siddha said. The Siddha was walking casually while talking. Bindu was almost frozen listening to his words. After listening to all this, following them was very scary for her. The way she walked hesitantly showed it.
When such a storm was blowing inside their minds, something was happening outside, in the sky dark black clouds started gathering above their heads and the wind started to blow heavily.
“Ji,… looks like it will rain…”
“It may come and go… we should not worry about all these in this hill…”
“I am not worried about the rain but about this girl…”
“I was watching you, why you are so much worried about that girl…” the way the Siddha said this looked very funny for Raju.
“Not like that Ji… she is dumb and not able to talk that is why I am so much concerned…”
“You think always about the good and bad aspect of everything! But some of the Siddhas here will laugh at you if they hear this.”
“Ji, I am really surprised to hear what you say!”
“Yes, their philosophy is quite different they believe that everything that is happening is a perception of our mind…”
“How is that Ji?”
“We have come to this planet earth like going for a trip to a certain place. Only our soul has come here. We have to leave our body here only. Everything …. is only till we are alive. Some people die very young and some other after getting very old that changes from person to person. In that, youthfulness is only for about ten to fifteen years. Can you run around like a small kid now even if you wish? Can you hang on the branch of a tree and swing… nothing comes back in anyone’s life after it is gone.”
The Siddha’s prelude was very strong and clear.
“That is why some of the Siddhas here are of the view that we have to enjoy the life when we are alive and should not care about the right or wrong like the normal human beings! ”
“Do the Siddhas say like this…?”
“Yes, they say that…Raju, you tell me what is wrong in what they are saying…”
“I cannot find anything right in what they say…”
“How can you generalize and say it …give me a reason for it…”
Their walk continued along with heated discussions…
“Ji, I am sorry, I am not here to discuss all these…I want that medicine to save my daughter’s life…”
“That’s fine… but you cannot get that medicine just like that here…”
“What do you mean…?”
“That is the work of Siddhas… Why all that… Siddhas only made Navapashana Lingam… and it is their property.”
“Do you mean to say that they will expect some money…”
Hearing this the Siddha started laughing!
