The binding cold, ever pervading darkness and heavy silence started acting upon the nerves of Chitragupta. He had already started seeing ghosts, some burning like the fire at Yam Lok, whizzing past at supersonic speeds but without the attending sonic booms. In this respect, Yama was well informed and convinced Chitragupta that in deep space there will only be bangs without sound.
This information added one more worry to Chitragupta’s mind already overflowing with questions “why so many ghosts? Where from do they come? Where they are all going? What he did not know was that these ghosts are nothing but asteroids and an occasional comet. He detested the hierarchical tradition of Yam Lok which forbids him from such universal truth.
Most of the times during the voyage, Yama remained uncommunicative by simply shutting down transmission of thought waves so that Chitragupta could not read what was going on in his mind. This odd behaviour perplexed Chitragupta, making him to go on guessing about what could be going on in Yama’s mind. He felt angry at the system of paranormal skill development as per hierarchical curriculum. Only this norm had prevented him from becoming the leader of Yam Lok and placed him in the second place, always. He had so many axes to grind against Yama and one of them was the bad luck which made him to be a student in the same class.
Though he heard all these thoughts, as they were being formed in Chitragupta’s mind, the eon long friendship prevented Yama from hurting him at this stage of travel in deep space. Yama had a secret purpose in continuing this journey in to the unknown. He was prospecting for a new job, becoming sick with duties dealing with death. He could not remember when he took a holiday in all these eons! If he told Chitragupta about that, his friend would have surely ditched him and gone back to Yam Lok.
Far away from the duo in flight, different kind of trouble was brewing. Siva was angry with them for absconding from Yam Lok and taking off without his knowledge. This hardened his resolve to find a way to replace both of them. Incensed at the dereliction of duties, he began to dance – the cosmic dance of its kind never before witnessed by Brahma or Vishnu. Both quietly melted into their abodes, after glimpsing at the ferocity in Siva’s face.
Refreshed from this dance, Siva began to plan for the mega event to bring the Cellwalahs and TV empires to their collective, shaking knees. He decided to empower all humanoids with the power of third eye. As an afterthought, he decided to limit its application only to thought communication with an inbuilt go-no-go mechanism to stop subversive and unhealthy thoughts. He wished to include a counter which would automatically reduce the power of the third eye, as and when these thoughts arose in a person’s mind. The endgame would be complete loss of this sight forever; without recourse to a remedial penance even if Brahma or Vishnu intervened for mercy.
Brahma on his part decided to throw open the universal knowledge bank. His solution was simple – whoever wants to know anything about anything in the universe. it would just flash in to the memory of that person. He added an automatic catch – the moment that particular information sought has been utilised, it will be permanently erased from the mind, till such a time another requirement for the same information arises.Being the creator of all living things in the universe, He wanted to take care of the ones with forgetfulness too, by giving them another chance! In the case of pranks, the ‘net’ result will be a ‘whirlpool-worm’ suctioning out all the knowledge from the mind!
So far all the critical decisions concerning the universe and the living beings were taken after due consultation as it involved birth, growth and death. Forgetting the importance of the role played by him, how they could take unilateral decisions like these? This unhealthy trend annoyed Vishnu.
A pensive Vishnu decided it was time to act quickly and decisively, timing it in such a way that both Siva and Brahma are forced to retract. Another thought that irked His mind was the mankind’s relentless efforts to inch closer to unravel the mystery shrouding “Who” really created the Universe. and have advanced to a state where they could actually “see” black holes merging in to each other, by detecting the changes due to the ‘event’ that took place millions of earth-years ago! At this rate perhaps it might take them, a few more thousand years, to know what happened at that very long time ago??
He willingly let the ‘leak’, about His plan to create another new Universe in a short period of time, to reach the ears of Brahma and Siva. Though Brahma had toyed with a similar idea, a long time ago, this breaking news shook His Lotus bed violently. He somehow managed to stay on to it with the power of all His ‘tapas’.
On hearing the news, Siva froze in mid air as he was performing a complicated ‘death dance’. Gathering all His anger, He marched to the abode of Vishnu to confront Him.
This imminent showdown let loose the basic instincts of glee on the upcoming fight as well as fear about the outcome in the hearts of Devas and deva ganas. They gathered in en mass, knowing not what to do to avert the celestial catastrophe. Unless someone is able to broker a peace deal, death of the Universe is a certainty. Expecting a leadership crisis, the Natural order began to breakdown threatening the birth of a chaos.
Surreptitiously, sage Naradha approached Vishnu and whispered in to His ears about certain options that Vishnu could exercise to avoid a cosmic turmoil. Vishnu thought over the stated options and chose one of them. An appreciative smile graced Naradha and a secondary glance swept over conveying ‘readiness to face the challenge’ fell on Brahma and Siva.
The first change occurred in Brahma – the four heads fused in to a single head with eight ears and eyes and four noses, mouths and supported by four necks. The confusion and the ensuing identity crisis was writ large on Brahma’s faces. This did little to cool the anger of Siva and He defiantly stood facing Vishnu as if challenging Him for the fight.
The assembled Devas and deva ganas suppressed their giggles with great difficulty, wondering what will happen to Siva’s face. The third eye on Siva’s forehead disappeared only to reappear on the nape of His neck. Siva’s anger was now replaced with an anatomical confusion and this did not stop Him from wondering how Brahma will be feeling with four brains crammed in to a single head; will it be a crowded confusion?
The Devas and deva ganas watched the unfolding spectacle in awe. Little they could comprehend the likely endgame. Vishnu closed His eyes for a brief awhile and then the unexpected happened. He simply vanished leaving everyone, including Brahma and Siva, in darkness.
Brahma offered the first peace initiative. He agreed to scrap His earlier plan to create a new universe on His own. As a bonus, volunteered to drop the idea of implementing His brainchild ‘information on demand’.
Siva had no choice now. He clearly understood that the Creator intended THEM to preside over the cosmos as a team, sharing equal burden, and specific that NONE shall try to undermine the OTHER. Following suit, HE dropped HIS plan on opening third eye for all.
Yama and Chitragupta returned to resume their ordained duties as they were granted pardon for deserting their posts. The Cell phone and internet conglomerates redoubled their efforts in far reaching researches. The academic institutions bought many ‘chairs’ benefiting from the industrial rush to burst myths with modern technologies.
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