THE CURSE OF BRAHMA (25 page)

Meanwhile, Agni got ready to hurl the terrible Agneyastra at Amartya. The weapon appeared as though by magic in the hands of Agni, and to Amartya’s amazement, the weapon started to grow in size. In a brief time, the Agneyastra had attained the size of a large spear, but it was at least three times thicker. A spark of fire emanated from the head of the Agneyastra. Amartya noticed Agni’s lips moving softly as he chanted the mantras necessary to launch the deadly weapon. As if on cue, Amartya focused his mind on his inner consciousness and connected with the force of Brahman now dwelling inside him. Immediately, he felt an overpowering sense of calm as the Brahman energy enveloped him from all sides. He saw Agni hurling the Agneyastra towards him, and as the weapon heaved through the air, it gained intensity and all that was visible was a flaming ball of fire flying at great speed towards Amartya. Amartya forced his mind to stay focused on the shield of Brahman energy around him. He knew the Agneyastra contained fire of such intensity that it could not be extinguished by any means known to mortals, or even to devas. The flaming weapon hit Amartya just beneath his neck. Amartya braced for the impact, but there was none. The Agneyastra shattered into a thousand pieces at the same moment that it made contact with Amartya’s body. The ball of fire was reduced to a few dim embers struggling to stay alive. Agni stared open-mouthed at the summary dismissal and destruction of his most powerful weapon. Then he bowed to Brahmarishi Amartya to show his respect.

Vishnu, meanwhile, was engaged in an animated discussion with Shiva and Brahma, both of whom were shaking their heads forcefully. It appeared there was a disagreement of sorts between the three supreme gods. Finally, Shiva and Brahma seemed to relent and Vishnu came forward.

‘Devas!’ Vishnu summoned the entire assemblage of demi-gods. All the devas present looked at Vishnu with some amount of trepidation. None of them wanted to face Brahmarishi Amartya after what they had just witnessed. Every deva present was praying fervently that Vishnu wouldn’t pick them up against the newly inducted brahmarishi. However, Vishnu’s next command left all of them shocked to the core. The difference was—they were not worried about themselves any more. They were seriously concerned for Brahmarishi Amartya’s well being. They listened carefully as Vishnu repeated what he had just said; on the off chance that they had not heard him right.

‘As I said, I want all of you to attack Brahmarishi Amartya…at the same time….from all sides.’ Vishnu said, emphasizing each word. His eyes sought out the most powerful demi-gods from the group—Varun, Bhoomi Devi, Vayu, Surya, and Agni, who was standing some distance away from the rest of the devas. He motioned to the five of them to surround Amartya on all sides. The rest of the devas covered the space between these five potent demi-gods. In its completed form, the structure was made up of fifty devas circled all around Amartya, who stood in the centre of the ring.

Vishnu continued with his instructions in a calm voice. ‘Use your most powerful weapons. Give him no quarter, and don’t hold back. Attack the brahmarishi as if you were facing your most powerful adversary.

Agni glanced at Varun and Surya. He knew that alone, he had not been able to make any impact on Amartya. But this was insane! There was no brahmarishi in the universe, with the exception of Vashishta and Vishwamitra, who could withstand the combined might of so many devas, at one go. They might actually end up killing the young brahmarishi, thought Agni with alarm. Varun and Surya’s faces mirrored his apprehension. Bhoomi Devi and Vayu had expressions that reflected the same thought—if they did what Vishnu had just commanded them to do, this could well mean the death of Amartya. And their hands would forever be stained with the blood of a brahmarishi. There would be no corner in the universe where they would find absolution after such a deed. But to refuse Vishnu’s command would mean disrespecting one of the two most powerful gods in the universe. They were caught between a rock and a hard place.

