Chapter 10: The One behind the Spiritual Transformation
The indigenous spirituality refutes religion.
Translation
Didn't know the one in me
After I came to know the one in me
Who the able will come and see the one in me
I realized it by being within me
—Siddhar Sivavakkiyar Hymn (006)
The
first rays of the Sun, stroked gently the handsome face of Adhavan, it gleamed,
it could not be said that Adhavan was awake, rather he was still inside, pacified
by the morning warmth, he was watching the trickling upward flow on either side
of his nostril, exactly at the line where his cheeks met the nose, the greenish
flow, the suryakalai, the right, merged with the bluish flow, the chandrakalai,
the left, at the forehead center, with the explosions of soft inner lightning. The
whorl he saw now, was much more beautiful, explicit and clear, clarity is the light
that chased away the inner darkness; suryakalai and chandrakalai, soared
upwards, made love to one another, entwined, merged at the lightning point, formed a whorl, spiraled up to the
great white light, sensuously climbing up and jointly making love to the
supreme eternal light—the religion forsaken God. Throughout all this time, his
breathe was going along with the flow of the current, the kalais that surged up
along his nostrils. At all these moments, he never realized that he was
breathing, it happened in such a way, that he neither controlled it nor did he
let it free, but he was completely aware of it, without forcing himself onto it,
he looked at it plainly, rather he observed the flashing currents, the kalais, the
fluid lights; rose without inhibition and control, smoothly, fluidly up the
whorl, spinning upward into a blazing vortex of brilliant, spectacular, gushing
fountain of spiraling light. Then by sudden impulse, he realized, that he was
still lying on the lap of Killivalavan, he jumped up reflexively, looked at him
earnestly, asked him, “Killi, Why didn’t you wake me up, weren't your thighs sore...
back stiff?”
That was the first time Adhavan
had called him ‘Killi’, the way his family members used to call him, he
remained silent for a few moments and then softly said, “Yes, it pained, but I
didn’t have the heart to wake you up, I didn’t want my pain to disturb your
peace.”
Adhavan replied, “You are a great
man. You will have all the blessings of my Guru.”
The morning Sun had spread its
wings across, stretched its rays as far as it could, nourished the world, with
much needed warmth and light. They gave time for themselves, to attend to their
natural calls, finished with that, they leisurely walked towards a very small
pond, farther away from the maiam, edges were covered with reefs, wild lilies
and huge Jamun trees, the pond had been showered upon, with its edible purple
fruits, sowed by nature’s own hands. Owing to the heavy reflection of the
purple color, the water in itself looked purple, for Adhavan, it seemed like
he was stepping into a bizarre, magic, purple pond, in the fantasy lands. They walked
into the pond; looked at the skies; enjoyed the feel of the water on their raw
bodies; swarm across till their last breathe almost expunged out of their
lungs.
Killivalavan asked Adhavan, “Will
you mind if I ask you a sensitive question, from last night, something is
really troubling me?”
Adhavan said, “Of course not.”
Killivalavan earnestly asked, “Are
you against religions?”
Adhavan smiled and replied,
“Yes, I am against the religions that politicize, you know, it hurts,
when I see people slice and dice the divinity, misuse them for their own
personal benefits, reap hatred among people, segregate people by religion, create
big partitions across humanity for their own selfish motives, yes, I despise it,
not that I hate them, it is that, I despise the idea of segregating people
under the guise of religion. Once you smear a mark, it stands out on you, you
will never be able to erase it again that easily, it becomes a clear
distinction, it stands out, along with your name, creates a class of their own,
brings in partitions and rifts among people; causing confusion; spreading
hatred; creating a way for prejudice; biased notions; confinement of free will;
inhibition of the human spirit. Slowly, it forms rules, principles and
protocols that distinguishes you from others, then gradually, unknowingly you
become addicted to it, as time goes on, you start defending it, further
deepening the rift, then one fine night, the difference is so high and
intolerable, that different sectarians tear each ones heart, either by words or
by swords, may even kill each other while campaigning for their religious principles. That
is what I mean by the politicization of religion, the moment it is politicized,
it is no more a religion, what you are defending against, is not the principles
of your religion, rather it is against spirituality, the spiritual part of the religion,
the crux of it. The distinction is so clear and simple, politics is about reigning
power, it is about counting heads, how big you are? How many do you have under
your banner? What does it have to do with religion, that by spirit were formed
to bring about spiritual development among mankind? So the poignant truth is, the religion, rather than bringing about spiritual transformation has sown deep,
strong, hatred in the hearts of their devotees, that has grown into an expansive,
uncontrollable wilderness. Then why should we need religions that are skewed
towards politics, rather than uplifting spiritual life of their people. Do you
realize how many innocent people might be killed because of this all consuming,
pervasive hatred?”
