@ Satosha

Back in her tinsel town, the fairy couldn't help share the experience of the forest fire with her friends. And also the insights she got about the "efficacy of a proposal". Most of her friends had their own tales to tell - about the crazy things humans do. They basically downplayed her experience as naive because this was probably the first time she flirted the rules (of the "WizLand"). Some others took a tangent. They insisted she should not have given the option to the man - she knew he was going to burn alive. They probably wanted her down the guilt trap for not being sensitive enough to the fellow beings despite being an activist herself. They unknowingly meant - there is always an excuse for not doing enough!

Social conversations mostly route to the bottom where one either meets frustration or mockery. Damned if you did good and more if you did not!

Only one of them pondered about Matsya - What happened to the poor girl? Who was her child ? And more importantly - did Maharishi ditch her after he got what he wanted - as expected of the powerful of the day - wizards or men.

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Luckily, that evening, at a social mixer, they got hold of the Angel. The conversation started at a rather skeptic note. How could someone conceive at a sprinkle of water? After all, it was a boat, not a fertility clinic - they asked the wizard with a cunning smile - as if they knew what actually went down that evening!

Is there something more to be read between the lines ? - the friend said out loud!

Unaware that the story got leaked into the "social circles", Angel was taken aback. He wanted to cover up. He was apparently concerned if the matter reached the flight controllers, his flights might be revoked for a period if not for good. But few martinis later, he too jumped onto the narrative. And particularly because the focus was not on the man who didn't take his deal. It was on the story of Matsya and Parāśara that was anyway so dear to him.

What exactly is the birth ? - He asked both of them. And waited a bit for their response.

Seeing their faces blank out - Let's go outside for it's too noisy in here. We need a quieter place to talk - he suggested with a smile.

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As they stepped outside the crowded hall, the light drizzle had just stopped. And a thick rainbow had lit up the evening sky. All three of them, raising their big mugs, took a deep breath of the clean air that was restored with enormous efforts from the angel scientists and equal "hue and cry" of the humane activists. The Angel looked at the rainbow. Marveling at the immensity of the nature; and disclaiming the brevity, he started his monologue ..

There are three basic colors - he said - Red, Blue and Green. They may mix up to make trillions of colors though our eye are limited to around ten million shades. Possibilities are endless but four new colors are rather stable - Orange, Yellow, Indigo and Violet. Together with three basic ones, the seven colors are, as we all know, the colors of a rainbow. They are normally hidden in one "White" but they reveal themselves when elements meet - after the rain when the sun shows up - the suspended droplets (liquid), on tiny dust particles (solids) light up the washed air (gas). As if there is a chorography of all that could be observed. The cosmos shows up it's true nature and beautiful it is! Isn't it? - He paused to check if he made sense, and also to make sure he was not overtly poetical.

Seeing them both share the pleasant observation, he continued - they also hold the clues to the very nature of creation - the "birth" as we normally call it.

Each of these seven colors is a statement of separation. For example, an Indigo is a signal that all the other six colors left it alone - a separation occurred yet it survived. What color is that combination of six that we don't see beneath the shining Indigo? - He waited a bit for the Fairy and her Friend to respond - It must be a color of it's own shade.

Looking at that shade say "White minus Indigo", we can never tell that it is a shade that conspired against "Indigo" - left the poor "Indigo" alone - he smiled. Let's just call it the "inverse" of Indigo, or "Anti-Indigo" ! The key thing is - looking at something you can never tell that it is an "inverse" of something else - the inverse is just another shade. The truth however is - every observable thing is an inverse of something. It is like a cryptographic public-private key pair - you can never guess one from another.

Let it sink in for a bit :-) - said he, as he gulped the last ounce from his tumbler - what we observe is the public key but the private key is always hidden. What appears trivial has certain underlying complexity - a knot!

It was time for the Fairy to reflect - conscious perception is in the separation. A magnet only personifies this idea - we can see the separation of dipoles in a magnet - though the tenet is applicable to everything we observe or even feel. Even abstract things like great riches have their inverse in extreme poverty. Love - hate, care - indifference, and respect - impudence . Everything manifests in the separation.

Exactly! - said the wizard - Even the "observer" is able to to observe something because there is a separation between the observer and what is being observed. Now here is what they didn't teach in the classrooms - kinda secret that is still kept in the wraps. His voice lowered as if he was sharing a deep insight - In this separation, something potent gets locked in. We can't perceive this "locked-in" knowledge except that it appears Yellow, or Red or Green as the case may be.

