A shelter in the snow

At Himavant

The unknown effort, as well as the time lapse between their dive into the Ganges, and their arrival at Himavant had left both Shankara and Burak exhausted. The fruit of the skies invigorated them, and at the same time, made them drowsy as well. They had just rested their backs on the rock by the side of the blue Ganges, that they dozed off to the realms of sleep, to be woken-up only in the evening, by the distant tinkling of bells, as if from the small tinklets tied on the neck of the cows.

Cows? There would be no cows here; maybe just the yaks. They would use the Yaks as the cows, maybe.

The sun was setting over the mountains behind the Ganges. It was just these folds of the earth everywhere around them. Visible in layers over layers, towering over one another. Burak turned around to Shankara.

‘There must be some humans there as well.’

‘Yes, let us see. We need to move and find a shelter soon, or the night would kill us of its cold even if the wild animals don’t hunt us.’ Shankara answered.

Both got up and turned around to the sounds. The tinkling was not from the vicinity, but from a far off place. As they moved on, the sounds got a tad louder each moment. These were not the tinklets on the necks of the cows, but actually the bells. They kept moving to the direction of the sound, until, in the midway, the sound just stopped all of a sudden. Among the mountains, they weren’t even sure, from which direction the sound came, now they were left entirely clueless.

‘ Let us just walk straight. Let us hope we reach somewhere.’ Shankara said with a sigh.

They walked ahead on the snowy track as it started getting darker. It would be night in another hour. As they walked, they hit a summit and saw a valley down the peak. Burak turned around to look at the expanse around him. The sky was crisp and the air was fresh. A sight suddenly caught Burak’s eyes. A little down the peak, there was a wooden structure. He quickly turned to Shankara, who faced onto the other direction, and patted his back. As Shankara turned around, Burak pointed his finger towards the building. Shankara’s eyes widened for a moment, and then he spontaneously fell on his knees in prostration towards the structure. As Burak looked ahead, he saw a man appear on the way to the structure, and as Shankara went down in prostration, the man faced the building and went into a sajdah. Shankara, got up and pulled Burak’s arm to take him ahead, as Burak watched the man in green robes go down into sajdah again. By all means he was into the namaz, except that he faced opposite to the quiblah.

The Transatlantic Meet

The World Parliament of Religions

Chicago, the Central Territories of America

“If there is something that can save the world from its present state of degradation,” he paused for a while and let the words imbibe into the teaming millions who were present there to hear the inaugural address before he resumed, “it is synthesis.”

“We must talk. We must share. We must evolve. We must do it for our future.” He spoke with several pauses as the audience heard aptly. “Our neighbors in east and west have aligned themselves in a way principally different from us. Though, this is not a political platform, but I bring this in because we have a spiritual connection between us. When we in the central territories were talking about a spiritual consensus, our neighbors in the east were talking about a single American identity. This they might have achieved in the area they govern, but, see how flawed their completeness looks with its homogeneity. People are diverse. You cannot ask them to reshape and live, prey and die in the same way. In our west , however, they have given a complete freedom to materialists. They have turned to be like feudal lords. The personal independence should not be so overemphasized that it turns the society into a utilitarian system.” Michael O’Donnell was the Supreme commander of the CTA. A ‘democratic tyrant’ as the world called him. His country saw elections every four years, but the ministry that was elected had to work under his government, and perhaps he had a veto power. He promoted liberal thinking ‘within limits’ that he decided. A seventy years old man – he was running the government since he was thirty. He inherited the throne from his godfather Richard Houston after the latter’s death .As he spoke the finishing line of the inaugural session, people rose at their places, as was the custom and gave a standing applause to the commander. “With such a world in my mind I wish the president elect of the congress His holiness Mr. Narayanaswami, also the head of the Vidyapanthi sect for the success of the programs. With these words I declare the 564^th World Parliament of Religions at Chicago open.”

The board of governors of the parliament thanked the supreme commander and felicitated him before he left. The addresses and the agenda for the meeting followed.

Narayanaswami who was the present president elect was a relatively new face. He emerged two years back from the oblivion and rose to glory. Thousands of people from all walks of life came to him, just as they did to his guru –the late Rajendrananda. He headed the board of governors that comprised of the most influential religious men in the world of all the religions - a body that the world saw with respect in this era of the dying light. His story of rise to fame and glory, however, no one knew. Just as this man rose to speak amidst thunderous applause, another gracious man was rising from his humble bed as the dawn broke around the globe in India.