“I do agree with the free will of human beings, they are free to choose and experience whatever they want to, they
can be part of any religion, they would like to be, this also stands true, they should neither be forced nor canvassed to be part of any religion.”
“What may, any social order will
get corrupted over a period of time, there will always be a constant fight for
power, either it be religion or it be regime, there will always be fluctuation
and balancing of power. When the first man saw God for the first time, there
wasn’t any religion, attached to it, maybe that is why he saw it on the first
hand. He was innocent, pure and simple, so he said it all aloud, people looked
up to him earnestly, they followed him honestly, once he died, people followed
what he taught, progressively it evolved into a religion, in the later part of
the period, they forgot both God and their very first leader, the seer who saw
it and the things that he said, rather they started following the religion, framed
out by the mass collectors, who came in at later stages, gradually they all got
hooked, lost themselves into a pool of the dogmas and principles of their
religious manifestations that has literally screwed up their spiritual
evolution rather pushed them deep into a web of unending cesspit.”
Killivalavan humbly said, “Now I
understand, why power craving people use religion and other sectarian
philosophies to leverage themselves? Yes, it increases head count by tenfold,
sometimes by a thousand fold, they are bigger social grounds apt for harnessing high human energy, ripe for manipulations of all kinds, that are required to accomplish greater personal
or collective ambitions that may or may not be ethical.”
Killivalavan hesitated a bit, after
deep thoughts, he shot it out, “How do you make it then? I mean attaining that
state Appa is in?”
Adhavan asked, “I will ask you a few
questions, have you ever asked Macham about his spiritual experiences?”
Killivalavan said, “No.”
Adhavan asked again, “Have you
ever asked Sarutha about her spiritual experiences?”
Killivalavan said, “No.”
Adhavan asked, “Why?”
Killivalavan honestly replied,
“May be I was not interested in at all.”
Adhavan asked, “What are you then
interested in? What pulls your nerves, your mind and heart strongly?”
Killivalavan gave it a deep
thought and replied, “Wars.”
Adhavan inquired, “What in wars?
Be specific?”
Killivalavan thought about it
deeply and then replied, “No, I am not sure. I don’t know.”
Adhavan sighed,
“Ah, thanks for the honest reply,
first find it, your quest starts there, then go after it ruthlessly, I mean
passionately, that will drive you into your ultimate quest, the purpose of your
life will blossom before you, may be, you may even dislike the starting point, but that is where it all starts, go
after what gets to your heart, not your desires, not your pleasures, not the
stars that builds your rank, not your dignity, not your family’s dignity, not
the trade that you practice, not your mothers dreams, not your father’s wish, but the
red hot passion that drives you crazy, be adamant not to be wooed by other things,
not even by the forced upon spiritual quests, you should not take a path
because I go through it or your father goes through it, you should feel like
going through it, you should be pulled and driven crazy by it, that is what
will take you closer to your soul, you may do certain things for your
livelihood, certain things to please your parents, but the most important thing
is what pleases your heart, do it out boldly, even falling in love, is one such
passion, until you have experienced it, you won’t get anywhere near to the next
one, suppose marriage and family is your next passion, you need to go after it,
whence it is over and there isn't any more strong urge, you have struck a
balance, you have reached the apex of evolution.”