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He continued after making sure of the heightened curiosity of both his listeners - The thing (knowledge) that is locked-in is complete in itself but in this case the expression is a specific color - Just like in case of a rock the conscious expression is ..well ..that of a rock. In case of a lion, it is a man eating beast; in case of tree it is the fruits and the shade. Our conscious experience may interpret the locked knowledge in infinite different ways because the knowledge is always complete. A full copy is distributed in every animate and inanimate expression - from a super massive black-hole to a puny quark - a distributed ledger of immense proportion if you humor the block-chain technology!

He paused only to restart immediately to drive home the point - The curious question then is what happens when Yellow meets anti-Yellow ? Does it maketh the White or does it make the Black?

The friend, who had recently learnt "Abstract Algebra" jumped in now - group operation under addition dictates that a color and it's anti-color put together must give us the "Identity" of the group - a "white" in this case. Simply because anti-color is "white" minus the color we see.

You nailed it - said the wizard - In fact, any color mixed with it's anti-color shade should give us the white light. The "White" is thus the identity of the "group" of seven rainbow colors. This identity has it's own inverse - the utter darkness ... but we are digressing. Let's get back to our group of seven colors and their singular identity in "White" - he took a pause to clear his throat - seven colors of the rainbow, along with the identity element "White" are what we say the manifestation engine of "information".

Identity is again a separation from something. In other words, the white light is born of seven underlying separations - Seven knots in Vaidik speak , and it separates itself from the darkness. No matter how complex a manifestation, it always has it's inverse - it must separate from something else. In a three dimensional world the separation is known as a "layer". In other words - white light is a layer that surrounds darkness ! The complexity of seven knots is held within this separation. This complexity , known as knowledge, has an observable expression though the knowledge in itself is complete.

Sure, I give you that - said the friend - energy is trapped in the waves of light and that is what is known as a Photon. As a matter of fact, the separation is lot more ingrained. Every single shade of light is an electro-magnetic wave, and energy shows up as a massless Photon when the wave splits into it's electric and magnetic pulse - that is high school physics! - she added hastily - But how is this related to the birth of a child? She didn't make any attempt to hide her impatience.

It is - smiled the wizard - you must be patient if you want to understand the ancient Vaidik Science.

Okay - smiled the Friend - I am listening!

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Imagine the time - thousands of year back - long before the periodic table - continued the Angel - the broad categories of the matter were - solids, liquids and gases. Every thing that may be observed must be one of these. And the eight colors were considered the means to observe the matter. The matter, be it solid or liquid must have a unique color, air being the transparent white light. So they concluded - All observable things, at max may have eleven transitions - eight colors (the state of information) and three states of matter - solids, liquids and gases. At any given point in time only two were observable - one state of matter and one color. The notion of "work" was to change either of these two - for example if you heat a metal, first it changes the colors and then it becomes liquid.

He paused a little to think the qualifying remarks - even today, with all the science, that basic design of "observability" stands good. Now, in modern science - we we have covered many miles on the observability (of matter) but what about the "Observer"? What is the dichotomy of an "observer" ? Unfortunately we have never focused much on the "observer".

Well , technically speaking , an "observer" is also matter but we have five senses that are unique to us "observers" - said the Fairy.

You are on the right track - Angel was happy to see his ideas getting registered - but there is little more than mere five senses. First, there is a notion of "space". If senses are incapable of observing the three states of matter and don't see any of the (eight) colors, we say it is dark "space". In addition, an observer has a natural impetus to observe things - we must continuously use our senses to observe - sometimes randomly . This propensity was termed "Fickle Mind" (Mana).

Not only "Fickle Mind" - he added - there is definite mechanism to analyse what we observe. This capacity was termed "Intelligence" (Buddhi). So in all, an observer is "matter" that has eight additional assets to process the information - five senses, ability to perceive space, propensity to explore and lastly the capacity to analyse.

It was time for both fairy and her friend to get surprised. No one ever told this perspective to them though it was simple and made sense.

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The Angel continued - So eight colors and three states of matter - that is eleven basic dualities that we "observe". Now add to this the perceptual facets of the observer - the five Senses (Indriyas), Fickle Mind (Mana), Intelligence (Buddhi) and Space (Kham) - these eight are stable knots that make an observer. But there is little more to it .. an "observer" too has three states ..

Just like three states of the observable matter, the observer too has three states - in Vaidik speak these states are called Gunas. The three Gunas are - Sattva, Rajsa and Tamsa. The notion of "Work" (Karma), on the observer side, is to transition with in these three Gunas.