Amartya looked around him and let his consciousness focus on each deva. The Brahman energy coursing through his body felt strangely familiar by now. It was as if he had been controlling this force forever. He felt his body and mind in total synchrony with the universal force. Amartya closed his eyes in order to better concentrate and realized with a jolt that even with his eyes closed he could sense the presence of each deva. He was able to feel their mind and read their thoughts as if they were an open book. He sensed their dilemma and their fear of hurting him. And in that moment, he knew that there was nothing that they could throw at him that he couldn’t handle. It wasn’t arrogance; it was just the certainty of knowing that anything that they used against him came from the universe and by controlling the force of Brahman energy, he could control their weapons too. He smiled unconsciously, as he read Vishnu’s mind and he knew that he had passed the test even before the test had happened. Vishnu knew it. Shiva knew it. In all probability, Brahma knew it too or he wouldn’t have been standing silently while fifty of the toughest devas got together to attack him. He locked his mind with that of the three gods and read the same thought in each of their mind—‘Brahmarishi Amartya has understood the secret of controlling Brahman energy.’

Amartya got ready. He knew the attack would begin any time now, and it did. Even though all the devas started the offensive at the same time, the extent of Amartya’s concentration was so high that he was able to separate what each deva was planning as if their actions were happening in sequence and not simultaneously. He saw Varun release two deadly weapons. His right hand let loose a torrent of water with the force of a tsunami aimed directly at Amartya’s chest. His left hand simultaneously heaved a giant noose with the intention of tying Amartya in a stranglehold from which not even the devas could escape once tied. At the same time, Bhoomi Devi, the keeper of the mortal world and the controller of the forces of nature, chanted a potent mantra that created an earthquake right at the spot where Amartya was standing. Vayu the mighty god of wind, let loose a gale that was powerful enough to lift an entire army of mortals off the ground. Surya shot out heat rays from his fingers that were scorching enough to dry an entire ocean. Agni’s mantras sent forth a bundle of flames targetted at Amartya’s body. The other forty-five devas too aimed their weapons of destruction at the brahmarishi.

The heat and flames created by Surya and Agni merged with the torrent of water released by Varun to form a mass of boiling liquid flying in Amartya’s direction. The noise of the roaring earthquake created by Bhoomi Devi drowned out all other sounds. Vayu’s swirling winds darkened out everything else, including the weapons of the other devas. For a brief instant, it appeared to everyone that Amartya had disappeared in the darkness and dust created by all the weapons aimed at him.

And then the noise of the earthquake dimmed just as suddenly as it had started. And the winds of Vayu were dispelled as if they were a mere breeze instead of a raging storm. The figure of Brahmarishi Amartya became visible to everyone. His eyes were still closed and he had the same smile he had had before the attack commenced. An aura of blue Brahman energy was visible all around Amartya that acted like a shield to protect him from all the weapons hurled at him. Then everyone saw what they would never get the chance to see again in their immortal lives. The earth that had split under Amartya’s feet began to grow back again, even as Bhoomi Devi tried in vain to create another earthquake. The torrents of water released by Varun metamorphosed into vapour that was absorbed in the air where it originated from in the first place. Surya’s heat rays were unable to penetrate the shield of Brahman and Agni’s fire balls scattered all around as embers, yet again. Varun’s other weapon—the deadly noose—was flung back and tied up all the Devas in a stranglehold. And at that moment, Brahmarishi Amartya opened his eyes!

There was a hush as the devas attempted to comprehend what they had just witnessed. What Amartya had done just now would perhaps have been impossible for even veteran brahmarishis like Vashishta and Vishwamitra. He had single-handedly defeated fifty of the most powerful demi-gods in Swarglok, without even attacking them. And all of it had taken less than a minute.

The devas expressed their respect for the youngest ever brahmarishi by chanting his name in unison. ‘Brahmarishi Amartya…Brahmarishi Amartya…Brahmarishi Amartya…’ Amartya acknowledged the sentiments of the devas with a slight nod of his head and a broad smile. He concentrated his energy on the noose that had tied up the devas. In the next moment, the rope unravelled and fell at the feet of the demi-gods, leaving them unfettered.