Killivalavan brooded over it, was bit hesitant, before asking, “How do you say that it will give me the spiritual
transformation?”
Adhavan replied immediately, “At
one point of time, you will not be able to go any further, you will be done
with all of that, that is when you have reached the apex of your evolution, now
your spiritual quest will take you beyond it, the tipping point, where you can actually
step into the spiritual arena. For some, it happens naturally at a very
young age owing to the progeny of previous births; the spiritual evolution. For some, it
happens after a very extensive drill, for many births altogether.”
Killivalavan replied, “Can’t I
get that by praying to my God for five minutes daily, enjoy all that was
given by him, rather than climbing up those big mountains to seek God?”
Adhavan replied softly, “Is that
your question?”
Killivalavan replied, “Sorry. No,
it was asked by Punguzali.”
Adhavan ordered, “Then ask her to come and talk to me.”
Killivalavan asked, “Well, I have
found my passions, I am done with all of them, what next?”
Adhavan’s face was filled with
charisma, he said, “You just need to see for yourself. Your spiritual quest has
just begun, I will ask you one more question, just imagine, you don’t know
Siddhar Macham, I mean not your father Macham, I want to make it explicitly
clear, what will you do, give me an honest reply.”
Killivalavan happily replied, “I
will look out for Siddhar Agastiyar, will ask him to help me.”
Adhavan almost jumped like a kid,
clapped his hands and shouted, “Wow, that is what everyone will tend to do,
naturally they will start seeking their Guru, they will not run behind their religion.”
Killivalavan had some more
doubts, he asked like a child, “Should I not pray to my God then, the Lingam in
the wilderness, that day you were there, don’t you remember?”
Adhavan understood the stupidity
he was doing, he replied patiently, “See, I didn’t mean, that you should not
pray to your deity, please go ahead with it, but it is not your spiritual
quest, even my sister prays to Lord Krishna, she prays daily, she is so devoted
to him, but that again is not a spiritual quest. Let me ask you a very personal
question, what do you pray for?
Killivalavan replied, “I
generally pray for victories in whatever missions I am endowed with, sometimes
I pray for my Mother, for reconciliation with her brothers, then sometime for
my sisters, sometime for my friends, the list goes on and on.”
Adhavan courteously replied, “Have
you ever prayed for the spiritual transformation?”
Killivalavan replied, “No.”
Adhavan asked, “Why?”
Killivalavan replied, “I didn’t
feel like asking for it.”
Adhavan replied, “Thank you so
much, you are very honest, these things, whatever you have been praying for,
your passions, your victories, your mother, your sisters, etc. all this will summit
to one final state, that is the day you will stop praying, rather you will
start seeking the thing inside you, the quest for the spirit within, starts
right there, the inward search happens so naturally that you will not even
realize that it has been triggered.”
Killivalavan was so earnest, he
asked, “Well then, I have reached the culmination point, if I pray to my God,
then will he not give me the spiritual transformation I need.”
Adhavan took his hands and said,
“You are so adorable and sweet, you prayed for your victories, then did you go
back and sleep at home?”
Killivalavan said, “Of course no,
I went to the war.”
Adhavan replied, “Like that,
after you prayed to God for spiritual transformation what will you do?”
Killivalavan replied, “I will
look out for someone who has already experienced it.”
Adhavan replied, “In other words,
you will seek a Guru, the one who has experienced it, sometimes he may ask you
to come along with him, sometimes he may initiate you, send you back to your
family, to continue with your family life, sometimes he may chase you away, yelling
that your time has not come, few a times he may send you to some other part of
the world; lead therein yearning hearts to the spiritual transformation
they are earnestly looking for, he may even act through you.”
After a momentary pause, Adhavan
asked, “You prayed for your mother, what did you do then?”
Killivalavan replied, “I am looking
for opportunities, in her matters, I can’t afford do anything stupid, it may
even ruin all of our lives, I am waiting patiently for the right time.”