To put it simply, the three states of matter drive "actions" in the matter - exchange from one state to other - for example solids convert into liquids - liquids into gases. The three Gunas do the same in the observer. An observer continuously moves from Sattva to Rajasa to Tamsa or vice-versa or some other order. Unfortunately there is no English word for these Gunas. Just think of them as three states of being.

Effectively - three states of what is observed and three states of the observer!

Thus eleven physical facets plus eleven perceptual facets create one observer. These twenty two knots combined create an identity. In Vaidik system the identity is called Ahmkara - a perceptible and conscious shape what we call "I". In Vaidik Science, all of these twenty three together, is what we know as the "field" of consciousness.

The more important question, however, is - what is it that thing that is held with in these twenty three knots? And the answer is - the way "darkness" is a separation from white light; the "identity" (Ahmkara) is separation from "knowledge" (Atma).

Well, I'll need another drink before my mind blows up - said the fairy as she pointed to her empty glass. Three of them walked inside and found quiet corner with ample food on the table after filling up their fancy tumblers with sacred poisons of their respective choice.

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But we still didn't get to the "Birth" - said the friend as she pulled out the chair and checked the food. She was on strict diet - eating once a day and it was well past her dinner time!

Okay - let me reveal the big secret - In Vaidik Science the human body is the field. It has twenty three oddities as I said. They call it Kshetra. As a bio-scientist, I was intrigued by this idea because we have exactly twenty three pairs of chromosomes! Ever-since I learnt it from my mentor, I am trying to link our genetic makeup with this ancient science. No wonder that the ancient hyperbole was ..

If someone understood this field of consciousness - these twenty three facets, conception may be triggered in any place that could keep the embryo safe for nine months. They say Maharishi Parāśara not only figured it out, he passed this science onto Dwaipayana (his son) in his mother's womb.

The fairy and her friend looked at him in disbelief. They were not sure if they believed what they heard but the Angel was pretty sure of his theory - he added - such a birth is called a birth through Yog Maya. Instead of calling it a normal birth - a throw of chromosomal dice - they call it a birth targeted for a specific orientation - Utpatti.

Mahabharata has many stories of such targeted creations ..

Utpatti

She found herself in a bed made of flowers when she woke up. It was early morning. Light was slowly filling up the entrance of the cave. She quickly fixed her rags and hair, and stepped out of the cave. She saw Maharishi sitting in a Samadhi (sitting upright in a trance). There was holy fire burning in front of the Yogi. The place smelled of Sandal wood. Later she realized this part of the island was full of Sandal trees. She sat there, grasping the serenity of the space, trying to make a sense of it all. The events of last night played in her mind. She tried hard to sequence the things but there was no recollection after she lost herself on the boat. Entire evening felt hazy and distant as if a memory was pulled off her brain. Last thing she knew was a sprinkle of cold Yamuna water on her face.

While she was thinking of the night that she missed, a thick fog surrounded the cave. It was as if the smoke from the holy fire froze into smog to make an invisible circle around. She felt comforted in the seclusion — free from her painful past. She also felt a strange feeling in her stomach. As if, a life had taken place in her.

Am I pregnant? — She didn't intend to disturb the Samadhi but the words just came of her mouth. Parāśara opened his eyes. He gazed at her with a welcome look — Yes — he said. Do you need anything? There is fresh milk and fruits, and he pointed to a grotto next to the entrance of the main cave.

The main cave led to a cavern that had sweet Yamuna water flowing at it's base. She also saw her boat moored there. Now she understood why Maharishi loved the island. It was a replica of heaven on earth. She also got an inkling that the place was given ghostly character to keep the tourists and wanderers away. For the first time, she felt as if she was part of something bigger. She felt excited and curious at the same time. What exactly is going on? She wanted to know. Maharishi could guesstimate what was playing on her mind.

"Things reveal as their time comes" — She heard Maharishi at her back. She turned back to him. A smile on her face conveyed that she was happy and was on board.

9.1

Next few months were magical for Matsya. She would wake up to the slow chants of hymns and the smoke from holy fire surrounding the caves as a shield. She would go out with Maharishi to pick up fruits. There were goats to get milk. Maharishi showed her the skills to survive in a jungle. After first full moon, Maharishi told her the time had come to start Dwaipayana's education for the things he would learn in the comfort of motherly womb, would last him a lifetime.

