Chapter 2
Radha was annoyed very much and it showed clearly on her face. She saw Krishna hurrying inside dripping wet. Where the hell did he go, when she was discussing an important matter. This was not the first time. There were many such incidents before this, but she always patched up in the interest of maintaining harmony. As usual he disappeared all of a sudden with a muted “excuse me, I will be back in a minute’ and now he was coming back as though nothing happened.. After all, Radha was down to earth person with normal human failings.
Krishna knew she was annoyed. He could not help such things. There were things he had to do, which did not mean much to her. She was madly in love with Him .She asked for nothing but uninterrupted attention to all that she said and did. It amused him all the time and he hoped that she would someday learn to accept Him with all the hazards attached to him.
Today Radha had resolved that she would force Krishna to reveal where he had gone and what he did, deserting her all of a sudden. There was no rain in Mathura , yet he had come back dripping wet. And that dirty white doti , she could smell it from a distance. Where did He pick it up from? How could he go around with that dirty cloth around his shoulder? She could not believe He was doing it as duty. She decided to confront him head on.
She asked ,’what is it around your shoulder?’
Krishna looked at the cloth with surprise, ”oh, Is it still with me? This is some thing that I removed from that person.”
‘What person?’
“Surdas, who else? He was about to drown and I had to save him in a hurry.”
‘So you deserted me all of a sudden to rush to help out this man.’
“Yes . He is a great devotee. I had to help”.
‘And in the process you left behind the exotic yellow silk cloth I presented to you.?’
“You are right. I had to wrap him in something. The cloth came in handy. He had been in water for long long time and his clothes were wet”
‘But it was token of my love.’
“It served a good purpose. You must feel happy about it.”
‘Why are you so fascinated with this blind man. what can he offer any one? what can he offer you?’
“a great deal.”
‘tell me one.’
‘I do not have to.. He kept reminding me that we all have a debt to pay for having taken birth on this earth. The debt to save a soul. Noble one at that. I do not care to say it any differently.”..
Okay Krishna. You have made it clear that Surdas means more to you than my love. So be it. I will find out for myself, what he is made of.
You do that Radha and you will learn a great deal.
Their fights always ended like this.one of them will climb down and other will ignore all acrimony associated with the words exchanged earlier in the heat of terrible argument..
Krishna diverted her mind by resorting to his Flute that was the favourite of Radha. When He played the flute, Radha would melt. He played all her favourite songs with gusto and even danced with her. He kept repeating the lines borrowed from Surdas
I am for ever in your debt
Different are the ways
you shower your blessings.
Radha frowned. New questions stormed her mind, was Krishna mocking at her. or was he taunting her. Is it Surdas or me?
Such short term aberrations in her mental make up normally were fore runners of amazing acts of sacrifice which only she could manage. Her love towards all members of humanity was un measurable. In that magnanimity, the aberrations did not have any permanent place. She had realised that there was no point in arguing with Krishna. He was made like that. The actual person to blame was Surdas who had to fall into a well just when she was beginning to explain her new project to Krishna. She decided she would now take on Surdas.
The realtion ship between Krishna and Radha was built on contradiction. while he was divine, she was a common place mortal. While he was flawless , she was Short on many important factors. He was for ever composed, balanced and not given to display of emotions, she was excitable, having her heart in the sleeve and given to extreme swings of mood ranging from extreme joy to that of suffering pain for sake of others. Inspite or just because of such contradiction , love thrived between the two, a love so sublime that it was envy of other celebrated consorts. The only string attached was that of reciprocation. She was prepared to sacrifice for sake of love. But Krishna could not be owned by any single party as he had to attend to the entire universe .You can not expect to buttonhole a n entity credited with unreserved love, ocean of compassion, pillar of forebearence, tolerance and generosity. He was committed to upkeep of righteousness, helping the poor and weak and punishing wrong doers.
Radha reasoned that if Krishna left every thing to rush to rescue Surdas from danger, surdas must be some one very special and close to his heart. Radha decided to find every thing about Surdas. His origin, his way of life, his liabilities and obligations, his special skills and merits that had pleased the good Lord. When she studied him, he appeared just like a billion other people born on this earth and added to it he was blind and needed help every day of his life. He had been honoured by emperors and scholars and whatever he said , wrote about or sang about , was read with interest and devotion by people because of the values he promoted. Those values were same as those contained in abundance in her lord, a point she had completely missed in her assessment.
SHE REMEMBERED THE SONG THAT Krishna often played on his flute and hummed the lines
For ever we are in your debt,
Different are ways you bless us
She asked Krishna, ’please tell me, what do these words mean to you?’
Krishna smiled in amusement. Radha was used to commanding. Words like please, will you etc are foreign to her. She believed in the dictum love breaks all barriers. Love breaks the iron in formalities,. Verbal decencies, polite requests and unsaid expectations are all outside love domain. Love gives you liberties. That is Surdas for you. He will make even a devil behave.
Krishna replied, ”For me, those words only spell one thing, my dear. That is reciprocation. That is what you also believe in , don’t you?”
‘Yes, true. I do. But you do not seem to. Especially in your interaction with me. I keep talking to you and all of sudden, you are not there. I lose you completely.’
Radha , for you reciprocation is mutual, you and me. No other. For surdas and me, .There is no bias or constraint. It is universal. Vast , unlimited like the spread of sky
Radha was a simple girl. She sat down to think. This was going very much above her head. For her it was simple. You scratch my back, I scratch yours. Satisfaction guaranteed. why should simple things be complicated so much as to lose original meanings.?
A question Krishna could not answer inspite of all knowledge he had at his command. For him there is nothing called simple.Every thing is couched in complication. It is the intelligence to unravel it , that complicates the point. Let us leave it at that.
Radha remembered one thing that Krishna had said. You would learn a great deal from Surdas.
If she had to learn some thing from Surdas, to please Krishna, she was perfectly ready to do that.
She decided to look up Surdas..
End of chapter2