Adhavan said, “Perhaps you are
right, I can understand the concern and care you have for her, rash stupidity
may actually turn against you, hamper development in this case, similarly, you may
pray for spiritual transformation ahead of your time, but it may choose to wait
upon you patiently for the right time, the time when you will come out of the web
of your lifetime entanglements, that you are trapped inside, sometimes, it could
take longer than one full life cycle, remember, your prayers are always heard, they
need not be answered immediately, that doesn’t mean you need to stop praying,
you can still continue praying for spiritual insights.”
Killivalavan replied, “So when I
am fully satisfied, I don’t have any questions to ask, I don’t have anything to
pray for, then can I consider that I am ready for the spiritual
transformation.”
Adhavan said, “You will not consider,
rather you would have started your quest, it’s a very natural phenomenon that
takes you over. When your mind is really empty, neither the forced one, nor the
practiced emptiness, I mean the natural one, when it takes over, the quest sprouts,
that is when you are actually getting ready, one fine day, your Guru will
appear from nowhere. The truth is, he has been waiting upon you, for that special moment, more than yourself, like a mother waiting to breastfeed the newborn
child, the very first time.”
Killivalavan replied, “Do you
mean to say, that for attaining spiritual transformation, one doesn’t need to
abide by religion at all?”
Adhavan replied with
high-spirited confidence, “The truth is ‘Yes! Yes! And Yes!’. Still, you can
pray to your deities, ancestors, kulatheivams, siddhars, divine goddesses’, the nature, the supreme eternal light, etc. Remember, post attaining the spiritual
transformation too, you may chose to pray, elevate your spiritual state, attain
extraordinary spiritual ecstasies and bliss, as in the case of Sarutha where
she was deeply, stoned during the devotional chanting at Lingam in the wilderness.”
Killivalavan felt aghast, “It
simply means, religion doesn’t have anything to do with the spiritual
transformation of mankind, the painful truth is one just needs to seek ones
Guru.”
Adhavan thought about it deeply
and said, “Yes. You are right. There are very few countable persons, who don’t
need a guru in their physical form, still they will need the one, at the
least, in an invisible form, mostly, they are all divine incarnations of the
great epic ones.”
Killivalavan humbly said, “So I
am nowhere near it. I even don’t know who my Guru is?”
Adhavan replied, “Oh no! It is
not that way. You have other great things to accomplish.”
Killivalavan asked, “How many disciples
can a Guru have?”
Adhavan replied, “It depends on
their call, their potential, their purpose, etc. If they accept you as a disciple,
then they are accountable for your spiritual transformation, so it becomes a very
big responsibility on them. Followers are different from disciples. You can
follow a political leader, but you can’t be a disciple to him. Hope, you
understand the difference. It is said that Siddhar Patanjali and Siddhar
Vyakarapadar, the Pulikal Munivar, also known as Venthadi Vendhar, also known
as Gowda Padar had 999 disciples to them. Their whole purpose was to chase them and
give them all, enlightenment, this they have been doing it for many births, they
are said to have some phenomenally screwed up disciples, it is said, that till
date, some of them are being mercilessly hunted down.
Killivalavan probed further, “A
very important question, can a man who has led an unjust, unethical life, get on
with their spiritual quest, as like others.”
Adhavan replied, “Obviously no. The
divine aspect lying deep in his soul, the conscience will make him pay for his
sins, only then he will be redeemed to pursue his spiritual urges. It has
nothing do with ones trade, a king who exploits and abuses their subject will
have a bad conscience, whereas a prostitute who is pure in her heart will have
a good conscience, apparently the divine chooses the one with the good conscience, so
it doesn’t matter whether you are a prostitute or a cremator, it is your
conscience that matters most.”
Killivalavan replied, “See, my
brother has committed a Sin, can I bear it on my shoulders so that he gets his
salvation.”