Maharishi taught her Sanskrit. She quickly picked up the difficult language. Maharishi himself chanted all the Mantras to her. It became a daily ritual. Learning Sanskrit got lot easier for her, because Maharishi was developing a new method to train the students. In this new learning process, reciting and scribing, would go 'hand in hand' . And he used palm leaves for scribing. The island was the only place in and around Mathura with Palm trees. Maharishi would stack a dozen palm leaves every night on the fire such that they were slowly smoked inside out. They both used these leaves to scribe the Sanskrit alphabet — first Maharishi wrote, and then Matsya copied the alphabet to simple words. Slowly she started scribing simple sentences and got at ease in conversing in Sanskrit. She realized that the language was natively developed to speak poetry on the go!

There was subtle, but planned experimentation , Matsya realized, that Maharishi was using this time to gradually increase the smoking duration, temperature and distance from the fire to get the best possible color and flexibility in palm leaves — like a cloth. And he was refining the ink as well. Starting with simple Henna paste, he had mixed number of soils and heated the mixture to get a permanent impression of inscription. Now she understood why Maharishi was carrying the Palm leaf with him when he returned from the island in their first meeting.

It was probably a daily mud bath followed by a fresh water swim in Yamuna; Sandal wood lotion that Maharishi himself made for her; or the vegan diet of milk and fruits — Or the growth of internal knowledge; that made her beautiful. But she assumed it were the blessings of Maharishi! And who knows?

As Matsya was learning, her mind took on new dimensions of thought. She started asking more and more questions. More she asked, more did Maharishi explain. Not only her mind, but her body started taking a new shape. Her skin glowed. Her hair got long and silky and her smell was gone, replaced by everlasting musk. Songs came to her lips. She learnt to dance slow with setting sun — to exhale the excess energy. And she learnt to recite Vedas with rising sun to fill the universal energy back in. She attained fine equilibrium with universe as she got proficient in breathing techniques (Pranayama) — the core of Naad Yoga. Maharishi started digging deeper into the hymns, beyond the superficial meaning that met untrained eyes. And Dwaipayana heard it all, in the safety of his mother's womb.

She gazed and understood the motion of stars in the night sky. And she understood the effect of lunar phases on the waves of Yamuna. She knew it was Yamuna's holy water that blessed her with this baby but she wondered if Maharishi ever embraced her! Ever made love to her like a man would do to his wife. She wanted to know but she was too shy to ask. And she wouldn't change an iota of this new relationship for it felt divine. Even if she was a surrogate, it was well worth the time and the experience. But she didn't know the darkness of that night also got carried to her womb. The boy would be darkest of complexion. And thus the name Krishna that meant born out of darkness. But his spirit also captured all the stars of that dark night. He would see depths of the space that no one in the sun-lit day could ever. He would see beyond the motion of “Time” and bind it to the words. Words that would flow like Yamuna to carry all other opinions along with. And just like Yamuna they would span the heights of Himalayas to the depths of the ocean.

9.2

Time moved fast. She was carrying the weight of a divine child. Her breasts swelled up as motherhood took over her. She wanted to be close to Maharishi but he knew better. He knew this joy was transient. Enormous pain (of bondage) was waiting for Matsya when she must let a part of her own body go — the curse of motherhood. If you create something complete, you must let it go to prove the "completeness". But her curse was bigger of all mothers. She must leave him behind and even break the bond of vicinity. For a mother, the biggest pleasure is to see her creation (child) grow.

Maharishi knew, every ride of joy must follow with equal load of sorrow. He wanted to keep his distance. He knew it was a divine grace that Matsya was turning into most beautiful woman, but he had underestimated the desires that might take on his own mind. It took all his learning and then some, to keep his heart unflinching, and yet fully attached in every chore. Never letting Matsya (and yet to be bornKrishna) feel the absence of his strength, but never crossing the line. He knew it was a test. A test he must pass to pave a new path for the rest. Every night and every morning, he burnt his desires in the holy fire and turned them into hideous smog. He knew he was only a father — not a lover. And he knew his sacrifice was a minion, for the biggest sacrifice was for a mother to leave her offspring behind, with someone else: even in the hands of a trusted Yogi.

The question that haunted him was how Matsya would bear the pain that his plan must inflict upon her - separation from her child. He must give her the tools to understand the truth — see the dualistic reality as it was. And that he did. He named her Satyawati — bearer of Truth. He showed her that the truth lies amidst the extremes of dualities - beyond our conscious perception. We only see one side of the coin. If we are lucky, we may be able to comprehend the other side. We can ascertain through logic that for "Yellow", there must exist an "anti-yellow" but this is just the beginning of the quest. The true journey begins when we take baby steps to understand what is the nature of "knowledge" held with in ...

In a slow subtle manner, he imparted to Satyawati, life learnings of his quest, to make her worthy of the name! And also to impart this "information" to Krishna - information about potential doors to initiate the true quest ..