At that very moment, a bolt of blue edged lightning shot out of nowhere and struck Amartya in the centre of his chest. Amartya’s body was thrown backwards and he flew in the air to land several feet away from where he had been standing. Everyone looked to see where the lightning bolt had come from. They saw Brahma standing there, the index finger of his right hand, where the lightning bolt had been fired from, still pointed at Amartya. Brahma stood immobile, his face a mask of horror.

Amartya got up dazed as Brahma approached him. ‘I used the Vajra Astra on you just to show the devas that you can stand up even against my weapons. You could have stopped it with the same ease as you controlled the weapons of the devas. Why didn’t you shield yourself?’ Brahma asked him with a mix of bewilderment and anger. ‘That lightning bolt could have seriously hurt you!’ he seethed.

Amartya bent down to touch the feet of his former guru. ‘How can I shield myself from you, Gurudev?’ he said softly. ‘Everything I know today, I have learnt from you. I know you would never hurt me. The thought of needing to protect myself against you never even entered my mind.’

Brahma brought the palm of his right hand down on Amartya’s head to bless him. Amartya had picked up the secrets of Brahman energy in a fraction of the time that veterans like Vashishta and Vishwamitra had done; faster even than Brahma himself. His face reflected both, pride and love for his pupil who was now a brahmarishi.

Vishnu looked at Brahma and Amartya from a distance. But his mind was not on the affectionate expression on Brahma’s face as he blessed his pupil. Vishnu’s entire attention was riveted on the last thing Amartya had said to Brahma—‘The thought of needing to protect myself against you never even entered my mind.’ And Vishnu shuddered inwardly at the implication of that sentence. He knew in that moment what even Shiva had not guessed as yet. Amartya’s blind trust in his guru would one day prove fatal for him; and what was worse, it would lead to events that might even bring about the destruction of the three worlds. He only hoped his fears would prove unfounded.

Meanwhile, Brahma was speaking to Amartya. ‘Brahmarishi Amartya, you have now understood the entire secret of Brahman energy. From this day on, you will feel neither thirst, nor hunger; death will not touch you, nor will any enemy be capable of attacking you, unless you yourself decide to drop your guard like you did just now with me. Even in your sleep, your consciousness shall be alert to danger, and you will be able to perceive whatever transpires anywhere in the universe through cosmic consciousness and cosmic telepathy. You will be immortal and invincible as a god.’

As the devas and the senior members of the ashram raised their voices in honour of the youngest brahmarishi in the universe, Shiva looked kindly at Amartya and spoke, ‘Brahma gave you all the reasons why you deserved to be a brahmarishi, Amartya. But he failed to mention the one reason that made me decide in favour of ordaining you as one.’

Brahma’s face mirrored the confusion in Amartya’s eyes, as he too waited to hear what Shiva wanted to say. Shiva smiled in his usual open-hearted manner as he continued, ‘For me the thing that mattered most about you was the goodness of your heart…in the millions of years that I have been around, I am yet to see a heart as pure and as uncorrupted as yours.’

Amartya looked like he wanted to say something but Shiva didn’t give him a chance. ‘And for this reason alone, Brahmarishi Amartya, from now on you shall be known as Amartya Kalyanesu—immortal goodness!’

The Dark Lord got up with a jolt. It was as if an iron rod had seared his heart. Shiva’s words—
immortal goodness—
still rang in his mind. He had always wanted to be on the side of good. He didn’t remember a time when he had hurt anyone or even thought of causing harm to anyone. But that was all in a different time; a past life that even he did not have the courage to think about, at least not when he was awake. Brahma’s betrayal had changed that forever.

Brahma! The one person he had respected more than his own father; trusted with his life. And yet Brahma had turned out to be so fickle that he had called him a demon and banished him from everything that he held precious. Brahma had proven by his deeds that he was not worthy to be counted amongst the three supreme gods. Yet Shiva and Vishnu had done nothing about it. But then they hadn’t done anything about Indra either. And Indra was the one responsible for Brahma turning against him. Even so, Vishnu and Shiva allowed Indra to continue as the lord of the devas. There was no justice in Swarglok. Corrupt and fickle people had been left to their pursuits, without being hauled up.