Adhavan said, “I won’t say it is
impossible, it’s like taking on someone’s disease and Karma, which Siddhars
have been doing all the time, it’s not that, the disease vanishes at their touch,
rather they take it over onto themselves, bear the pain, use their spiritual
strength to heal it. This they do under very crucial, critical situations as
they too have other things to attend to. A man should take accountability for
his sins and he is responsible for that. That is justice. Suppose a person
rapes my wife and kills my children, then you come along and take that sin on
your shoulders, you let the guilty run free, or you take all his sins on God’s
name, you then tell him, ‘Your sins are forgiven’. Is it righteousness? Am I
given the justice? How will I feel, when I see him roaming around freely, committing
more sins, as he has been given a way to evade the effect of the atrocities he
has caused? How will I feel? Now I ask you this question, you are the victim of
my brother’s sins, I am your friend, I come along, fall to your feet, beg your
pardon, ask you to hang me not him. I plead you to give me a chance to pay for
his sins. What will you do under those circumstances?”
Killivalavan replied, “No, that
will never give me justice, not even a bit. I will never be at peace, not
because I didn’t have my vengeance, though it would trouble me too, it is the punishing
of the innocent that will forever pester my soul with such agony and
frustrations that I can’t bear it any more, I will rip open my breast and pull my
heart out, my conscience will kill me. I won’t buy that. I won’t accept it. I
am not a God to forgive it, after all I am a human being, flesh and blood, I
need to have my Justice. I will ask all the Gods in heaven for that. At any
cost I won’t allow persecution of the innocent, never, whoever might fall to my
feet, whatever might the sacred reason be.”
Adhavan jaws dropped, he was
really astonished, when it comes to maintaining justice, Killivalavan just
stands out of the rest.
Adhavan replied, “Great!”
After a heavy silence, Adhavan
continued, “There are a few more things, I wanted to share about people, who
came to meet us yesterday, certain things were shown to me.” He paused and
continued, “But, please, keep it to yourself.”
Adhavan asked, “Who was the first
one, who touched my feet?”
Killivalavan said, “Ummm. It was Patabiraman.”
Adhavan replied, “His soul is
restless, after so much of learning about God, he didn’t realize what God is
all about, to satisfy his curiosity, he came to meet us. Though he has not
experienced it, he has enriched his learning, he will exploit it, refer to his
scriptures, quote from it, talk to his people, as though he had experienced it
all, on his own, prove that his scriptures are right. He will never tell about
me, to his people, that is to safeguard his social status, he has worked upto,
else his people may dump him and come to me, but he will not refrain himself
from paying us frequent, secret visits, to get more insights, which again will be
subjected through the same process of stripping the identity of the experience,
as well as, the identity of the one who had experienced it, well tailoring it through his holy
books, delivering it in the most sacred places with a touch of sanctity to it. That
is all ok, as long as he doesn’t nail us with his problems, that we can’t come
out of, so be very cautious about him. Don’t get trapped. He is not a genuine
folk. He has very deep personal intentions to get to.”
Adhavan asked, “Who was the
second one?”
Killivalavan replied, “Poncetuceni,
the Senathipathi, a man who controls 2 senais, roughly 60,000 soldiers, waiting to
lay down their lives, upon his single word.”
Adhavan said, “He was the only
noble man in the group, his incorruptible nature has earned him more enemies
than friends, even many people, in his immediate close circle are his
sworn enemies, trying each and every given opportunity to plant ambush under his own nose, a man
who knows much about the pain of betrayals, a man who can be deeply trusted. He
will call upon you, I saw you both riding together in pursuit of something bigger,
until then, don’t give your word to anyone else, don’t get committed, wait, you
will enter the royal court, through him. I will also tell you one more truth
about him, he was married once and has a beautiful daughter, of our age, but
has hidden that fact, fearing her assassination, that is terrible, but yet understandable,
so he can’t just walk in and see his only love of life, his daughter, so you can
obviously see the pain, the man is writhing in.”
“Other three, would take many
more births, even to get anywhere near the spiritual realms, they will be the trouble
brewers, they will talk incessantly about me and all that I do. I have hurt their
egos very badly. They will watch my every move. I have instilled fear in them, I
am their fear running hot in their marrows. They will try to exterminate me,
ruin my relationships, do worst unnameable things, I saw it all coming; they will
even turn you against me once. So be alert, they even won’t mind using black arts, they don’t respect ethics in any from, they will do anything to get
to their ends, even let their wives, mothers, even their young sisters and little
daughters to seduce others, for them, their self and
their dignity are much more important than justice, society and even their own
families.”