First - that the desires were the root of all pains. In that he denounced the Dravya Yazna as it was rooted into desires. Satyawati asked then why would anyone work!, for she thought desires were the basis of all that we do. Maharishi pointed her to the nest that a bird-pair made atop the tree where they were sitting. He asked her if these birds made the nest out of desires or was it their Karma? He then pointed to Yamuna — Does this river flow out of desires? Smiling to confused Satyawati, he said — Desires are not the basis of actions, for nothing in this universe may stay action-less even for a moment. "Action" is fundamental. In fact, "action" is life. Desires, on the other hand, make us action-less for we waste precious time thinking about desired objects, or chasing specific outcomes. And channeling our natural actions into the ones that appear to get us closer to a desired goal. He further added — Desires not only waste the time, they are the source of our wave nature. Waves of joy and grief. If we get what we desired, we feel happy, if we don't we feel miserable. In essence desires lend wave nature to human psyche, that makes our reality dualistic. He cited his father Śakti Muni who postulated that most humans change their ‘one chosen’ path because of failure to meet desired goals. They than chase another goal, another deity, and thus get caught in the web of bondage. Thus, it is the desires that take one away from their righteous path. Śakti means power. His father was named Śakti Muni because he demonstrated that dominion over one's desires was the only way to sustain inner power over duality.

Second - that the only way to overcome desires was to stay busy in ‘actions’. Desires lead to momentary elation (followed by sorrow) — ‘actions’, on the other hand, lead of peace and knowledge.

What kind of actions one must do? — asked Satyawati — If one must not be driven by the desires, then how was she expected to know what are the right actions for her.

That is exactly what Krishna is supposed to figure out! — smiled Maharishi— How do we overcome desires and still be indulged in actions? Is it one set of actions for all the human beings or is it different for everyone? How does it change with time and situation? The righteous actions.

This was probably the birth of Karm Yoga that young Krishna learnt in his mother's womb. And, among many things, it also stayed with Satyawati. She , truly subsumed herself into a new identity along with birth of Krishna. As Satyawati took him for first holy dip in Yamuna, the mighty river rose to touch his feet. It washed over Satyawati too, to give her the true perspective. Truth that we are all bound by the waves of joy and grief. Bigger the rise, deeper the fall. Truth that the child in her hands was not hers alone. He must go on to strife the world off duality. And that she must enable him with all the right actions. How could she let duality take over her mind when she was literally the mother of the one made to define the 'righteous path'.

Krishna Dwaipayana was born on full moon night of Summer. Satyawati forgot the pain of carriage and the pain of labor, as she looked at the child. The day is celebrated to this date, as Guru Poornima.

9.3

Two years of hiatus, away from Ashrama, had two goals for Maharishi. Birth of an heir who would carry forward his mission, and to fine tune the scribing technology. However, his two years long absence was an opportunity that many Asuras were waiting for — particularly Kansa — son of Ugrasen.

With Maharishi gone, there was no one to stop Kansa from whatever he wanted to do. As he became sure that Maharishi was gone for good, he house arrested aging Ugrasen and became a king for all practical purposes. Exposure to independent rule, further flamed his lust for power. He needed more money to improve his army, cavalry and elephants. But more so because his needs for pleasures were endless.

Driven by equally ill advisors, Kansa announced a major tax on the Ashrama. One hundred gold coins must be paid immediately to king's exchequer for the past dues, or vacate the holy land of Vasishtha , Sakti and Parasara. And hence forth, he demanded a charge of fifty gold coins per year. That was quite reasonable — he thought — given the congregation was literally awash in wealth - Kaam Dhenu.

Maitreya, who was running the congregation in absence of Maharishi, didn't take the new rules without contest . He approached Ugrasen for the excesses of Kansa only to find that Ugrasen was even more helpless. He then approached Vasudev, Kansa's brother-in-law, who was a rational man as much as Kansa's sister Devki. Both of them raised the concern to the council of clerics in Ugrasen's court but they found all of them pawns, playing in the hands of Asuras. Vasudev and Devki were deeply worried and wondering if or not continue building their new wedding in Mathura or move to the nearby empire across Yamuna where king Shantanu was heard to be just and peace loving. And his son Devvrata was a true leader of good men.

Before Vasudev could take further action, Kansa limited his mobility too — a house arrest till he be tried under fake charges of treason. Without Maharishi , Maitreya was at a stalemate except that he had a trusted friend in the council who sent him daily updates of Kansa's plans. Unfortunately, those updates only aggravated the worries ..

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