TWENTY SEVEN
Why was it so important for human beings to be loved? What was the connection between souls that made it so difficult to live on their own? Matter can neither be created nor destroyed. Human body which is again energy only changes form and spreads over the vast universe. Some of the atoms mingle with other atomic formations. That meant there is an amalgamation of particles in all of us. We all are connected with one another. This whole human race is connected!
That must be why we suffer and rejoice with each other. We can sense each other's pain at a larger level, though we get too busy to think about it more often. We think and feel only at a micro-level because these circumstances become obvious, it hits us in the face. Yet we are all connected.
Vikram knew he could give her the love she was looking for. He could teach her the art of loving and letting go, the art of being one with the universe. Yet this was not the time. She had to come to him. That called for patience. It needs the removal of all clutter and making space for the best things to happen. If you are ready to compromise, the universe will make sure you do.
At one time when he was younger, he lusted for power. He did work hard and build a big industrial empire for himself in electronics. His had been a known name in the country's business community; there wasn't a month when something or the other wasn't written about his empire in the business newspapers, the business periodicals.
He loved travelling and so the amount of travel his business needed was not a nuisance for him at all. More than that, he also enjoyed his work. He had fallen in love with a lovely woman and married her. They dreamt of having a couple of kids. He was no stranger to women earlier, and his wife was perhaps the least demanding woman he ever met. He had the kind of money most people could only dream of, a mansion that was big and beautiful with a swimming pool to cool off in. He remembered that day well. How could he ever forget?
He had left earlier than usual that morning, after a brief goodbye to his wife. It was going to be a long and busy day, with meetings that could end up transforming the size of his industrial empire even further.
She had tried calling him three times in the afternoon, but he could not attend her calls. It was evening when he called back, and he had just one more meeting for the day. No one picked the phone. Finally, the maidservant picked it up.
“Why did you pick up the phone? Where's madam?” he asked her.
“She is in the hospital, sir,” she replied. His blood froze.
“What? Why didn't you tell me earlier? What happened to her?” His tension increased by every second.
“Sir, Madam said there was no need to disturb you, that she'll be fine.” He calmed down a little bit.
“What happened to her, Mira?”
She was crossing the road when a car brushed against her. She heard herself falling and the car stopped. No, thank God, it was just a shove, though being pregnant, she fell heavily.
The couple in the car walked up to her as she was picking herself up. She insisted she's fine, but they suggested a check-up at the nearby hospital. That was when she had called him, from the hospital. He ran down and got into his car. As he drove to the hospital all kinds of crazy fears were taking hold of him. They turned out to be true when he reached there.
Both she and the baby, who would have been born in another five months, were dead.
The couple in the car were there. From their looks, they wished they were dead too. That was five years ago, though it seemed like yesterday.
He took out another cigarette and forced back the tears. A cool breeze was blowing. He hadn't realised when he finished his previous cigarette. He saw some children prattle as they played.
Death took away from him his dreams, his unborn child, his power and vigour. He was lost and for months did not know how he passed his days. He lost interest in his empire. His life seemed to be in vain.
It was then that he started his search for meaning. It took hold of him gradually. He wanted to find answers to questions that were troubling him. He found his master in Brazil. One of his clients he'd met in Brazil told him about Osho, the mystic master. He had stayed in Rio de Janiero to witness the grand carnival they celebrated to say farewell to all their sins and prepare for Christ's death and resurrection.
Vikram was well-educated, well connected and well-travelled, but that was all in the past now. Osho, the mystic master, had accepted him as a person eligible enough to start his journey for the final destination. That is when he learned Capoeira, an art form that includes martial arts, dance and music.
He started painting and that seemed to calm him within. It was as if he learned to heal himself through colours. He learned the rituals which bring awareness and helps one achieve the power of mind. He was told about various dance forms that invoked consciousness and took the soul to a higher realm. He realised that his wife was also a part of the universe somewhere.
After that he learnt magic. He learned to see beyond the three dimensional world we live in. The dark secrets of the mystical world and how they can make everything a human mind perceives to become true. He met women, conducted magical rituals with some of them, but when he saw Maya he was sure that she was his female counterpart.
Together they could achieve their quest for knowledge beyond time. By then he had sold his companies, stashed the money away in the bank. It had taken some years to do so, but not as long as it took to build them!