Killivalavan said, “As long as
you are with Appa, nothing will harm you.” then he smiled and continued, “You
never begged and cooed for that spiritual experience at the cave, then why did
you lie?”
Adhavan laughed softly and said,
“Yes. You are right. It was given unto me. I didn’t ask for it, may be
internally I yearned for it, that part is still true, I was ready so he entered
me, I would say, that is the most essential truth.” He then paused and sighed,
“Ah, to make them bit happy, being humorous, you know. It’s like they will feel
better that I am not all great as being talked about, even I need to beg for
something, go down on my knees and plead, that will actually make them happy
and feel bit better, so that I can keep them away from troubling me, with insincere
questions again and again. Got it, Uh!”
Killivalavan agreed, “Mm. Yes Sir.
I will tell you what, you are not a string puller rather you are a meticulous, mind
stripper and an insatiable, soul lover. You just break everyone’s faith, take
away their minds, make them see their nakedness without their minds to protect
them over, take advantage of them, if their naked soul is beautiful, you choose
to make love to their souls, else you dump them, pitilessly, then what else do
you expect, they will come onto you, mustering all their force, outrageously to
squeeze your heart and smash your brains.”
Adhavan corrected, “Not faith,
the falsehood. If that is what their faith is, yes, then its faith that I break.”
He paused momentarily and
continued, “Wow! Thanks for such a beautiful, wicked definition about me. Much
appreciated.”
Both of them laughed together heartily;
rinsed their clothes; covered themselves with the wet ones; taking in the
morning Sun, paced slowly, walked towards their hut. They would have hardly
spent an hour after Sunrise, Adhavan was so shocked to see people so busy, moving
here and there across the maiam, it was difficult for him to believe that there
were so many people there in the Laughing hills, everyone seems to know him,
they all nodded and smiled, he even had a doubt whether they are smiling at him
or at Killivalavan, he often turned back to see if Killi was coming beside him
before returning their engaging smiles, if he stops for a moment, they will all flock around him and start talking to him, they all must be interested
so much in him, he can feel all their eyes on him, it made him feel shy, he
felt like running to the hut, their
stares pierced his body, touching the fine part of his soul, irresistibly inviting
him to mingle with them, he felt bit feminine, but the feeling was nice,
slowly he let Killi walk in the front, hid himself behind him, walked up to his
pace, thus keeping away from those loving gazes that touched his soul.
Like a beehive, the hut swarmed with many people of many different trades and many different calls, the place looked
busier than Maiam, very few people came near the veranda, no one entered the
hut, all of them walked along, left side of the hut, a few came out from the right,
either way they were all carrying empty baskets or the loaded ones, it was
difficult to grasp the happenings around, the way they went in, the way they
came out. Some people who went to the backyard, never returned from the other
side of the hut, whereas many new faces showed up, that was a bit peculiar to the
normal reasoning, leaving those for later contemplation, he took his spot on
the Veranda, stretched his arms and legs, relaxed a bit. Killivalavan went
inside the hut. Two elderly gentlemen squatted besides the veranda, on the
ground, ignoring the hot Sun, leisurely chewing beetle leaves and nuts, often
spitting out blood red saliva, then, they resumed back to the chewing process, it seems to form
its own rhythm, the spitting and the chewing. The spit outs created red patches
all around them, they did it stylishly, cocked their heads a bit, leaned
forward, guided the saliva, between their thick, reddened index and middle
finger, they were happy, when it did hit the desired place, it created red
stars on the ground, that weren't as bright as the ones in the sky.
He was expecting Mathivathani to
bring him a cup of hot water, rather Sarutha brought her steaming milk, smilingly,
he accepted it, as he was sipping the milk, Sarutha was talking to the old men
sitting nearby the veranda, she had complete authority over them, they waved
their heads, crossed the road, disappeared into the wilderness. She came, sat next to him, a pleasant fragrance emanated from her, mild and soft, it smoothed
his nerves, she studied him carefully and asked him, “Did you have a good sleep?”
Adhavan smiled and nodded. She
again asked,
“I should have not sent those men
over.” and he replied, “If it wasn’t for you, someone else would have sent them,
to me, they can easily talk people into it.”
Adhavan replied, “That was
momentary, I don’t hang onto things, I won’t allow them to bother me much.”
Sarutha said, “That is good for
you. If you need some more rest, you can go in, find yourself a spot to sleep.”
Adhavan said, “No, I don’t feel
like sleeping, I will join you in a couple of minutes.” He gave the empty mug
to Sarutha, stared into the empty space, before him, across the pond, beyond
the wilderness.”
He remained in that state for a few
moments, slowly went into the hut. The hall, now, looked like a big community
hall, more a warehouse, the finished products
such as bamboo baskets, studded sword hilts, bows and arrows, powdered herbs,
horse saddles, horseshoes, spears, bundle of palm manuscripts, wooden hilt for
axes, small knives, decorated pottery, ornaments made of naturally available colored beads, ropes made of coconut fiber, loads and loads of wild fruits,
roots and vegetables were segregated and counted, few of them were packed and the
rest were heaped, each cluster had a person who counted, did the markings and
managed their stock. Some of them went into different partitions inside the
room, some were carried away to the backyard, this was all done systematically,
the whole placed looked busy, everyone was completely working themselves out, no
one was running them, all of them seem to know what they were doing and what
they were supposed to do. There wasn’t any confusion. Goods kept coming in through
the left door, only some found to get out through the right door. He went to
the backyard it stretched as far as he could see, it was sliced by a road, a few
paces away from the hut, bullock carts and horse carts were lined up over there
and they were being filled with an array of finished goods. Killivalavan was busy
talking to a man on the horse, he looked like a warrior. It seemed to be a very
serious talk.
Adhavan slowly approached Killivalavan,
taking his own time, leisurely eyeing the backyard diligently, who by then
turned around and walked towards him, he just handed over a single palm manuscript
that had two names on it. Confused, he followed Killivalavan, he went inside
the hut, said, something to Sarutha, then started collecting his things, dozens
of throwing knives, four hunting knives, bow and dozens of arrows, two long spears,
he then took that out, from a big leather pouch religiously, it came out as a pair,
one for each hand, each had 8 flexible, thin, supple blades, held strongly by disc
hilt, made of brass, edges decorated beautifully with its protruding arcs,
giving it a beautiful artistic view, if stretched it would be as long as 8 feet
long. He wound it around his hips like a belt, that even had latches to fasten it,
one above another, looked so tight on him, as though it was made for him specifically,
Adhavan asked him, “What is it?” Killivalavan kept talking, as he moved to
another room, “It is called, ‘Surul Pattai’, a lethal weapon made of flexible
swords, I saw this one, in a war against the northern kings, I replicated the model
created one for myself, I have been practicing this for four long months, now I can
say, I have mastered it. It will whip, wrap and recoil wherever I want it to,
within a ten foot circle, It is like I strike once, it strikes eight times and I
can govern the direction, speed and its recoil.” saying that he went to another
room took a handful of body oil, first applied it all over his flowing hair,
then applied it all over his body, pulled and eased his muscles, tied his hair into a beautiful knot, let it hanging free, applied the
remaining of oil, well between his thighs, under his scrotum too, once done he
went out again to the backyard, washed his hands, went straight to his mother,
prostrated before her, kissed her feet, she took him by his shoulders, pulled down
his neck, he bent down for her, she kissed him on his forehead, her eyes welled up with tears, he then said with confidence, “I will be back home, safe.” He then
moved to the pooja room, stood before the lamp, prayed a while, applied ash all
over his forehead that formed beautiful triple stripe, he did the same to his arms,
back, forearm in a rhythmic, stylish manner, that will easily induce others to
do the same. He then swiftly came back to his collections, by the time, the girls
have come with their mother, Sarutha gave him his hard leather armor, in which he
pocketed a few of his throwing knives and a pair of hunting knives, he then
rolled the remaining knives into a leather sheet, tied its loose ends, packed
his arrows in a leather quiver, collected his spears, rushed forward, without
looking back. Outside, in front of the hut, a dark brown stallion with thick
flowing mane and big hoofs stood majestically powerful, looking ahead for the big,
wild run. He took the rein from the horseman, checked the beast very carefully
from its shoes to saddles, packed his weapons on either side of the saddle,
balancing well, the weight distribution. Sarutha came forward, packed few
blankets, dhotis, dozen and more of ragi adais wrapped around with a dry cloth,
a few half-ripe fruits and herbal water in leather pouches. Whence the saddle
was filled, he alighted himself over the stallion in a single agile move, within a split of
seconds, waved them all, vanished into the wilderness, leaving only the
trailing dust behind.
It was all like a dream, a few
moments before, the same man was all smooth talking like a child, in less than
thirty minutes he was hardly recognizable, the seriousness that fell over him,
his attitude, the inclination towards the onlookers, the agility, the alertness,
reflex, especially the masculinity, all grew in multitude, like a temper of a
pulled sling, his character, froze into forged metals, beaten callously into
suppleness, hence tenfold stronger than the hardened ones. Adhavan understood
it perfectly, Killivalavan had already struck his first purpose, it is not war
as he calls it to be, it is his mother, well, he is going to fight for his
mother, bring her justice, that is what is pushing him harder than others, getting
him mighty victories, attuning his spirit and body, making it a lethal, unconquerable
weapon. Other than himself, his most intriguing weapon is surul pattai, each of
the blade is so supple that it almost bent backwards without breaking. He could
whiplash and recoil at his will, just not one supple blade, but eight of them in
one hand and eight more in another hand, assuming he generally uses one, plays it perfectly on the ground, each whip can take eight lives simultaneously, so on the field, he is out there with sixteen lethal hands, with every
passing minute, he is capable of taking away 16 lives, hence 960 lives
in an hour, if he goes at this rate, in a four hours of deadly fight, he would have
taken 3840 lives, even if his success rate is as low as 20% on each whip, still
he would have plucked out 768 lives. Using this weapon, is like dancing with 16 alive hissing cobras, you just need to make sure your leaps, turn-ins, turn-outs,
whirls, dodges, shoves, thrusts, never ever come, even an inch anywhere near you, then for
sure, it would have taken your life out, rather than your enemy’s. Even to
practice this weapon one needs to have complete mastery over their body
movements, though the suppleness is the key factor for success, in amateur’s
hand, it will dare cost his own life, one must be able to control their
suppleness, one must breathe with it, move with it and live with it. Complete
mastery of one’s body movements is essential to take up this weapon for
practice, leave alone fighting with it. No wonder Killivalavan chose it. Surul pattai
befits the warrior in him.
The interesting point about
Killivalavan is, he was there with him the whole night, they were talking about
so many sensitive matters, but this morning he had literally vanished, galloping into the thick
wilderness, he didn’t even take a moment, trying to explain his absence, nor
did he talk about his mission, it was like, the call possessed him the moment
he got that palm script in his hand. As far as Killivalavan is considered, once
he got committed, he would never ever turn his back, will never allow anything to
stop him from his mission, he won’t even heed to his own thoughts, all
throughout that time, there was only one thing going on his mind, the mission, only the mission.
Still Adhavan didn’t find peace, he could have least passed a word to him, of course,
he showed him those two names on the palm script, obviously he is going to hunt
them down and assassinate them, they are not just two people, they will be
guarded by bunch of warriors, that is the reason, he is out there with a load
of weapons, why is he not taking additional help? Who are they? Who is he
working for? Where is he going to? He never shared any of those details, not
even to Sarutha.
(To be continued...)
Written on Dates: 03/29;03/30;03/31;04/01/2015
Chapter 1 The Realization of the Vocation
Chapter 2 The First Glimpse of the Third Eye
Chapter 3 The Complete Surrender
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